Escape: Day 5

Word Count: 30,012

Summary of Events:

Trace and Dallis stayed in a motel for the night, where Dallis first dyed her hair blonde before getting Trace to cut nearly two feet off of it. They had a late supper of pizza before going to bed. The next morning they warmed up some of the pizza for breakfast before setting out.

Excerpt of the Day:

"The wait had been longer than Trace had expected . . . until he'd remembered that she'd bought makeup yesterday, which led him to be not as surprised as he might've been before when she emerged from the bathroom with her face done up to ends he thought nearly excessive.

Her lips were deep red and full, her eyelids were covered in smoky grey almost all the way up to her eyebrows, and her eyelashes looked twice as thick as they had before. She was also carrying the half-charred hair dye box in her hand.

"Right," Trace said.

He led the way out of the room and then stepped out of the way for her to get out.

"You have everything?" Trace asked.

Dallis nodded.

Trace closed and locked the door and then went over to his truck, which he unlocked and climbed into so as to set down his things. He then went and dropped off the key in the little key drop that they had — being as the motel wasn't open yet — before climbing back into his truck and getting a lighter.

"You still want to burn that?" he asked, indicating the box Dallis was holding.

Dallis nodded.

Trace led the way out to a spot in the middle of the parking lot. Dallis set the box down and Trace lit it. He then pushed Dallis in front of him quickly back to the truck.

When they got to the truck she kicked him in the shin twice.
"I'm sorry!" Trace exclaimed. "Can you stop beating up on me every time I touch you?"

Dallis glared at him savagely.

Trace's retort died when the chemicals of the hair dye exploded, being as the flames had finally reached them.

They watched as the flames burned in scattered places around the parking lot for a few moments before dying. Trace then turned back to Dallis.

"I'm sorry I keep touching you," he said. "But I didn't know how soon it was going to blow and I didn't want either of us to get hit, okay?"

Trace then waved her up into the truck. She climbed in, still glaring. If it weren't for her glare Trace wouldn't have been certain she was the same person he'd arrived at the motel with the night before.

He walked around his truck in his usual inspection, then climbed in the driver's side and fired it up.

Dallis was already seated and buckled up, staring fixedly out of the windshield when he got inside, and she didn't move other than the rise and fall of her body as he manoeuvred his truck out of the parking lot and onto the road.

They'd get through Nashville and likely across the border into Kentucky before they had to stop for the night. If not they'd definitely be close to the border."