“Oh! It’s later than I thought! But look, we made it, I breathed, more to myself than anything.
Cara leaned over, peering at it for herself, before letting out a low whistle. “Damn,” she said, stretching her arms above her head. “We’ve even got time to spare if we can figure out the way to the port that is.”
I nodded, though I barely had the energy to feel relieved yet. The exhaustion I had been holding off for hours was settling in fast now that the adrenaline was wearing off and the fresh air had hit. My limbs felt heavy, my head a little foggy, and my eyes God, my eyes burned like hell.
Cara must have noticed, because she turned to me with a smirk, eyeing me up and down. “Margot,” she drawled, “I love you, but you look like absolute shit right now.”
I groaned, rubbing a hand over my face. “Yeah, thanks for that.”
“I’m serious.” She snickered. “You’re like, two shades paler than normal, and your eyebags have eyebags.”
I shot her a tired glare. “Maybe because I stayed up all night making sure we didn’t miss our stop?”noveldrama
“Which I appreciate,” she said, placing a hand over her heart dramatically, “but now, you’ll scare the prisoners off.”
I rolled my eyes and held back a laugh because I couldn’t argue back with that one, it was too funny.
Cara clapped her hands together, standing up with a new burst of energy. “Alright, come on then. Before you drop dead, let’s find a map and figure out where the hell we’re going next.”
I pushed myself up, ignoring the way my muscles ached in protest. The sooner we got to the port, the sooner we could rest.
Hopefully?
We wandered through the terminal, slipping between clusters of people waiting for their buses or hauling luggage across the tiled floor. My body felt like lead, fatigue attacking its way into my bones with every step, but we couldn’t afford to stop not yet.
Not until we make it to our meeting point!
Cara led the way, her eyes scanning the area until she spotted what we needed.
“There,” she muttered, nodding toward a small gift shop nestled between a ticket counter and a coffee stand. It was the kind of place that sold overpriced postcards, keychains, and generic ‘Welcome to Meadowbank‘ souvenirs.
And, more importantly–maps.
We stepped inside, the cool blast of air conditioning hitting me like a shock to the system. The shop was quiet, the only customer being an older woman browsing through a rack of magazines. Behind the counter, a bored–looking cashier scrolled on her phone, barely acknowledging our presence.
Perfect.
Cara moved fast, her fingers skimming over a stand of folded maps near the entrance. She plucked one from the display and held it up like she was examining it, but I already knew what she was doing.
Without missing a beat, she turned on her heel, map in hand, and strolled right back out of the store as if she had every intention of paying for it. I followed a second later, glancing back just once to see if the cashier had noticed.
She hadn’t.
Outside, we ducked behind a concrete pillar near the edge of the terminal before unfolding the map between us. It was massive, the paper crinkling loudly as we spread it out.
Cara’s finger trailed along the streets, scanning for landmarks, until-
“There,” she said, tapping a spot near the bottom of the map.
I leaned in, blinking through my exhaustion. The port. It was clearly marked, sitting along the coastline just a few miles from where we stood.
“It’s not too far,” she noted, exhaling in relief. “A straight shot down Main Street, then a left at this intersection… we can walk it.”
I nodded, feeling a flicker of hope ignite once again. After all the chaos of sneaking onto the bus, hiding for hours, and fighting to stay awake, the idea of finally reaching our destination felt almost surreal.
“We better get moving,” I said, folding the map haphazardly and stuffing it into my hoodie pocket.
Cara smirked. “Lead the way, Captain Sleep Deprived.”
I rolled my eyes but made a move.
With the bus terminal fading away behind us, becoming a distant memory, we stepped onto the sidewalk, the scent of saltwater and diesel fuel drifting in from the harbor. We were almost there.
Now, we just had to find whoever was supposed to be picking us up…
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