Blast the Alarm

Tony and Alex stayed up the rest of the morning. Tony even brought out the doughnut he had been hoarding from the group to share with Alex, who gladly accepted his half. Everyone else rolled out of bed around sevenish, which was extremely early for any of them. Alex had known Jack to sleep until noon on every chance he got and Tony had said the same about his band mates. They all ate and chatted a very short amount of time before getting ready to set out again. They were somewhere like eighty, or maybe ninety miles away from Idaho, then from there they had a somewhat clear shot to getting to San Diego with hopefully few obstructions.

"Give me a sec!" Mike calls when he hears the van rumble to life. "I gotta piss!" He receives a honk in acknowledgment of his request. Mike walks into the brush by the area and unzips his pants to relieve himself. He whistles nonchalantly as he goes about his business. A rustling as he fixing his pants causes Mike to jump and spin around.

A man with a rather large curly afro had come out of the brush.

"Holy shit!" He shouts, jumping back and reaching into his pocket. He pulls a butterfly knife to defend himself from Mike who was just as easily more scared of him. "St-stay away from me!" He stutters out, backing away from Mike.

"Calm down," Mike says, trying to calm his hyperventilation. Mike about shit himself when he first saw the man and he really didn’t want to get knifed right now. "I’m cool."

The man looks at him a long time, as if evaluating him. Tony rounds the corner and jumps about a foot in the air when he sees Mike with a knife being pointed at him.

"He’s cool too," Mike explains calmly. "Right Tony?" Mike looks at Tony with a serious look.

"I-I’m cool too," Tony says quietly.

"We’re going to leave and you’ll never see us again, and we are definitely coming back here." Mike begins to back away himself.

"Wait," the man says. "You don’t work for the government?" The man raises his knife ready to attack if Mike answers wrong.

"No," Mike answers affirmatively.

"Him?" The man nods toward Tony. Tony shakes his head rapidly. "Anyone else with you?"

"I can assure you that no one with us works for the government. Just let us go."

"Where are you going," the man brings the knifes down and folds it back before placing it into his pocket.

"San Diego," Mike says, continuing to play along with this insane mans game. Tony honestly couldn’t believe Mike had told the truth there. He knows if that had been him he wouldn’t have said where they were going.

The man eyes him up and down again. "I’m sorry for such a horrible first meeting and this is kind of weird to ask, but . . . Would it be possible for me to hitch a ride with you?"

Tony stares at Mike with wide eyes. Mike had to say no. He wasn’t just going to invite some guy who had threatened to kill him moments before go with them, was he?

"If you give me your knife and whatever other weapons you have you’re clear," Mike answers. Tony almost wasn’t surprised. That whole stint had been insane and only Mike was crazy enough to agree to let him come with them."I’m Mike, by the way," Mike introduces himself as the knife along with another knife and even a gun are placed in his waiting hands.

"Joe," the man answers, shaking Mike’s hands.

"And that’s Tony." Mike motions back to Tony with his thumb.

"It’s nice to meet you both," Joe says, smiling at both of them. It was hard to believe that only moments before he had been threatening to stab them. They come back around the side door of the van and open it.

"Who the hell’s that?" Vic asks, looking at the new man with them. "We don’t have room for anyone else in our van Mike." He pauses. "Holy shit! Why do you have a bunch of weapons Mikey? Who the hell is that?"

"Vic, this is Joe. Joe, this is Vic. It looks like someone is going to go bum a ride from Jeremy and the guys then, because this guy is my new best friend." The last sentence comes off as rather malicious.

"I’ll go," Zack volunteers quietly.

"No, stay Zack," Vic says. "I think it would do Mike some good to go see if the rest of the guys would be willing to harbor a stranger."

Vic shoots a glare at Mike. He was incredibly unimpressed with Mike's actions. That man looked like the kind of insane guy who would kill them all while they slept. Then it hits. That was the man from TV. The guys who had told them to leave the state. Vic quickly rolls down the window and shouts at Mike, allowing him and the wild-haired man to return. Mike shoots Vic a look of smugness, only earning the finger from Vic. The caravan finds themselves on the road once again.

"Is there any particular place you'd like us to drop you off Joe?" Vic grumbles as he queezes the steering wheel tightly.

"The Idaho border would be cool,"Joe says, shrugging. "But if you aren't stopping there you can drop me off any time before we leave the state."

Mike interjects, 'tsk'ing Joe. "How do I know you aren't going to try and kill another innocent man while he's pissing?" He asks, raising a brow.

Joe frowns and Vic groans. "Just let the dude be. The quicker he's out of out hair, the better." Joe nods in agreement.

"And how is that, he seems to know everything about what's going on? Maybe it'll be an advantage to make him stick around," Mike argues.

"Mike's got a point," Zack pipes up.

"He's also got a billion people looking for him, judging but what I've heard and seen on the TV and radio. Do you want us to become accesories to that Mike?" Vic says lowly, through gritted teeth. "Do you want us to die because you had to try and hold a guy hostage, or whatever this is?"

The younger brother throws his head back, feigning care. "Vic, he can literally tell us what's going to happen before it happens. Joe has far more pros than cons."

Vic goes to speak, but Joe cuts him off. "I'm taking your brother's side, Mike. You don't understand the seriousness of the situation."

"Like hell I don't. You're unarmed anyway, there's no fighting me."

Joe rolls his eyes. "Listen kid, I don't care what you've got going on. I have to meet my friend at the border and we're heading back to Chicago. You can't stop me, and I won't be any good if I'm being kept under a strick lockdown by you. Now will I?"

Mike frown, his brow crinkling and his lips tugging downward. This guy really had some nerve.

"We're going to Baltimore," Alex suddenly queaks out, motioning to his bandmates. "Maybe we can go with you Mister . . . ?" The rest of the band gives Alex a quizzical look. None of them had agreed to asking the wild haired man about that.

Joe turns around, eyeing the four wide eyed teenagers carefully. They could have potential. "Straight to, or detoured?"

"Down through California than East," Alex supplies.

Joe weighs carefully. "Will you be travelling with these people the entire time?" He questions, it being mostly aimed at Mike.

"Just until San Diego, then we split up," Alex says softly.

Joe considers again. If he could get Pete to come with them he might be in business. "Sure," he agrees, quicker than anyone had thought. "But on one condition."

Notes

I've had this mostly written forever, but I just got around to finishing it!
Now to get my butt into gear and get the Vanishing Act out of hiatus!

xoxo
Dewey