On the Lam (Wistful Beast and Vermiciro)

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It was painful to watch. Judith had never been a sympathetic person and skipped condolences, but watching Callie eat dirt was more a vicarious experience than something to laugh at. One fall seemed to lead into another. For a moment, Judith wasn't certain if the woman could remember how to walk. Between the yelling and the fumbling, it made one hell of a scene. Pebbles and stones preceding her entrance, Judith watched stoically as her accomplice managed a miracle. She made it to the end of the path. Judith didn't think worse for wear really covered Callie's condition at that point.

Glancing between the boathouse and Callie, Judith sighed with a weak smile. Trevor was taking his time, hopefully he had the common sense to get their bags. If not, Judith would send him back up after them. He probably wouldn't help her get Callie to the boat either, make up some shit excuse. Chivalry wasn't dead, it just never existed. Judith would call him an asshole, but he was helping them, so maybe he wasn't all that bad.

Crouching down, Judith examine the cut in her partner's cheek. "You look like hell." she jest lightly. "I don't suppose you can make those last couple of yards to the boat without help, can you?" she asked.
 
Callie looked up at Judith, feeling pretty battered and defeated right about now. She looked over at the grey water lapping at the shore, thinking with a sense of dread what the rocking boat would do for her already awful dizziness. Callie noticed that Trevor wasn't present yet so she folded her knees up towards her chest as she sat on the shore. She looked at the old boat house for a moment, trying to keep her head steady to avoid worsening her head ache and general disorientation.

Callie looked eye to eye with Judith when the woman had crouched down to see what had happened to her face. "I feel like it too."she replied, stomach lurching as a more intense bout of nausea overtook her. She looked from the water to Judith and back again, the gears in her head turning. "Um...probably not...maybe..."she thought aloud, gazing at the murky water thoughtfully.
 
Despite knowing that Callie wasn't going to crawl her way to the boat and that Trevor, being the querulous shit was, would kill half and hour complaining that his lower-back pain prevented him from helping, despite that knowledge, Judith was reluctant to move her partner. She wasn't anyone's mule and they sure as fuck weren't buddy-buddy. But what else could she do? Leave her?

Judith looked across the water, sighing. At least Callie wasn't impudent or whiny. And hell, she was easier on the eye than most of the women Judith had met in prison. She supposed it couldn't hurt to be nice once in a while. "All right, but you owe me one." Judith finally agreed, tossing a stone absently into the creek. "You wanna sling and arm over my shoulder or am I gonna have to carry you on my back?" she left the level of embarrassment, and labor up to Callie.
 
Callie still remained on the ground for the time being, looking up at Judith with an almost idle expression. Her mind wasn't fully present anymore and she didn't want it to be since it would only leave her to focus on her damn headache. Callie looked over her shoulder, still not seeing Trevor. That didn't really bother Callie since she knew she'd have to move whenever he arrived and she was rather content on the ground for now.

Callie seemed pleased when Judith had agreed to helping her since she knew damn well that her legs weren't going to get her to the boat on their own. "I owe you? I thought 'at I drank that 'amned Jack in the promise of future 'avors from you."Callie responded. She didn't drink the alcohol for nothing. She drank it mostly because she felt obligated too and also because Judith had claimed that in doing so she'd cut Callie some slack on different occasions. Sure that could have been a lie to get her drink the liquor and just shut up, but Callie wasn't really thinking about that possibility right now.

Callie used Judith's leg to pull herself to her feet. "I'll 'ust hold on to you."she mumbled. If sober Callie wouldn't dare to touch Judith, let along hang on her, but she didn't have any second thoughts now. She unceremoniously threw an arm over Judith's shoulder for balance.
 
Reminded of her previous agreement, Judith hoped it would be forgotten in the inexorable approach of sobriety. Such was doubtful though, and she realized as much. With how reluctant and terror-struck her accomplice was at the gas station, Judith knew her bargain would come back to bite her the moment violence was required. Though, she'd bend her word if the situation called. Judith had long since shed her honor and whatever the cogent impulse or survival demanded, it got.

