The kindness of strangers

'You can only hold a smile for so long, after that it's just teeth.' �- Chuck Palahniuk By the time I had made my way into town I was just about ready to collapse. Sprinting for your life through cornfields and over long stretches of gravel roads at 1:00 a.m. will do that to a person. I'm not even sure that I really needed to be running at all, but I wasn't willing to take any chances. Not after dealing with those... freaks. Getting back to civilization was all that mattered. Not that I was going to the police or anything, I'm not even sure they did anything illegal. Unless being 'creepy as all hell,' qualifies as a punishable offense. Maybe kidnapping? Either way, I don't think anyone will ever believe me. Okay, stop thinking about it. The past is the past and there's nothing I can do about it. Just focus on finding somewhere full of people. That might actually be somewhat difficult in a town like this. According to Google, the unincorporated town of Charlottesville NC has a population just a little under 1,000.I walked down Main St. looking for a gas station or a bar or anything still open for business. The streets were deader than dead, everything saturated in the sickly yellow-orange glow of the street lights made worse by unseasonable fog. I was starting to get nervous, the thought of accidentally wandering into the Twilight Zone began to cross my mind just as I saw the first signs of life. A young girl, I'm going to say about 22, had some hillbilly looking guy in an arm hold. She was pushing him out of a bar and swearing a lot. 'The next time you try to touch my ass again I'll break more than just your arm you miserable piece of shit!' I heard her say before shoving his face into the pavement. She turned around and quickly walked back into the bar while I stood there trying to re-hinge my jaw. Despite all the craziness that I'd been through tonight, one thing I had not been expecting to see was a skinny little twig of a girl with weird hair obviously beating the crap out of some trucker twice her size. Am I hesitant to follow her? Yes, yes I am. But the bar appears to be open and I'm sick of being outside in the rain and fog. The sign on the door said that the name of the place was 'The Broken Window.' I walked in. The first thing I noticed was the overturned table surrounded by a couple of broken beer bottles. Looking around some more I saw that the place wasn't exactly packed. There was a tired looking guy behind the counter talking to a few sad faced drunks at the far end of the bar. In the corner booth was group of bikers. The girl from earlier was sweeping up the glass as I walked towards a booth. As I passed her, a peculiar man in a pin striped suit reading the paper spoke up. 'I see those judo lessons are starting to pay off.' He said without looking away from the news print. 'And right they should,' Replied the girl, 'this place needs a good bouncer.' I removed my duffle bag from my shoulder and sat down. 'Well, I think I'm going to turn in for the night.' Said the man. 'See you later Billie. Good night Terry.' 'Sleep tight Stephan.' Yelled the Afro American man behind the bar counter. The man in the suit folded up his paper and walked out into the night. I put my head down onto the table and inhaled deeply. I wanted to take a nap. When I looked back up, the girl was standing next to me. 'You can't sleep here. Not unless you buy a drink first.' She said. 'What's with the camping gear?' I didn't even care enough to feel embarrassed to say it. 'I'm hitchhiking north to Albany. The bags and stuff are for when I take breaks at national parks and campgrounds.' The girl eyeballed me suspiciously. 'Hitchhiking huh? How's that working out for you? Not good I'm guessing, considering that your face and shoulder are bleeding. Be honest, you're a lot lizard aren't you? It's okay to admit it, I won't judge you. What a man does with his mouth is between him and the baloney pony.' I didn't know what to say to any of that, so I just starred at her until she burst out laughing. 'I'm just kidding, you're way too ugly to be