Graham Donovan (_backfire) wrote in light_of_may, @ 2010-05-27 14:33:00 |
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Entry tags: | #flashback, #solo |
Fear and panic in the air
Who: Graham and a slew of NPCs
Where: Miami, FL
When: June 10th, 2009
Warning: NSFW, because it's Miami
"He's late."
Marius looked up from his half eaten club sandwich, raising an eyebrow at the Haitian man that sat across from him. Juan had yet to touch his food, though he had every reason not to. Instead of busying himself with the meal, he kept his attention on outside, constantly scanning the perimeter.
"He's not late," Marius rolled his eyes before wiping his face clean, then leaned back in his seat to check his cell phone. "It's only 12:58."
"It's 1:03." Juan even took the privilege to take off his own watch and shove it in his friend's face, to which Marius just sighed and shot him a look.
"Your watch always runs fast. Calm your shit, bro. He'll be here."
Juan didn't seem to be all that confident in those words, though he still eased back into his seat and stared back out the window. It was hard to wait in such blazing heat with the sun piercing down onto Miami. Then again, when wasn't it like that? Only a minute later, the front door to the diner creaked open, setting off the tiny bell on the edge of the door. Both of them shifted to see who was coming through the doorway, only to sigh as they spotted two policemen sauntering their way on up to the counter.
"Great... cops, man," Juan rubbed the bridge of his nose while turning back to sit properly. "How are we going to even talk about the deal when we got-"
"Just shut up, bro."
"But they're sitting right-"
"Shhhhh, idiot!" Marius spoke in a hushed voice, glancing to the side to catch one of the cops looking over his shoulder casually to eye them, then turned back to keep talking with his colleague. "Just don't talk about it. Don't even think about it. Hang tight and we'll be fine."
By the time the policemen at the counter received their sodas, Marius flipped out his cell phone to check the time. A sigh escaped him, an irritated one at that. "Ok, it's 1:06. Now, he's-"
The door swung open again, this time a petite Cuban girl slipped on in, flipping her black hair over her shoulder as her heels clicked against the tile floor. Initially, all the men in the diner took the liberty to turn and stare at her, seeing that she was dressed in a pair of denim shorts and a white tank top, making it rather obvious she was wearing nothing underneath. Though those stares stopped the second that the towering man followed in behind, causing the girl to look over her shoulder at him and flash a playful grin accompanied by a giggle.
"There he is."
The couple made their way on over to the table to join the other men, the girl smiling shyly as a seat was pulled out for her. Juan didn't even bother checking out the gorgeous woman and instead examined the man that was with her. Tall, skinny, somehow pale - even in Miami - and wore all black. Jacket, shirt, pants, even his aviator shades. At least it matched his unkempt hair perfectly. Wait, no... he had white shoes on. Because why the hell not?
"Juan, this is Graham Donovan. Dio's guy." Marius glanced back and forth between the two of them as Graham sat on down. "You know," he leaned in and kept his voice down before continuing. "The demo guy."
Oh yes, Juan definitely heard stories. If a man like Dio was going to run the streets of Miami, then he was going to have nothing but the best working for him. And Graham had to be the shit, seeing that was Dio's sister, Elena, was sitting beside him and stroking his arm. No one touched Elena. Ever.
"You're late," was all Juan had to say.
Graham just raised an eyebrow, then showed off a wide grin along with a chuckle. That wasn't unnerving at all. "Yeah, got distracted on my way down here and shit, but hey, at least I showed up in one piece." And he had a point, though Juan couldn't help but to look on over to Elena and notice her slightly flushed cheeks. It was then he picked up the heavy scent of cloves laced with sex lingering between the two. Juan remained unamused and kept staring Graham down.
"Do you have everything ready?" Marius questioned, his eyes only glancing on over to the cops once, happy to see that they were busy talking between themselves and a couple bottles of coke.
In response, Graham removed his sunglasses and rested them on the top of his head, a perplexed look strung upon his features. "No, I decided to do donuts in the parking lot for an hour instead of doing- of COURSE everything is ready." That actually got a snicker from Juan that time around. He could get used to this cracker boy if he had balls like that.
"Why don't we head on out, seeing that we're all here now," Juan began to rise from his seat, making a quick look at the policemen before walking towards the door. That left Graham to sit there and blink for a second, a bit ticked off that he finally got to sit down and then they were back up again. Even Elena was pouting at the whole scenario.
