After over two hours of driving, we reached the last town with the best access to the forest that would take us across the border. We left the van at the end of town outside the cemetery, and continued in on foot. It was a small town. The lack of a decent CCTV network was a nice change of pace. Stopping briefly at the church beside the cemetery, we used their bathroom to scrub our hands clean, which took far longer than I expected. Afterwards I made sure I went and thanked the priest for letting us use their facilities.

"Child, God's house is always open to you," he assured me. "I was about to go into the confessional. You are more than welcome to stay and talk."

"No, thank you. I really must be going," I shook my head and turned to leave.

"The devil wears many faces. Remember to be vigilant," he warned me.

I looked back at him confused. Was he talking about Jake? Did he recognise us from the news? Or does he normally say that to people who use his church's bathroom, but didn't leave any money in the collection box.

"Everything ok?" Jake asked as I rejoined him on the street.

"Yeah," I insisted as we continued walking towards the town center. "But hey, look, you didn't burn going in there."

Jake chuckled, "So we know I'm not a demon."

"You sound disappointed," I teased.

"I was hoping to grow a pair of horns," he smiled. "Maybe a tail too."

I bit my lip, "Well now I'm disappointed."

Jake put his arm around my waist and pulled me close beside him. "I can still screw you like one," he whispered in my ear.

My body shuddered involuntarily. His hand slipped into my back pocket and squeezed my butt through the fabric. I closed my eyes and remembered our shower together. The idea of being in the hot, cleansing shower with his arms around me again made me envious of past me – of both the shower and the cuddles. When I opened my eyes again, I caught Jake looking at me with concern. I leant my head to rest against his shoulder as we continued to walk and he kissed the top of my head.

On the next block we found a quaint thrift store and went inside. The middle-aged owner of the store gave us some strange looks as we went around grabbing clothes and a new bag to store them in while barely speaking to each other. Jake did come up behind me a few times to sneak kisses on my neck, which the owner was not impressed by.

I tried to pick out shirts for Jake that weren't black, but he just grabbed them out of my hand and tossed them back on the rack. At one point I held up a flamboyant Hawaiian shirt. He rolled his eyes and walked off to the other side of the store. I shrugged and put it back on the rack. When I turned back Jake was holding up a skimpy red dress that was definitely a size too small for me. He had made his point - two could play this game. I walked up to him and took the dress from him with a wink. He went completely wide-eyed and blushed. I giggled and shoved it back on the rack. Two could play this game, but one was a better bluff than the other.

After having our fill of screwing around, I noticed some old wigs on display. I picked up a blond bob and put it on, then pulled out my phone to check myself out. It was not a bad fit. Definitely enough to fool people again. When I lowered my phone, I saw Jake staring at me. He nodded his approval to me. Then I grabbed a pair of dark sunglasses, put them on and gave him my best duck face. Shaking his head he walked off to the counter with the clothes we had chosen. I took the wig and glasses with me and put them down on top of our pile.

"Bit of a shopping spree?" the owner asked as she rung up our items.

"She lost our bag," Jake teased.

"It was a little more complicated than that," I glared at him.

"It had all of our clothes in it," he continued.

I gave him a poke in his side, "Are you going to tell everyone we meet?"

The owner laughed, "I'm sure one day you'll be able to look back on this and have a good laugh about it."

"See? She thinks it's funny too," Jake humoured.

"Is your leg ok though, dear?" the owner asked out of concern.

I looked down as I had completely forgot that my pant leg was bloodied, "Oh, yeah, it was just a nasty cut, but as you know, no spare clothes."

The woman nodded. She seemed to have bought it at least. She went back to finishing ringing us up. Jake glanced at me and gave me a small nod of approval for my quick recovery, then proceeded to pay the woman in cash. I was surprised at first, but then I realised he must've raided our assailant's wallet while he was dumping the body. He probably had his credit cards too. He wasn't going to let it go to waste after all.

Grabbing our purchases, we headed back outside. It was the middle of the afternoon, but school wasn't out yet for the day so it was still relatively quiet. I realised we should've asked the owner where I could get changed, but before I could head back in, Jake was wandering off down a side street. I had to rush to catch up to him.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Exactly what I was looking for," he smiled and gestured to a second-hand car lot on the opposite side down the end of the road.

"We're going to buy a car now? I don't think we can do it on credit," I mused.

Jake continued walking and eyeing up the lot from a distance. It was clear he was looking for something. "There are other ways to get a hold of a vehicle." Suddenly he paused and relaxed. I knew he had found what he was looking for, but I couldn't work out which had caught his eye. "We come back at night."

"That's at least 4... 5 hours from now," I frowned.

Jake pointed to the home for rent sign not 20 paces from where we stood on our side of the road, "Sometimes karma is good to me."

"I don't suppose it comes fully furnished too," I chortled.

Jake went up to the townhouse and peered through the front window, "No, but it'll have hot water."

"I'll take it!" I exclaimed. "Now I just need some nice soap, shampoo and conditioner."

"There was a convenience store back there," Jake reminded me.

He put his backpack down on the front porch. I stepped up behind him as he pulled out a small pouch and opened it. Leaning over to see over his shoulder, I saw the pouch contained a set of lockpicks. He immediately began picking the front door of the empty townhouse. I looked around, but there was absolutely no one around. Even the car yard across from us was empty. Within seconds Jake had the front door open and we were inside.

The townhouse itself was simple with 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom. Given we were only there to freshen up, we weren't too fussed. After quickly changing and putting my new wig on, we went back up the road to the convenience store to buy basic food and necessities. I was happily tossing much needed toiletries into my basket when the sound of a TV in the corner caught my attention. I walked around the end of the aisle to see what was on it.

<<I'm here speaking to one of the witnesses of the horrific shooting that occurred this morning. Tell me, what did you see?>>

<<It was terrible! They came in with guns and just started shooting at people!>>

That's not at all what happened, I glared at the screen.

<<And I'll never forget that guy's face! He was smiling real scary like! Like the Joker!>>

Jake was wearing a mask, you moron.

<<The police need to hurry up and catch them so we can feel safe again!>>

"You're only torturing yourself," Jake whispered in my ear.

"It's not fair," I mumbled.

"The story will always be told how they want it to be told," he reminded me. "Have you found everything you needed?" he gestured to the basket in my hands. I nodded and he took the basket from me to take to the counter.

<<What was their goal on the train?>>

<<Well, it's not clear, but it appears that they had planned a mass shooting, but police managed to track them in time to stop them from fulling enacting their horrendous plans. With these two on the run now, who knows what they'll have planned next.>>

I wanted to grab the display rack and throw it at the television. How Jake ever put up with so much bullshit being reported on him, I'd never know. Or was his secret that he doesn't? That he uses that anger to drive himself forward.

Jake took me hand when he finished paying to encourage me out of the store. We walked hand-in-hand in silence back to the townhouse. He put the food in the kitchen while I grabbed the soaps and headed straight for the bathroom to rid myself of the grim of the day. By the time the hot water hit my skin Jake's arms wrapped around my body.