Sure enough, following the highway had eventually led Sam and Koji to civilization. First they passed several off ramps that seemed to lead no where before finally settling on one where the lights were brightest. Both of them were exhausted, but determined.

As they reached the top of the ramp, Koji’s stomach made a gurgling noise. Sam glanced at him.

“Heh. Uh, I guess I’m hungry,” Koji ducked his head.

“We have been walkin’ a long time. The sun’s up.”

Sam looked around. Right where they were, there were a few gas stations on either side of the road. One thing they obviously hadn’t been able to take care of was money. It was going to make things difficult, but not impossible.

“Wait here,” Sam said, “and stay out of sight.”

He left Koji waiting beside some bushes. The guy should be able to hide if he needed to. Sam meanwhile headed into the closest gas station. Hopefully he wouldn’t look too out of place. There were already a few other customers inside, some at the register, and another browsing the coolers.

Sam was a little overwhelmed, to be honest. He had taken charge, but even a gas station was a whole new territory. Still, he had to make a decision quickly. Without knowing what else to do, Sam grabbed a couple of pre-wrapped muffins and then a bottle of water. With the cashier busy, Sam quickly slipped out the door, not breaking into a run until he was across the parking lot.

Once Sam was satisfied that no one was going to follow him, he headed to where Koji was waiting. He managed to make it there without incident.

“Didn’t want t’ risk grabbin’ more,” Sam explained, handing Koji a muffin.

“No, I understand.” Koji tore into the plastic that covered the muffin as Sam opened the bottle of water. Honestly, Sam was more thirsty than hungry.

“So, what’s the plan next?” Koji muttered around mouthful of muffin.

“We got t’ find different clothes.” Sam opened his own muffin. Even after biting into it, he had no idea what flavor it was supposed to be, but it was definitely better than anything they served at Wellhaven.

“New clothes?” Koji asked.

“Yeah. We look like escaped mental patients, don’t we?”

“Sure…but…Sam, how’d you get the food?”

“How d’ y’ think?”

Koji stared at his half eaten muffin. “You stole it.”

“We don’t have money. Don’t know how we’d get any either.”

“But we can’t steal.”

“Don’t have a choice right now. Won’t take more than we have to.”

Koji didn’t look convinced, but Sam knew he was right. Right now they stuck out too much. Their clothes matched after all. Once Wellhaven noticed they were missing, it’d probably end up on the news or something. As long as they were wearing the patient’s uniforms, they’d be easily spotted. At least it’d be more difficult if they were wearing more normal outfits.

“C’me on, keep eatin’.” Sam said. “Like I said, nothin’ more than what we need.”

“And then what?”

“I don’t know. We’ll figure somethin’ out.”

Koji sighed, but he went back to finishing off his muffin.

After eating, the question of clothes came up again.

“So..” Koji hesitated. “Where do you think…?”

“No idea. When y’ were still with your mom, do you remember where y’ got your clothes?”

“We usually went to like Goodwill or something, because the clothes were cheap. Sam, we can’t steal from Goodwill. Those clothes are for the needy.”

“Aren’t we needy?”

“Needy people who pay for it. If you want to steal from a store, I guess that’s okay, but not a charity. That’s just wrong.”

“Don’t supposed they’d just give it t’ us.” Sam sighed. “We’ll figure somethin’ out. Let’s just keep moving.”

As nice as it was to be out of Wellhaven, Sam did not like the city. Once the sun had risen, it cast a grey glow on everything. Then, ever since sunrise, the streets had slowly begun to fill with people. Most of them didn’t give Sam and Koji a second look, but every time someone did, Sam felt his stomach clench. He wanted to get away. The question was, where could he go?

“What’s that?” Sam pointed at a large yellow bin that had plastic bags surrounding it. On the side it said “Clothing dropped here.”

“Huh?” Koji looked in the direction Sam was pointing. “Oh, I think that’s one of the places you can drop donated clothes. Places like Goodwill pick it up and go through it.”

“So those bags have clothes?”

“I guess so, but I told you, I don’t want to steal from Goodwill.”

“Those clothes haven’t been picked up yet, just donated f’ th’ needy. We’re needy. Goodwill ‘ll never know they should’ve had th’ stuff.”

Koji sighed. “So just grab a bag and hope there’s stuff we can use?”

“Maybe grab a couple, go through ‘em, then return what we don’t use.”

“Okay. Fine. Let’s get it over with.”

Each of them took two bags, waiting until the coast looked clear. Then they headed behind a near-by building so they could look through the bags without anyone noticing.

Finally, between four bags of clothing, they were able to come up with two outfits. Sam found jeans that were just a little big, a white t-shirt, and a zip-up hooded sweatshirt. Koji found jeans that were actually a little tight for him, a screen t-shirt with a skull and kanji design on it that was probably also too small, and they both found shoes. They put their old clothes into the bags, then returned the bags to the bin.

“That’s better,” Sam said with a nod.

“I do feel a little more human,” Koji admitted.

“And they got our old clothes, so it’s sort o’ a fair trade.”

Koji raised an eyebrow.

“I said sort of.”