"But... I wanted a coke," she whimpered while flashing some puppy eyes on up to Graham. Oh boy, who could ever say no to a face like that. It helped that she leaned in some more, her hand lingering against his thigh while she stared. After leaning in to steal a kiss from her, Graham bumped noses with her before whispering, "Don't you worry, kitten, you'll get your coke." To that, Elena perked up slightly and watched Graham jump to his feet while walking on over to the counter.
He made his way on over to the cops, spotted that the two of them just received their second wave of bottled cokes, and leaned against the counter top while staring at the two. At first the policemen didn't notice him and carried on their conversation, though once one of them looked over his friend's shoulder to give a wary look on over to Graham, the other ceased talking and turned around to blink at the tall man. "...yeah?"
"Don't mind me, but I was just wondering if one of you fine gentlemen would offer up a bottle of coke-"
"Get lost, punk," one of the officers spoke up, scoffing in partial amusement. "Why don't you sit your ass down and wait just like everyone else."
Graham blinked and raised a hand up to indicate he was not finished. "Yeah... um... except it's not for me." He turned to motion on over to Elena, who was still busy pouting and swinging her legs about as she remained seated. "It's for my girl." Now that got their attention. "Seeing that this shit hole is packed with only one waitress on the clock and we need to go now, I figured it wouldn't be too much to ask from one of you. Besides," he raised a brow at the more portly fellow of the two. "Looks like you don't entirely need it that badly." The two of them seemed hesitant at his words and eventually Graham sighed and fished out his wallet from his back pocket. "Ok... look... I got... ten? Yeah, ten dollars on me." He even took the bill out and flailed it about before smacking it down onto the counter. "That in exchange for a bottle of coke, now what do you-"
The skinnier officer immediately shoved his bottle down the counter, to which Graham caught with his hand. There was a grin on his lips while he nodded to the cop and grabbed a straw from one of the nearby containers. "You, good sir, are too kind. Have a lovely day, officers." And with that, Graham spun on his heel to head on back to the table, watching Elena bounce in her seat with a squee as he handed her the cold bottle and straw.
"How the fuck do you even do that, man?" Marius just shook his head while snickering, fishing out his own cash to pay for the bill.
"With a little bit of luck and a lot of balls," Graham replied while leaning across the table to grab a few leftover fries from Marius' plate to munch on. Standing back up straight, he nibbled on his food while looking on down to Elena, stroking a hand over her hair. "Better?"
The girl simply looked up, straw between her glossy lips as she sucked down half of the bottle and nodded, all while keeping up an innocent expression on her face. Graham mentally cursed the fact she looked simply stunning like that and that now was not the time to be getting aroused over a lady sucking on a straw, of all things. Once Marius was up from his seat, the three of them headed on out of the diner and into the blistering heat that was Miami.
Juan was busy indulging on a cigarette by his Camero that was parked down a block while the other three walked on over to him. Flicking away the ash, he straightened up before speaking. "So then, now that we don't have to worry about no cops eavesdropping at all," he looked back and forth between Marius and Graham, even glanced at Elena enjoying her coke, "we want to go over this shit one more time?"
"Might as well," Graham agreed, hopping up onto the hood of the car, whipping out his own pack of cloves to light up. Elena instantly followed and leaned against him between his legs.
"Alright then," Marius flipped out his cell phone once more to check the time. 1:10. He did his best not to clench his jaw, knowing that they had to go through the quick, quick version in order to arrive at the rendezvous point on time. Slipping the device back into his pocket, he sighed lightly and went on. "We're meeting up Dio's contacts from Cuba. They have a hundred pounds of blow on them. In exactly twenty minutes, our asses need to be there to hand off the dummy suitcase in exchange for the blow. Graham?"
"Yeah?"
"You got that all rigged?"
After an inhale on his black, Graham tilted his head back to exhale the smoke and smile. "When don't I?"
Good answer. "Ok, then we're just going to head on out then," Marius nodded, circling his way around to the passenger side of the Camero. "This should all go smoothly. Pick up the stash, hand over the cash, then sit back and watch the fire works. It'll be a good show, man, so let's roll!"
