Furry Humans | ✓

2.

↠C h a p t e r T w o↞
MOONBROOKE

❝The future has a way of arriving unannounced.❞

♦ ° ♦ ° ♦

"We need to stop and get gas, honey."

"We're almost there."

"Cole. . ."

Dad pinches his lips together then sighs, "All right, we'll stop." he tells her, placing both hands on the steering wheel, and slows the car down as he turns into a small gas station we were about to pass.

He pulls up to a red and black gas pump, placing the car in park then switching the engine off all in one fluid motion. I scan the surrounding area through the planes of the window, my eyes sweeping over the run-down shop— the paint on the walls were chipped largely in certain parts as grime and filth smeared among them with the appearance of small critters crawling amidst the place; a shiver rushes through me.

Dusk settles in the sky the moment we stepped off the plane, jet-lag not fully setting in yet. We left the airport in an SUV Dad was able to buy at that moment, the car being our only sort of transportation as we live here. The temperature has already begun to drop since our location was somewhere close to Washington.

A few cars were parked in front of the gas station's building and other gas pumps, a few men stood up against the wall near the entrance to the store, talking to each other, their attire's ragged but bundled for the incoming cold front.

Watching them, the sudden urge to pee rushes through me.

Unbuckling my seatbelt without hesitation, I was preparing to open the door when the sound of the locks clicking in place stopped my movements.

"And where do you think you're going?" Dad questions.

I sigh, rolling my eyes and plucking my earbuds out. "Going to the restroom, Dad, I didn't know I had to ask permission," I say with a slight attitude.

The sudden move of locations caused bitterness to reside inside me, making all thoughts and actions mingle with traces of rebellion, just to get back at them for this change of scenery on me. I glance over as our eyes lock through the rear-view mirror, his own narrowing into slits, his brown eyes seeming as if they darkened.

"Yes, you do. Do you see where we are?" he states, creasing his thick brows together and making a quick gesture of the gas station.

"Yes, I do." I jeered, mocking his earlier words with a bobbing head. "We're one thousand, five hundred and five miles away from home. That's where we are."

The shuffling of clothing is brought to my attention as I watch him twist his body towards me, red in the face.

"You know what I meant!" he hisses through clenched teeth, his voice strained as if he wanted to say more but wasn't willing to. "We are in an unfamiliar area with people we don't know or what they are capable of. You need to be more aware of your situation," he ends with a point of his finger.

"As for the move, we had no choice, you're just going to have to deal with it, Abigail."

I cross my arms, my chest rising as I took a deep breath and exhaled angrily through my nose, remembering to count to ten before I spoke again. I move my gaze from him to Mom, her own gaze pleading with me just to go with everything just for today.

I couldn't.

"All right, fine."

I hastily pull the lock to the door upward, and before either one of them could say anything, I opened the door and slid out: slamming it behind me.