Unexpected Love

We were back on the road. It felt good to be driving again. It relaxed me. Alex and I were closer than ever. 

We were somewhere in Utah. Alex said that we would be driving until Nevada. It was really sunny and warm today. Alex decided to drive with the roof down since it was so nice.

I sat back in my seat, smiling over at Alex. We started driving down an open dirt road. I furrowed my eyebrows, but thought nothing of it. Instead I just relaxed and soaked up the sun. Alex drove for a while, down the open road.

"What do you say we speed things up a bit?" Alex yelled over the wind. I looked at him, and smiled.

"I say, let's do it!" I yelled. He smirked, speeding up. We were in wide open road. We could go as fast as we wanted.

The car suddenly started to slow down. I sat up. This is not happening again. Especially not here...... in the middle of no where. The car finally came to an abrupt stop.

Alex stepped on the petal again. He started to mutter to himself. Stepping on the petal once more, he got out and went to the front, lifting up the hood. I got out and followed him.

"Alex?" I asked. I came up next to him. Smoke erupted from the car. We both coughed and moved away, "What happened?" I asked. He sighed.

"I don't know", he said. I sighed.

"Well, what do we do know?" I asked. He shrugged.

"I don't know, but we can't sleep in the car. There's too much smoke. We're going to have to camp outside", he said, going to the trunk. I shook my head furiously.

"I'm not sleeping out here, Alex", I said. He took out both our bags, along with all the blankets, and came back to me.

"Well then where do you expect to sleep?" he asked. I set my lips in a tight line, crossing my arms. He smirked. I rolled my eyes.

He started to walk off the road, going into the tall grass. I sighed and stayed put. The car suddenly burst into flames. I screamed and and ran after Alex.

"Alex!" I screamed. He looked back and his eyes widened. I took my bag from him, and took his hand as we started running. I heard a big explosion from behind us. Alex put his arm around me. 

We both ducked. After a minutes, we slowed to a walk, and finally stopped. Alex and I turned around. Alex dropped to his knees.

"My baby! Loretta!" he exclaimed. I raised my eyebrow, looking at him.

"You named your car?" I asked, incredulously. He didn't reply, he just sat there, staring unbelievingly at the scene before him. He looked like he was about to cry. I swear, guys and their cars.

"Well there goes our ride", I said. He didn't move. I dropped my bag and bent down in front of him, straddling his waist. He looked down at me.

"I-I...", he sighed. I gave him a sympathetic smile, wrapping my arms around his neck. I ran my hand through his hair. He closed his eyes and sighed, leaning into my touch.

I bit my lip and kissed him below his ear, softly sucking on it. He let a soft moan. I pulled away and nibbled on his earlobe, before pulling away completely.

"Better?" I asked. He pouted. He was so cute.

"But my car", he said in a small voice.

"Awww", I said, involuntarily. He gave me a confused look. I blushed.

"What?" he asked. I shook my head.

"Nothing, but what are we going to do now? We have no ride, and we're stranded in the middle of no where", I said. He sighed and looked around.

"I don't know", he said. I stood up, and Alex followed my lead. We picked up our bags and started to walk down the road.

"Alex, there's probably not a place miles from here! Where are we even going?" I asked.

"The way I originally planned. I mean, it's not like this road continues on forever. If it did, I wouldn't have gone down it", he said. I sighed.

We kept walking. I could feel myself start to sweat. Well what did I expect? We're walking in the blazing sun, carrying heavy luggage. Is it even suppose to be this hot in January?

I looked over at Alex. He was sweating to. His hair was starting to lose it's fluffy bounce. It began to look like he just took a shower.

"Alex, I'm hot", I whined.

"Well so am I, but I'm not complaining. Let's just keep walking. I'm sure there has to be a gas station or something up ahead", he said.

"Please tell me you have water in there", I asked, motioning towards his duffel bag. He shook his head. I sighed and kept walking.

It was so hot! I finally gave up and stopped walking. Alex kept on walking before realizing I wasn't beside him and turned around.

