Saving Grace

"I paid for it in cash from a veteran who gave me his word on it." I throw the bag in the backseat and unlock her door.

She throws her bag in the back as well and wipes the sweat off her forehead. "Your funeral." She mutters. "I'm going to get some shut-eye while you drive to your girlfriend's house and check up on her."

"She's not my girlfriend." The car turns on with no problems and I internally sigh in relief. There was a high chance the battery could have been dead. I've been negligent about keeping up with maintenance because I never intended to use it. This has shown me never to get too comfortable. Again.

"Whatever." She throws her seat back and covers her eyes with her forearm.

The silence is welcoming, giving me time to think about the next few moments. I know going to check up on Alice is the right thing to do. It's not my safety I fear, it is hers. What will I find when I get there? Poor Alice. What have I put her through? I'm sure she would have never wanted to become my friend if she knew all of the baggage that I carry with me. I'm so stupid. She's so sweet and caring and would never hurt a fly. If they get to her before I can warn her...I shiver at the thought. Charlie's knowledge of Alice proves that they've been watching me closely.

My foot presses on the gas, I can be there in the next twenty minutes if I speed just a little bit more. The close we get, the harder it is for me to calm my nerves. Nothing can happen to her. Not because of me. I step on the gas a bit more.

Several miles later, Charlie raises her seat as she feels the car slow down. She stretches her hands over her head and then groans. "That was much needed." She grimaces and clutches her stitches but looks much better than she did earlier.

Her eyes travel up to Alice's building. That makes my stomach drop. They know everything about her. They know where she lives. Because of me. I can never let this happen again.

"I'll be gone five minutes tops, just going to keep an eye out from a distance to make sure everything is okay." My hands are reaching for my bag when she stops me.

"You're not going alone." She reaches into her bag too.

"It's safer if you stay here. I can leave the keys in the car so at least one of us can make it out alive." I try to open the door but she stops me.

"You've not going alone." Her glare bores into me and until I roll my eyes.

"You can be really smothering. Do you know that?"

She smiles. "I don't care."

We get out at the same time. I wait for her to get to the other side of the car before looking both ways. Her hands wrap around my body and she pushes me against the car. My hands instinctively come up to her shoulders to push her away. I give her a questioning look.

"They're here." She leans down and whispers in my ear.

A shiver travels down my spine but I don't move a muscle.

Her lips travel down my neck and she kisses me lightly.

"What are you doing?" I'm almost shaking in anger. We should be making our way to Alice's apartment, not sitting here like horny teenagers. She hides her face in my neck and I turn away from the building, giving her better access.

"Hiding our faces," She kisses my neck again. "Your pulse is very high, try to breathe." Her thumb brushes against my hip. "I'm going to go first. You watch my back." She squeezes my hip and I breathe in through my lips. Her blonde hair tickles my nose. When I motion to move away, her hand tightens around my waist. "Wait, they're filing in right now. We'll have to be quick."

After what feels like an eternity, she swiftly pushes away from the car and runs across the street to the back entrance. I follow at her heels and wrap my hand around my gun. She has hers out by the time we get to the stairwell.

"Of course, you know where she lives," I huff in annoyance. How many times did she follow me here in the past? I have no one to blame, I'm the one who was careless. Why would I ever risk exposing Alice like this?

"Shhh." She stops outside of the third-floor entrance and we hear a glass break. I try to push through but she holds me back. "I'll go out first and you watch my back!" She whispers loudly.

As soon as she opens the door, we hear the muted sound of bullets. To the untrained ear, it sounds like someone knocking on glass.

My feet guide me, past Charlie, down the hall. An older couple come out of their place to investigate. I urge them back inside.

"Do not come out. Stay inside. Call the police." They rush back in and I hear the lock turn.

My heart drops when I see Alice's apartment door open.

"Grace, wait!" Charlie whispers.

