Blast the Alarm

For most of the first part of the drive they were out of cell service, Vic only found out that they entered it when all they phones began to simultaneously blow up with texts and calls from their parents.

"Mike, handle Mom and Dad," Vic tells Mike who is half asleep still, having only been woken up by the ringing of phones. Mike nods and pulls out his phone to answer the call from their parents. It seemed everyone was on the phone, even Alex who let out an overjoyed shout when he recognized the caller ID.

The van was awry with chatter for the next half an hour as they all were assured of their families safety, and soon Vic was hit with the big question of: "Where are we going?"

Vic frowns at the question. He didn't know yet, they were just trying to get out of the state, they were barely even a quarter of the way there yet. "We need to decide," Vic responds. "We can all stop and map out a route I guess, see how it works out from there."

Everyone answers their families with something along the lines of what Vic had said, before sending their love (Mike even held the phone up so Vic could tell their parents that they were okay) and hanging up. Someone then texted the ADTR guys to pull over at the next rest stop so they could plan their moves. The next rest stop was a crumby one that was hard to find seeing as it was dark and hidden among some trees, but it was still a rest stop nonetheless. They carefully pull in and shut off the vans so they don't draw any attention to themselve. If everyone was going bat shit crazy like that they really didn't want to be the cent of the storm.

"Okay, we have to decide what our next choice is after making it to Idaho, right?" Jeremy asks.

"Right," Vic responds, leading the group into the rest area. It was dimly lit and didn't smell particularly nice, but it worked for it's current need. The group sprawls out a map across one of the benches and they stand around staring at it a long time. "We need to get to San Diego," Vic says, referring to Pierce the Veil. "I imagine Alex and the boys are trying to get to Baltimore, and you guys are heading for Ocala, right?" A hum of agreement. "Okay, we have two vans, and we're all heading for completely different parts of the country, so I think we should get to San Diego before, then we can recoop there and ATL can take our van and you guys can travel together for a while the split at the coast?" Vic looks at the group for comfirmation of his plan.

All the guys excange glances, and they break into chatter over the idea. They all agree that traveling in a group, at least for a while, would be beneficial. But going to San Diego was questioned by A Day To Remember. It would be easier for them to just cut down out of Oregon and head diagonally down.

"Okay," Vic says, trying to reason with Neil who had posed the initial arguement. "If we were to look at this like a triangle, the route you guy want to take is the hypotenuse, the hypotenuse is the longest part of the triangle. You'd be traveling about the same distance from Oregon as you would just going to San Diego wit us then taking off from there, plus, we could get you supplies in San Diego."

Neil cocks an eyebrow at Vic. "I don't think your math is right, but supplies is a plus." He returns to talking with his band. "San Diego it is," they say decidedly. Everyone quickly returns phone calls to parents and any other concerned family member saying where they would being heading before coming home or that they were going home, in Pierce the Veil's case. In a matter of minutes they're all back on the road.

Everyone in the Pierce the Veil van had fallen asleep rather quickly, leaving only Alex and Vic up. They were silent, only the sounds of a CD Alex had found playing. They drove for at least another hour and a half before they saw the van infront of them pull to a stop at another rest stop on their route. Vic quickly follows suit and climbs out see what's up.

Jeremy climbs out the ADTR van and meets Vic between the two. "I think we should stop for the night," he says as soon as Vic is in earshot. "Everyone in my band is passed out and I'm really tired myself." Vic nods, he could see how tired Jeremy was. He had probably only gotten a few hours of sleep in the past few days.

"I agree. I guess I'll keep lookout for a while while everyone rests up then?" Vic says, shuffling his feet awkwardly. "I don't think we're in a place that would pose a huge danger, but it'd still be good for one of us to look out."

Jeremy hums a simple 'yes' before returning to his van for a well deserved rest. Vic climbs back into his own and dodges sleeping bodies to grab a jacket.

"What're you doing Vic?" Alex asks quietly.

"We're gonna stop here for the night," Vic says. "And I'm on lookout duty."

"Can I come?" Alex pesters, looking at Vic with pleading brown eyes.

"Nah, get some sleep," Vic answers. Alex instantly juts his bottom lip out into a pout. "Fine, here's a jacket," Vic breaks and tosses Alex a jacket from his bag. "I don't know if it'll fit but I can grab on of Tony's if it doesn't."

Alex slips the jacket of his shoulder. It was a tad tight, but nothing to obnoxiously small. Alex climbs out of the van and gently shut the door. Vic follows a minute after, something in his hands. Alex looks closer and sees that it's a can of fruit. VIc simply smiles and him and moves toward the road. Alex dares to get close to see what he was doing. Vic begins to rub the seal of the lid against the cracked asphalt.

"Why are you doing that?" Alex prods, standing over Vic's shoulder as he watches the action curiously.

"I saw a video on youtube a while back, and it said that the way most cans are sealed now-a-days mean that if you rubb it against concrete enough it will wear the seal down and you can open a can that way," Vic explains, not faltering in the action as he spoke. Alex simply nods and continues to watch.

The action itself looked tedious and it seemed to be a lot of effort that could be solved just as easily if you were to use a knife or find a can opener, but Vic remained into it for thew ten minutes of vigorous work it took the break the seal and finally open the can. "Want some?" he asks Alex as he grabs one of the slices of pinapple and stick it into his mouth.
Alex shrugs and grabs his own piece, nibbling it idly. He didn't feel too hungry right now. The events from the day had left him feeling hollow and empty, but definitely not hungry. He wasn't even a thousand percent sure he would be able to keep this down if he ate much more of it. He was surprised Vic could even dare to eat right now. Vic pops another chunk of pineapple into his mouth and sets the can on the ground between Alex and himself.

"Why do you think this happened?" Vic asks, laying back to look up at the stars. He seemed unmindful of the gravel and dirt that clung to his body and hair.

"What is even happening?" Alex responds, hesitantly copying Vic's actions. "Like eighteen hours ago we got an evacuation notice to clear all roads, then when we were trying to leave a bunch of people went bat shit crazy and tried to kill us. Doesn't really make any sense if you ask me." Alex purses his lips as he searches for something more to say, when he can't say anything he remains silent.

Vic rolls on his side and stares at Alex a long time. "But there has to be a reason!" He says. "There's a reason for everything." Alex reaches over and tags Vic on the shoulder roughly, eleciting a small yelp from Vic. "Why did you do that?"

"No reason. Exactly why this is happening," Alex counters.

"No, I think you hit me because you thought I was wrong, which gives it a reason." Vic frowns at Alex.

"Screw you," Alex responds, staring back at the stars littering the sky. This was the brightest he had ever seent hem show in his life. You could see so much more in the country sky than you could in the city. Even back in England the sky wasn't as brilliant as this. Maybe Josh was right about this being a good place to live if they weren't under these circumstances.

Notes

So yeah, here's 5!

xoxo
Dewey