Keep driving

The naked Lucy looked at her parents and remembered everyone she trusted so far had burned her. If they were on her side she’d figure it out later but the stakes were too high. She was getting the hell out of there.

She pressed the gas and in the rear view mirror saw her dad take out his phone. Either he was calling her or he was betraying her and there was no way to tell.

She left out the exit. She drove past the search party and they saw but couldn’t do much as they couldn’t catch a car. The campus security vehicles however could so as she saw them and knew they knew she was in there she opened up the gas. In a moment she was going 90 in a 40 mph zone.

Fuck it. They know I’m in here so there’s no point in playing it safe, she thought.

She noticed a caravan of followers and a barricade coming up. There were cops with flashing lights. She drove around it on someone’s lawn. She almost lost control of the truck but she got it back as she careened onto the road. The barricade worked on most of her followers though as it stopped most of the cars behind her.

As she noticed no one behind her she saw a digital billboard with her face on it.

'Lucy is missing. Please call the FBI with any leads.'

“The fucking FBI?” She said as she realized this was at least a national conspiracy. She got to a bridge and wondered if this would ever end. She thought she might be able to make it end.

She got out and found a rock by the riverbed the bridge went over. She drove the truck so it was facing off the bridge. She put the rock on the gas pedal and let it drive into the river below smashing on rocks and breaking the windshield. They might suspect she crashed and washed away. She hid in the woods nearby and just kept going on her bare feet.

Several hours later it was dark. Her feet were incredibly sore, and she assumed it was around 9. She found herself in someone’s backyard but their house was completely dark. Hopefully not home but maybe asleep. She checked their slider door and it was locked. She then checked a couple windows and eventually one was open.

She got inside and was in a bedroom. She found a dresser. She stole poorly fitting clothes that were too big and some sandals from a closet. She exited the room into a hallway and heard snoring. She tiptoed into a hallway and entered their kitchen. She found poultry shears and very delicately cut off her collar. She felt like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

She found car keys. She was going to steal a car for the second time today, she guessed. She went back out the window and hopped their fence to their front yard.

She unlocked and opened the car door. She put the keys in the ignition and put it in neutral. She pushed it out of the driveway into the street and then started it. She was driving away. She was careful to try to not draw any attention.

She got on the highway and a new digital billboard said 'Nation mourns potential loss of Lucy; search continues.'

She drove until she found the most backwoods looking area she could find. She went up a dirt road leading towards a densely forested mountain. She was going to spend the rest of her life in isolation, she guessed. She found a nice patch of forest with enough room for her new car to fit and drove into it.

Lucy would come down to steal supplies and food at night but as far as she could tell everyone thought she was dead. She eventually stole tents so she wasn’t just living in a car. She lived most days in fear, so she set traps and set up places to observe potential intruders before they could find her. She became quite the outdoors woman, not that she had a real choice. She never spoke to anyone, she couldn’t risk it, but she stole books for reading and also crosswords and Sudoku to keep her mind busy. Her life wasn’t the most fulfilling but she was a free person. A person most importantly.