I go in, gun cocked and loaded. There is no sound coming from inside. I know this place as well as my own. Alice always had her doors open to me at work and at home. Not once did I imagine coming here under these circumstances. I see the first body by the kitchen, a guy in all black. A golden circle etched on his shirt. There are broken plates around him. He's wearing the same getup Charlie was earlier. There is blood pouring out of his neck, but he isn't alive. I walk past the living room where I run into another body, face down on a white carpet, laying in a pool of blood. Some plants have been thrown around and there is dirt all over her white couch.

"Uh," Charlie follows close behind, watching my six but also looking at the dead bodies with concern. "Interesting."

I hear a bang coming from Alice's room and rush in without thought. I make it just in time to see Alice push a knife through the back of the last gunman's throat.

I pause for a moment, to take in the view. She's in a set of pale green lingerie, with white garters that hold up her white stockings. Her body, which I thought before was all soft curves, is lean with tight muscles. Light drops of blood are splattered against her pale skin, but it is her face that leaves me breathless. There is no emotion on her face.A drop of blood trails down her cheek, yet no emotion in her eyes. Nothing like the Alice that I have grown to know and love. She is just a shadow of the person I know, doing what she needs in order to survive.

It's eerie.

She pulls the knife out in a hurry. No sound comes out as blood sputters out of his mouth and he falls without a fight. She turns, knife in hand, ready to take me down. There is recognition in her eyes, the first emotion I see in them. Then they narrow to the person behind me. The knife comes flying out of her hand, ready to cut through Charlie's skull and my arm reflexively comes up to block it. It grazes my forearm but otherwise lands on the wall.

"What the fuck!" Charlie grunts in anger and I hold her back from approaching Alice.

Alice crosses her arms. "What took you so long?"

"Um," I lower my gun and start walking toward her. "Alice?"

Her eyes are trained on Charlie. "You were going to leave without me, weren't you?" Her face heats up in anger and I wrap my arms around her waist as she launches to attack Charlie. I push her down on the bed and straddle her hips. "What the fuck is going on?" I shake her shoulders and force her to look at me.

"I really thought you would have been dead by now." Charlie moves around Alice's room to look out the window. "No time to fight, we have just a few moments before they realize no one has dragged you downstairs yet."

Alice looks up at me, acknowledging me for the first time. Guilt spreads across her face.

I clean the drop of blood from her cheek and sigh in disappointment. "You knew who I was?" Her dark hair frames her fair skin. Her almond-shaped eyes are wide, their pupils dilated.

She avoids my gaze. "I need to change."

I roll off of her and settle on my back, contemplating my life. Am I really that naive? Or maybe just an easy target. How could I befriend one of them? Now I'm questioning everyone I've ever met in my life. Was that old man at the grocery store in on it too? Hell, he could be the head of this whole thing. But Alice? That hurts. I've been betrayed many times, by all types of people. I never thought she could be so deceiving.

I really am so fucking stupid. Tears of anger are threatening to spill.

Here I was, kicking myself for putting her in danger, when in reality I was the one who should have stayed away from her to keep myself safe.

"Get up." Charlie kicks my leg.

"You knew." I get up and push her against the wall. I focus all of my anger on her. She betrayed me just as much as Alice has. "You knew! About Alice! And you pretended to be on my side! You pretended to know nothing about her!"

She pushes me away but doesn't attempt to fight me. "It was part of my plan. I am on your side!"

I shake my head. "You should have told me. How can I trust anything that you say now? Lying by omission is still lying!" I grind my teeth. I want to shoot her. I want to pull out my knife and slice through her guts. But I know I won't.

I can't.

Because I need answers and apparently, she is the only one who has them. What the fuck is she playing at? Alice, if that is even her real name, is the last person I want to get anything from. The Alice I know is dead.

"As I said, I thought she would be dead by now so I didn't even think she was a person of interest anymore." Charlie shrugs.

Alice throws a lamp at Charlie's head but she moves in time to miss it.

"You're a fucking asshole." She continues to walk around her room to get dressed and pulls out a black bag from under her bed.

"Is there anything else I should know?" I look between them and don't miss a short look they share. "For fucks sake, one of you better come clean right now or I will make sure this ends in a bloodbath."

