The Travelers

Shael

Shael stuck her hand in her pocket and pulled out the pile of dollar bills she had taken from her father. Stilling the shake in her almost numb limbs, she cautiously put them on the check-in counter and slid them towards the hostess that stood biting her nail.

"So, you wanted one room with one bed?" the lady asked, lifting only her eyes to glance at Shael. Looking away, Shael nodded. "Double, queen-"

"Whichever is cheaper," Shael cut off the lady, whose name tag read Shanaiya. Rolling her eyes, Shanaiya put her hands on the keyboard of her computer and slammed her fingers on the keys.

"One key or two?" Shanaiya asked, opening a drawer and placing her hand on a row of colored plastic cards. Shael held up one finger quickly, unwilling to speak again. Someone could be listening; someone might recognize her. What good would running be then, if she was caught right away?

Shanaiya swiped the card through an odd looking machine; it appeared to be half debit half calculator. Or, maybe just a room-key magnetizer. "That will be ninety-five dollars, please."

Grabbing the money I had slid towards her on the counter, I slowly counted out ninety five, leaving me only twenty nine. Placing it in Shanaiya's hand, I grabbed the key and lifted my only bag, turning down the hallway beside me and finding my room at the end.

The room was dark and musky. No paintings lined the walls and a small bed and able were my only pieces of furniture. The room was amazing, compared to where I had lived all my life.

Thinking of my mother, I remembered the small phone she had kept for herself that had some money on it. She had found it on the street and kept it, telling me it was only for me if I needed to call her. Picking up the small phone supplied, I dialed the number.

Something was wrong; she didn't answer.

Brigitte~

My mum had traveled here with her theatre group. The whole area was barren and desolate. I was meeting someone here also. It was quite a coincidence. They were picking up a birth certificate and a passport.

I enjoyed the excitement of the city more than this place with not even a starbucks to it's name.

My mum was out right now. Heaven knows where. We had checked into this hotel because it seemed to be the best. It's paint was cracking and the roof was falling in. But it was actually not bad compared to the other ones we've seen.

It took me half an hour to dress today. I was proud. I had my straight redhaired wig and my blue green contacts. I had made myself look like I fit into this landscape perfectly. I never want to look out of place.

But as I walked down the stairs in my cowboy boots that were worn with dust my cell phone rang. There goes being inconspicuous. It was my mum. I picked up. Nobody answered but I could here something going on.

She was frantically whispering something but I couldn't hear a word she was saying. Then the line was cut short.

I didn't hear from her ever again that night. She never came back to the hotel.

Name: Andre Black
Age: 17
Gender: Male
Criminal background: Growing up in an abusive home, Andre was often locked in a closet for days when he was only a child. He found a deck of cards underneath a pile of rags, and his fascination with magic began. It started with sleight of hand, but when he matured and ran away from home, he built trick guillotines and props. Soon he became an attraction, and during one of his show he accidentally sawed his assistant in half. Since then he’s been on the run, thieving occasionally, but only when necessary. He considers himself to be above that.
Reason: He has started having dark thoughts about killing again, on purpose this time, and he needed a new environment to clear his head. He’s just stopping at this hotel for a few nights, to pick pockets for money.
Looks like:
Picture

*Thatannagirl, be sure to post a sort of intro post about your character... what he is doing and such at the hotel. We're going to move on a little bit, so in the next posts incorporate maybe seeing police around the building, or going into town and being followed back to the hotel.*

Sam-

I was waiting for it to get darker. It was dusk now, but I wouldn't leave until night fall. I couldn't leave. There was a cop parked right outside the hotel. I had stayed longer than anticipated because of my dad's disappearance so naturally people had noticed that about half of the most valuable things from the auction were missing.

My escape route wasn't exactly a good one if worst came to worst, but I didn't have much of a choice. I would just have to run into the woods behind the hotel. They had already been running lisence plate searches on cars in the parking lot, so they probably noticed our recently stolen plates. I meant to get rid of those. No car meant I would have to go on foot until I could steal a car or find different transportation.

I had a small back pack lying on the bed, packed with clothes and money enough to get to Los Angeles. I burned my dad's clothes in the bathtub, along with the bed sheets so they couldn't get any dna. I started to wipe down the room when there was a knock at the door. My heart stopped momentarily then, "Room service, we've got a letter for you."

"Just slide it under the door." I called back, placing my hand on the gun in the back of my pants. The letter slid under and I walked cautiously towards it.

The voice from the other side came agian, "The man you were with, he left it for you." How could he have left me a letter if he was dragged out of the building? He wouldn't leave by choice. Would he?

I shoved the letter into my back pack and looked out at the parking lot. There were a few other cops around and the sun was nearly completely set. The hotel owner came out and started to talk to one of the cops. He handed him a slip of paper and a room key. Shit.

John held the spliff in his hand, gazing at it intently.

"Should I, or shouldn't I?"

Should never have started, you fool.

He got up and opened the window, throwing the spliff out into the car park. He then let out a curse as he noticed the police were there. And the spliff landed right in the middle of them.

"Sh...shi...buh...boh...bollocks. Bollocks! BOLLOCKS!!!"

He didn't bother to wait to see if the police had noticed anything, and picked up his backpack. He began to run downstairs, but stopped when he realised he would just run into the car park.