Burdening some of Callie's weight, Judith felt like a human crutch. Her short stature only exaggerated the comparison. And though Judith had never considered herself a timid woman, she experienced some apprehension wrapping her arm around Callie's waist to best support her. Perhaps it was that they had only been acquainted for a matter of hours, or that distantly Judith knew she'd be with Callie for the foreseeable future. Despite it's origin, the feeling quickly dissipated. Judith's opposite hand gripped her partner's forearm hanging around her shoulders and began the arduous task of occasionally walking, mostly dragging, them to the boathouse door.

Thankfully, it wasn't locked like all the others they had previously encountered. Undulating gently on the subtle waves was the fishing boat, offering two seats near the back and a padded lounge-like surface near the front. Judith hoped Callie could manage slumping into one without much assistance.
 
Callie stumbled alongside Judith, using the woman to prevent herself from flopping onto the ground again. Callie was in a daze and felt as if she were merely dreaming all of this up, but in the back of her mind she knew it was all reality. Everything from being accused of murder, the quiet transport with hardened criminals, the escape, stealing a car, carrying an unconscious store clerk, and getting completely hammered. All of those events had occurred in the span of just a few simple hours and little did the two know, there was so much more to come.

Callie was only vaguely aware of their entrance into the boathouse until she spotted the boat itself perched in the water. "Aw sweet."she said sarcastically as she looked at the fishing boat. She usually wasn't fond of boats, but now that she was more sensitive to movement she really didn't want to be in that boat right now. She released Judith and sued the wall of the boathouse to approach the small boat. Reaching the back by the seats, Callie half stumbled, half fell right in and onto the seats. She didn't bother to move after that but offered a quite groan to escape her.
 
The dull, muffled slap Judith heard as her partner fell heavily into the seats expressed the economy of comfort the boat had to offer. Judith could almost feel her ass numbing prematurely between her weight and the unforgiving seat padding. The beer she had drank on Trevor's fishing endeavor must have eased that detail from her memory. For once she wished the bastard had splurged instead of settling on such a paucity of comfort. Grumbling, Judith went to find Trevor.

As she exited the boathouse Judith could already hear Trevor fumbling down the path, the skitter of rocks hard to dismiss. The short-sleeve button-down he now wore showed his age, or perhaps just a lack of taste. In his hands were their plastic bags and what looked like a coat.

Judith gestured to it as he reached the bank. "What's that?"

"A hoodie." Trevor explained. "You're little friend there could be seen from the opposite shore with hair like that and I'm not sticking my head any farther in the noose than it is. Be sure she wears it, hood up." he handed the article and the bags off to her before jangling the keys from his pocket. "No sense wasting day light. Sooner you fuck off the better."

"Agreed." The pair returned to the boat, ready to set out. Without warning, Judith tossed the hoodie atop her partner. "Pu it on."
 
Callie didn't mind the silence when Judith had left to see where Trevor was, laying down across the hard seats in the back of the boat. The seats may be as stiff as a board and hard as bricks, but Callie only cared that she was laying down right now and not moving. As she lay she was trying to become accustomed to the slight rocking of the boat on the water, feeling pretty queasy right about now.

Callie didn't bat an eyelash when the hoodie was tossed atop of her, not even flinching a little. She yawned lazily and slowly sat upwards again, looking a bit green. Flopping over so she faced the water, Callie proceeded to retch and then vomit over the side of the boat and into she water. She coughed the last bit out and almost whimpered, feeling utterly awful now. She scooped some up some of the water that wasn't occupied by her vomit and used it to clean off her face. Then she sat up again, the hoodie draped around her like a cape with the sleeves hanging over her shoulders.

Before she could do much else, Callie leaned over the side and threw up again, nostrils stinging from the vile fluid. She took a moment to catch her breath after that bout. She retched and gagged again, but nothing came out since she hadn't eaten anything for a while and had no desire to. She cleaned her mouth off again, muscles trembling a bit. Then she laid back down again and used the hoodie to cover her head. Callie was a mess at the moment.
 