"Not here." Charlie shakes her head and motions for the door. "We need to put some distance between us and them right now."

"I'm not going anywhere with you until you come clean." I cross my arms.

Police sirens can be heard from a distance and I mentally curse.

"You won't be going anywhere if you stay here and get killed." Charlie walks out of the room.

Alice silently turns to me. My hand comes up to slap her, but she blocks me effortlessly. I wish I could have done that before I knew this side of her. Back when she was just my friend and would not have seen it coming. Back when I thought I lived a normal life with a normal friend.

"I'm sorry." She lowers her gaze.

"Fuck you." I yank my hand out of her grasp.

***

We pass the cruisers as they gather around the building.

Charlie points out a black van in the back speeding off with what we assume are more people out to get me. My thumb bounces off the steering wheel in an erratic beat as I merge into the highway. This is not part of the plan. At least not mine. Alice is not supposed to be here, and neither is Charlie. I'm supposed to be making my way up the east coast. I'm not making my flight anymore. What is the point now? Maybe I was never supposed to get closure. Maybe I should have just kept living my life as a nomad and forgotten all about my past and my mother.

"Where are we going?" Alice is staring out the window.

She changed into the same type of getup that Charlie and I have on: a plain t-shirt, jeans, black boots, and a grim look to top it off. The biggest difference is that neither Charlie nor I can manage to look like a supermodel in our clothing. And we also didn't just slaughter a small group of men single-handedly...in lingerie.

I ignore her and blast the radio annoyingly loud. Heavy metal plays loud enough to make my ears ring.

Did I really believe she was the weak little human who would faint at the sight of blood? The image of blood splattered on her face swims into the forefront of my mind. She had me duped. Was it her charming personality, her stylish clothing, her gentle nature? She knew how to play me like a fucking fiddle. She would give me candy for the love of...

Charlie turns down the music. "That was tasteful. But maybe we should discuss our next steps."

I give her a death stare before looking back out at the road ahead of me.

Where am I going? What am I doing? My eyes travel to the clock on the radio. Two more minutes of feeling sorry for myself and then I can throw all of that shit aside and start thinking practically. Being caught off guard twice in less than 24 hours is enough to throw anyone off kilter but I should be better about bouncing back. Hell, I lost my mom and managed to live my life without her or anyone else.

I don't need them holding me back.

******

It is pitch black by the time I reach a secluded gas station four cities over.

Charlie goes in to grab some more power bars while stay back to fill up the tank. Alice gets out of the car to stretch her legs. She walks over to my side, intending to talk but I give her my back. I can't even look at her right now.

"I have to explain." She says anyway.

"I don't want to hear it. Honestly, I don't even know why you're in the car with us." If it wasn't for Charlie dragging her along with us, I would have left her in her room. She sure doesn't need protection. Deep down I know I still care if something were to have happened to her but I try to remind myself that she is not who I thought she was.

"I was never going to hurt you."

I scoff. "Too late for that. Is Alice even your real name?" This time I do look back at her because I want to see her reaction. Not that I think I can get anything out of her.

She scowls. A scowling Alice. Not something that I am used to. She would only ever pout or become upset when she was stressed at work. I look down at her hands remembering the mess she left behind at her apartment. All those men she killed in gruesome way with no emotion. It hurts to think I befriended her to become normal and a different version of myself when in reality we are a lot more similar than I care to acknowledge. And for all the wrong reasons.

"Yes, that is my real name. I am a real lawyer. I also happen to be recruited by The Golden Circle my second year of-"

"Yeah," I shake my head. "I honestly don't give one single fuck about how you got to where you are. Your time to be honest passed a long time ago." I roughly put the gas cap back on and push past her to get back to the driver's side.

She gets in the car as well, in the back seat.

"You'll eventually realize that I have done everything in my power to keep you safe." She crosses her arms and stares out the window. Her scowl is still in place.

"I never asked you to, so please stop trying to talk to me and explain yourself. I don't care that you thought keeping me in the dark was the best option."

