While Slate seemed to be less jumpy, Alex was just the opposite. There was too much noise, too many people, and Slate was drawing more attention just by walking in than she thought was safe for someone in his situation. Her eyes followed the very intimidatingly large man as he talked to Slate, nodding in greeting as he introduced the two of them. All she wanted was for this to get over with. Her skills with dealing with muggles wasn’t the best by far, as could clearly be seen by her body language and lack of talking.
"Don' worry, ma'am, Ah don' bite!" Big Mark said with a toothy grin, looking very much like a man willing to bite someone.
"Are there any rooms open?" Slate asked, shifting the duffel bag on his back. "We need to hide out for the night."
"Yer jus' in luck!" Mark exclaimed. "We jus' threw someone out, so you can have there place!"
Alex kept her arms crossed squarely over her chest, only offering a small and clearly forced smile at Big Mark’s joke. They we’re going to be staying here? In a place like this? She just bit her tongue and didn’t say anything, though the fact that any one of these people could be a wizard made her very wary.
They followed Big Mark through the bar, standing behind him as if he was a bulldozer pushing through a wall of snow.
"This is probably the safest place we can go," Slate said to her, just loud enough to he heard over the ruckus. "There are so many people it here it would be impossible to find us, especially when we're behind a closed door. It's like finding needles in a haystack."
“You’re definition of safe must be quite different than mine,” She replied over the noise, “And the same reason you deem this place safe is the same reason I don’t. There are too many people, any one of them could be a spy for whoever is trying to kill you, and it would be impossible to tell which one.” Her hand gripped her wand in her pocket protectively and she followed after them so she wouldn’t get lost.
"Got a better idea?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her. "Besides, we aren't staying here for longer than a few hours."
They reached the far left wall after following in the wake of Mark. Under closer inspection, the wall wasn't the actual wall. Instead, it was made of plywood painted the same dark grey as the others. There were two doors about 3 feet from each other, both made of metal. Mark approached the one to the left and opened it for them, gesturing inside of it.
"You two enjoy your stay," he said, his eyebrows wiggling in a manner that suggested something inappropriate.
Alex gave Mark an unamused look before opening the door, muttering something under her breath too quiet to hear. She scanned the room as soon as the door was open, looking for anything out of the ordinary, any traps, cameras, or anything else that wasn’t supposed to be there. “Well, what are we going to do while we’re here? Unless you have more information I need to know about so we can end this whole planned thing.”
There were two beds inside of the room, both on separate sides.
"I," he said, letting the duffel bag fall to the ground, "Am going to sleep for the first time in two days. You're welcome to do the same," he said, gesturing to the other bed as he laid down without taking his shoes off.
“I’ll pass Mr. Isaac, I don’t need sleep right at the moment.” She replied, sitting on the edge of the other bed and pulling her wand out of her pocket. It just rested in her hands, turning back with a tap and doing nothing remotely magical. To the muggle who didn’t know any better, it would look like she was just carrying a random stick.
It didn't even take 15 minutes for Slate to fall into a deep sleep, snoring lightly. His body, even in sleep, was as tensed as a string, ready to spring up at any moment and time.
Alex glanced over at him and shook her head, amazed at how quickly muggles fell asleep. It seemed to take several hours, the right date, exact time, and several different threats at people for her to fall asleep. Her eyes scanned the room and she was silent, looking for any threat and thinking over the interaction back at Slate’s house.
The noise of the crowd could be heard through the thin walls, but Slate didn't seem to care at all. He was dead to the world. Not even the sound of a bottle smashing outside could wake him. It took him 3 hours to even begin to stir, although it was clear he didn't want to wake up.
Alex was laid back on her bed and just stared at the ceiling when he started shifting about, her eyes flicking over to him before back at the ceiling. She was quiet and didn’t try to wake him up, savoring her last few minutes of quiet thinking before he woke up and she would have to be back on high alert.
"Fuck," Slate grumbled, finally sitting up and yawning. While he didn't looked well rested, he looked much better than before.
'How long 'ave I been out?" he asked Alex, turning his sleepy eyes over to his companion.
“Maybe three hours? I wasn’t keeping track?” She replied, sitting up and tucking her wand away, “Now, before we get moving again, do you mind getting some food?” Alex didn’t like to have to admit that she was human and needed food and sleep, but it came up eventually and she wasn’t too keen on finding somewhere to eat on her own.
