“Where are we all going to sit?” Elias wondered. He peered into the open door. “Including Noah’s dad, there are seven of us, and only five seats.”

“We can make it work,” Noah said, walking around to the back of the vehicle. He waved Clarissa over. “Brian said he wants shotgun, though. Let me help Clarissa get him situated and then we can figure out who’s sitting where.”

He popped the trunk and stepped back. Clarissa dropped Brian in.

“You’re all set,” she said.

“Thank you,” Brian said, immensely pleased.

She closed the door and walked with Noah back to the front of the car.

“Six people and five seats,” Noah quietly corrected Elias, grinning.

Noah ended up taking shotgun while the four remaining students squeezed into the back seat. They were all just about sitting on each other, but they got the doors closed. It helped that two of them were essentially skeletons.

“Everyone’s all set?” Noah’s dad threw a glance back at them. He chuckled at how tightly packed they were, then started the car and pulled away from the entrance.

The walls reflected the car back at them as they drove along. Despite his exhaustion, Noah stared ahead unblinkingly, nervous that they’d round a corner and find the way blocked off.

“This stinking building,” his dad muttered. “It’s like driving in a house of mirrors.”

“How’d you find the right entrance?” Noah asked.

“I counted the floors,” he answered, smiling self-consciously. “I figured each branch in the road was another level. ‘Course, that’s not the most accurate way to keep track, so I was awfully glad when that friend of yours appeared. I was about ready to find another entrance.”

The car angled down as they hit a ramp and began descending.

“I guess their fancy built-in parking garage only has three floors,” Noah mumbled to himself.

Down they went, curving slowly to the left, until the floor evened out. Directly ahead was the exit.

There were no gates or people to stop them, and they pulled out of the building unimpeded. Noah leaned out the window to stare back at its looming shape as they left it behind.

“It feels like we were in there for ages,” he said. “Do you think we really destroyed all of their dust? If we left even a little bit laying around somewhere…”

“Well, Heinrich’s dead,” Elias murmured sleepily. “And he seemed to be the head of the snake.”

Clarissa nodded as she gazed out the window. “We’ll have to keep an eye on the news. Not that Insight’s generally keen on public communication, but you never know.”

The building slowly fell out of view behind them. There were a few other people out and about despite the hour, though as they drew further from the heart of the city, the roads soon became empty.

“Do you mind if I close the window? The air is a little chilly,” the dad said.

“Go ahead,” Noah sighed. “Where are we going?”

“If I didn’t have five other kids in my car, I’d take us to my hotel room. I don’t think the staff would take kindly to all of you, though, so I figured we could just find a parking lot somewhere and stay put until morning.”

“Sounds good.” Noah closed his eyes. “Thank you for doing this for us. Some pretty crazy stuff has happened these past few days, but I’ll have to tell you everything tomorrow. I don’t think I’d be able to get through all of it right now before I pass out.”

His dad peered sideways at him over his glasses. “Yeah, I can see that.”

The only sound for the next several minutes was the quiet hum of the motor. A gas station eventually appeared on the side of the road, and they turned into the empty parking lot. The store was closed, as it was currently approaching 2 AM, though the lights over the pumps were still on.

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Noah’s dad backed into a parking spot next to the building and pulled the key out of the ignition. He sat quietly in his seat for a few moments before almost reluctantly turning to look at Noah. The boy’s head had already dropped to his chest.

He would never admit it, but when Noah had stepped out from the building, there had been a moment that he failed to realize he was looking at his own kid. He knew Noah like the back of his own hand, but the sickness had changed him so much. Even now, he had to suppress the feeling that a stranger sat beside him.

I should’ve done more, he thought unhappily, though the thought was borne more of vague helplessness than any specific regret. After Noah had mentioned Insight two days ago, he had spent the night going down the rabbit hole of old press releases covering all the horrifying things the company had gotten away with over the past fifteen years.