"J-J-J-Jesus freakin' Jesus..."

He ran to the door to another room on the other side of the hotel, knocking on the door. A young woman opened it.

"Hi," John said, "I don't suppose...don't suppose I could use your window?"

The woman gave him a confused look.

"The police. They're...right, do you take any drugs? Any at all?"

The woman's expression went from being confused to offended, and a little scared.

"Oh, bollocks," John gritted his teeth, wiping his sweaty forehead, "alright, cash. I've got...I'll give you a hundred dollars if you let me use your window and say you didn't see anything. Deal?"

The woman stared at him for a while, before answering.

"Deal."

John handed her the money, leaving him with barely enough to live on, and climbed out her window. He let out a satisfied laugh, then stopped.

"Now what?" He muttered.

*If anyone wants to claim to be the woman mentioned above, feel free*

Brigitte~
I stood outside and sirens wailed around me. They wouldn't recognize me, that was for sure, so who were they after?

Then I saw a figure climb out through a window in the hotel. Hmm. If the police were after me I would want someone to help. But we don't usually do that... Our ethics don't allow for that.

But what the hell. I ran over to him. The police hadn't seen him yet and I pulled him down.

"Come on, they'll find you!"

I studied many human expressions to help me with my acting. His looked cornered and scared.

"Oh hurry up!" He allowed himself to be dragged away into one of the only places in WY you could run for cover.

He hyperventilated as I looked at him expectantly.

"I'm Brigitte, who are you?" I asked him, in my style of frankness.

"Um..."

John stared at Brigitte, who had probably saved him from a suspicious policeman. He noticed his hands had a giveaway smell on them.

"I'm John," he said, wincing as he offered his hand to Brigitte, who shook it, "I, ah...wait, how do I know you're not gonna...how do I...are you one of them?"

Brigitte sighed.

"You'll just have to trust me. If you don't trust me you're on your own, anyway."

John breathed in deeply, trying to appear calm, and nodded.

"Right..." he said, "so...are you...on the run?"

The woman, who appeared to be a redhead, nodded.

"Right," John muttered, "um...right...guess we'd better start running."

Brigitte~
"You can't run anywhere in Wyoming. It's just a flat area of land. If we can jack a car and drive to Colorado, that's another story." I told him. "But let me do you over so you'll be unrecognizable."

He looked at me weirdly.

"Come here. What color of hair do you want?"

When I was finished with him he was completely different.

He had my color of red hair and I had let him borrow my blue contacts. He was transformed. I had made him look exactly like me, except a male version.

"We can go as twins." I told him as I showed him himself in the mirror.

"Wait a minute! I have no idea who you are and you begin making a whole entire plan that will get us to Colorado! Slow down!"

I looked at him. He was a complete idiot I decided. Of course, that's how men usually are.

"Does it look like I have time right now to tell you my life story?"

*we were in Wisconsin but Wyoming is fine, closer to LA so probably better

Sam

I heard sirens start to come. Shit.

I walked to the window at the back of my room. It was always good to ask for a ground floor corner room. I stuck my head out of the previously broken window and noticed two people, one falling out of a window, running towards the forest. I laughed a little and shook my head then grabbed my back pack and hopped out the window. There weren't any cops on the side lot so I went unnoticed

I walked to the edge of the forest where the two people were sitting.

John scratched his head in agitation. He didn't know where Colorado was, or even which country it was in, or if it was a country in its own right. Should have paid more attention in geography.

"Okay...but...where is Colorado?."

Brigitte looked at him as if he were stupid.

"It's a state."

"In the US? I was thinking it was in Africa, or somewhere..."

Brigitte groaned loudly enough for John to hear.

"Sorry," he mumbled, "I've not been in America long, and my biography isn't good."

"You mean geography."

"Whatever. What's biography?"

Brigitte was about to answer when a man approached.

"Well that's not something you see every day," the stranger said, "some kid jumping out of the window of a hotel, only to be rescued by a mistress of disguise."

John jumped to his feet, adopting a combat pose he had learnt from one of his old "friends". He may not have been particularly clever, but John was a more than capable fighter. Brigitte also stood up, though she acted in a somewhat less hostile manner than John.

"Who are you?" John growled.

"Easy, easy," the man said calmly, "I'm not a cop, if that's what you mean. The name's Sam, Sam Elles, and I wouldn't mind betting that I have a lot in common with you both..."

Sam-

They both gave me confused looks and I pulled my cell phone out of my back jean pocket to check the time. It was near six.

"Look, I don't care what you guys have done, or who you are for that matter. But, I doubt either of you want to stick around here at the edge of the forest waiting for the cops to find you. I have a place we can go to where we will be safe."

Neither of them answered immediatly so I sighed and started walking into the woods. I heard them following me, "What exactly is you plan?" The young red head girl asked me, I assumed they were related, they had strikinly similar features.

"We set up camp tonight and start moving tomorrow towards LA." I replied

"Whats in LA?" The guy asked.

"A friend with room enough for us all." I answered.

*Whoever we are missing can come find us, if thats ok*

*Dang, I think it's too late for me to start. Thanks Rory, but I shall just sit back and watch the show this time.*

*Anybody still interested?*