Chapter Twenty Five #2
Benji kept his eyes on Sawyer the entire time until he disappeared inside.
A wave of anxiety suddenly hit him and he had no idea why.
Maybe it was because he felt like a sitting duck in the car.
Or because they had a dead body in the backseat and someone might see it.
Or maybe, just maybe, it was because Sawyer had left him.
The guy had been by his side for days now and the only time he wasn’t was when he was getting his ass beat.
He released a heavy breath. He’s fine. He told himself.
He’s just getting us some supplies. Nothing bad can possibly go wrong when he’s doing that. It’s not like Milo is here.
But once that thought crossed his mind, he immediately looked around at the other gas pumps, looking for the bastard.
There was no way he was there. Even if Milo left shortly after they did, they still had a headstart.
And if they wanted to catch up, he would have to be speeding, which would attract unwanted attention to him and Milo didn’t seem like the type of person who would want that.
Still, Benji looked anyway, simply for peace of mind.
And, just like he figured, there was no sign of him, Tank or that creepy guy Clay.
He relaxed in his seat and looked back at the rest stop, just waiting for Sawyer to emerge.
Time seemed to drag by as he waited for the man but after a few minutes, he was walking out the doors with a couple bags. Benji released a breath he didn’t even realize that he had been holding and smiled when Sawyer opened the door and hopped back in. “All good?”
“Yep,” Sawyer nodded. “Gas is loaded too.”
Benji looked towards the gas pump. It sure was and the gas attendant came over.
Of course, they were in the state where he couldn't pump his own gas.
He watched the attendant with eyes like a hawk, making sure they never looked into the back of the vehicle.
Luckily, he didn't and a few minutes later, they were back on the road. “What’d you get?”
“Well, I got us some hotdogs, water, chips. The phone, of course, with the hundred minutes. A map.” Sawyer perused inside the bag some more and Benji thought that there was more in there that he caught from the corner of his eye, but he didn’t mention it so perhaps there wasn’t.
“I got ketchup and mustard. Hope that’s good for the hotdog. ”
“Perfect.” He smiled then a turned to look at Sawyer. “Can you set up the phone?”
Sawyer nodded. “I was going to. Just getting your hotdog prepped.” Benji couldn’t help but snort and laugh softly at that comment. He could see the others cheeks flush a bit pink and he shook his head, “Listen, it was the only warm food they had.”
“Not saying anything.”
“You laughed.”
“I saw something on the side of the road.”
“Yeah, uh huh. I’m sure you did.” Sawyer passed Benji the hotdog, which he happily took, and then opened up his bottle of water so he could have easy access to it.
That rest stop hotdog was probably the best hotdog he had ever had in his life.
It took everything in his body to not groan like a crazy person as he shoveled it into his mouth.
It just tasted so fucking good. It was the first real food he had in days.
He didn’t realize how hungry he was until he snarfed it down in just a few bites.
Setting up the phone didn’t take too long, luckily.
Once it was done, Sawyer passed it over to Benji and he took the time to find a rest area that they could sit at while he made the call.
He stared down at the phone for a few moments while he recalled the phone number for his contact.
It was one of the few numbers he remembered.
It was an important one. Once dialed, he put the phone on speaker phone, simply for Sawyer’s benefit, and leaned back into his seat.
A few rings later, a voice came through. “What’s the end of everything?”
Benji huffed. He knew the guy always answered the phone with a riddle to make sure it was someone he actually worked with.
If it wasn’t, they would likely ask a question and that his sign to hang up.
He took a second to think about the answer, blinking a few times.
Sawyer tapped him on the arm and mouthed ‘G’ and then took a bite of his hotdog, which only had mustard on it. Benji found that bizarre but endearing.
“G,” he finally answered.
“‘Eyyy good! Who am I talking to?” He then asked.
“Hey, Jackson. It’s Benjamin Madison.”
“No shit! Benji! Hey!” Jackson exclaimed, clearly happy to hear from him. It was pretty rare when he did so it was probably nice to know he was alive. “What’s going on, man? You good?”
“Not really,” he answered sincerely, “It’s been a rough week, man. I’m in New Jersey, right now, near East Brunswick. I need a place to lay low for a few days.”
“New Jersey, huh? What are you doing there? Aren’t you from DC?”
He nodded, “Yeah. Got mixed up in some shit. It…doesn’t matter. Just need a place. Do you have something for me?”
“Let me take a look at what I got there,” Jackson fell silent for a few moments and there was some tinkering of computer keys on the other end before a loud a ha was heard. “I actually have a place in Shrewsbury. Not that far from you, it seems like.”
“Fuck yeah, that’s perfect.”
“Great, I’ll make sure it’s set up for you and I’ll text you the address and the code to get in. This is a burner, yeah?”
“Yeah,” he said.
“Good.”
“Jackson, I also will need a medic. Can you get one there today?” He tried to make himself sound as hopeful as he could.
He hummed. “I think that can be arranged. Anything else?”
“Y-Yeah… one more thing,” he rubbed at his eyes, “There was a death on the way out… a good guy. But he’s currently in the backseat. Can you uh–”
Jackson cut in, “Yep. Full service. I’ll get that body home.”
“Perfect… And uh, I will have someone with me. His name’s Sawyer. He came from the same situation I did.”
“That’s fine. He’s trustworthy?”
“Absolutely.”
“I trust you, Benji. Should I tell your dad about this?”
“N-No…no, don’t please. We’re not really talking right now.”
“That sucks. But you got it. I won’t say a word.”
“Thanks, Jackson. You’re the best.”
“I know, right?” The guy laughed. “I’ll text you the information in a few minutes.”
Benji released a sigh of relief. “Thank you so much.” He repeated and ended the call.
Sawyer shrugged his shoulders. “That went well.”
“Yeah,” he huffed. “He’s pretty easy to work with. Like I said, he’s got safehouses all over the place. We apparently lucked out with where I decided to drive.”
And just like Jackson said, a few minutes later, he was given the address and code to get into the house.
He also mentioned a medic would be there in a few hours.
Perfect. They were almost safe. Grabbing the map, Benji took a few minutes to acclimate himself to where he needed to go before he pulled out of the rest area and headed that way.