Survival Of The Fittest

((Rea Adams, continued from Early Morning, Early Days))

Where the hell was she? Some park, or something. She had just wandered off, exploring the town while her family got settled in, and then suddenly she was in the middle of nowhere in a backwater town in the middle of the desert a couple of dozen miles from the nearest city. What were her parents thinking, moving here? Her newly found friend Ben probably said it best: everyone I ever ask says: 'We fell in love the miles of fucking rocks and blistering desert wind shear'.

To top it all off, she knew absolutely bloody no one here. Unfamiliar faces passed her by as she struggled to navigate the winding streets of the town.

Dammit. It was going to be dark soon, and she didn't want anyone back home to worry. Her parents had enough stress from their jobs as it is.

As she passed through the park, she noticed a boy sitting on one of the park benches, apparently listening to music, which she could tell from the headphones. Hadn't she seen him around before? Yeah, he was from Cochise, wasn't he? Maybe he'd be able to help her out with her predicament.

She walked over to him.

"Hey, you there." No response. "Hey! Hello?" Still nothing. Rea was growing increasingly annoyed by this boy, who for whatever reason was completely ignoring her. "Okay, look mate, I'm just asking for directions-" And yet he continued to ignore her. How dare he.

She grabbed hold of them and ripped them out of his ears.

"Hey! I'm talking to you!"

Will was panting slightly. Sure, the run hadn't been any further than his last run, or the one before that, but he'd managed to cut the time down from 30 mins, 24 seconds, down to 29 mins exactly. And whilst that didn't seem too much for most people, every time he cut the time down, it involved more sweat and hard work until it came normally to him. And then he'd try to cut the time down again, unational eventually he would hit the fastest time he could possibly go. Still, he was a long way off from that moment.

Had he looked up, he would've seen Rea Adams asking him for directions, but the incredibly loud techno that he worked out to had basically blocked out all incoming noise from his surroundings, so it was only when his earbuds came out did he look up in surprise.

She was tall, was his first thought. Very, very tall. Probably the same height as me. In fact, had it not looked like she was struggling to stand up against the wind, she would have been the only person he'd met to intimidate him. As it was, however, she simply irritated him. Immensely.

Standing up to his full hight, and with a single eyebrow raised, he was so much bigger than her muscle-wise, that he seriously wondered what she'd been thinking. Glaring, he growled "What do you want?"

Well, that was a mistake.

So, after violently ripping the headphones from his ears, it turned out that she had inadvertently angered the incredible hulk. She was taller than nearly all of the boys at her  school, but this guy was even taller than her, which was certainly a concern for her, especially when he was looking at her like that. As if he was about to reduce her to a thin red paste spread across the grass. It went without saying that she probably had to choose her next few words carefully.

"Sorry if I'm intruding on your private concert there," she began, trying to hide the hesitation in her voice. She had a feeling that this guy could lift her using one hand, looking at those muscles. He completely dwarfed her because of them. Bloody hell, he nearly blotted out the sun.

"I was just wondering if you could tell me where I'm currently standing. I'm kinda new here, and I've just lost my way."

She winced, not expecting him to actually attack her, but just instinctively preparing herself. Just in case.

He looked menacing enough.

The girl was quaking in her boots. Not literally, I mean, she wasn't wearing boots, but when it turned out that you'd inadvertently pissed off a guy that could probably bench press you without breaking a sweat, well that was quite something. He looked at the girl. She was from Cochise, right? The Aussie. Daughter of a neuroscientist or something, very wealthy. Probably could rival his family with the amount they had in the bank actually. Although, he thought to himself, they'd be nouveau riche. The people who'd earned big-time last generation and were splashing the cash to get into higher society.

"You must be very new here if the accent is still harsh. A few months of being surrounded by yanks'll smoothen it out big-time." Even as he said this, he made sure to harshen his Scottish accent, making it more Glaswegian. Although his normal accent was closer to an Inverness one, he found that Glasgow's reputation tended to proceed it, what with the whole 'Glasgow Smile' that hack horror authors loved to give knife killers.

"As to where you are... This is the north side of Sumac park. If you want me to point you home, yqou'll need to tell me where 'home' is exactly."

So, apparently spending time with the "yanks" as he'd called them would soften her accent. Which was a shame, really. Of course she didn't really notice it, but a few other people had commented on it, and if they thought she sounded British or something, then who was she to complain? She was pretty sure that having an accent here made you more attractive or something. Though if what this guy said was true, she'd be inserting a "y'all" into every other sentence soon.

"I'm going to guess you're not from around here then." Which was obvious, considering the fact that his accent made him sound like the lead in Braveheart. How she didn't notice that before, she had no idea.

