Free Tabula Rasa by Kitty Thomas

was dangerous getting out of here. His group had
hacked their way through some of the thickly growing bushes around
the perimeter and had cut through a fence. It made me wonder how
Trevor had gotten in and how he’d gotten me in. There must have
been some other easier entrance at another part of the park that
Shannon and his group didn’t know about.
    We came out in a nearly deserted parking lot. The street lamps were
all out, and the pavement was cracked and full of pot holes. Just
looking at the physical state of the parking lot, it was possible to
imagine the apocalypse really had happened, but Shannon led me to a
shiny black SUV and pressed a button on his keys to unlock it. I got
inside while he put the luggage containing Trevor in the trunk.
    I was still half-convinced he’d drive me to a
remote location and kill me. Even though all reason and common sense
said he could have just as easily done this back at the castle. There
was no reason to drag it out, to take me through the park, risking
one of his buddies catching him in the act. But what if he wanted me
for other reasons ?
    I mentally rolled my eyes at myself. There was that vanity and
conceit again that Trevor had mentioned. Shannon was plenty good
looking enough to get his own dates without having to resort to
kidnapping. And though I knew he was some type of predator, I wasn’t
sure his elevator even went up to the sex floor. Not once had he
looked at me that way. Could it be possible that his intentions
really were noble?
    “How far are we
going?” I asked as the SUV pulled onto the road.
    “This is a
rental car. My friends and I flew to get here, but I can’t get you
on a plane. We’ll have to drive.” He plugged coordinates into a
GPS in the dash. “Twelve hours to our destination. But we’re
going to stop and stay somewhere. It’s getting late, and I’m too
tired to drive straight through.”
    I clasped my hands on my lap and tried not to think about sharing a
motel room with him. When we reached the interstate, I started to cry
    “Are you
hungry?” he asked, ignoring the tears. He just didn’t seem to
respond to crying.
    In a way, I was glad he ignored it. I didn’t want to explain what
it was I was crying about. As scared as I was of everything right
now, that wasn’t what triggered the waterworks.
    “It really is
all still here. I can’t believe it.” Big semi-trucks zoomed past
us on the interstate. Bright city lights framed one side of the road.
I could see an uncountable number of restaurants and hotels, and
suddenly it occurred to me I would be able to take real showers. And
use a toilet like a civilized human.
    “Elodie? Food?
Do you want me to stop and get you some?”
    He was being so nice, but then Trevor had been nice... kind of. Once
I’d started cooperating with the insane world he’d invented, once
I’d known all the triggers that made him angry and worked to skirt
around them.
    “C-can I have a
burger and some fries?”
    He nodded and took the exit off the interstate. We went through the
drive-through, and about fifteen minutes later, we were back in
motion.
    “There’s a
rest stop ten miles up the road. We’ll stop there to eat.”
    “Okay.”
    At the rest stop, we ate quietly. It was the
best thing I’d ever had. As far as I knew. And soda. Holy shit.
Soda, my new friend. I’d spent months drinking what I’d
considered to be possibly questionable water—which Trevor had
really just bought at the store with everything else. He couldn’t
have pretended the park had some never ending supply of other
beverages?
    I was sure I must look like a pig, the way I was eating. But Shannon
was busy with his own burger and fries. He seemed okay with silence.
If we got down to it, Shannon seemed strangely calm and okay with
just about everything. What the hell did he do for a living? Black
ops? Contract killer? Did he torture people?
    He seemed uncomfortably at home with other people’s suffering. So
much so that I was