From the side, Trevor and Judith watched, his face twisted in revulsion, Judith's more of a knowing grimace. The wet patter and sluice of Callie's vomit entering the water was stomach churning enough, Judith thanked whatever powers that watched over them that none of it was in the boat. She didn't think she could handle the acidic effluvium for a whole three to four hours. There were just some scents you couldn't accustom to.

Delicately, Trevor entered the boat first, giving Callie a wide berth as he made to sit at the controls. Judith gave less of a fuck, dropping heavily into a seat before searching for the Lucky Strikes in her bag. As she produced the desired object from the jumbled goods, Judith noticed Trevor watching her partner with leery eyes.

"You gonna start this piece of shit or what?" she snapped, but he maintained his disgusted circumspect.

"She's not going to be like that the whole trip, right?"

"Who cares?"

Obviously Trevor did. Taking a first aide bag from one of the compartments, he retrieved from it an orange prescription bottle. "Remember when I hurt my back?" he asked vaguely.

"You never hurt your fucking back. You just lied to get temporary unemployment." Judith corrected, becoming vexed.

"No, I actually hurt my fucking back. And my doctor gave me these." Trevor rattled the bottle in emphasis. "Each pill is 10mg of flexeril. It's a muscle relaxer, just about guaranteed to put you to sleep in twenty minutes."

"You're point?"

He gestured to Callie and shrugged. "Could help with a headache too." he offered.

Judith didn't know about the headache alleviation, but she had a feeling Trevor just wanted to make sure her partner didn't fill the boat with bile, or strip the paint off the side. "What d'you think Cal?" Judith asked. "You doing okay or wanna take him up on his offer?"
 
Callie just wanted to curl up and hide under the cozy protection the hoodie offered, but the others didn't seem keen on letting her stay in this condition it seemed. Callie pulled her knees up towards her chest and situated her arms under her head to act like a crude pillow of sorts. She still felt a bit nauseated of course, but she was pretty sure she'd only be dry heaving for the time being. She didn't know what was worse actually, vomiting or having to try to. She tried to shove these thoughts away, listening to Judith and Trevor converse with one another.

Callie very well could have piped up and spoken for herself here, but she just let the other two talk it out. It seemed that this Trevor dude was pretty irked and Judith was getting pissed off again. Callie wanted to further curl up and just ignore the world, but Trevor seemed insistent on getting Callie to take some pills to try to alleviate her suffering. Callie lifted her head, hoodie still covering most of it. "Sure. I'll take it."she agreed. She didn't really want to take pills from a stranger, but her head was killing her and she feared she'd spend the whole time shifting between dry heaving over the boat and laying in agony on the hard seat so of course she'd want a way out of that.
 
Watching as Trevor shook out a pill and passed it, Judith tried to tell herself that the concern she felt was not for her partner but for herself that she saw in a presaged future where she had to drag Callie's somnolent body ashore and hide under shrubbery until she managed an alert state. Judith hoped that the pill wasn't as soporific as her pessimism was prognosticating. She could only handle so much in one day.

Apparently satisfied, Trevor finally started the motor and steered the boat out into Ponca creek. Judith couldn't remember a creek ever being as deep or wide as the Ponca, felt it looked more like a river, but to each their own. As long as it took them north and put them ahead of the police. With any luck, the other two convicts would create enough distraction to afford them more time. That was something Judith felt was constantly slipping through their fingers, like trying to carry water across the desert.

"You gonna be all right?" Judith asked as the boat hiccup over a small wave. She couldn't imagine the spinning feeling of inebriation atop the motion of a boat, too many forces pulling in too many directions.
 
Callie took the pill with little hesitation, swallowing it dry. She sighed afterwards, allowing herself to sit up straight. She struggled to put the hoodie on, getting her arm stuck a few times. Finally she managed to put it on, flipping the hoodie up over her head to cover her hair.