"What are you doing?" he asked. I rolled my eyes and began to unbutton my shirt. His eyes widened. I smirked and took off my shirt, tying it around my waist. I picked up my bag and continued, walking ahead of Alex. He finally caught up to me.

"You should probably take off your shirt too. After all, you are in black skinny jeans. You already look like someone pushed you into a pool", I said. He nodded and did the same, only putting his shirt in his bag. We continued on walking.

•*•*•*•

It was dark now. I don't know what time it was. We kept walking until I saw faint outlines of houses. My eyes widened.

"Alex, is it just me, or do you see a town up ahead?" I asked. He shook his head.

"That's actually a town", he said. I smiled.

"Oh my gosh! What are we waiting for? Come on!" I yelled grabbing his hand, and running. We were cheering and laughing, happy to be so lucky.

We stopped abruptly when we reached the town. My smile dropped. This place looked like no one has been here for ages. It was creepy.

"Hello?" Alex yelled, "Does anyone live here?" he asked. No answer. I swallowed hard. Alex began walking forward. I grabbed his arm, stopping him.

"Alex.... this place looks kind of creepy. I-I think we should just leave", I said.

"Relax, December. We're just passing by. Maybe someone lives here and if nobody doesn't, then we'll just crash in one of the buildings and continue walking tomorrow", he said. I bit my lip.

"But-" he cut me off. Taking my hand, and pulling me into the town.

"Come on", he said. I rolled my eyes and obliged. We walked down the the middle of the road. These buildings looked so old. It kind of freaked me out.

There was a loud gunshot. I jumped, screaming.

"Alex!" I yelled He wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me closer. There was another gunshot. We both jumped.

"Alex..." I trailed off. His grip tightened. I swallowed hard. We kept walking. There was a lit up building ahead. It looked like a gas station.

"Come on. Maybe there's someone who can help us", he said. We walked up to the place. Turns out it was a gas station. Alex told me to wait outside while he went in to find someone.

It got colder. I shivered and pulled on my shirt. I looked around. This place gave me the creeps. There was a strong breeze.

I wrapped my arms around myself. A light shiver ran down my back. I looked around, trying to find something to occupy my time. My eyes landed on a flickering lamppost, but what really caught my eye was the piece of paper attached to the lamppost. 

I furrowed my eyebrows. It was probably just an ad for something. I bit my lip. Curiosity got the best of me.

I looked back to see Alex arguing with a scruffy looking guy. He was probably going to be a while. I quickly looked around once more, before making my way over to the lamppost. Once I reached my destination, I slowly walked around it to get a better look at the paper.

It was a missing person flyer. The picture was faded, but I could vaguely identify a girl. She had brunette hair, stopping just below her shoulders. From the looks of it, she was beautiful. I looked down at the information, reading it.

Name: Stacy Annabelle Blakely 
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Sex: Female
Eyes: Brown 
Hair: Brown 
Height: 5'5"
Age: 17 
Date Missing: February 14, 2008
Contact This Number If Found: 562-7318

I gasped. She's been missing for that long? Well it was only last year. Maybe she was still alive. I felt so bad. Seventeen was suppose to be a young, fun age, and it was suppose to be the last year before you become an adult, not the year you get kidnapped with a chance of getting killed.

I sighed. This made no sense. Why would a flyer this modern be in a place so run down and old? I wanted to explore this place so badly. An idea popped up.

I quickly ran back to the bags. I knelt down and took my camera out of my bag. A big smile took over my lips. I went back to the lamppost and took some pictures of it. Next I took some pictures of the road and run down buildings.

Satisfied, I let my camera hang around my neck. Suddenly, there was a loud gunshot, followed by a scream. I froze in place. My eyes scanned the area, looking at the flyer ever so often. I swallowed hard.

"December?!" I jumped and turned around to find Alex running towards me. By now he had put another shirt on. Once he reached me, he wrapped me up in his arms, kissing my cheek over and over again.

"What are you doing here?" I asked. He pulled back and looked at me.

"I heard the gunshot and scream. I thought something happened to you", he said. I shook my head.

"No, I'm fine, but look at this", I said, showing him the flyer.