The next morning, he had decided to drive himself to Oakridge to see if his son had successfully escaped. He got no further than the very edge of campus grounds before he found himself confronted by a military blockade. A soldier informed him that there was a situation on campus that needed to be contained, which was frustratingly vague, so he went back to his hotel and spent several hours alternating between checking his phone for any word from Noah and scouring local news outlets for updates on what was actually happening at Oakridge. There was simply no media coverage to be found. When he finally received a call from Noah, he nearly cried from relief, and shortly after the call ended, he finally crashed.

He'd woken up several hours later with barely enough time to go out and buy the vacuum he had promised to bring, considering he also had to charge it up to a usable state. By the time he had shown up to Insight, he’d felt on the verge of a nervous breakdown, afraid of what could have happened since their phone call.

He sighed and glanced over his shoulder. All four kids were passed out, their heads resting on each other’s shoulders. He was pretty sure there was a boy in his trunk as well, but he hadn’t heard any complaints from the back, so the kid was probably fine.

He sat back in his seat and closed his own eyes. It took quite a while, but he finally drifted off into his own restless sleep.

----------------------------------------

Noah awoke to an annoying repetitive banging.

“What is that racket?” he complained, opening his eyes. Sunlight streamed through the windshield, warming his lap.

His dad was out cold, slumped against the window with his glasses askew. Noah turned to peer into the back seat. His friends were in the process of waking up. May tried to stretch and accidentally punched Elias instead. Neither of them were awake enough to notice.

The banging was beginning to grate on Noah’s nerves, so he unlocked the car with his dad’s keys and got out to look around. There were other people in the parking lot now that morning had broken, walking in and out of the convenience store and using the gas pumps. He glanced to the side and made eye contact with a young man frozen halfway through the motion of stepping out of his own car. His gaze conveyed a mix of fear and surprise.

Noah froze as well, struck with a bolt of self-consciousness. He still had blood soaked down the front of his outfit, but he didn’t have any spare clothes he could change into that weren’t also covered in blood.

Before he could say anything, the guy slowly withdrew back into his car and shut the door. The vehicle squealed as it turned out of the parking lot and flew away down the road.

Noah didn’t move for another few seconds. I need new clothes, he thought dispiritedly. And even that will only solve half the problem. Trying not to let the interaction bother him, he stomped around the back of the car. He stared around in confusion when the origin of the noise seemed to shift around to behind him. It took him an embarrassingly long stretch of time before he realized what was going on. Oh, snap! Brian!

He reached down to pop the trunk, but it suddenly swung open on its own, nearly knocking him upside the chin.

Brian looked up at him with slightly wild eyes.

“Oh, hey,” Noah said awkwardly. “I was just coming around to let you out.”

“You… you put me in the trunk!” he said, flabbergasted.

Noah scratched the back of his neck. “We were short on seats.”

Brian stared at him in disbelief as he slowly clambered out of the enclosed space.

“How’d you manage to open it from inside?” Noah wondered.

His friend pointed wordlessly to a T-shaped emergency release handle dangling from the open door.

“Ah.”

“Unbelievable,” Brian muttered. The rest of their companions were beginning to emerge from the vehicle, roused by their conversation, and he turned his glare on them. “Were you in on it? Clarissa! You must’ve been!”

“Hey, hey,” Noah said quickly. “I’m sorry we stuck you in there, but it was the only way everyone would be able to fit into the car. Somebody had to do it.”

“And I was the clueless blind guy,” he sighed. “I should’ve known.”

“That’s not what we…” Noah began, but he trailed off at Brian’s flat look. “Yeah, alright. It won’t happen again.”

Brian rolled his eyes. “Good to know.”

Noah’s dad finally opened his door and stepped out. “Oh, excellent, you’re all awake. I was thinking we could grab breakfast here at this place, if you guys don’t mind.”

He received six eager smiles in response.

“Breakfast sounds amazing,” Leah said. “Also, I should’ve said this last night, but thank you for giving us a ride out of Insight. And the vacuum, too. I think I speak for all of us when I say your help has been hugely appreciated.”

The man smiled. “You’re very welcome.”