Bloodlines: Everything That Glitters Read Free Page A

get tired and also before I realized the gas light had come on. “I think I may have passed up the last gas station a few miles back,” I said.
    “I’ll look on the GPS and see how far up another one is to keep us from having to turn around.” He picked up the monitor from the dashboard and typed in the search criteria.
    I glanced over at the dimly lit screen and focused my eyes on the pinpoints. “I could have sworn we were closer than that when I last looked down at it.”
    He rubbed his eyes. “The next station is about two or three miles up.”
    “Yeah I saw that,” I replied tiredly, glaring blankly at the road ahead.
    “Oh, hey, I almost forgot . . .” He unbuckled his seatbelt and raised himself up to reach into the backseat. He pulled out two bottles of what seemed like grape soda from his duffle bag. “I found these on the counter in the kitchen when we first got back to the old house, along with this note . . .”
    He pulled a note from his pocket and handed it to me.
    I shoved it away. “You read it.”
    “Oh, sorry. Forgot you couldn’t read,” he teased, then held the paper up to his eyes. “In case you get thirsty.”
    “That seems random. We already have water. Mom made sure of that before she left this morning,” I replied, ignoring his earlier comment.
    “Yeah, it does seem a little strange.” He held one bottle up into the fading sunlight and examined it.
    I took my eyes off of the road for a quick second and looked at the bottle while he still held it in the air. The light-purple mixture nearly dazzled through the clear plastic, appealing to all five of my senses. I turned my attention back to the highway and motioned for Ash to hand me a bottle. “Must be a new kind of energy drink. Hand it over, I need it.”
    “How would you know that? There’s no label of any kind.” He examined the bottle, then turned his head to look at me and frowned as he tossed the bottle onto my lap. “Are you actually going to drink it?”
    “I don’t see why not. Seems ok to me.” I twisted the cap off, took a tiny sip and swished the juice around in my mouth.
    “What does it taste like?” Ash questioned.
    I swallowed the last bit I held in my mouth. “It’s actually pretty good and tastes like grape juice or something. Drink up.” I then drank from the bottle until I had emptied it.
    Ash looked at his bottle one more time, then shrugged. “What the heck.” He took the cap off and consumed the juice.
    Two miles later we approached the service station. A stabbing pain shot up my back, and I jerked the wheel of the car, causing Ash’s head to lightly hit the window.
    “That one was unintentional,” I said before he could return the blow.
    “You have a real problem, you know that?” he replied
    I stared through the windshield as I eased the car off the road. “Take a look at this place.”
    The outside wood of the building was old and rotten, and there were more than a few shingles missing on the roof. I pulled up to the closest pump and put the car in park. “After this there’s no more stopping, so if you have to pee you should do it now,” I said.
    “Yeah, right. You’d be lucky if I’m even still out here when you come out of there,” he replied.
    From the corner of my eye, I caught sight of a small rat bolt across the parking lot and into the woods. I’m tough, I can do this . I thought before stepping out of the car. I walked several feet to the entrance of the building and slowly pulled open the glass door to the tiny shack and walked in. Not a soul was in sight; the place was deserted.
    I hate my life; I wish I could just run away and never look back .
    I looked around the store expecting to see the person the voice belonged to, but I saw no one. “Is anyone here?” I called out. I fumbled around the moldy old store before I finally found something that resembled a checkout counter. Seconds later a small, freckled-faced girl popped from behind the wooden counter. Her