She shut her eyes as the boat began to move, gritting her teeth. Callie didn't like the motion at all, feeling very disoriented. She felt like she would retch again, but managed to avoid it. She opened her eyes, blinking to adjust to their surrounding. She winced, looking over to Judith when spoken too. "Probably. "Was all she managed. She reached up and felt the scrape on her cheek.
 
The summer sun was beginning to feel stifling hot to Judith, and the glare off the water was occasionally blinding. She wished she had remembered that part of the fishing trip too; she would have taken a lighter colored shirt. Beneath the black cotton of her v-neck, Judith could already feel heat prickling along her neck and spine. It wasn't any more comfortable than the stiff seats, but it sure beat winter. Judith just wished the bright side wasn't so bright. She had to squint just to see.

Watching Callie test her cut, Judith glanced to the first aide kit Trevor had left on the boat floor. "You want a band-aid for that or something?" she asked, motioning casually to the kit. "Or maybe just some water. I think you still have another bottle in one of these bags."
 
Callie soon began to feel like she was suffocating in the heat, considering she was currently wearing a hoodie. She took a few breaths and tried to ignore yet another discomfort. She knew that if Trevor was being serious about the effects of the pill she had consumed that she would be asleep eventually and therefore would have escaped from her current predicament for a little while. It was way to bright for Callie so she found herself closing her eyes again and keeping them shut.

"No, I'll be 'ine."she mumbled in response. compared to what else was bothering her, the scrape wasn't much right now. It probably would sting later, but right now she didn't give much of a shit about it. When the heat became unbearable, Callie hastily freed herself from the clutches of the fabric and just took to tying the sleeves around her neck and keeping the hood on. That way her body was exposed to what little breeze there was while her hair was still hidden from sight.
 
Between the sun, the heat, the glare, and the lack of comfort, Judith was loathing the boat trip and missed the SUV. That vehicle was heaven by comparison with its padded seats and air conditioning, and hell, she even missed the sun visors. But how much could one complain when they were on the run? Judith realized she had to take what she could get. She had to be smart about every step. They couldn't leave a perfect trail, only scattered pieces here and there.

Watching Callie stoically suffer the trip, the pleasantness of intoxication wearing down, and bundled in one layer too many under the hot sun, Judith had too admit her accomplice could tolerate discomfort. "You look like a babushka." Judith quipped with a wry smile. "That flex-a-shit helping any?"
 
Callie felt her eyelids growing heavy and her senses becoming even duller than the already were. She knew whatever drug she had consumed was beginning to take effect on her poor intoxicated system. Callie kept her eyes closed for now, feeling unable to brave the direct sunlight in her hindered vision. The acute pain in her head was being replaced with an odd fogginess it seemed, the pain losing its bite as the minutes passed. As Callie sat there, slowly falling asleep, she hoped that whatever the hell that odd man had given her would work without problem and would allow her to wake up too.

"'anks."she replied in response to Judith's comment. She knew she was probably a sight to see sitting here with her eyes closed, an oversize hoodie bundled around her like a cape, an angry scrape across her cheek, and her skin was probably looking pretty pale under the suns harsh rays. Overall she felt like how she looked. "I 'ink so."she replied groggily with a yawn. She allowed herself to curl up on the seat again and soon she fell into yet another nap today.
 
Judith waited, watching, as Callie faded into the hands of Morpheus. It wasn't until then that she peeled the cellophane from her cigarettes and finally decided to smoke one. She hadn't made a habit of it, not after quitting when she was in her twenties, but still occasionally she like to have just one. The rich anise and clove scent was relaxing, and she welcomed the bitter flavor of smoke on her tongue. It reminded her of home, of simpler times when she was a child, before any arrests or criminal record. It reminded her of safety, something Judith was hoping to find in South Dakota, even if it was only a scintilla, it would be worth it.

The boat kept at a steady 30mph, humming down the creek without interruption. Other fishermen greeted them from a distance, simple waves, but no one was any wiser. The sun gradually sank below the trees flanking either side, winking behind their shafts as the boat passed. Judith wished they had a radio, wished she could somehow keep tabs on the police search, but knowing wouldn't pacify her nerves. She doubted anything would.

