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Chapter Sixty Nine

Danny sat quietly in the back seat, but he stayed observant. They kept driving down the same road and out the window the mangled signs that marked the coming Maine state line kept showing less and less miles, until there were only 5 miles left.

Tyrone and ScarLo also sat quietly. Tyrone, has eyes glued to the road ahead. ScarLo, on the other hand, looked miserable. Her head was constantly in her hands, her head lower, yet she saw every sign and as they closed in her condition seemed to get worse.

When they passed the 5 mile one, she flinched and sat up. She seemed to begin to turn to Danny, but Tyrone placed a hand on her arm and turned to her and shook his head.

She returned a tearful gaze to the front.

Then the car slowed and pulled over to the side of the road.

There was a pause. No one moved, no one said anything.

Suddenly ScarLo turned to Tyrone.

"Tyrone, turn around. We don't have to do this--"

"You know that we do--"

"No, we don't. We can just turn and drive away! We can... Danny--"

Hysterically and tears running down her face, She turned to Danny but Tyrone grabbed her arm gently again. He wasn't a hard grab, it was gentle but firm. Tyrone's voice was raised but it sounded tired, remorseful.

"Scar, we talked about this. It's the only way. Think about it. Think about what it means if we do. Think about what it means if we don't".

She looked at Danny hard, with the saddest eyes he'd probably ever seen, then turned her head forward and looked straight ahead without another word.

"We're here, Danny. This is where you get off, I'm afraid" Tyrone said with a sigh.

Danny didn't question it. He just opened the door and got out. The only reason he'd got into the car in the first place was he had been running for his life.

He stepped forward and looked. A road laid stretched out before him and a few yards ahead a sign that read: WELCOME TO MAINE

Tyrone rolled down the window.

"You walk up the road and less than a 1/4th a mile past that sign there will be something there waiting for you" Tyrone said. "Who or what I have no idea. That's just what I'm told".

Danny didn't say anything.

"You got questions" Tyrone said. "Now's the time. I won't lie to you. No need to anymore".

"You mean like how you're Dante?" Danny said.

"That's part of it, yes" Tyrone said.

"Why?" Danny asked.

"I needed you to trust me and trust certain things. I needed you to eventually believe that the feds were coming for you and them coming for Dante was part of that..."

"No" Danny interrupted. "I mean why did you do this?"

Tyrone seemed caught off guard by the question as obvious as is was.

"We're just cogs in a machine, Danny" Tyrone said after a moment. "Everyone has a role to play in this and this was ours: to get you here. You either fulfill that role and are rewarded or you don't and... well... you don't want to not meet his demands"

Tyrone paused for a moment then added: "You must be pretty important to all this".

Danny looked at him hard and started to ask what that meant and who he was talking about. What demands? But Tyrone started again:

"Look Danny, we like you both. We really do" he said, sighing. "This was never personal. In another world, we could have been friends. But this isn't that world..."

Tyrone paused for a second and Danny was surprised when a year fell down Tyrone's cheek.

"This world is fucked up"

"Friends?" Danny asked angerly. "And what about her? What was all that attention? The fucking? Just to manipulate me? Is that the role your wife played?"

ScarLo said nothing. She was weeping, her head in her hands.

"Danny, we aren't even married" Tyrone said, taking Danny by surprise. "We're not a couple. We're not brother and sister. We're nothing. We're just two people that got put together for a purpose. Two cogs that were connected, I guess. Why we were put together, we may never know. Maybe we both had something to gain and more to lose. What I do know is this is all connected and it's all happening for a reason. There's a bigger picture here, even if I don't see it. I know it's there. There are no coincidences, Danny. If I can impart on you any wisdom for your journey ahead that may help, whatever that is and wherever it leads you, it's that"

"Anyway, we were just playing a role that worked. As for you and..."

Tyrone turned to ScarLo who was still weeping, shaking his head remorsefully, then turned back to Danny.

"That's real Danny. What you two had was real. I can tell. It shouldn't have happened either... she let herself get too close to you even though I told her not to because it would make it harder. But... But I understand, because you're a good dude, Danny. You must be. Believe me, I tried to make moves on her and she wasn't having it".