"What about it?" he asked.

"There was just a gunshot and scream, Alex. Do you think...." I trailed of. He looked utterly lost for a few seconds before realization dawned on his face and his eyes widened.

"That it was her screaming?" Alex asked, referring to the girl on the flyer. I nodded. He shook his head. I sighed.

"Alex, I was lucky enough to have someone kind as my kidnapper. She most likely isn't. We just heard someone scream. Come on. We have to do something", I begged. He sighed, as if contemplating this for a second. 

"Okay", he gave in. I smiled, "But anyways, I got the guy to give us his car. He said that he was buying a new one anyway, so we could have it. It took a little bit arguing, but I got it. Let me just get it out front so we can reach it quickly if we have to", he said. I nodded and waited for him.

Minutes later, Alex came out, driving a pick-up truck. It was a faded blue, and looked fairly worn out, but it looked like it would hold up. He parked the car and came out. I put my camera in the passenger seat. Taking hold of each other's hands, we walked towards where we heard the scream from.

We walked along the buildings on the left side for a while. We were walking silently, until we heard a thump and yelling coming from the building ahead. Alex quickly pulled me into the small space between the houses. We kept our breathing as soft as possible. Slowly peaking our heads out, we saw a man who looked like he should hit the gym and showers.

The man yelled out more obscenities before getting into a old, red, beat-up, pick-up truck and leaving. Once we were sure the coast was clear, we slipped out and quickly, but quietly went into the house. The place had a filthy couch and beer strewn everywhere. It was disgusting to say the least.

We went deeper into the house. Alex and I stopped in front of a dirty, white door. Loud sobs were heard from the other side. We looked at each other before going in.

I gasped at the sight before me. It was awful. It was the girl from the flyer, Stacy, handcuffed to the bed. She was naked and bruises and blood covered her body. She looked at us and looked scared out of her mind.

I looked over at Alex. He was looking away. I was glad. He was respecting her privacy. Me on the other hand went over to her side.

"Oh sweetie, what did he do to you?", I asked. She just shook her head, and her eyes filled up with tears.

"Please don't h-hurt m-me", she choked out.

"I'm not going to hurt you. Don't worry...... Do you know where he put the key?" I asked. She nodded slowly.

"I-it's in the top drawer o-of the nightst-stand", she said, her voice cracking. I nodded and got out the key, unlocking her. 

"Alex give me your shirt", I said.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because, she's very tiny and skinny. Your shirt should cover her enough. I'll lend her some of my clothes once we get to the truck", I said. He nodded, handing me his shirt. I handed it to her. She slowly put it on, it fell to the middle of her thighs.

It looked painful for her to do. I wouldn't blame her. He probably beat the shit out of her and fucked her senseless. She was most likely sore as hell. I helped her get out of bed and we quickly made our way out, and back to the truck.

I lent her my sweats and a hoodie. Alex let her keep the shirt and just put on another one. We put our stuff in the back and got into the car. Alex filled up the gas and started driving again.

I wrapped my arms around Stacy, letting her sob into my neck. I felt so bad. She was so young and she had to go through all that. I looked over at Alex. He was gripping the steering wheel tightly.

"Sweetie, we're going to take you to the hospital", I said softly. She pulled away and looked at me.

"Th-thank you. You have no idea how grateful I am. I was so scared. I thought-I thought", she didn't finished as her voice started to crack and she started to cry again. I pulled her in.

"It's okay Hun. Everything's going to be okay now. You can be with your family again. Don't worry Stacy", I said. She pulled away again.

"How did you know my name?" she asked.

"I saw you on a missing persons flyer", I said. She nodded. I wrapped her in a hug again. She buried her face into the crook of my neck. Pretty soon she was asleep.

"Alex?" I asked.

"I can't-I can't even begin to comprehend what she went through", he sighed and shook his head. I set my lips in a tight line before talking again.

"How much longer until we can get her to the hospital? She needs help", I asked.

"I couple of hours. You should probably just sleep until then", he said. I nodded and closed my eyes. Sleep soon overcame me and I was sucked into a dreamless sleep.