When he awoke again the road in front of them was dark, and Dana was now asleep in the passenger seat with Hollywood driving. He sat up and rubbed at his eyes, then blinked blearily out the windows at their nearly indiscernable surroundings.

"Where are we?," he asked Hollywood, his voice a bit scratchy from sleep.

Hollywood glanced back at him momentarily, then flicked some ashes from his cigarette out the window. "Uh...actually, I really don't have a fucking clue."

"Oh...," Tim trailed off, looking out the window. In the faint light of the moon he could make out the outline of a large lake on the left side of the road. The reflection danced across the ripples in the water, creating a peaceful sort of atmosphere, and he couldn't help but smile. The smile faded when he realized how much the peace of the view reminded him of Jesse. Sighing, he leaned back against the seat.

Hollywood glanced back at Tim in the rearview mirrow. "You all right?"

"Yeah," Tim mumbled. "Just...being dumb."

"You're not being dumb. I know what it's like to miss people, too," Hollywood told him, tossing the cigarette butt out the window then rolling it up.

Tim nodded and sat forward. "Yeah. I shouldn't miss him, though."

Hollywood shrugged lightly. "Sure you should. He was important to you, even if it was only for a while. You can't really help it."

Tim pressed his forehead to the back of Hollywood's seat and groaned. "I'm just so fucking tired of missing people."

Hollywood reached back and rubbed the shaved side of Tim's head softly, remaining quiet for a while. Tim sat up and set his chin on the seat, peering around the headrest at the road.

"When they shot Stax, he fell back into my arms," Hollywood started quietly. "He was looking at me, and his eyes were so wide, but he didn't look scared, really. I don't know what emotion it was, but it was the purest, most honest thing I'd ever seen. His hand was over his chest where they'd shot him and there was blood leaking through his fingers...he was trying to talk but he kept choking on the tear gas."

Tim listened quietly, reaching forward to grasp Hollywood's free hand when his voice faltered a bit. Hollywood swallowed harshly then continued.

"I had no idea what to say to him, I knew there's nothing I could say. So I kissed him...and there was blood in his mouth. After a second he stopped kissing back, and when I looked at him again, his eyes were closed. It just made me so pissed off...I didn't know what the look in his eyes was before, but it was life in any case, and they'd taken that away. So I killed anything in my path until I got out of there, and then I just ran," he paused a second. "If they hadn't killed Stax I wouldn't be alive right now."

Tim squeezed Hollywood's hand underneath his own. "You shouldn't think of it like that..."

"It's the truth," Hollywood said harshly. "I mean, isn't it? Fuck...I wish it was the other way around. I'd rather be dead than living without him. I'd gladly switch places with any of them."

"But that's not the way it worked out. You can't change that," Tim told him. "And I'm glad you're here."

Hollywood snorted derisively. "Let's not shit ourselves, Tim. I know you'd rather have him here than me, too. Or any of them."

"Apparently what I want doesn't matter," Tim said, recalling Jesse's words the first day they'd spent together. "But I wouldn't wish for any of you dead, and I could never choose any of you over any of the others. Even a creepy fucker like yourself."

Hollywood laughed a hollow sounding laugh and Tim squeezed his hand again.

"I really am glad you made it out okay," he reitterated. "Dana needed you. I need you."

Finally, Hollywood let his own fingers curl around Tim's tightly. "Thanks, Tim," he said quietly. "We need you, too."

They rode in silence for a while, their hands still clasped together between the seats and Dana still curled up against the window, asleep. Tim contended himself with watching the windshield as fat drops of rain started to hit it, splattering apart at the impact then leaving trails of liquid in their wake as the wind pushed them back across the top of the car. He was so entranced with the raindrops that he hardly noticed when they started to refract blue and red light, not even noticing where the light was coming from until Hollywood released his hand and abruptly pulled off the road.

"What's up?," he asked, snapping back to reality.

Hollywood forced the wheel around, rotating the car in the grass on the side of the road and turning around completely. He motioned with his head up the road a ways. "There's a roadblock up there," he explained. "I didn't plan on spending any time in the back of a cop car, but if that's your idea of a fun roadtrip I'll turn around."

He gave Tim a questioning look, which Tim didn't notice because he was staring at the flashing lights atop the cop cars, confused with how he hadn't noticed them. Hollywood pulled back onto the road and Dana sat up, having been awoken by the sudden jerky movement as he accelerated.

"What's going on?," she questioned groggily, rubbing her eyes.

"There was a roadblock up there. I turned around, we're gunna have to find a different route."

"Or a different car...," Tim muttered as he watched the red and blue lights move towards them. "They're following us."

"What?!," Hollywood exclaimed, veering onto the other side of the road as he turned around to look at their pursuers. "Ah, fuck this..."

With another hard jerk of the steering wheel, the Taurus descended onto the grass again. Hollywood increased the pressure on the gas pedal, unconcerned with the way the car leapt haphazardly over the uneven terrain. Dana gripped the handle above the passenger side door with a white-knuckle grip, and Tim hunted around for a seatbelt.

"I don't think this car was made for offroading," Dana told Hollywood in a calm voice.

He snorted. "I don't fucking care," he remarked, killing the lights as they dropped over the side of a hill.

Their surroundings blacked out considerably, only the faint light of the moon peeking from behind the thick rainclouds illuminating the countryside. All too late, Hollywood spotted a wooden fence in front of them. He might've tried to avoid hitting it, had he seen it sooner, but as it was he only sped up and went through it headfirst. The car lurched and then jumped forward, boards splintering across the bumper and hood.

"Are they still following us?"

Tim lifted his head from where he'd had it tucked between his knees and looked behind them. There was a faint glow of red and blue, but it didn't seem close.

"I'm not sure," he finally replied, turning around in perfect time to smack his forehead on the back of the drivers' seat as they hit another large bump. "Ow, fuck..."

"I think...," Hollywood started, interrupted by a the sound of metal grating against rock. "I think we're gunna need to ditch the car."

"I don't think the car is going to survive much longer, anyway," Dana noted as small streams of smoke started to plume up from under the hood.

Hollywood nodded his agreement and pulled the wheel sharply to the left, forcing the malfunctioning machine to make it behind the cover of a few trees before stopping it. The trio was quick to exit the car, darting off across the feild in the general direction that they'd been heading in the car. Behind them, smoke escaped rapidly from beneath the hood and flashing blue and red lights faded further into the distance as the cops gave up their chase in favor of going back to the road and finding easier prey.

After a while the running slowed to a walk. Dana, having been the fastest, stopped and waited for Tim and Hollywood to catch up with her. Tim caught up with her first, breathing heavily from the overexertion as he slowed to a stop. A few moments later Hollywood collapsed on the ground by their feet, panting.

Dana nudged him with the toe of her boot. "You need to quit smoking."

Hollywood coughed harshly as a response. Tim sat down and Dana joined him, all three of them fighting to catch their breath for a few moments.

Tim looked around slowly at their moonlight surroundings, miles and miles of grassy hills spreading out in every direction with no signs of civilization anywhere closer than the road they'd just abandoned.

"Well...fuck."