"Hey."

Seonghwa awoke with a start, looking around with panic. Coral giggles slightly, "Damn, you were tired! You slept for a whole four hours!"

Seonghwa sits up straight, "Where are we?"

"Pulling into our first gas station," Coral smiles, turning into a small building with only four pumps outside. She parks the bus and turns it off, turning to him, "I'm going to go pay for gas, do you want any snacks or anything? Are you craving anything?"

"Salt," Seonghwa nods, "Anything salty."

She giggles, "Not too much salt, it's not good for the baby if you're blood pressure is high." She opens the squeaky door and hops out of the driver's side of the vehicle, walking from the bus to the small store. Seonghwa sighs as he sits there waiting patiently in the bus.

As he sits and waits, a car pulls up with red and blue lights and large letters spelling out "Sheriff" flash at him in gold. His heart races as a man in an officer's clothing steps out and walks inside the small store, holding the door for Coral as she came out. Seonghwa looks down at his hands in his lap, not trying to make the officer see him. Coral was carrying three bags of snacks with her as she walked closer to the bus, opening the door first to drop off the snacks then giving Seonghwa a smile before going to fill the gas tank.

Seonghwa kept his head down as he waited for her, not wanting the officer to see him just in case he came back out. He jumps in surprise when Coral opens the door and slides in, sighing happily, "There! All filled up and ready to take off again," she held up two bags packed full of snacks and smiles proudly, "With some snacks!"

Seonghwa nods, looking around for the officer. But luckily for them, they were pulling out of the gas station when he left the building with an item wrapped in aluminum foil and a large styrofoam cup.

Coral chuckles, "Why so nervous?"

"I'm not," Seonghwa answered quickly, wincing at his tone.

"Mhmm, sure," Coral smirks, "It's okay if you're running. In a way, I kind of am too."

"I think my crime is more serious..."

"Really? You killed someone?"

"No."

"Stole?"

Seonghwa hesitated and Coral laughs, "Lighten up! I'm not going to turn you in! If I was, I would've done so when I first heard you were running from something."

"How do I know you're not lying?"

"I don't have a phone," she smiles, "I threw mine in a river after buying this bus, then took off without another word to everyone I left behind. They were going to lose me anyway..."

She sighed, staring out the window as she drove them further away from their pit stop. Seonghwa didn't press it further, listening to the soft music playing in the background as Coral drove. The sun started to set, and as it grew darker Coral and Seonghwa were starting to get tired again. Coral pulled off on the side of the road, taking the bus off the road completely as she drove straight into a wooded area.

Seonghwa frowns, "What are you doing?"

"Extra cover," she shrugs, "no one will find us if we sleep in the woods tonight. It's also relaxing to me to hear the crickets and woodland critters scatter through the forest while I'm sleeping."

Seonghwa nods, not questioning the woman who has been the kindest to him alongside the gentleman at the store giving him free food. When they venture further enough into the woods, Coral shuts the bus off and unbuckles her seatbelt, "And now we make camp."

After gathering a few supplies, handing some to Seonghwa, she started working to make a small fire outside. She had the whole area lit up with a single lamp plugged into her bus. But as soon as she had the fire going well she turned it off and packed it in the bus. Seonghwa set up their sleeping bags, pillows, and their blankets, it was the only thing he could do that he knew how to do.

Making camp was something he wasn't sure of. Neither was building a fire even though he watched Coral do it there was no way he could do such a thing if he tried. Coral smiles at him as he cuddled in his sleeping bag and blanket, shivering slightly, "It's a little chilly, that's kind of why I made the fire. Plus, it's colder in the bus without the engine running and the heat going."

"How often do you do this?"

"What? Make fire or make camp? Every night," she hums, "I could live in the woods if I wanted to. But the plan is to park on a flat piece of land near a drop off and lake, and basically live off the grid there." Seonghwa nods, ready to say something until Coral sighs, "That is if I make it that far along."

"What do you mean by that?"

She shakes her head, "I can't be spilling all of my secrets Seonghwa. That is unless you spill some yourself."

Seonghwa swallows the lump in his throat, turning his gaze to the fire as he thought it over. Maybe she was genuinely curious about who Seonghwa is and why he's here with her on this journey. To be honest, he isn't too sure why he went with her either but she has helped tremendously by getting him farther away from the facility.

He could possibly trust her. She hasn't deemed as a threat yet.

"Okay," he spoke softly, "I'll tell you everything. I promise."

She smiles, "Well go on! I like stories before bedtime."

He sighs, "Where to even begin?" He wracked his brain to what he can first tell her, but then he decided to say everything, "I come from a government protected facility. I'm.... I'm not one hundred percent human. I'm half wolf... an Omega to be exact. Here at this facility, I was born and raised to do only one thing on this earth: breed and create an army hybrid. It was a government based rule and one that so protected no one knows anything about it. Anyone who knows, usually disappears."

Coral stared at Seonghwa as he continues his story, not once has she flinched, "The government has created a genetically modified gene called TH-132. It's basically what they inject into sperm before they artificially inseminate us. The sperm is of random Alphas, those that aren't ever seen by any of us Omegas. The gene just basically enhances the structure and growth of the unborn fetus, so the government can have a faster army built. The fetuses grow so quickly, and are so smart, they can be very deadly if trained to be that way."

He sighed, wasn't sure if he were to continue until Coral nods, "Go on."

"I was selected at random along with eleven other omegas to be artificially inseminated. But in order for them to do so, they had to trigger my heat, and the applicator was to represent an Alpha's knot injecting his seed into me. Like normal fertility, i found out I was pregnant four weeks after the insemination process. I couldn't bare the thought of having my child born in that place, much less taken from me. So I plotted my escape, and... well now I'm here. Running away as far as I can so I can make sure my baby doesn't grow up in that environment much less become a weapon for humans. I would rather die than to let them have my child."

Coral stayed silent as she listened to Seonghwa's story, not once did she flinch nor did she show any signs of uninterest. She did however hum before poking the hot blaze with a long stick, "I'm dying." Seonghwa snaps his head over to her, but before he can say anything she snorts, "Stage three brain cancer. I have a tumor the size of a baseball on my brain and it's affecting my energy, my appetite, and even normal bodily functions. The doctors say I have less than one year. My husband didn't want to deal with the medical bills I was wracking up anymore, so he slept with his secretary and then filed for divorce. He wanted everything since I was dying anyhow, so before we could go to court I sold everything we had owned and bought the bus. I've been on the road ever since. Any day now I could go to sleep and not wake up, and the thought just sounds so peaceful."

Seonghwa listened to her story with a frown, her story made his heart hurt and feel selfish that he thought his problems were worse than anyone else's. Coral looks up and smiles kindly, "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me. I will take it to my grave, literally." Seonghwa tries not to laugh but Coral giggles, "You can laugh it's okay."

The two chuckle together, that being the only sound besides the crackling of fire and the crickets in the night. Coral sighs, wrapping herself in her sleeping bag, "Good night Seonghwa, sleep well tonight. We'll leave as soon as the sun rises."

"Good night Coral," he smiles, closing his eyes to focus on his brain shutting off for sleep. But before he could fall asleep he peeks an eye open, "Coral?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you, for helping me."

Coral smiles, her eyes remain closed as she hums, "Thank you for accompanying me."

••••