"My place is across the road from the medical centre." Incredibly convenient for the family, that. Her mother worked there, and being on call for most of the day meant that being able to drop everything and run across the street to an emergency was of incredible benefit to her. Didn't hurt that the extravagant houses across the road were built for wealthy types like doctors.

"Oh, and since I just told a stranger pretty much the exact location of my house, I guess I should give you my name. It's Rea, by the way. Rea Adams."

"Will. Will McKinley.  And yes, if the accent didn't tip you off, I'm not from around here." He dropped the over-the-top Glasgow accent and allowed his normal voice to come through. "I'm not actually from Glasgow." He did a quick calculation in his head for directions, before realising that they lived about two streets apart. Made sense really, there weren't many places for the more affluent to live within the city, whilst still remaining in luxury.

"Huh. You don't live too far away from where I live." He looked at the slowly darkening horizon, and watched as more and more people started to head out from Sumac. "Wouldn't be right leaving a girl on her lonesome just before nightfall. Not much crime here, but better safe than sorry." As he said this he started to untie the sweatshirt wrapped around his waist. No point in getting cold because he was careless.

He shot her a sideways glance as he shrugged on his top, noticing how her hair seemed a bit too shiny. Maybe she used tons of onditioner, but by the very tomboyish look he doubted that that would be her kind of thing. "Is that natural red hair? Pardon for asking, it's just bothering me is all."

"No one has red hair this naturally dark. Of course I dyed it; I'm a natural brunette-" She stopped short as what he said about the time just a few seconds earlier sunk in. She spun round, and noticed the sun almost beginning to dip below the horizon. This wasn't good. Nightfall in an unfamiliar town was certainly not a favourable scenario. At any other time of day, she'd care more about his comments on leaving a girl by herself, but in the current circumstances it was trivial, at best.

"How far away is the medical centre?" she asked him, desperately trying not to look like there was something wrong. If word about her condition got out, she'd be the laughing stock of the town. Who was still afraid of the dark at her age, anyway? It was something people grew out of when they were five years old. Masking her fear of the dark as fear of being caught out in the nightlife of Brisbane (the Australian version of somewhere like Detroit) worked well back home, but here? Not so much.

Of course, there was the obvious risk of travelling alone with someone who just earlier had looked poised to kill her. She was by no means strong, fit, or in any way athletically able (the mind was more of her department) and if he tried something like robbing her, there wasn't much she could do but hand over her (admittedly cash-filled) wallet and scream in panic. There was nothing she could do about it though. Just had to trust him to lead her to the centre.

"Could you, uh, lead me to it?"

Will zipped up the sweatshirt and turned to face her. "There are people with hair that dark, trust me, I've seen a few. The stereotype about Scots being redheads is actually quite true. Sure, most of them are carrot-tops, but there are a few. Your hair is way too shiny though, so you might want to town down the products." He still doubted she used products, but unless whoever had dyed it had cocked it up somehow, it was what he was going on.

"As to walking to the med centre, it's really no big issue. Like I said, my house is that way as well. Most of the higher-ups here live in that part of town. Your mum's a neurosurgeon or some such, isn't she? Must earn her a pretty penny, or you wouldn't be over there." He chuckled a bit. "I'm surprised actually. Normally the nouveau riche head to big cities, Syndey, Can... What's the capital again? Carbenarra? Something like that. Anyway. Places where you get seen and can see everyone else. Not a state best known for a gigantic hole in the ground. Places this are reserved for the poor sods born here and the retirees from Las Vegas."

Finally, he twigged onto something. She seemed incredibly nervous. She had obviously been nervous of him, but she was getting more and more highly strung. Her voice when she'd asked him to lead her to the med centre had warbled at the end. It could be simply she wasn't liking the idea of walking anywhere with a stranger that could overpower her in less than two seconds, but something was niggling his brain. It reminded him of his mother, when she had needed to go anywhere after dark. "Are..." He squinted at her. "Are you afraid of the dark?"

She froze as she heard those words.

Well he was perceptive, she'd give him that. Some how this random bloke that she'd never seen before in her life had managed to uncover one of her most closely guarded secrets just by looking at her.

"What? No! Of course not, I just..." The park was empty, apart from a few stragglers just now leaving. "How the hell did you find out? Did someone tell you?" Not that she'd told anyone. Not even her close friend Ben Fields knew about it. Yet here was this guy, holding a secret that if it got out could completely ruin her.

"What do you want from me?" He was worse than the snake-blooded slime that her father had to deal with on a daily basis. He wanted something from her. She knew it.

"And whatever it is, can we get a move on to the Centre? Before, you know, the entire place is covered in darkness?"