Just a little farther. Just a little longer.

It felt like forever beneath the stress, but eventually Trevor caught Judith's attention and pointed along the bank swathed in rushes and long grass. "I'll be dropping you two there. Keep heading straight, cutting through the trees and you'll reach a road. Along it are some houses. I think they're summer homes or some shit." he yelled above the motor.

Summer homes, cabins, abandoned buildings, or just regular abodes, Judith didn't care. They had made it across the boarder. It was time to move and most importantly, time to find a place to rest for the night. Uncertain if Callie was awake, Judith gave her a shake.
 
Callie's dream was rather uneventful this time and she was thankful for it. As long as she wasn't being gored by her father's farming tool, she was content. She instead dreamed she was back in the auto shop tending to an old muscle car. She had been working on the parts underneath, on her back facing up at the underbelly of the vehicle. She worked away at the underlying structure with a wrench, face stained in a few places by oil but she didn't seem to mind. She heard her boss beckon her and slid out from underneath the car, sitting up and blowing a strand of hair away that had fallen from her low ponytail. She carried an idle conversation with her employer, speaking of the condition of the current procedure she was carrying out. It was a peaceful and rather uneventful scenario, but she was still disappointed when she slowly awoke to being jostled by Judith.

Callie released a low groan. Her headache was gone and she wasn't nauseated anymore, but her head was still foggy and her sense were not as sharp as they should have been. Also, all she wanted to do was fall back to sleep, but she somehow knew that it was time to go or something was happening. Callie situated her hands underneath herself and pushed upwards, pulling herself into a relaxed sitting position. She found that the sun wasn't as bothersome as it had been, but it was an odd transition from sleep so she found herself blinking rapidly for a moment. Yawning, she rubbed her eyes before looking around. "Where are we?"she asked, eyelids still heavy, which made her squint at Judith.
 
Though it implied more hours of walking and possible conflict, Judith didn't think she could give any better news. "South Dakota, Tripp county." she announced with a cutting smile.

"Gregory County." Trevor quietly corrected, slowly bringing the boat toward shore.

Judith didn't pay him concern. The only detail that mattered was that they had crossed the border, Nebraska only a memory in their wake. "We've crossed the border." Judith said, echoing her thoughts. "We fucking made it."

The guttural purr of the boat eased as they came to a slow pause. The rushes and cattails grew dense along the water's shallows, a natural palisade of flora preventing the boat from touching land. Nearly a yard of of knee-high water would have to be crossed on foot. Judith vacillated between forcing Trevor closer to shore and stripping to save her jeans the excess weight and discomfort. Her indecision quickly stole what mirth she'd felt in reaching South Dakota.

They never got a break, not even a small one. Any celebratory gestures dissolved in the understanding of what lay ahead. Treading water would be the least of their troubles.
 
Callie looked around to see the approaching land, hearing Judith's announcement and Trevor's quiet comment. So they were in Gregory County, South Dakota it seemed. Callie knew little of South Dakota, but it was a a tad bit safer than Nebraska for now considering they were being hunted in Nebraska. Callie knew well that they would still be on the run though, having to watch their steps and keep moving forwards. Callie had no idea where they should go, but it seemed the best way to escape would to be north. The more distance between Nebraska the better.

Callie managed a weak smile. "We did make it..."she replied. She was still pretty tired, but she did manage to muster a scrap of excitement. After all, they were one step ahead of those trying to throw them in jail for a good few decades or so. That was reason enough to feel triumphant considering they were still free for the time being. Callie sure hoped it stayed that way too.

Callie watched as the boat pulled closer to the land, though it seemed the vehicle couldn't quote cut through the water vegetation that blocked easy docking. This meant that they'd probably have to wade across, something Callie didn't look forwards to doing. She rolled up her jeans anyways to avoid most of the damage, not wanting to walk around and be wet. She also proceeded to take her shoes and socks off, holding them in one hand. The sweatshirt was still drawn around her like a cape so she looked overall pretty fucking ridiculous.
 
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