Chapter Text
The road ahead stretched long and thin, only allowing one car at a time, and barely that. Potholes littered the pavement and the further he drove, the harder they were to avoid. Trees crowded the edges of the street, making Tim honestly feel claustrophobic as they towered in on him and the car. He glanced in the back view mirror, set differently so he could see the teen asleep in the back seat. Tim let out a small sigh of relief when he saw that the boy was still peacefully passed out.
The man in the passenger, Brian, gave him an amused look. “You just met him yesterday. How’d you already grow a soft spot?”
Tim didn’t offer him an answer, simply turning his attention back to the road. The sky was starting to turn different shades of pink and orange, clouds becoming dark and the sun sinking towards the horizon. It was nearly sunset.
“We still don’t know anything about him.” Brian continued after a few minutes of silence. “For all we know, he could easily be a lure.”
Tim’s hands tightened around the steering wheel. He sucked in a breath and kept his eyes trained on the road. “I know.” He said.
“Then why are you avoiding every little bump in the road?”
“Because of the tires.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the unconvinced look Brian had on his face. He rolled his shoulders and sighed.
“If he’s some kind of lure, or affiliated with that thing in any way, it’s a good thing we found him.” He started, voice growing a bit stern as he carefully maneuvered past a large hole. “Look at him, he can’t be older than 18. How am I not supposed to have a soft spot for a kid in such a shitty situation? He needs to be as far away from it as possible.”
Brian hummed, shrugging his shoulders in defeat as he mulled over the reasoning. Despite him not saying anything, it was obvious that Brian didn’t exactly agree with the notion. Tim was honestly just glad he wasn’t putting up a fight over it. A fight was more than what they could handle at the moment.
Silence fell over the duo. The sun slowly set behind the trees and the world became a pasty blue and grey. Tim flicked on the headlights and nearly smiled in relief at seeing an intersection with a stop sign. They’d been driving down the same road for hours now, and despite it not being much, it was a welcome change of scenery.
He slowed to a stop at the sign, checking for any oncoming cars. As it was for the past few hours, no one in sight. Tim drummed his fingers against the steering wheel before continuing straight ahead.
He opened his mouth, about to break the silence between them when something else beat him to it.
A groggy groan came from the back seat.
The two men looked at each other before Brian turned around to look at the kid, who was sitting up and rubbing his head.
“Good morning.” Brian greeted.
Tim cringed at the sickly nice tone in his voice. Something Brian only reserved for little kids. Apparently, judging by Brian’s face, the teen in the back seat reacted just about the same way.
“We’re still in the car?” He asked, glancing out the window.
Tim couldn’t help but smile at the easy way he ignored Brian, turning his attention back to the road as the other frowned. The night was coming in closer, and Tim flicked on the high beams. He didn’t have very good eyesight when it came to driving at night, and though it wasn’t too dark yet, he still wanted to be prepared for when it was.
“Uh…” Brian started, “Yeah, we’re still driving. You’ve been asleep for a few hours.”
“A few hours…?” His voice came in meek, still drudged by sleep. “You didn’t wake me up?”
A few beats of silence permeated the conversation. The road was slowly turning left. A good sign that they were close to the next larger town by now.
“We thought you needed the sleep.” Tim piped up, “Besides, Brian and I needed to talk for a while.”
The teen blinked owlishly at the back of Tim’s head. He didn’t say anything else, instead readjusting his seatbelt and slumping into the seat. Tim wished he could tell what the other was thinking.
“Nothing bad, kid.” Brian was quick to reassure, “Just talk about what we’re gonna do next.”
Neither adult mentioned the fact that the talk involved dumping him on the street and leaving him to fend for himself. It was a lot harder to approve of that idea when the boy was awake.
The boy.
They hadn’t even asked him his name. They never had the moment to realize until now.
What lousy people they are, debating whether to keep the teen around. Unsure about leaving him for dead. They weren’t even sure if he was any type of involved with it, let alone not knowing his name?
“It feels weird just calling you ‘kid’. What’s your actual name?”
It was as if Brian had read his mind, but it always seemed that way. He knew exactly what Tim was thinking and when he thought it. Despite asking many times, Brian would only give him a smile and continue with the previous conversation. It usually frustrated him, but this time he was oddly thankful for it.
The teen paused and pointed at himself. “Me?” He asked dumbly.
Brian shrugged and nodded. “Not sure who else I would be asking.”
