The Millennial Box by Julie Steimle (snow like ashes .TXT) 📖

towards the mall doors to the theater, attempting to leave the agents behind. Yet, that had been rather pointless. They were not going far. The group all stopped at the ticket lines, staring at the films that were showing on the marquee and then at their one date (as they so like to dub Zormna when they went out with her) so they could decide what was worth seeing.

Acting according to the plan, Zormna pretended not to be interested in anything showing there and begged to just be let to roam the mall alone. However, that part of the plan did not go so well. Brian did not want her to wander around with the FBI so persistent. So in the end she had to buy a movie ticket and go in with the boys.

It was Raging Hilton III - a beat-'em-up spy movie whose main actor, despite his amazing pectorals, was not all there upstairs when it came to acting.

"I will stop you, you murderous villain!" the 'ripped' man on the screen declared, hefting a large automatic weapon, and across his chest brandishing bullets on a bandolier.

"You fool!" said the villain dressed in a pinstripe suit, holding a small silver pistol. Thugs stood imposingly at his sides. "Do you actually think you can defeat me?"

The muscular man raised his weapon and pointed it. "Not me, but this will." Then he then proceeded to shoot up the room. The movie was all like that. Cliché, lame dialogue, and lots of gratuitous fighting. Not even halfway through the film, Zormna attempted to excuse herself to use the bathroom, but even Brian could see that she was just trying to leave.

"Where are you really going?" he asked, pulling her down so she could hear him.

She grimaced as she looked at him straight. "I have to meet Jeff," she whispered through her teeth.

Pained as he felt a little used, Brian still nodded and pulled her closer so only they could hear. "Sit back, slip down in your chair and crawl along the ground. Go left, and they might not see you."

Zormna smiled and nodded.

She stayed just a few more seconds, slouching down in her chair until her head could no longer be seen from above. Dropping onto the sticky theater floor, Zormna managed to get on all fours. She looked up at Brian with one last grin and crawled under the legs of other watchers and even under the seat behind her. Zormna continued crawling down the row, wincing at the sticky floor that had patches of popcorn, spilled soda and an occasional gum wad. Once she extracted herself from her row, she crawled right up the carpeted aisle in a scramble up top to get out through the door. Once on her feet, Zormna casually stepped out the dark theater, pushing the door open just a crack for a look. She squeezed through and marched right across the mostly empty theater foyer, glancing behind herself to make sure no one was trailing her. She stepped out of the theater complex and back into the main mall. Neither agent was to be seen.

Her cell phone rang.

Answering it, "Hello?"

<<Where are you? I thought I told you to wait in JC Penny?>> Jeff's voice did not exactly sound angry, but it was getting there.

"I had a snag," Zormna replied peevishly, hurrying past the Dead Sea Salts booth and the newest trend in fashion scarves booth. "Brian wouldn't let me just leave. He literally escorted me inside. They saw the agents following us."

She started to walk towards the JC Penny, still waiting for his chafing comments, but they never came.

<<Fine. Just go through lingerie then and head towards the auto shop. I'm there,>> he said.

He hung up again.

Zormna scowled at her cell phone as she turned it off. Jeff was getting bossy again.

 

She arrived at the JC Penny auto shop after ten minutes, but it was a bigger hassle than she had expected. It was outside, which was becoming increasingly nippy, and she did not have her jacket. She had forgotten it, leaving it with Brian. It had not occurred to Zormna that she had lost it until she stepped outside and shivered in the wind. However, there was Jeff, sitting astride a motorcycle.

"Where is your jacket?" he asked with a frown as she walked over.

Zormna shrugged, annoyed and uncomfortable still. "Brian has it, I think."

Pointing back at the mall, Jeff said rather bossily for his nature, "Well then go buy another one. We're traveling like this, and you're going to get cold."

As much as Zormna did like the idea of riding on a motorcycle, Jeff's bossiness did not motivate her to get a jacket. She felt more like strangling him and heading home. Yet, he had come and prepared as promised.

She nodded and turned to go back inside the mall.

A gruff, and rather thick biker type man stopped next to her, throwing Jeff a glare. "You can have my jacket, little lady."

Zormna flushed in surprise. Built like a professional wrestler, the man took off and held out his enormous jacket. A winged dagger with a snake wrapped around it was emblazoned on the back with the words Big Tom embroidered boldly within the huge patch.

"A real man would give up his coat and bear the elements rather than let a pretty girl like you get cold," he said with another glare Jeff's way.

Jeff did look comfortable in his black jacket, but the smirk on his face said he did not think Zormna would suffer any if she got a little nippy.

"I...I really couldn't," she said, stammering up at the man. It still flustered her when men went out of their way for her benefit.

"It would be my pleasure," the biker said again, resting the coat warmly over her shoulders.

She blinked as she watched Big Tom walk back to his motorcycle as he threw Jeff another glare. Jeff was still smirking.

