We leap into the back of the truck, and whoever's in there fucking steps on it. He's out of the parking lot and down the street in seconds flat. Before we hit up the bank Gerard told him, (rather passive aggressively) exactly where to go, and how to drive. He's a fucking fantastic driver too. He whisks us in and out traffic so fast it's unbelievable.
I can hear the sirens now.
We're on the highway now.
I can see the cop cars now.
Gerard's kneeling on the bed floor now.
He's getting his gun in position now.
"What the fuck are you doing?" I shout. But he doesn't hear me over the sound of gunshots.
"Gerard!" I shout. More gunshots. What if he gets fucking shot? I kneel up too. They'll stop shooting if they know they could hit me too. They can't know I'm not really a hostage anymore yet. That probably wasn't Jane's first priority.
I see that Gerard has shot one of the cars' tires out.
Suddenly our driver makes a very sharp turn and I fall over into Gerard, he falls back into the bed of the truck. Okay, okay, we're alright. We ride in silence. After a little bit the highway seems to calm, or maybe it's just us.
"Frankie that was fucking awesome! You we're awesome!" Gerard shouts. We break into that same relief laughter we did last time. "Oh, my little Frankie's spreading his wings!" We laugh some more.
"Oh." I laugh again. "Fucking Christ." Then I remember.
"Why did you shoot at those cops! You could have gotten killed!" Gerard laughs, like him dying is a joke.
"Just to give 'em a run for their money."
"A run for their money? You didn't even have to do that! We could have gotten away!"
"Well Frankie, if you're going to have that attitude you'll never be a super cool bank robber who just doesn't give a fuck." He snaps. I sigh.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" I laugh. I'm not mad anymore.
"You want a laundry list?" He asks.
"No thanks." We laugh again.


After a very long time Gerard gently knocks on the back window. Everything's calm now. The man turns his head, questioning Gerard, and a just little scared too. Gerard points at the opening slider on the window. With much hesitation the man opens up the window. Gerard pops his face in.
"And what's your name?" He asks excitedly.
"I.. um.. I'm Ray." He says awkwardly. Gerard giggles and the Ray looks scared. This guy's just going to have to get used to Gerard.
"Hi Ray! I'm Gerard, and that's Frankie over there." He motions towards me. Ray nods and turns his head back to the road. There's an awkward silence.
"You're a really good driver Ray." Gerard breaks it. You can hear in his voice he's already mixing together a new scheme.
"Um, thanks I guess." Ray mumbles.
Gerard plops back down next to me, holding his hat onto his head as he does.
"Okay! I want him to be our get away driver! He's really good!"
"I was actually thinking the same thing." I say. I'm glad Gerard has a practical idea for once.
"Good! 'Cause if we're both going to be in there, which we are, I need you Frankie, that was fucking amazing in there, we're going to need getaway driver most of the time. We didn't the first time because we had that alley, but we're not always going to get that lucky. Especially if I don't know my way around the town." I nod. Gerard kneels up and pops his face in the window again.
"Okay Ray! The results are in! It's settled, you're going to be our new getaway driver." He says, his voice dripping with excitement.
"Oh." Ray says sarcastically, already catching that Gerard doesn't even want to hurt Ray.
"Yup!" Gerard say, grinning.
"Okay, so when we come to the next town drive around a bit, we need a new car." Ray nods.
We've been driving maybe 2 hours already, after about 15 more minutes Ray pulls into a small town.
"Get off the main roads, drive down a side street." Gerard orders. Ray does.
"Gerard I want that one!" I point to a red little Volkswagen Beetle like a kid in a toy store. I always liked Beetles.
"Mmm... Okay." Gerard says looking it over. He orders Ray to pull over. We hop out and Gerard keeps his hand wrapped around Ray's upper arm.
"Oh, oh...." I say. This car is nice. I can see no one's home. I can also see they're not rich.
"Oh, maybe we should leave some money in their mailbox...." I say, guilt washing over me.
"Frankie!" Gerard snaps. Ray bursts out laughing.
"Well I don't wanna just steal it!" I whine.
"What am I going to do with you?" Gerard says, outraged.
"We're leaving money, or we're not taking this one." I say. Gerard sighs.
"Fine." He mutters.
I go back to the back of the truck and get the bag. I fish out about 5,000. I know that's way more than the car cost new, but whatever. It's not like we're broke. I put it in the mailbox.
"Are you satisfied with yourself?" Gerard say accusingly.
"Mhm." I hum cheerfully. We pile in the car, I put get the suitcases from the truck and put them in the trunk, Gerard directs Ray to the back seat.
"I thought I was your guy's new chauffeur?" Ray says grumpily in the cramped backseat.
"Only when we're trying ta getaway." Gerard says from the front seat. Ray tries to make himself as comfortable as possible back there.
"Ray, where are we?" Gerard asks.
"Huh?" Neither Gerard or I even know where we are.
"Like, what city are we in?" I supply.
"Um, Rockland." He says.
"Alright... um." Gerard continues to talk to himself with his eyes closed.
"Gerard?"
"Hmm?" he hums with his eyes still closed.
"What about that guy's house you said we could stay?"
"That's where I'm trying to figure out how to get."
After questioning Ray, it turns out he knows his way around North Carolina pretty well, being born here and all, Gerard gets us on track. It's dusk as we pull into a small town called Tigerton. Gerard drives through, but takes a side road and soon we're driving on a one lane road surrounded by very tall very dark trees. Gerard turns and the pavement turns to gravel, and the gravel turns plain dirt. Turns out it was a drive way the whole time as a tall dark very abandoned looking Victorian house appears through the trees. You can tell it was once grand and well taken care of, but now the paint is chipping and there are a few of the windows are boarded up.
Gerard cuts the engine. He looks a little nervous to go in. I've seen Gerard in quite a few emotional states these past few days, and nervous is not one of them.

Notes

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