Sliding on off the hood of the car, Graham walked with Elena on over to her black Lotus that was parked several cars down. It didn't take long for the two the slip into the vehicle and head on out, following Marius and Juan in the Camero. Graham kept his window rolled down, arm chilling on the edge as he continued to indulge in his clove. Once Elena finished up her coke, she brought her attention on over to Graham, a smile forming on her lips.
"Thank you for the drink, babe," she purred at him, which only caused Graham to turn his head and eye her.
"Fuck, don't worry about it. Besides, it's not like I'm not going to be rich when this is all said and done." Which was true, seeing that Dio was beginning to monopolize the cocaine market in the city. Ten dollars for a bottle of coke for the lovely lady to his left was nothing to worry over. He had only shown up in the city barely a month ago and the drug lord was taking better care of him than most of the lifelong thugs. Then again, what underground criminal wouldn't love to have a demolitions expert at their disposal? It explained why he got on Dio's good side that fast and that well. Well enough to earn the man's approval to spend time with Elena.
"I still don't understand why you guys have to screw over Dio's contacts," Elena rolled her eyes while taking a turn. "I mean, what good is that going to do him?"
"Fuck, I don't know," Graham flicked away some ash from his clove before taking in another long drag. "Here I thought you would know, being his kid sister and all."
"Hey! Just because he's my brother doesn't mean I get in on all the little secrets. He keeps a lot of things from me, you know."
With a sigh, Graham sat up a bit in his seat and rubbed his eyes. "All I know is that there was already bad blood with him and this Cuban contact. Something about being sold a bad batch or some shit. I think his exact words were that a whore's piss could get him higher than that crap.... Now, why he made that comparison, I... don't even... yeah. Anyhow, he just wants to let them know that he's not a man to be fucked with."
"So you're blowing up the messengers?" Elena raised an eyebrow, not at all impressed.
"And we're not giving them the money. It's all forfeited." He paused to look out the window, noticing the traffic they were about to encounter and let out an irritated sigh. "I just want this shit over so I can relax."
"Relax? Ha! Don't make me laugh." The Cuban girl shook her head while tucking some hair behind her ear. "You just want it to be over so you can get your share of blow and get wasted off of it."
There was no use hiding from such a beautiful woman. Rolling his eyes, he chuckled slightly before looking back over to Elena. "Hey now, I was told that what's coming in is the best shit ever, and I've had my fair share of coke, so I'm rather excited about this."
"Addict," Elena shook her head as they slowly came to a stop at the traffic light. "All you ever do is snort drugs and get drunk."
Graham raised a hand up in protest, eyes wide beneath his heavy shades. "I beg to differ," he brought his clove to his lips for one last drag, blowing out the smoke to the side as he smothered the tip with his tongue and chucked it out the window. "As a matter of fact, I happen to fuck this absolutely, breath-taking lady. So, make that snort drugs, get drunk, and have mind-blowing sex."
A scoff escaped Elena, followed by a light chuckle. "It's only mind-blowing because you're drunk and high. You can't tell the difference, babe."
"Really?" Graham raised his brows while he shifted in his seat, then leaned over to the petite woman. With a hand on her exposed thigh, he eased into her face to lock his lips onto hers, savoring the moment even more as a surprised moan slipped past her lips. Slowly pulling away from the kiss, Graham brought his lip to her ear and murmured for Elena, "I'm quite sure I wasn't drunk or high an hour ago and I'm even more sure that you were the one screaming out loud and begging for us not to go."
If that didn't make the girl blush, then he wasn't sure what would. Pulling away from Elena, Graham sat back in his seat and watched her nibble coyly on her lower lip. Her eyes looked over to him while her lips curled up. "Tease."
"Shit, I'm just saying it like it is," Graham threw his hands up in defeat while glancing over to check up on the slow ass traffic light.
There was a pause between the two of them, though Elena broke the silence with her own words. "Perhaps I should let you use me instead of that crummy old table to snort your fix." And Graham's mouth just dropped. If he didn't have incentive to hurry the fuck up with this rendezvous, now he did. Elena just giggled a bit at Graham's reaction while winking to him. Grinning back at her, Graham shot back her own words at her, "Tease."