Zormna returned to Jeff and threw her school bag into one of the satchels strapped on the sides.

"Well now. I guess being 'pretty' has its merits after all," Jeff murmured to her as she threw her leg over the seat and took a helmet from him.

"Shut up," she said, grabbing a firm hold on his waist and setting her legs somewhere comfortable. 'Pretty' was always an understatement for her, as Zormna was drop dead gorgeous, but she didn't like the reminder.

Jeff started up the engine. After she had secured her helmet and patted Jeff on the shoulder, he rolled out of the garage. Big Tom waved affectionately at Zormna. She waved back with an embarrassed grin, while watching the man shoot Jeff one last disdainful glare before setting off back to his own motorcycle.

The state of Florida took no notice of the fall that was swirling around the other United States in that part of the country. It was not a quick ride from Pennington to the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral. Rather, it was decidedly long. Jeff and Zormna made plenty of stops on the way. It took over three days to get there, sleeping in roadside motels and taking meals at greasy cafes, and including wrong turns. Both of them were achy and tired from the ride and happy to finally arrive.

When they finally got there, they decided to get a cheap motel room in Orlando. It was a rundown motel with ship anchors and life preservers hanging on the chipping painted walls, but it was inexpensive and inconspicuous.

Zormna tossed her school bag on the singular bed in their small room and threw herself onto the yellowed blanket for a brief rest.

 Jeff followed her into the room. He stared at the bed and then at Zormna, dropping his bags at his feet with a heavy thud.

"One bed."  

He looked back at the smirking attendant who had led them to the room. The pimply collage-aged attendant was twirling his keys and whistling as he walked back to the front office, pleased with himself. It had been the only free room, the man had said. Jeff wondered now if that was actually true.

Jeff sighed in exhaustion and peered at the palm trees over the dingy blue sky. Across the street he saw a Quickie-Mart and a bar. And down the street were other industrial-type buildings. Jeff lived long enough in the U.S. to know that this place was not a nice part of town. Sighing again, he stepped into the room.

Lifting the two saddle type bags he had carried, he shut the door, dragging the bags over the floor and hefting them onto the edge of the bed. Zormna had not moved, and she was still wearing her helmet. He could hear her tired breathing as if she were half-asleep. Jeff peered over at her then nudged her with his helmet still clasped in his hand. "Do you want the shower first?"

Zormna sat up immediately. Prying the helmet off, she flung it onto the bed. "Yes," she said while closing the bathroom door behind her.

He laughed. He had to. Both of them felt grimy and tired. It had not been a good trip. Neither of them had ever done such a thing before, and both of them felt a little defeated by the journey. They had gotten lost twice. The map had been wrong, and they had used up most of their cash funds just on gas.

Tossing his own helmet onto the bed, he stooped over and probed into the bags to see what food they had left. Inside one bag was a jerky stick and a Now-N-Later. Little plastic scraps and a sticky piece of peppermint candy was all that was inside the other one.

His stomach gurgled in that very uncomfortable way.

Walking to the bathroom door, he knocked. Yelling so she could hear over the now running water, he said, "I'm going to the mini-mart across the street to get some food."

"Good!" Zormna called back through the door. "Get some shampoo while you're at it!"

He laughed. She would probably just drown herself in the water until he came back, but that was definitely better than hanging around in her grubby clothes, still coated in dust and sweat.

Jeff closed the motel door and made sure it locked before he crossed into the street. It was not as hot as he expected Florida to be, but then the lack of falling leaves had also been a something new. It was nothing like Pennington, which had distinct seasons year round. 

The street was not busy. A few cars passed by. And the mini-mart was nearly vacant except for a few people paying for gas. The door jingled when he entered. A lady with a southern drawl welcomed him. Jeff gave a tired smile and lifted a plastic shopping basket from the stack as the fluorescent light above glared down on him and the linoleum.

Meandering the aisles, he picked up a bottle of shampoo and conditioner, two toothbrushes and toothpaste, two cold, wrapped ham sandwiches, a loaf of bread, a carton of juice, a carton of milk, a box of granola bars, a jar of peanut butter and a jar of jelly, a package of plastic knives, forks, and spoons, and two large grapefruit sodas. The complete load cost less than he had expected, and he happily pocketed the change with the bags in hand when he left the store.

By the time he arrived back at the motel room, Zormna was sitting on the bed, wrapped in a towel and frowning. He halted a step inside the doorway, immediately flushing red upon seeing her. She looked up at him, as if she would have helped him with the bags, except for the fact that she had nothing on except for the towel. She clenched it around herself tighter instead. "I don't have anything clean to wear."

Her remark almost sounded like a whimper as she stared up at him.

Jeff smirked, averting his eyes in embarrassment. He shrugged harmlessly. "You could always just wear that guy's jacket."

Scowling at him, she stormed