Among Us.

They were finally on the road again and Donovan had to take a deep breath. Already his friend was starting to ask questions and that annoyed Donovan, but he was going to give an honest answer. "Nope, I don't know the guy." The two of them drove down the road a little ways further and then he came to the narrow little chunk of dirt road. Driving over the rocks wasn't really that comfortable for Donovan. There was a considerable amount of vibrations that ran through the car and even the steering wheel was sending some as they were driving along. Resting his arm on the arm rest he took the steering wheel with one hand.

Gradually the came to a crawl as the car stopped in front of a cabin. Donovan got out and looked at it. Personally he thought it looked like one of those little cabins where people got killed in the horror flicks. If anyone did come up here to cause problems it could very well prove to be one of those kinds of homes.

Josh was a little more anxious to check out the house obviously and as Donovan stepped in he could hear the man yelling for his choice of room. "Sure..." Donovan grumbled under his breath and went to the other room. He was tired, but hungry and sore too. It looked like the kitchen was fully stocked for a few days so he got to work making a meal. "You pick the room, then you do the dishes while we're here and I'll cook." Sounded like a fair trade to Donovan and he was more than glad to not have to do the dishes since somebody was going to have to boil the water to get it hot and add soap to a bucket or large pan. First meal on the menu was canned soup. Seemed to be a lot of that and Donovan planned to eat the whole thing since the clerk was already on his way to bed.

**************************

Late that night Donovan woke in his room. It sounded like someone was talking. He couldn't help himself. Whenever he was on the run he tried to stay alert. Sitting up in his bed he carefully pushed the covers away and started to slip his boots on.
 
The clerk was already asleep when Donovan asked him to do the dishes and started to cook tonight's meal.
While Josh was hungry, even the lovely smell of the soup wasn't enough to get him out of bed.
Time went by and Josh was sleeping comfortably until he was waken up by footsteps in the corridor.

Josh looked at his watch only to see that it was way past midnight.
Josh quickly got up only to hear an voice coming from downstairs.
Even though it was hard to make out what the voice was saying, the clerk realized that it clearly wasn't Donovan's voice.
Could someone have broke in ? Did the men chasing Donovan found out about there hiding spot ?

The clerk took a drink from his flask and walked slowly towards the door. He looked fthrough a crack in the old wooden door leaned back to look through the small opening in the door.
He saw Donovan walking slowly down the hallway. It ovsiously wasn't him talking and he seemed as confused and worried as Josh was.
But instead of asking Don what was going on, Josh remained hidden behind the door and watched has his friend walked down the stairs.

Something was downstairs and you could bet the clerk wasn't going to tackle it himslef.
 
The stairs seemed to creak with every ounce of pressure from Donovan. Even when he stepped on them slowly they only groaned louder and longer. Donovan didn't like the fact that he couldn't move without whoever it was downstairs knowing that he was there. A flash of movement caught his eye and he ducked just in time to hear the wood behind him on the stairs crack and splinter. They shot at him!

Bunching himself into a crouched position he sprung toward the smaller figure. When he landed on top there was a funny little oof and he tore the gun out of the hand. "Who are you?!" Yelling into the face of the intruder he waited for some kind of response and instead he felt a sharp knee to the groin. "Augh..." Momentarily he lost his grip and the little figure began to beat on him. Donovan had just about enough of this and he grabbed the person and threw them onto the floor again, though this time he was a little more careful about how he crouched over the person. The hand that grabbed his arm though small was remarkably strong. Too strong to be a human.

"Whoa there." Donovan slowly got up. "We're on the same team. Turn on a light." Backing away he let the little figure get up and he flicked a light on. There was a violet eyed girl standing in front of him and he shook his head. That wily old man sent another one of them up here. That sting operation must have been picking them up by the dozens if he was meeting another one right here. "What are you doing in here?"
 
Donovan left Josh's field of view leaving the clerk to wonder what was going on.
The house went quite for a bit. Then a loud gang accompanied by Donovan's yell made Josh panic. The fat man had left his gun in his car so he had no way to attack.
Josh looked aroud the room before reaching under the bed to find a wooden box. He quickly opened it and found a dusty old Coach Gun with a few shells lying next to it.
More sound was coming from downstairs, Donoavan was in trouble and there was no time to think. The clerk loaded the gun and ran down the stairs.

