Serena’s smile falters a little as she listens. “Oh. That’s… quite a lot,” she says feebly. She points to different sections of the rest stop. “You should find the food there, the water jugs there…” she continues listing off where to find the items he’d requested. After she finishes, she reaches under the counter and sets down two packs of Marlboro Reds on the counter. “Anything else?”
Knight manages to pull off a smile.
"No, thank you. Sorry for taking up so much of your time. I'm going to pay in advance, and I hope this covers it." he says, slapping a few hundreds down on the counter before rummaging through the rest stop, nearly clearing all the shelves of their stock and grabbing a few water jugs. He fashions a harness from the bungie cords to secure the jugs to his chest. He tosses everything but the pocket knife, the lighter and a pack of the cigarettes into the bag and turns back towards the cashier and considering her worn out look.
After a while, he speaks.
"Actually. . . you know, there's some. . . not so safe people following after me. I'd suggest getting out of here as quickly as possible with whatever supplies you can manage with. If you'd like you can travel with me - which would be both dangerous and safe - or you can risk it back here, which would just be dangerous." he explains. As he's talking, the sound of a jet starts to be able to be heard, and he sighs. "Or, option three. . . we can both stay here and wait the search party out. Option 3 is sure to end in at least one of us dying, though."
Serena looks at the hundreds, slightly bewildered. As she starts to sort out the change, she listens to the man speak, and looks up at him again. “What..? What do you mean, ‘not so safe people’? And- and why do I need to leave-?”
"To put as bluntly as I'm sure your already fragile disposition can handle, I am a war machine, I escaped containment, and now the world's best military tech company known as HDZ Corp. has issued a KOS on me and anybody they find nearby. I have no real human emotion so this is simply the most pragmatic thing for me to do since a man like me wandering alone is sure to garner some attention; you could pass as my sister, making me seem less supsicious. We have very limited time so choose if you want to stay or go." Knight says simply.
Serena stares at him. “I- you- what?” she processes his words a little more, and her eyes widen. “So you’re saying that you’re some… weird military robot, you’re running from some big company who wants to kill you, and I could get killed no matter what I do.”
"Simply put, yes. Your most likely chance of dying is to stay here, whether I'm here or not. The safest, but also most likely to get you sick or injured rather than killed, is coming with me." Knight says quickly. "Me personally, I would take the chance to not die. Getting sick or injured is curable, death is not, and I should know: I've dished out a lot of it."
Serena eyes him warily. “And why should I trust a random stranger? It usually never ends well…” she narrows her eyes. “How do I know you aren’t trying to lead me into some sort of trap?”
"With the ammount of money I just slapped down on the counter, the barcode on my cheek, the sounds of the jets and helicoptors, you'd think that would be a clear enough sign that I'm not lying." Knight says, as the sounds of more aircraft and even some land vehicles can be heard. He shakes his head.
"Actually, you no longer have a choice. Sorry in advance." he says. He hops the counter and tosses the woman over his shoulder like a stack of bricks, not bothering with opening the door correctly, simply walking through it Terminator style. He launches into a dead sprint which quickly makes the noises of the air and land vehicles fade.
(Oop- snatched-)
Serena yelps. “Hey— let me go-!” She yells, struggling against his grip. “Where are you taking me-?!”
(lol yup-)
"Away from certain death." Knight answers gruffly.
About an hour later, he slows to a stop and sets Serena down.
Serena backs away from him and glares at him. “What the hell?”
"I could run you back there and let them shoot you if you want." Knight shrugs. "Or if you really want to die that bad I could shoot you here and now."
Serena suddenly looks terrified. “Wait- no, that’s- that’s not what I meant-“
"Then what's the point of complaining?" Knight asks.
“Usually, people don’t like randomly being picked up and hauled off to who knows where,” Serena grumbles.
"Technically, you know better than I do. After all, you have to get to work, meaning you can't come from the direction of the base, as all of those roads are owned by HDZ Corp. So you have to come from this way." Knight deduces.
(processing what do these words mean im stupid and slightly illiterate)
(oop ;-; he means she would know better than he does where they currently are lol)
(Ohhhh yeah I’m just illiterate ok)
Serena crosses her arms and sighs. “I guess you make a decent point there.” She looks around a bit, and she seems slightly paranoid.
Knight nods. "So- for now, you lead the way. Starting tomorrow, we'll be travelling at night, not day. It's safer for you."