“Oh- Right, yeah.” The boy faltered for a moment before answering, “My name is Toby. Uh, Toby Basch.”
Toby Basch. The name rang familiar bells in Tim’s mind. He’s heard the name before, but he wasn’t sure where. Glancing at Brian, he could tell the other was thinking the same thing, his brown eyes ghosting over Toby’s frame as he wracked his brain to remember.
“Toby Basch?” Tim repeated, “That’s a good name. German?”
The normalcy of the response made both Tim and Brian cringe, but Tim figured it was better to lead with something mundane versus ‘Your name is familiar. Who are you?’. Neither were that stupid, especially knowing how much Toby had freaked out when they first met.
Toby had been walking numbly along the road when Tim and Brian left a gas station nearby. He looked like a mess, blood covered clothes and crazy hair. At first, the men didn’t want to go near him, but they didn’t really have a choice when the teen noticed the car and ran up to it, banging on the side to be let in.
The teen never explained why he was so frantic when he saw them. Tim had never asked.
Houses started appearing on the sides of the road. They were finally nearing real civilization instead of a long narrow road and a farm house once or twice in two hours. Tim’s hold on the steering wheel tensed just slightly. As glad as he was to be around people and find out where they even were, he was also rather nervous.
Walking around as a dead man was never a good idea.
They pulled into the first gas station they saw, the neon green sign for a kwik fill standing out nicely along the night sky. There were only two other cars around, but it was to be expected at whatever time it was now. Tim had elected to get out and head into the store to pay the gas pump and buy some more food and drinks for the road. Toby went in with him.
Walking into the kwik fill, Tim was immediately hit with a blast of cold air and the stale smell of gas station hot dogs. He blinked at the fluorescent lights and glanced over at Toby, who reacted pretty much the same way to the sudden change from a hot dark night to a cold bright store.
“Grab anything you want. I’m gonna go talk to the cashier.” He told Toby, pointing a thumb at the lady behind the counter. Toby nodded and quickly disappeared into the aisles.
Tim rolled his eyes at how fast he went, a small smile playing on his lips. He would’ve done the same thing if he had the chance. He went to the counter, already tugging his wallet from his back pocket with a sigh.
The lady behind the register only stared at him, blonde hair in a shapeless pony tail and bags under her eyes that could rival his own. Her green shirt was wrinkled, as if she picked it up off the floor and said it was good enough. The name tag on her chest read ‘Anna’.
“Hello sir, welcome to Kwik Fill.” Her voice droned, clearly wishing that her shift was over and she could go home, “What can I get for you today?”
Tim blinked for a moment before nodding. “Oh uh- We’re getting some stuff but could you uh- Could I get a pack of Newports?”
The woman shrugged, but nodded. “Newports? That stuff is selling like crazy today.” She mumbled, turning around and trying to find it in the stand behind her. After a few moments, she managed to pick them out and placed them on the counter. “I’ll need to see some ID for this. Normally I wouldn’t be bothered, but my boss keeps getting on my ass.”
Tim could relate to that. Back when he had a decent enough job, his boss seemed like he had it out for him. Just as he was about to present his ID, he faltered. She definitely didn’t know that Tim was considered dead, but the very off chance she recognized the name on the card worried him more than it probably should’ve. He was about to say something else to her when Toby’s head poked into his view.
“I didn’t know what you wanted to get.” Toby mumbled as he put the two bags of potato chips, bottles of water and pack of slim jims on the counter. “The slim jims are for Brian. He wanted the- the mild ones, but I couldn’t find those.”
Tim looked down at the snacks before looking at Toby. “It’s fine, he won’t notice the difference.” He said, giving him a small smile.
Thankful for the slight distraction, he rolled his shoulders and looked at Anna behind the counter. There’s no way she could possibly recognize him, she clearly didn’t as she checked her blue chipped painted nails, waiting for the transaction to finally be complete.
Tim looked at Toby before humming. “Actually, could you go back there and grab me the funyuns?”
Toby hummed back with a nod and yet again disappeared into the aisles.
Tim pulled out his ID and handed it over to Anna. She took it, mumbling a curt ‘finally’ under her breath. Tim winced. At least she didn’t recognize him.
“Sorry for this all taking so long.” He apologized, as if it made anything any faster. She only gave him a bored stare.
When Toby came back with the funyuns, Tim was quick to put twenty dollars on the pump they were at and end the transaction. They gathered up their stuff and left, Tim and Toby wishing Anna a good night. Anna didn’t say anything back.
Not like either expected her to.