There he found Donovan holding his hands in front of him while on the other side of the room a woman was on one knee wiping some blood from her mouth.
The two obviously got into a fight. Josh aimed the gun towards the woman and yelled ''Who the fuck are you ?!''
He then looked around the room to find a lying revolver next to him, that presumably was tossed away.
The woman took advantage of Josh's moment of inatention to run towards the gun.
Josh armed his weapon and put the canon against the woman's head, stopping her dead as she crouched to pick up her gun.
''Don't even think about it.'' Said Josh staring deep into her violet eyes.

The clerk had never killed someone before, but he knew how to work a gun and he wasn't affraid to shoot that intruder right then and there.
 
The woman was holding almost as still as possible and she stared from one man to the next. It was almost impossible to tell if she was going to be safe here or not. However, if there was one thing that frightened her it was the clerk holding the gun. A man like that was a danger to others and himself. He was obviously not calm and that would result in a lot of people getting hurt.

Donovan glanced at Josh only momentarily and his eyes grew wider. He almost couldn't believe that the fat little man had grabbed that ridiculous gun and it was doubtful for as old as it was that he would be prepared for the kick back from it. While he was busy looking at the clerk the little woman darted out of the cabin and Donovan peered out the window after her. "I think she'll be fine. Just...." Looking back a the clerk he shook his head. "Put that down before you shoot me."
 
"Im from the south, i know how to work a gun dude.'' Josh shot in the chimney with great aim. He knew that keeping the shells in an armed gun was dangerous.
The clerk was taught how to shoot at a very young age by his father who was quite the gun nut and while Josh didn't share his father's passion, he was a very good shot.
Josh threw the gun in one of the living room chairs.

The clerk slammed the front door and started to fiddle with the old lock to make sure no one got in.
Josh got pissed off. He wasn't really an action man and didn't like tension. All he wanted was to spend a few days here, drive back home and take back the routine.
Once he was done locking down the place, Josh sat on the the chair in front of the fire and decided to start drinking.
"Listen dude. Im not tryna pin you against a wall or anything but with all this stuff that has been happening im wondering...Say, your not hiding anything are you ?''

Josh had a lot on his mind with his friend's disapearence and the set of events that lead the two men in this old house in the middle of the desert. Left one of them as a hunted fugitive of some sort and the other one as a complice.
The current situation might not have been the best one to ask the important questions but the clerk was really confused as well as being drunk.

This time he wanted answers.
 
A drunk guy handling a gun wasn't all that comforting and then the careless throwing of the gun only made Donovan jump slightly. It didn't speak of an experienced gun handler to toss the weapon like that. To make it all the worse the fat clerk was now demanding some kind of answer while he was busy drinking. The man glared at Josh for a second and then he shrugged. "I don't have anything to say. Wonder all you want. You're drunk and I'm not talking to you when you're head is all up in the clouds like that."

Turning on his heel Donovan started for the stairs again. He fully intended on going back to bed. Besides he had never told a single human that he wasn't one of them and he wasn't about to break that trend. The more humans that knew they were here the more dangerous it would become. There were plenty that thought like his friend Will and since the clerk didn't seem to be bothered by the subject Donovan thought it was best to maintain his cover of just an average working guy.

Once he reached the room Donovan closed the door behind himself and he kicked his shoes off so he could go back to bed. Grumbling a little under his breath he griped to himself about Josh. The guy was full of problems and he wasn't really helping. If anything he complicated things and still the alien found himself in need of the human's aid.
 
Josh was a bit crossed about not getting an answer since he felt more than justified to as questions, but if Don had nothing to say he couldn't force him to spit it out.
The clerk kept drinking before falling asleep on the living room chair, the day had been stressfull and he felt like it could only get worst from there.