"You know I am," was all Elena had to say in reply. "Besides, why-"
Graham wasn't sure which sound came first: the shatter of glass or the crackling bang that continued to echo in his ears. Elena never did get to finish her sentence, seeing that it was hard to do anything when there was a bullet lodged halfway through your skull. The Cuban woman bucked forward and crashed into the steering wheel, blood seeping rapidly from the back of her head. Graham flinched in his seat while he began to hyperventilate. It wasn't that he was emotionally attached to the woman and it wasn't that he never had someone die on him, but it was sure as hell the first time he had a woman get shot and killed before him. Not a single word escaped his feeble lips, unable to do anything but stare and gulp down shaky breathes of air.
Seconds later, a series of gunshots went off, all of them piercing through the vehicle, thus causing Graham to duck down for whatever cover he could get. He could hear Juan screaming something in Spanish in the sweep distance. After another round of firing, he heard his name being called out. "GRAHAM! GRAHAM! YOU PALE, ASS MOTHERFUCKER, GET THE FUCK OUT OF THERE."
It was kind of hard to ignore of livid Hatian with a shotgun. Regaining whatever composure he had left, Graham scrambled in his seat and searched through the glove compartment, knowing that Elena almost always kept a firearm of some sort handy. Dio couldn't let his little sister go unprotected, now could he? Popping it open, Graham reached for the uzi that was inside along with the spare clips and turned the safety off. By that point, the side door flew open, giving him a scare until he realized it was Juan standing there.
"Did you NOT hear me the first fucking time, cracker boy!? Do I have to-" He paused while catching sight of Elena's freshly dead body bleeding all over the driver's seat. Growling deeply, Juan slammed a fist to the ground as he clenched his jaw. "FUCK! This is NOT good. This is fucking with every hole the god damn plan has!" Cocking his shotgun back, he stood up to fire it before ducking back down. "Are you just going to sit here and play with your dick before getting both your heads blown off?! COME ON, BITCH."
And with that, Juan grabbed a hold of Graham's collar and yanked him out of the Lotus. Stumbling to the ground in confusion, his eyes flicked up to eye Marius down the street hijacking someone else car, blowing the innocent man's head off in the process. "...the fuck is going on?!" Graham cried in sheer confusion, his heart still racing rapidly.
"There is NO time for answers. Just shut the fuck up and head to the car."
"Can't-"
"SHUT. THE. FUCK. UP. AND. HEAD. TO. THE. CAR."
Graham couldn't even get a single word out if he tried. Heeding the Hatian's words, he bolted on over to the Camero, keeping his head low in the process. Upon nearing the vehicle, he jumped and slid over the hood of the car before reaching the passenger side. Glancing on up at the violent action taking place, Graham steadied his hand while pulling the trigger of the uzi in the direction of the mob, unsure if he even hit someone. Once he caught sight of Juan booking it back to the car, Graham slipped in and buckled up. It didn't take long for Juan to join them and before he knew it, they peeled on out, swerving through all sorts of horrid traffic.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK!" Juan slammed his hand against the steering wheel, his face tense with rage. "How the FUCK did you let that happen, man!?"
"Let what happen!?"
"Oh, did you NOT notice the big ass fucking HOLE in Elena's head or were you too busy staring at her tits?"
"It wasn't in my contract to make sure she lived or died!"
"No, but Dio trusted you enough to let her suck you dick, AND NOW YOU LET HER FUCKING DIE?!"
"Can you calm the fuck down for TWO FUCKING SECONDS?!"
While Juan silenced himself, his breaths remained brisk and angry. His eyes flicked over to Graham, rather pissed off at the man to his side. Graham clung onto the side of the door as they took a sharp turn, glancing into the side mirror to see Marius zooming close behind them along with a few other speeding cars.
"The suitcase," Graham managed to utter somewhat calmly.
"Why the fuck are you bringing the suitcase up now?!"
"Because it's still in HER car!"
That was enough to get Juan to slam on the breaks and swerve on the road. He stared at Graham for all of a few seconds, blinked, then sighed. "Can you set it off from here?"
"I... yeah, should be able to."
"Then fuck it up, sparky."
Well then, that was not a part of the plan by any means. Nor was it a part of plan B or plan C. This was probably down chilling with the letters Q and R somewhere, but it didn't matter right then. Doing his best to focus, Graham flung his jacket open and pulled out a small remote from the inside pocket, briskly punching away at the keys on the device. Within seconds, an abrupt explosion boomed from around the corner and flames roared up into the sky as the sound of metal colliding into metal accompanied the harmonious event. Graham didn't even get a second to take in the wondrous sight, seeing that Juan already stepped on the gas and was bolting down the road again.