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Tyrone let out a little laugh but Danny immediately snatched away his attempt at levity with a cold question:

"Did you kill Jack?"

Tyrone was taken aback.

"I didn't think you'd worked all that out" Tyrone said finally.

"So you killed him?"

"I did what I had to do?"

"That's not an answer. You said you wouldn't lie. Did you kill him?"

"Yes, I killed him" Tyrone said, remorsefully. "I didn't want to do it. I liked Jack. But he got in the fucking way. He was going to blow up the entire thing and expose us, Danny. I went to his house to reason with him. To convince him... But turns out I underestimated him. He was a smart guy and was three steps ahead of me. He had us totally figured out. I don't know how, but he did. He kept babbling about a dream he had about us and he knew everything, Danny... and I mean everything. I tried to tell him he was wrong. That he was being crazy. But he wouldn't listen. I didn't want it to come to that, but he told me he was going to tell you everything.... so I had to make sure he never could"

"Sounds like you're trying to justify murdering a good man" Danny said, coldly.

"Yeah, Danny. Maybe I am" Tyrone admitted, just as cold.

"Did you kill Carol?" Danny asked.

"No" Tyrone said. "As far as I know she's alive"

"She was pregnant you know" Danny said. "Jack was so excited about it. So happy".

"I know" Tyrone said, looking down. "I was in the baby's room he was working on when I confronted him..."

"Killed him you mean" Danny interjected.

"Yes, killed him".

There was a long pause. Danny was working on the deceit in his head. All the steps Tyrone and ScarLo had taken to make him want to come with them to Maine -- and now here they were, it had worked.

"It was you in the car" Danny said finally. "The one that kept following me"

It seemed like a silly question to Danny after he said it. Here he'd just gotten Tyrone to confess to murder so they wouldn't be exposed and now he was asking about these small details.

"Yes, it was me in the car" Tyrone said, almost laughing woefully at the question. "I needed you to think you were being followed to make you paranoid. That would make it fit the narrative I was sowing with Dante. That would help give you that nudge to want to get out".

"Did you infect Luis?" Danny asked.

"Who?"

"Luis! My roommate!"

"No" Tyrone said, earnestly. "I had nothing to do that. I honestly didn't find out about it until you told me, so my reaction when you did was real. I guess it did give you a big nudge to leave though..."

Tyrone paused, deep in thought.

"What?" Danny demanded.

"Maybe nothing. I was just thinking... as I said, Danny, everything happens for a reason. There are no coincidences. Maybe that was part of the plan too... just not part of mine".

"What!?" Danny shouted. "That sounds fucking crazy".

"Look around, Danny. This is all fucking crazy".

"What about all that shit you told me as Dante? About what was going on in the world?"

"All true, as far as I know" Tyrone said. "I mean, I can't verify some of it but you know as well as I do that most of it we saw unfold before our eyes".

"Where'd you get that information? Other places on 4Chan?"

"No, my source" Tyrone said.

"Your source?"

"You saw him. The same one that guided us here: That priest we met in Indiana".

"Who is he?" Danny asked.

"Fuck if I know" Tyrone replied. "Just another cog in the great plan. Just someone with another role to fulfill"

Danny had many more questions, but he'd noticed a fog start to roll in. Dense and getting thicker by the second

Tyrone sighed.

"Looks like our time is up" Tyrone said. "I guess we've told you enough"

"What?" Danny mouthed, but the words didn't come out.

"You don't want to be caught in this fog" Tyrone said. "Up ahead will be the next part of your journey. This is where we part ways".

Danny gave Tyrone a hard look. Even if they offered for him to get back in the car to leave with them, he wouldn't have accepted.

"Goodluck, Danny. Maybe we'll see you on the otherside"

With that Tyrone pulled forward and turned around in the road. As he passed he gave a final wave, but Danny didn't notice. All he saw was ScarLo lift her head at the last second and mouth "I'm sorry".

Danny walked forward as instructed and as he did the fog cleared in front of him but remained thick behind him.

Soon, a shadow took shape in the road: a fallen tree blocking his way and beside it was a man -- an old man -- in the road at the end of the world.