"Dullard I swear to Satan, if you don't shut your miserable pie-hole, I'm going to throw you out and run you over. Do you hear me?!"

2D shrunk down in his seat, hiding behind his knees. Murdoc glared over his shoulder and the Grand Am swerved.

"Muds, shut up. You're giving me a goddamn headache," Russel snapped, rubbing his forehead under his cap.

Murdoc shifted, gripping the steering wheel.

"If 2D hadn't been babbling like the halfwit he is, we wouldn't have missed the fucking turn!"

Rain tapped against the windows in droplets, breaking the street light into dancing pools of orange over the crumpled map on Noodle's lap. She smoothed it down.

"We missed a turn by Brahms," she piped up suddenly. "Murdoc blew through the intersection and took the wrong exit."

Russel's stare burned into Murdoc, making him flinch. His knuckles turned white against the wheel. Russel shoved him, taking the car into another jerk towards the median.

"That was nearly half an hour ago!"

"What?" he yelled, "What do you want from me, fatty? I can't see through all this fucking fog! You want to drive?"

"I wanted to stop at the gas station!"

"You want to stop at every gas station!"

Noodle squinted through the fog, straining to read a rusty sign through the mist.

"We passed Paleville. I think we should turn around," she said

No one could hear her over the shouting match. The map crinkled in her fists.

2D rested his head against the glass, that sent his brain smack, smacking against the inside of skull with every bump. He fingered the last couple pain pills in his jacket pocket and fought the urge to down them both. He'd need them later. Lights passed in flashes—dim torches in the fog, hopping along the pines like fire. The cool window eased his pounding head.

Murdoc lit up a cigarette and cracked the window, flicking ashes into the rain. Cold air burst in though the crack, making an unbearable whapping against the seat belt. He blew out.

The bickering ceased, and now he was truly worried about being lost. He considered pulling off to the side of the road and waiting out the fog, but couldn't bear the idea of being trapped in the car with shorty, scrawny, and fatty for however long that would be. He thought about turning around, but there was no telling which way that was, he'd made so many turns and back-tracks.

"Let's go back to Brahms," Noodle said, earning a glare in the mirror.

She glared right back. Murdoc took a deep drag on his cigarette, then sighed.

"Yeah, yeah, alright, untangle yer pants, little miss."

He slowed, making a U-turn in the middle of the empty highway, and gassed it back the way they'd come.

"But don't you go asking me for money for candy or—"

Noodle jumped forward to grab his shoulder.

"MURDOC!"

A shadow in the road.

He swerved right, nearly swallowing his cigarette as he jerked the steering wheel.

The car skidded on the rain, steam rising from its wake. The car skipped like a stone, gliding sideways on the wet pavement.

Murdoc heard a scream, and he wasn't sure if it was him or one of the others. But he saw the guard rail zipping closer.

And then nothing.