The night went by and Josh was waken up by the creecking noise coming from the stairs as Donovan walked down from the second floor.
Being barely awke, the clerk was feeling hungry since he hadn't eaten anything for the past two days.
So to the kitchen he went looking around for something to eat, he found some canned ravioli in one of the cuboards.
"Bingo !" said the clerk to himslef. He got back up after picking up the can and had a peak out of the kitchen window to see what appeared to be a car heading towards their little settlement.

Josh instantly began to stress out thinking that they had been found. He proceeded to burst out of the kitchen and yelled to Donovan who was on te other side of the house. "There's a car coming !" After warning his friend, the clerk ran to the living room, grabbed the shotgun resting one of the chairs and loaded it with some leftover shells he had in his pockets. He stood in the doorway's blind spot and aimed the gun towards the door.

The sound of a car stopping followed by a loud banging was heard and the house went quiet.
Josh gripped the gun and told Don to open the door.
 
(My computer is fixed now, I am still out of town for several more weeks so my responses may not be as consistent for a bit yet.)


Donovan almost groaned when he heard the clerk. How could this human be so obnoxious? Then he heard it too. There was someone outside. Rolling out of the bed he slipped his feet into the boots he had near the end of the bed. The man was almost down the stairs and he heard the clerk start to load the gun. They should have just tried to escape rather than fight, but chances were they would have ended up fighting anyway.

While the human held the gun Donovan stood a short distance from the doorway. He wasn't sure what to do at this point. There was still a chance to run and he was thinking of taking it. While he could fight and do it well, it was always better not to reveal that side of himself if he didn't have to. This was a rule that was especially important when you were surrounded by humans. One had to seem as human as possible and that was strictly to avoid alarming them since humans were rather jittery in general and then they could live in relative peace. Glancing at Josh one more time the alien finally cocked his head to the side. "No...." His eyes narrowed and he peered through the hole in the door that the fat clerk had made with the gun.

There was another banging sound and Donovan looked at his friend. The engine on the vehicle started again. If it wasn't an agent they were going to be informing them. Donovan was about ready to open the door and tell the clerk to let open fire on the vehicle when the sound of the engine revving blasted through the night air and then the headlights came careening toward them.

"Run." Shoving the clerk roughly to the side Donovan scrambled after him. It seemed that the fat man couldn't move quite fast enough and in the flash of the moment he forgot to keep his abilities hidden and he snatched the human off the ground and started to drag him with one arm on the race back up the stairs and toward one of the back bedroom windows.
 
(Sorry for the long delay, got sick last week but now im better so i should be a bit more regular)

When the two reached an upstairs bedroom and locked the door, Donovan broke one of the windows open. Josh was left a bit shook after his friend dragged him upstairs with incredible strenght and relatively easily. The clerk wasn't clueless about his weight which made it the more puzzling when Donovan grabbed him by the arm to drag him upstair while sprinting. Even though Josh was confused, there was no time to think, heavy footsteps were creeping up and the pair had to escape.

Donovan seemed to imply they had to jump out the window but Josh knew he couldn't do it without hurting himself. He had to find a solution quickly.
The clerk looked around the room and spotted a chain hooked onto a trap door on the ceiling. Josh climbed on the bed and pulled the chain to let a ladder leading into the basement come down.

Josh climbed up as fast as he could when he heard the footstep getting closer to the door of the room him and don were hiding in. Once the clerk reached the top he gestured Donovan to get up as well.

It was the only way they could hide and be safe.
 
(That's alright I was dealing with a bunch of other not so fun stuff.)

It seemed that the fat clerk didn't think he could make such a jump. Donovan glowered at him momentarily. He could always push the fat man out the window if he would fit and then they could be on their way. If all else failed Donovan could carry the plump figure on his back and run. Instead it seemed that Josh was determined to find some other route.

Surprisingly he had found a loft of sorts and the ladder slid down. Before it could hit the floor Donovan reached out and eased it down so as to avoid making a clunk that might give them away. After Josh was up the ladder Donovan slid it back up into the loft. His bright violet eyes flashed with fury. "Stay here." Shutting the clerk into the loft he then ran for the window. Donovan could easily crash through and distract them. If he could lead them into the woods it wouldn't be so hard to dispatch with them. Obviously whoever had been sent on the hunt wasn't quite as accomplished as some.