I could force her to get out of the car. Pull her out by her hair and ditch Charlie while I'm at it. But that would require having the mental and physical strength that I currently lack. They both are in on something and I have to be top of my game if I'm going to figure it out. With the Golden Circle at my heels, it is probably best to have the two people who supposedly turned their backs on them on my side. Whether I like it or not, I can't keep living in the dark and they have answers that I need.

******

The week is spent constantly on the move.

The few times we stop are either to grab a quick bite, fill up the tank, or use a rest stop to wash some of the grime away over a sink. No one complains. We just suck it up, keep an eye out, and keep our mouths shut. Well, Alice and I barely speak. Charlie speaks enough for the three of us. I don't think she likes the silence. But I know she is aware when it is needed. She volunteers a lot more personal information about herself that I never intended to know but I try to ignore it. Everything either one of them says should be taken with a grain of salt.

But then she has her moments where she'll share her last snack with me. She'll offer to drive more when she sees me struggling to stay up because she knows I distrust Alice more. She even picks up on the little things that no one ever has. My preferred water brand, favorite type of meal, and even my favorite music. To anyone looking in, it may seem insignificant, but to someone who has always kept everyone at arm's length, it is unnerving. To be heard when I'm not speaking or to be thought about even when I'm not around.

I hate her for it.

Both of them do try to get me more comfortable in their presence and assure me that I can trust them but I don't bother listening. If I could have trusted them before, it would have happened by now. I do admit that Charlie is probably the only one between the two that I can act civil towards but it is because she goes out of her way to make sure I'm okay. She tries to make light of our situation and doesn't get offended when I show my obvious distrust.

Alice, on the other hand, gets prissy whenever I ignore her or glare at her. For some stupid reason, she expected me to forgive her as quickly as I learned her truth. I guess the betrayal of pretending to be someone she wasn't, just to get close to me, was inconsequential for her. I'll show her just how inconsequential it was.

We've been going in loops and circles for most of the trip. Trying to lose anyone following us and erasing all tracks. Charlie complains about being on the same highway for hours with no clear directions but I don't care. I would have been just as cautious if I was doing this trip alone. Even though I got too comfortable, I knew I would revert back to my old ways. It was only a matter of time.

Even Alice points out the overkill in my attempt to cover our tracks but I never expected to have to do it for the three of us. Time and time again I offer them to leave me alone and find their own way back to wherever they want to go but neither one takes me up on it. I don't question why, mostly because I know it will be straight-up lies. So, they can't do anything other than follow my instructions and keep their comments to themselves.

My mother's date of disappearance comes and goes without a thought. I don't do anything memorable that day. Just contemplate life and question my existence. I was supposed to be in New England. I was supposed to get closure from everything that has been plaguing me since she left. Instead, I'm living with the same bullshit, but more company. Company that I want nothing to do with.

It takes us about a week and a few days to get to my first destination.

The sun is setting, the sky is clear, and the house is the only one seen for miles. Vlad is sitting on his porch, sipping an iced tea.

He's an older guy, with a thick mustache, a scrawny body type, but sharp eyes. My mother introduced me to him when I first turned 13 and we've kept in touch over the years. He's never known where I've lived but I've always written letters from various states. He's probably the closest thing I've had to a consistent friend, and that still isn't saying much.

"Look what the cat dragged in." He stays in his rocking chair, watching as we step out of the car. "You better not walk into my house with shit on your shoes." His gaze dropping on the two unwanted guests.

I reward him with a smirk. He could easily turn me away for bringing strangers. Vlad is very particular with his company. He doesn't like to mix business with his personal life.

"No one was following," I assure him.

The three of us walk up the porch steps and make our way over to him. I greet him with a stiff hug and introduce Charlie and Alice. He gives Alice a long look, so long that I feel uncomfortable by the end of it.

She is unbothered. Shocker.

"You look like shit." He gets up and goes into his place.

We don't follow.

"Is that your favorite word of the day?" I drop my bag and take a seat on the floor across from his chair.

Charlie comes to stand next to me and leans against the railing. Her hand comes down on my head and ruffles my hair. "I don't think you look that bad."