Chapter X

Kate stirred in the front seat of Henry’s truck. She was uncomfortable from remaining in the same seated, upright position for hours and her head still hurt. During the daylight, she’d looked at her reflection in the truck’s rear-view mirror. Judging from the symphony of black and blue that had spread over her forehead, her head wasn’t going to stop throbbing anytime soon.
“Fuck me for being so stupid,” she thought. “How could I have knocked myself cold like that?”
She had pretended to be asleep for more than two hours before she’d actually drifted off. Now, the night was gradually getting lighter, she was wide awake and soon, she’d have to start dealing with her situation again.
Kate had no idea what to do or what to say to Henry. She’d been going over the events of the previous days repeatedly in her mind, and was no closer to any real conviction as to how to regard them … or him -- Henry -- this man she’d been traveling with.
After all, he had killed a man. Kate knew that was wrong, and that part was crystal clear to her.
But he’d also stopped that disgusting grunt from raping and killing her, and he’d kept her safe after she knocked herself unconscious back at the rest stop. He had even given her his jacket. She looked down and realized she still had it on.
“He couldn’t be bad, could he?” she thought.
Kate’s mind kept wandering back to how Henry had wrapped his arms around her when she‘d recoiled from her assailant in fear. His touch felt so nice and she wished …
She quickly snapped out of her daydream before it got far. She didn’t have time for that bullshit. Now was the time to get her head together. It was time to think.
Kate knew she couldn’t go on being silent forever. It hadn’t accomplished anything thus far, and even though she was confused about Henry, one thing was certain: As much as she hated to admit it, she owed him.
She decided that she was going to have to put her feelings about the killing aside and trust him. He’d protected her once, she just hoped that he’d do it again if it came down to that.
Kate unbuckled the seat belt and stretched her arms and legs. She looked to the back seat and saw that Henry was stirring. He opened his eyes and caught her gaze as he blinked. She turned away for a split second, but shifted her body to face him as he sat up. She felt nervous, and hid her shaking hands behind the seat.
“I need to talk to you,” she said.
“Well, it’s about fuckin’ time,” he said with a wink and a crooked smile.
Henry’s gestures put Kate more at ease. She felt her hands stop shaking and she continued.
“Look, I’m sorry that I haven’t been more cooperative. I really do appreciate everything you’ve done for me so far. It’s just that … well … I don’t know exactly how to say this, but …”
“You don’t know if you can trust me because I killed that guy,” Henry interjected. Kate nodded, and Henry shifted closer to her.
“There’s no reason for you to fear me,” he said. “You haven’t done anything wrong. That child-molesting prick was worth nothing. There’s no possible way we could have taken him along, and he would have died eventually if we’d left him tied up there.”
Kate nodded again. She saw his point and mentally kicked herself for not thinking of it sooner.
“If we’d let him go, he would have found some way to hurt you,” Henry said.
“I know. I know. Can we just start over?”
Now, it was Henry who nodded.
“What are we going to do now?” Kate asked.
“Well, you were sleeping when we passed the last road sign, but we’re close to Lake Charles. We’ll get there today."
"So, I guess we’ll just go search for that cameraman, that Olaf guy, and see what we can find for supplies along the way?”
“Sounds good to me.”
“Okay, why don’t we get out and walk around for a minute, and then we can be on our way.”
Kate reached for the door handle as Henry pushed the driver’s seat forward. They exited the truck from opposite sides and walked toward the tailgate.
Kate’s legs felt sore and she bent over to stretch them properly. As she grabbed her toes, she looked up to find that Henry was watching her, but she didn’t feel embarrassed this time. She wanted him to look.
Henry stretched his arms, popped the latch on the tailgate and let it fall open. He sat on the edge of the truck, and Kate walked over and sat beside him.
“So, Katherine, ready for another day?”
“It’s Kate,” she said. “Please … call me Kate.”