The window shattered as the massive figure of the alien crashed through it and then dropped to the ground below. Men started to race back down the stairs. Gunshots sounded off in the air and slight flash could be seen from the brush. Screams filled the air and desperate cries for help before it all fell silent. Donovan walked back out of the forest with blood dripping off his hands. Stomping his way back into the house he walked up the stairs and then pulled the ladder down. "You need to get out of here before there's anymore trouble."
 
Josh was left well confused when Donovan shut the trap door and left him alone in the dark basement. He tried to get out, but the door seemed to be stuck.
The clerk was left alone in the dark while his friend was in danger being chased by god knows who.
It would be as good a time to pull out his flask than any other. After some time passed Josh began to hear screams as well as gunshots coming from outside.
On one hand the clerk felt safe here but on the other his friend was in danger and he had to do something.

Josh got up to look for a tool to break open the trap door but it was simply way too dark to see anything. As he got up, the screams and gunshots had stopped.
Everything went quiet except for heavy footstep closing up on Josh's hiding spot. The clerk was surprised to see Donovan come up to him telling him to leave quickly.

He certainly wasn't going to.

"Im not going anywhere before you tell me what the fuck is going on here !" Yelled Josh shoving Don out of the way so he could get down from the basement.
"I want answers dude ! I tried to be nice to the new guy in town after i had been a dick, but i didn't sign up for any of this !" Josh's gaze panned down to reveal that Donovan's clothes and arms were soaked in blood.

Last night Josh had the idea of going to his car and grab some essentials the two had forgotten.
Including his gun.

Josh took a step back, put his hand on his pocket and stared Donovan in the eyes.
 
It was perfectly normal for a human to act irrationally. When something like this happened it was best to simply go with the person that had committed the deed or distance yourself as far as possible and the clerk seemed to want to do both. Donovan moved when the pushed on him and he watched the clerk stomp his way to the main floor again. Now that they were on level ground Donovan stared at him plainly.

"I'm gonna give you two options." Glowering at a clerk the man waited for the statement to sink in before he said anything more. "If I tell you what's going on you stick with me. Otherwise you don't ask anymore questions and you get out now. Go back to your tiny store and live that life with no one and nothing. I can promise you only a few things. If you go back home and pretend none of this ever happened you'll live the same life. You go home and turn on me you won't last long. Come with me and your life won't be the same, you'll go places and see things you've never dreamed of. If you come with me there isn't going to be a chance to turn me in to anyone, but you'll get in shape and lose that stomach cause they'll come for you to."

Searching the clerks face he almost bore holes into his body with the sharp violet eyes. "You better answer me and fast. I don't have time to wait all night for you to make up your mind."
 
The clerk starred at Donovan. His friend was right. Back home there was nothing waiting for him and no one to come home to.
But even though now that he was put in front of the matter, going home wasn't a great prospect, Josh wasn't a man of action and he didn't know in how much danger he'd put himself in.

Josh took his hand out of his pocket but kept a cold gaze on Donovan. "I come with you, you tell me what i want to know, we have a deal."
The clerk knew that this had to be the most inconciderate decision he ever took but doing something stupid and dangerous was at least better than not doing anything.
Better than being engraved in a painful routine. Whatever he was going to get out of following Donovan was well worth a minimum wage job and the little he had waiting for him at home.

But he at least wanted to know what he was signing up for. He always had a weird feeling about Donovan. His physic, the way he acted, the fact that no one in town knew anything about him. He just kinda show up one day and Josh didn't get that mind set of being away and alone all the time. Not socializing with anyone or even just haging out with co-workers. That's why when the two's encounters started getting more regular Josh tried to know more about him. Albeit the clerk never was great at it.

Now was the time to get his questions answer.
 
Donovan raised one eyebrow at the clerks decision. He was surprised that the man had agreed to slim up. Most of the fat folk he'd run into would rather keep their fat than change. "Then I answer your question. Your friend is right, there are aliens and I'm one of them." Shrugging slightly he looked at Josh. "That's the only reason that I have been hunted. Now you'll have to come with me. I take you to a safe house and we rendezvous with a ship. I get new identity and so do you."

