They dashed through the dimly-lit industrial neighborhood, ducking behind dumpsters or shrubs whenever they heard sirens approaching, only slowing their pace when they began to notice the lighted signs of open businesses.

      Ducking into a secluded doorway to catch their breath, they looked around the area, relieved to see that the traffic was still fairly heavy, in spite of the time. Ashley raked his hair back from his face and turned toward Briar. "Okay, what exactly do you have in mind, Tink?" he inquired, raising an eyebrow.

      "First off, we need to find somewhere that'll let me use their phone," she replied. "I need to make a call, and then we'll have some help. Right now, the only cops I'd trust would be Sanger and Han, because they were with us when this miserable freak was in your house."

      "I could call one of the guys, any one of them would be willing to help us..." he began, but she raised a hand to cut him off. 

      "Yes, I'm sure they would, Ash," she stated calmly. "But we both know that it's a fuckin' coin-toss whether any of them could get out of their houses without crazed fangirls or the bloody paparazzi on their heels. Besides, that would put them in danger, too, not to mention their girlfriends, and neither of us wants that."

      "Yeah, you're right," he sighed. "But the same thing would be true for whoever you're planning to get in touch with, wouldn't it?"

      "It's true for basically anybody," she agreed. "But the person I have in mind has gotten out of some pretty hairy situations himself, and he can stay under the radar a lot easier than your bandmates can."

      Realizing that the noise from the sirens had dwindled away, they stepped out of the doorway and studied their surroundings. There was a small convenience store almost directly across the street, and Briar said, "I would try there, but those places all have the front counter boxed in to keep from getting robbed, so that's out."

      "There," Ashley stated, pointing further down the street. She turned to follow his gaze and saw a Wal-Mart barely a block from where they currently stood. "You can tell them you locked yourself out of your car, and ask to use the phone," he continued. "And since they have such a big parking lot, and not a lot of windows, they can't really prove otherwise."

      "And there are always people there, which makes it a hell of a lot safer than standing out here in the open," she added. "So what are we waiting for? Let's make a Wal-Mart run."

      They crossed the street and sprinted to the store, which was still quite busy, despite the time. As they entered, Ashley leaned toward Briar and muttered, "While you make your call, I'm gonna go take a piss. They'll be more likely to believe you if they don't see us together before you use the phone, anyway."

      "Yeah, I guess. But keep your eyes open for anything weird, okay?"

      He nodded, and walked toward the men's room, while Briar approached a friendly-looking  older man in a manager's vest, as the service desk was closed for the night. "Excuse me, sir, but is there any chance that you'd have a phone here somewhere that I could borrow?" she inquired. "I've locked myself out of my car, with my stupid phone on the charger inside, and I need to call my brother to bring me the spare keys."

      "Of course, hon," he replied, patting her shoulder. "I have a daughter around your age, and I wouldn't want her standing out by herself in the middle of the night. There's a phone right on the corner of the desk over there, just help yourself, as long as it's a local call. But you'll need to dial "nine" first to get an outside line."

      "Yes, sir, it's local. Thanks a lot." She moved to the service desk, seeing Ashley emerge from the restroom and pause, as if he were interested in the contents of the tag-engraving machine that stood just outside the door. Picking up the phone, she hit the nine, then continued with the familiar number, hearing it ring several times, which almost caused her to panic. But just as she was ready to hang up, she heard the call connect.

      "This is FM Auto Body, but we're not open right now," the gritty voice on the other end announced in a rather annoyed tone. "I open up at ten in the morning, if you're lookin' for an appointment."

      She quickly cut him off by saying, "Wiley, it's me. I need you to be quiet and listen for a minute."

      "Briar?" he asked incredulously. "What the fuck? I thought you were... you know. Hidin' out with your rock-star buddy."

      "Yeah, well, there's an issue with that now," she informed him. "The bastard found us, we had to climb up to the roof and go over the side. And I'm pretty sure the officers that were there are dead. And I'm also pretty sure that the fucker is one of them, so no way in hell are we going back to that situation."

      "Where are you right now, doll? Are you somewhere safe?"

      "As safe as we can be, we're in the middle of a Wal-Mart. I told the manager that I was calling my brother because I'd locked myself out of my car, so he'd let me use the phone. It's still pretty busy, so even if he found us, I doubt he'd try anything in a store full of people."

      "Do you have money on you?" he inquired.

      "Maybe fifty bucks in cash, and my credit cards," she responded. "I'm not sure about Ash, but I know he does have his wallet."

      "All right, here's what you're going to do," Wiley said decisively. "I'm heading out as soon as I hang up, and while you're waiting, you two are gonna do some shopping. Pick up a few changes of clothes. Practical stuff, warm, nothin' fancy. Grab some personals, too. You know, shampoo, toothpaste, woman stuff, that kinda shit. Your gonna need some food that won't spoil for a little while, no frozen stuff or anything like that, and maybe somethin' to keep yourselves busy. Books, board games, DVD's, maybe some of your crochet weirdness. I'll be there as quick as I can."

      "Don't you want the address first?" she asked.

      "Don't need it. The number is on my phone, Cody's looking it up as we speak. And when we get there, I'll send him in, and have 'em page you, with your middle name, and your cousin's last, so you know it's us."

      Letting out a relieved sigh, she said, "Okay, I'll see you in a bit. Thanks, Wiley."

      "Anytime, doll," he replied, and ended the call. She put down the receiver and walked toward Ashley, who had been watching her curiously.

      "Any luck?" he inquired hopefully.

      "Yeah, he's heading out now, so we need to do some shopping while we're waiting," she replied. "Good thing we both had enough sense to grab our wallets."