"Didn't need the fucking suitcase, anyways," Juan murmured as he tried to shake off a couple of cars behind him. "You need to shoot those motherfuckers behind us, man! I can't get them off my ass!"
"Why are we even shooting them!?" Graham stared at the Hatian, hoping there would be a moment of clarity within the clusterfuck they were in.
"Why? WHY?! Because them fuckers don't work for Dio and swear to do whatever it takes to knock him and his monopoly down. So if that means shooting his sister in the fucking head, it means shooting his sister in the MOTHER FUCKING HEAD, SO STOP ASKING YOUR BULLSHIT QUESTIONS AND START SHOOTING, CRACKER BOY."
Juan didn't even finish his sentence and Graham already had the window rolled down to point his uzi behind them to fire. Initially he didn't get too far, but after fucking up one of the car's tire, only to watch it drive off the road and crash into a telephone poll, he decided this could be more fun than he planned on having. The chase continued, even after Graham emptied all the clips to the uzi, only to have the shotgun shoved into his hands. After offing two more cars, there were still four more hot on their trail along with Marius catching up with them. Juan kept yelling something about how they couldn't have a gunfight at the rendezvous point or else the Cubans would drive off with the blow and leave them empty handed. It was vital that they didn't show up with friends or else everyone was going to be fucked.
"Oh, you've got to be shitting me," Graham cursed to himself as he saw the sirens from several police cars coming around the corner from behind. Then again, who wouldn't call the cops after that. More bullets whizzed on by from both ends and thankfully Graham managed to take out one more care before the shotgun was empty. Juan reassured him there was more artillery in the trunk, though they had to sit tight for the time being.
It was difficult to sit tight with rival criminals and police after them. Graham constantly looked over his shoulder to survey the damage and after a moment he spotted Marius slamming on his breaks to collide into a few cars, thus grid locking the traffic behind them. His eyes widened while watching several cars flip over and skid across the street. It wouldn't hold off the forces completely, but it would buy them enough time.
Speeding down the road, Juan took a few more turns until they arrived at an abandoned warehouse. Both of them flung their doors open upon arrival, Juan heading to the trunk to grab a few handguns and semi-automatics. "You're going to need these," he handed over a couple to Graham, who in turn stowed his weaponry inside his jacket. Checking his watch, Juan merely chuckled. "And we're late. You stay out here. Wait until I come back out, then you can do your thing."
Graham sighed while he rested on the hood of the Camero, doing his best to stop shaking while Juan headed on into the warehouse. The brief moment of silence gave Graham some time to relax, even if it meant trembling in his own skin. The sun shined high above him, showing no mercy as he clung onto his head. All he wanted was for everything to go according to plan, pick up his share of cocaine, and head on back to Elena's place for some R&R for several days. It was perhaps the sweetest deal he had ever had through out his years on the road. Now he actually had a reason to settle down, only to have it all blow up in his face. Literally.
He couldn't stay in Miami anymore. Not after this, if he even managed to survive the next five minutes. Dio, at the very least, was going to be pissed upon hearing the news his sister was murdered, especially when he knew she was constantly hanging with Graham. Then tack on the failed drug deal, random shit blowing up, and the gunfight turned high speed pursuit, plus a few cops. Oh yeah, that shit was not going to fly. Not in a million years. Graham was a dead man after this shit blew over.
His thoughts were interrupted at the sound of a gun shot coming from inside followed by several screams. Bringing his head up to stare in the warehouse's direction, he pinpointed Juan's voice within that jumbled mess, screaming out his name along with 'getting it ready.' And Graham knew exactly what that meant. Shifting on the hood of the car, he whipped out the last remote device from the inside of his jacket and immediately punched in a few keys. There were a few more securities measure for him to breach on that device than the last one and by the time he neared the end of it, he could hear cars roaring in the distance, slowly growing closer. He could hear the faint siren of a police car nearing as well. He managed to catch sight of Juan sprinting on out of the warehouse with several bags of blow tucked under his arm. And with that, he pressed on more button.
BOOM.