Starting for the bathroom he turned the shower head on and stepped underneath it with his clothes on and everything. Grabbing a bar of soap he scrubbed all the blood off and then yelled to Josh. "Ready to go!?"
 
As Donovan left Josh in the bedroom a big smile appeared on the clerk's face. He then started lauging incontrolably.
Josh was flabbergast after hearing what Don's big secret was. He grabbed his sides and started to laugh even louder.
"Aliens !? Is that all you could come up with !? Oh dude im dying !" The clerk was laughing so hard he collapsed to the ground.

Surely he was laughing for how insane Donovan's justification was but the clerk was also pretty annoyed thath after being in all thath danger and wondering so many things this was the only idea his friend could come up with to justify himself.
Eventually the clerk calmed down and got back to his feet only to yell back at Donovan who was still showering. "But for real though ? No jokes, seriously. Are you like a war criminal or something ? You know that at this point you can tell me the truth right ? Hell, im asking for it."

In his own eyes, Josh was right until proven wrong.
 
All the laughing...Donovan rolled his eyes and he sighed, "Idiot." Who in the world would be so stupid to think that aliens were a falsehood. It would be the equivalent of his kind saying that humans didn't exist. A thud sounded as the clerk continued to laugh. For the time Donovan wrote it off to the fact that the human was probably drunk. After what felt like forever of listening to the clerk it finally settled down and Donovan stepped out of the shower.

Looking over the fat man he growled. "I did tell you the truth." If the clerk badgered him any further he was half tempted to prove that he was an alien and not in a pretty way.
 
Some more chuckles escaped from Josh's mouth as Donovan answered him with a puzzling amont of seriousness.
"Oh really ? Then why didn't you use your laser guns to take these out guys ?" Josh took another sip from his flask before walking to Donovan and saying.
"You know what ? I almost want to go with it andtake it as a joke but right now i ain't joking no more. So come on use your magic alien powers and prove wrong here."

Josh was getting a bit annoyed. He wanted the truth and Donovan gave him nothing but what he thought was a bad joke. Worst of all he was almost serious about it.
Didn't even feel like a joke anymore and more like a complete lie and the Clerk wasn't willing to go with it.
The one time Donovan could've openly told him the truth he lied to him right in his face.

Or so he thought.
 
"You really aren't all that smart are you?" Donovan let his head lull to the side. The clerk was getting irritated and acting like this wasn't the answer. Well if he wanted something more exciting he should have broken into a maximum security prison. "Fine!" Yelling back at the clerk he pulled at the sopping sleeves on his shirt. He had rolled them down to be sure they were well rinsed and washed off from the blood. Now the sleeves stuck to his arm as he pulled on the sleeves and got them rolled up past his elbow. "I ever show you the tattoos?"

Letting the clerk see both arms he held them up to show off the jagged lines that ran along his forearms. "Just watch, but don't get too close." Razor sharp little edges of white bone began to slide through the lines. They weren't really tattoos it was just a tough sheath of skin that covered the spikes that came out when he felt threatened, or sometimes when he wanted to bring them out.
 
The clerk was shocked by the reveal. He backed off rather quickly. "Holy shit !" Said Josh as he starred at Donovan's arm.
"No, no, no, no ! You can't be serious ! There's a trick, there's something !" The clerk shook his head in denial, he couldn't believe his eyes.
Many ideas crossed his mind on how such a thing could be possible. A weird disease ? Maybe a weird tatoo effect ? Or Josh might've just had little to much to drink.
Whatever it was, he was witnessing it. He looked at Donovan before sitting down and putting his head in his hand in disbelief.

"It's true isn't it ? Damn it !"
While Josh's mind started piecing together early events that should've made him realise that his friend wasn't totally normal earlier, he still was pretty shook.
While he enjoyed science-fiction when he was younger, the idea of aliens being real was absolutely unreal. Yet here he was. In front of someone who was likely not human.

Josh grabbed his flask who was slowly getting empty and began to drank his disbelief away.

Or at least try to.
 
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