      "Excuse me?" he blurted. "We just escaped from a fucking lunatic, and you want to shop?"

      "Yes, and so do you," she replied, in an impatient tone. "We need to get some clothes, and apparently portable food and stuff to keep ourselves occupied. I don't know exactly what he has in mind, but he has some sort of a plan. So if you want to spend nobody knows how damn long in what you're wearing now, that's up to you, but I'm getting my shit together."

      She turned and started walking away from him, toward the shopping carts, and he almost instantly caught her hand. "Okay, I get it now," he said. "That makes sense, I guess I'm just not tracking real well right now."

      "No, it's fine. Sorry I snapped at you," she answered, giving his fingers a brief squeeze. "I guess I didn't exactly make myself entirely clear. But we need to be quick, I'm not sure how long it'll take him to get here."

      They each acquired a cart, and began a circuit around the store, going as quickly as they could without drawing unwanted attention to themselves. Traversing the aisles, they began filling the baskets with clothing, shoes, and personal-care items, before moving on to acquire a number of books and movies, along with an assortment of drawing pads, yarn, and related items. Then, once they had moved through the grocery section and stocked up on non-perishable food, they returned to the front of the store, and emptied the carts onto adjacent conveyors. Just as Ashley completed his purchase, a voice sounded through the intercom, announcing, "Rose Baxter, your party is waiting at the front of the store. Rose Baxter, your party is waiting."

      Looking up, Briar saw a familiar figure standing near the children's play area, and motioned to get Ashley's attention. "That's him right there," she informed him. "Go on over, so he doesn't wander off to look for us. Tell him I'll be there in a minute, okay?"

      He nodded and pushed his cart toward the individual, who lifted his head to peer out from beneath the hood of his oversized sweatshirt. When he did, Ashley was somewhat startled to realize that he was looking at a teenaged boy, whose pale green eyes gazed back at him from under a shock of reddish-blond hair.

      "Where's Briar?" were the first words out of his mouth.

       Inclining his head toward the registers, Ashley replied, "She's over there, still checking out. She said she'll be here in a minute."

      The boy relaxed slightly and nodded, saying, "I'm Cody. My dad's waiting for us outside, so I'm gonna text real quick and tell him everything's okay." He pulled a phone from his pocket and started tapping rapidly, as Ashley noticed Briar finally approaching them with her purchases.

      She reached them just as Cody stuffed the phone back into the pocket of his jeans. He turned to look at her, then jerked his head toward the door and said, "Dad's waiting in the van, let's bail. We'll have to walk a little way, because he parked out past the trees at the edge of the lot, so we're out of camera range." She and Ashley both started rolling their carts toward the doors, with Cody keeping pace between them, both hands stuffed into the pocket on the front of his hoodie. He directed them to the furthest corner of the parking lot and around a small stand of trees, where they found a large, nineteen-eighties model van parked in front of an empty office building with a faded "For Rent" sign taped to the door.

      As Cody reached out to pull open the van's sliding side door, the driver jumped out and hurried around the vehicle. As he joined them, Ashley saw a tall, burly man, who appeared to be in his early to mid-forties, with long, graying brown hair hanging in a braid down his back, and an unruly beard reaching almost to the center of his chest. He started helping Ashley remove the bags from his basket and load them into the floor of the van, while Cody assisted Briar, and between the four of them, they had both carts emptied within minutes.

      "Get in, Cody and I will get rid of these," the man said, and Ashley climbed into the vehicle, extending his hand to help Briar inside. Once they were both seated, Cody pulled the door closed, and they could hear the sound of the hard rubber wheels rattling along the pavement. Then just a few seconds later, both front doors opened, and their companions rejoined them.

      "Ash, you've met Cody, and this is his dad, Wiley," Briar said. "Wiley's pretty much my best friend, he's kinda the big brother I would rather have had."

      "Hey there," Wiley rumbled as he started the ignition. "The circumstances suck balls, I know, but it's nice to meet ya, anyway."

      "Same here," Ashley replied. "So, is it cool if I ask where we're going, or is it a secret?"

      As they pulled onto the street, Wiley said, "For now, we're headed to my garage, so we can bang out the details, then you'll go somewhere else tomorrow."

      "Why wait?" Ashley demanded, a touch of panic creeping into his voice. "We should just go wherever it is now, put as much space between us and him as possible."

      Briar placed a hand on his arm in an effort to calm him, but her words were also somewhat strained as she added, "I'm kind of wondering that myself, dude. What's wrong with now?"

      She could tell that Wiley was making an effort to keep his composure as he responded, "Because the place I have in mind is sort of a long drive from here, and right now I wouldn't trust either of you to drive a fuckin' kiddie-car around the backyard. You're on an adrenaline high right now, but you'll be crashing any time, and I'm not gonna be responsible for you wrapping yourselves around a tree, or worse yet, somebody else's car. And there's no need to worry, you know nothin's gonna happen to you on our watch, doll. Especially not when Fergus and Toby are joining the party."

      Briar gave Ashley's arm a squeeze, and nodded. "Okay," she agreed. "I trust you, dude. And I guess we probably could use a little rest."

      He gave her a somewhat incredulous look, which she either didn't notice, or chose to ignore, instead snuggling into a more comfortable position in her seat. "No way we're going to get any sleep tonight," Ashley thought. "Probably not for awhile, yet."

      But even then, he could feel his muscles starting to quiver as the tension began to creep from his body, and as the sound of "King Nothing" drifted faintly from the front seat, his eyes slowly slid shut, and he fell into a blessedly dreamless sleep.