"They got grub in the bar," he said, rubbing his eyes to try and clear the fog of sleep. "I'll see what they have when I wake up a bit more."
Even after 3 hours, it didn't sound like the party had stopped yet.
She nodded, getting to her feet and starting to pace around the room, both to think and to keep her legs moving. It was a habit she picked up from her fellow classmates and it had stuck with her ever since. Alex glanced at Slate and tried to figure out who his mother was based just on his looks. She knew she could go look it up or just ask a fellow colleague when she got back, but this was more challenging and gave her brain a task.
After a few more minutes, he got to his feet and yawned, scratching the top of his head and he shook the sleep out of his legs. They made made eye contact when she looked over at him and he tilted his head in response.
"Somethin' wrong?" he asked
“Just thinking,” She replied, glancing at him again before looking at the ground as she paced. In her head she couldn’t recall anyone that worked for the ministry that looked even somewhat like him, which just confused her even more. Alex felt for her wand in her pocket and just kept a hand on it as she continued to pace, “Let’s just get something to eat and get out of here.”
He scooped the duffel bag from the ground and threw it over his shoulder, adjusting it so the strap wouldn't dig into his shoulder as badly. Glancing down at his shirt to make sure there was no drool on it, he reached for the door handle and opened the door.
The word, "Flipendo!" greeted him immediately and he was sent crashing into the back wall by a jet of green light.
The huge form of Big Mark lumbered into the room, a pained expression on his face and a large wand gripped in his left hand.
"I'm sorry, partner," Mark said, pointed the wand over at Grace, "They lef' me no choice."
“Shit,” Alex muttered, wand already in hand and pointed right back at the large form of Mark, “Told ya we shouldn’t have stayed here, Slate.” She glanced over at him momentarily but didn’t do anything to rush to his aid, needing to dispose of the threat before she could even focus on getting him out to the car safely.
"Expelliarmus!" Mark shouted and Alex's wand flew out of her hand and into his.
"They threatened mah fmaily, Slate," Mark said, the pain evident in his voice as he turned back to him. " I'm sorry. There's nothin' else Ah could've do-"
His sentence was cut shot by a deafening BOOM! and Mark went flying out of the open door, blood splattering the doorframe.
Slate sat slumped against the wall, smoke trailing from the barrel of the shotgun in his hands.
"Apology accepted," he growled, pain evident in his voice.
Her eyes widened and she visibly jumped at the noise, looking at her now wand less hand with a look of both confusion and anger. She looked over at Slate before marching out to Mark’s body and grabbing both her wand and his, muttering a string of curses before marching back in and over to him, “Well, Mr. Isaac, I would suggest we get out of here before anyone else even more pleasant comes to visit us.”
Slate nodded, standing up with a grunt. He zipped up the duffel bag and through it over his shoulder, choosing to keep the shotgun out. He walked with a heavy limp, stepping over the body of his former friend with a pained expression on his face.
"It was you or me, bud," he said quietly, barely audible as he shoved his way through the crowd gathered around the door, assuming Alex would follow him.
Alex glanced at Mark with only a dash of remorse, following Slate with a stone cold look. Her wand was tucked back into its pocket and she had Mark’s wand as well as she walked out of the bar and let out a small breath, “Are you ok, Mr. Isaac? The spell he hit you with wasn’t bad, but being thrown again a wall could do damage.”
"Yeah," he grunted, rubbing the back of his head and wincing. "I could use a band-aid or two, but yeah."
He tossed the duffel bag into the back of his truck once again, choosing to take the shotgun with him into the cab.
"How about you?" he asked after she climbed into her seat.
“I’m fine, he only disarmed me and nothing else.” She slipped into the passengers seat again and closed the door, rolling her shoulders back, “Let’s get on the road again, Mr. Isaac.” Her mind drifted to the fact that she hadn’t eaten but she pushed it away. Slate’s safety was more important than food at this moment, she would be sure to find something when they were safe.
"Mr. Isaac," he repeated with a small grin. "It's starting to grow on me."
He started up the truck and shifted into gear, driving out of the parking lot just as the sound of the police sirens reached their ears.
"Any ideas where to go, now?" Slate asked.
Alex looked over at him and shrugged, “Didn’t you say you had a place somewhere? Otherwise any regular hotel will work.” She was surprised to hear that her calling him by his last name was growing on him and she rolled her eyes, though the tiniest smile tugged at her lips.
"That place was Mark's house," he grumbled, turning his nose up. "Are you sure that a hotel'll be safe?"