It was like a succession of fireworks all being set off at the same time. The base of the warehouse instantly exploded, shooting up pillars of fire as half of the building began to collapse without its foundation holding it steady. Graham sat there in awe and stared while a smirk swept across his face. The other sounds around him didn't even phase him for a second as he drowned them out with his own twisted, maniacal laughter. It didn't matter to him, just as long as he got to blow something up, because that shit never got old. Even as Juan tugged on his arm and pulled him away to hide behind another nearby building, Graham continued to bask in his amusement. It wasn't until Juan shoved a gun in his face that his laughter died down.
"NOW you laugh?! You are one fucked up man."
Graham didn't say anything as he slid down the wall and plopped onto the ground, hearing sirens and gun fire in the distance. His eyes looked on over to Juan, noticing the man's arm was injured. He still managed to escape with a few bags of drugs, even though a couple of them were ripped and seeping out cocaine.
"We need to get out of here," Graham uttered while catching his breath.
"Couldn't agree with you any more than that, man, but you-" Juan readjusted him to place the bags of cocaine down. "-need to get the fuck out of here now."
"Well, yeah, no shit, I mean-"
"No, you don't fucking understand." Juan's voice dropped to a whole new level of seriousness and it showed even more in his eyes. "The second Dio finds out about all of this, he's going to have a field day. Shit, he's probably going flip a coin to see which would be more amusing to him: ripping your dick off so that you never fuck a woman again or hang you by your balls and slit your throat to watch you choke on your own blood. As long as you're in Miami- wait, no, I take that back. As long as you're in a fifty mile radius of Florida, you will be hunted, cracker boy. You will be wanted more by that man than some pansy redneck on America's Most Wanted. You are no longer welcomed here and if I were you, I would take a bag of this fine shit and go."
Juan took one of the smaller bags and shoved it into Graham's hands. "That should last you about a week or so. Do whatever the fuck you want with it. Snort it. Sell it. Throw it down the fucking toilet for all I care, but don't do it here."
"What are you going to do?" Graham blinked at the Hatian, only to be greeted with some laughter.
"Me?" Juan reached for his handgun and cocked it back. "I'm going to be taking the easy way out."
And with the gun pointed to his head, he quickly pulled the trigger back and blew his brains away. That time around, Graham didn't even flinch. He simply sat there in awe at everything that just happened within the past half hour. Perhaps the most fucked up shit that could happen in his life in such little amount of time. Clinging onto the bag of cocaine, he listened to the incoming people heading in his direction. As they grew closer, he pulled out the two handguns given to him earlier and readied them.
It wasn't much of a gun fight when the enemies were turning around the corner, unknowing to the fact there was someone sitting there and waiting to lodge several bullets into their legs. The men fell over in agony, only to have their whimpers silenced with several more shot to the chest. With the first gun emptied, Graham stood to his feet and poked his head around the corner before running down the alley. He had parked his car several blocks away before Elena insisted on picking him up. Something about doing it up in style or something. Well, a Lotus did beat out a Chevelle any day, he gave her that. Even when he reached his car, there were still a couple more people after him. Sliding to the ground, he took cover and emptied the rest of his ammo onto his followers. Graham didn't even bother to check if they were dead or not. With the handgun useless to him, he chucked it to the side and slipped into his car.
Briskly turning the engine on, Graham pulled onto the road and sped on off aimlessly, trying to calm his mind and organize his thoughts. Where the hell was he suppose to go now, especially if he was not welcomed in Florida or any of the adjacent states? He never stayed in one place long enough to make good enough friends that would welcome him back with open arms. Most places would greet him with either a punch in the face or a gun to his head. He could think of a few here and there that came to mind, though they were on the opposite side of the country, which did him no good. There wasn't even anywhere left for him to wander off to, seeing that he more or less visited every state in the mainland. What else was there for him to do?
And that's when an idea came to mind. An idea that made him roll his eyes and wish he was actually high when he thought of it, so he could put the blame somewhere. There was some place he was familiar with and could go back to. True, he knew people hated him there, but that was four years ago. And it wasn't like they were going to gun him down, either. Perhaps they had moved on by now. Especially with the Light of May bullshit going on, the media focus was no longer on him and his fuck up anymore. Americans had a funny way of forgetting thing as quickly as they came, so there had to be hope. Once he hit the highway, Graham rolled down the windows and cranked up the radio as he headed to the only location left for him to run to.
Scarlet Oak.