It was getting colder by the second. Even with her coat, she could feel the chills rippling through her body. And the cold was going to be followed by darkness sooner or later. How the hell did she get herself in this situation? Stranded in the middle of the desert. Night beginning to fall. A strange person she'd just met knowing her secrets. It sounded like the setup to a bloody horror story. No pun intended, of course.

No choice but to follow him back to the centre. Nothing she could do about it now. Sure beat having a nyctophobic breakdown in the middle of the park.

He almost burst out laughing. A guess based on the behaviour of his mother had caused her to freak out this much? "Rea, if you want to keep that a secret, I recommend you not blurt out a confirmation if someone asks you about it. In case you were wondering, you acted just like my mother. Tensed up when she saw how dark it was getting, then started getting panicky and rushed, and finally, your voice changed a bit. You don't have to be Sherlock to figure out that something's up. And, again, if you'd just said 'what? No...' I wouldn't have suspected it. You dug your own grave just then."

He started walking, uncapping the bottle of water he carried with him whenever he was running. "So, why did you end up moving here instead of a big city? Parents fall in love with the miles and miles of sand and fucking rock?" He took a swig. "Oh, and it's fine for me to call you Rea, right? You wouldn't prefer me to call you something else?" Manners, Will. You've already fucked up with the swearing, and not offering your name first. Try to act like nobility, even if you won't be nobility for a while.

She trailed along behind him, fuming. Life was just one big hilarious fucking joke for this asshole, wasn't it? He sure seemed to find the uncovering of one of her most closely guarded secrets funny.

"Yes, you can call me Rea. And I don't know what the fuck else I'd want you to call me." Yeah, she was pissed. She didn't usually curse, as long as you didn't count the words "bloody" and "hell" among your list of words you wouldn't say around small children.

"We left everything behind in Australia so my father could continue his work for a corporation. But they chose Kingman specifically because..." She tried to think of an explanation for the decision to move to the middle of the desert. "Well, my best guess is that they threw darts at a map of America and decided that way."

Ugh. He was seconds away from laughing, wasn't he? Pretty much the reaction she expected from someone learning that she was still afraid of the dark at her age. And what the entire school would be doing for the rest of her time there when he got back to it. Which reminded her...

"Hey, you still haven't answered my question. What will it take for you to keep this a secret?"

She didn't notice the streetlights turn on. If they had turned on, night couldn't be any closer.

"It'll take nothing to keep me quiet." He looked at here, trying to read her expression. "What, why would I tell everyone that you're afraid of the dark? So you can become a laughing stock? Some might find that funny or appropriate, but I really don't."  He kept walking, making a turn.

He changed the subject again, just as he changed directions. In the distance, the light of the medical centre could be barley seen. "Nice. Luckier than me at least, which was basically 'Oh, we're going through a divorce and you can't stay here for whatever reason, so have fun in Arizona!"

He cursed under his breath before continuing. "Completely retarded. And the people I have to stay with are..." He took a deep breath, before continuing. "Never mind. This will just get me all worked up and lead neither of us will benefit from me getting angry."

If there was ever a time when she was at her most vulnerable, this would be it. He had her in the palm of her hand, knowing a secret that she couldn't deny, and one that she would do anything to protect. If he wanted anything from her then now would be the time to blackmail her. Rea was on a dark street at night, blindly following someone who could very easily overpower her if he wanted to, and yet he'd tried nothing, and promised not to tell anyone that she was afraid of the dark.

Sounded like he was having some troubles at home. Sure, her parents were almost constantly working and she rarely if ever got to see them, but it was nothing compared to what this guy Will must be going through. A divorce, being thrown out of his country for some reason and then being forced to live with people she could already tell he hated.

"What are the chances of us two meeting here? I mean, both our parents forced us to move to America, and of all the desert backwaters in the country we somehow manage to end up in the same dust hole."

"Of all the chances, with 7 billion people in the world? That's a tricky one. I mean, there are circumstances that matter, clearly, but the actual chances of any two people meeting would be two in 7.however-many-people in the world. So, very very very very low." Will paced onwards, starting to feel the chill even through his top.

"Normally I don't stay out this late. I've got no qualms about it, but  my aunt feels like it world be 'ungentelmanly' to see me outside past about nine. I'm third in line for a minor lordship and she acts as if I'm supposed to be the next king or something." The medical center was closing in on them fast, and he stopped a streetlight away from the building before turning to face her.

"Here you go. I assume you know how to get to your house from here. Or if you don't, your mum does at least. Stay safe, and maybe check how big the person is before you do something to annoy them next time." Will winked and turned, flipping the hood of his sweatshirt up as he did so, and started to jog again. Maybe his aunt wouldn't bother bugging him this time.

((Will McKinley continued in A Lazy Saturday))