Dark miles disappeared behind them as they made their way down twisting highways and lonely interstates. Verchiel kept the speedometer between 80 and 100. He deftly maneuvered the shiny sports car from lane to lane. Whenever Katelina looked through the windshield she thought of a racing video game and looked away.
Verchiel veered off of the interstate and onto a frontage road, whistling to himself. When she turned her questioning eyes to him he said simply, "I don't know about you, but I'm getting hungry."
She grunted in reply, though refused to admit how hungry and thirsty she was.
The gas station was a typical brick building with a snow capped roof and a salted parking lot. Christmas lights blinked from the glass windows and the glowing sign board reminded everyone to have "Happy Holidays". Tiny snowflakes sputtered from the sky and landed on the windshield, the clouds not quite committed to a real snowfall.