Dark City

37.

Tom woke up upon colliding with the edge of a country road as he was thrown from a moving car. He caught a glimpse of a black SUV as he tumbled into the snow. His thoughts were all jumbled in his head, but one mission rang clear. He had to find Alex. He checked his pockets and to his relief he still had his wallet and cell phone. Instantly he tried calling Alex, but it went straight to voicemail.

"Fuck!" Tom kicked furiously at the snow. His sword was missing too. He was completely disheveled and one of his pirate sleeves was nearly torn off. The cold chilled him to the bone, but he couldn't think of anybody to call to pick him up. He couldn't face his father like this, and he sure as hell couldn't face Nathan. He pushed himself up and walked with heavy arms of inebriation that was yet to wear off. The road was completely deserted. It wasn't until twenty minutes of walking that he finally saw a pickup truck in the distance. Tom waved his arms frantically, jumping up and down. "Hey!" he shouted. The truck slowed.

It was a construction truck full of lumber. The two men in front leered at him. "You stranded out here?" the passenger said, his accent thick with twang.

"Can you give me a lift to Shark River Hills?"

The men looked at each other and laughed. "You're a long way from home," the driver said. "I'll drive you to the gas station up the road. You can call a friend to come get you."

Tom stuffed his mouth full of grape-flavored bubblegum as he waited. He bought a grey hooded sweatshirt from the gas jockey and watched from the window of the convenience store. Nathan took his sweet time getting there. Tom was practically wearing icicles by the time he saw that ugly old rust bucket turn the corner.  As he neared the vehicle, Nathan honked his horn. Tom grimaced, clutching his pounding head.

"Hey," said Nathan.

"Hey." Tom got in the car. He closed his eyes and leaned his head against the window. "Want some gum?"

"Naw, I'm good. You look like you got hit by a train. What happened to your car?"

"Can we just enjoy the silence?"

"Normally, I'd say yes, but the last time I saw you, you accused me of having sex with your girlfriend."

"I don't want to talk about Lacey or you and me or any of it. Okay?"

"You've got to at least tell me about last night. I drove all the way out here for your ass."

"I drank too much. Found some seal of Solomon people and thought I'd infiltrate their home base. Didn't work out so great."

"Did you see Alex at all?"

"Man, don't ask about that. You guys aren't together anymore," Tom said. He considered pretending to fall asleep, anything to avoid lying to a guy who had known him since childhood.

"Was she with someone new?" Nathan asked, looking over at Tom instead of the road.

Tom stared straight ahead at the road in an effort to persuade Nathan to do so as well. "She was real broken up and drinking a lot. I didn't really talk to her."

Nathan sighed. "Well, I've made some progress on figuring out Hannah's death." He reached into his pocket and handed Tom his phone. Tom went into the gallery and slid his finger along the pictures until he found one of the plates of a red Corvette.

"Whose car is this?"

"Person of interest," Nathan said. "Remember how the guy who was with Hannah had a scar on his eye? This guy has a scar on his eye."

"Oh. Ok. Yep. You figured it out. Case closed. Good job, man," Tom murmured, closing his eyes again.

"Hey. Regardless of what's going on with us, we still need to get justice for Hannah."

"I'm sorry, but I have a lot on my mind right now. Can we talk about this later?"

"Yeah, sure. Just... I want you to know that my friendship with you is more important than anything else. When you're ready to talk about what happened while you were in Hungary, just let me know and I'll tell you the whole story."

Tom briefly opened his eyes and looked at his friend before closing them again. He hoped they could live their lives without ever talking about it. He'd happily forgive Nathan for sleeping with Lacey if Nathan never had to find out about him and Alex.

When they reached Tom's house, Carl was in the kitchen making tea. Through the window of the breakfast nook, he exchanged a nod with Nathan.

"Hey there," he greeted. "Want a cup?" Tom went directly upstairs and slammed the door.

He put on clean clothing and a leather jacket. He plugged his phone into the wall to charge it while he checked the tracker app he had installed. Now he knew exactly where he'd been the night before and he had an idea of how to get there. He could hear his father and Nathan talking in the kitchen and he paused on the stairs to listen in.

"His real name is Samuel Prescott," Nathan was saying. "He drives this red Corvette."

"Hm."

"You know him?" Nathan asked.

"That name turns up every now and then. You're sure it was him?" Carl asked.

"Yeah. Is that significant?"

"I can't talk about it with you."

"I know. It's just... I saw Lacey hanging out with him and I'm worried about her."

"I'd worry about you, Nathan, obsessing over other people's problems. I get it. It's close to home, but it's not your job to save the world. Not anymore."

Tom took a deep breath and came running downstairs. He tore through the living room on the way to the garage and swiped the keys off the hook by the door. "Dad!" he called. "I'm taking the Suzuki."

"Like hell you are! You'll break your neck on these roads!" Carl shouted.

Tom slammed the door on his way out. He opened the garage door, letting in the natural light. Carl's old dual-sport motorcycle glistened like liquid onyx, as beautiful as the open road after a heavy rain.

"Tom!" His father's voice was getting closer. Tom mounted the bike and squeezed the clutch, switching the motor on and giving the throttle a couple good twists. He eased off the clutch and took off down the slick driveway.

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Music: Muse "Butterflies and Hurricanes"