Almost Chloe (Chapter Eleven)

WARNING: Fictional character death

Chapter 11

If you only promise me, I will show you. You will control the power you've only just begun to discover. If you only swear your commitment, you can be so much more than you ever dreamed...

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"Oh, God! Oh, my God!"

Chloe could hardly concentrate in the face of Linda's constant litany. The SUV was bearing down and they would soon be at the main roads. Did she want to risk bringing this where people could see? Worse yet, get hurt?

She jerked the wheel hard into a field of yet more corn and held on for life as it jerked and bumped, decimating the stalks.

"Oh, my GOD!"

"Shut up!" Lois yelled.

Chloe silently thanked her as they neared the end. "How could they know?" There were hills beyond and she hoped she could navigate them.

"Probably followed this idiot. She always was a bigmouth."

"I didn't do anything," Linda gasped, her voice shaking as they navigated the rough terrain. "It's not my fault the FBI is after you."

"What?" Chloe turned to her for a split second before turning back to the hills. If they could just make it over...

"I saw that car this morning in your town. You two are wanted for questioning in the theft of sensitive..."

"You really are stupid," Lois hissed. "These guys are nowhere near FBI. And it's not questioning they'll do."

They reached the top and spilled onto a flat plain. "Do you see them?"

"No," Lois yelled back.

"If we can get to the highway off..."

"Chloe! They're..." A shot rang out and all three of them screamed. Chloe pushed the gas petal down as hard as she could and they shot forward. But the highway wasn't this way. This way led to Cottonwood Creek. It was over. She knew it when the clearing gave way to water and she stopped. There were trees on either side.

The SUV stopped twenty feet behind.

"Just give yourselves up so they'll let me go," Linda shrieked. "I'm not a part of this..."

"You don't get it!" Chloe yelled. "These aren't FBI. And they aren't going to let any of us go." She trembled as her eyes darted to the rear view mirror. Two men got out, both holding guns. They would take her alive, she was sure of it. But neither of the women with her would walk away.

But she wouldn't sit here and wait. "Get your heads down," she gritted. She waited until Lois' head ducked out of sight before she put the car in reverse and slammed on the gas pedal.

She heard a dull thunk and knew that one was down. She felt air on her neck as she slammed to a stop and looked back to see Lois roll out of the car and onto the ground. It all happened so quickly...

Lois grasped the fallen gun of the man now under the car and ducked down. The other man shot and her head whipped to the sound. Linda screamed and opened her door. Chloe watched in horror as she ran away through the clearing. The man lifted his gun and shot without flinching. Linda fell out of her sight.

"No!" Another shot rang out and the man fell.

And it was so quiet. She could even hear birds faintly.

"Chloe..." She looked to her left as Lois opened her door. "Come on..."

Chloe got out and stood, though she was dizzy. She was frozen as Lois, sobbing, pointed the gun at the man twitching under the car. She shot. Chloe swayed forward as Lois sobbed harder. She managed to stay standing as a sobbing Lois moved past her and to the driver's side.

Lois started the car and pulled forward and Chloe heard a sickening crunch as the car made its second pass over the body. She felt her legs give out.

"Chloe, get up." Lois pulled her and she found herself being shook. "We can't leave them like this."

"Wh-what do we..."

Tears were streamig down Lois' face. "We need to move the bodies."

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"I hated her," Lois said dully. "But I never wanted this..."

Chloe felt she must still be in shock. Her body worked, but her mind felt frozen. They were in Linda's car, ten feet behind the SUV that now sat in front of Cottonwood Creek. No one had come. She supposed gunshots in Cottonwood Creek were nothing special in the fall.

"We have to do it, Chloe." Lois rolled her window down. "They can't be found or they'll know we're in Smallville."

Chloe nodded. "But if they've disappeared..."

"I doubt Luthor cares." Chloe noted the hardness of Lois' face as she leaned out the window. She aimed, Chloe knew, for the gas tank and the shot still startled her.

At first, nothing happened, then a muffled blast sounded as flames engulfed the car. She heard Lois sobbing again. Chloe moved over and put her arm around her cousin. She watched the flames lick over the metal and she waited.

"Now," Lois cried out softly.

Chloe shifted the car into drive and moved forward, only hitting the brakes when she was at the river's edge. They watched the SUV move down the river, sinking slowly as it moved out of sight.

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It was dark.

They parked the green car in the barn and shuffled into the house, still clutching each other. Lois seemed nearly inconsolable over what she'd done... what she'd had to do.

Both Martha and Lucy gasped and rushed forward at the sight of them, bloody and dirty and torn.

"Are you hurt?" Martha's hands ran over both of them.

"No," Chloe said tiredly as Lucy peeled Lois away and led her to the couch. Chloe followed and let Martha push her into the chair. "Could you turn on the radio?" she croaked.

Martha nodded, white-faced, and moved to the cabinet in the corner.

"News," Chloe said. "Please." She listened hard as the static gave way to a perky woman's voice.

"... And Miss Creamed Corn herself, Dawn Tyler, was there to cut the ribbon. In other news, Smallville authorities would like to remind residents to watch out for those teens. Post-homecoming spirits often result in damaged crops as revellers drive negligently through fields. Report all plate numbers directly and..."

Chloe sighed in relief. If an SUV with three bodies had been found, it would be top news in Smallville. But her head suddenly shot up at the next item.

"Shots rang out at Cottonwood Creek and Kansas Fish and Game authorities would like to remind deer-hunters that the use of fire-arms is prohibited until past November 13th. Archery enthusiasts, however..."

Chloe slumped backwards. "Thank God!"

Martha snapped the radio off. "What's going on?"

"Mrs. Kent, I..."

"Chloe, I've been sitting back for four days now as you come back either hurt or miserable or frantic and I need to be let in now." She looked to the couch. "Lucy, why don't you and Lois go upstairs?"

Lucy didn't argue. She'd actually been downright malleable lately. Lois, for her part, seemed not to care where she went. Her eyes were swollen and stared unseeingly as Lucy led her upstairs.

Chloe sighed and turned to Martha. "What do you want to know?"

"Everything. Even things you think you can't tell me." She started for the kitchen. "We can talk in here."

And they did. Because Chloe was tired. And here was a woman who knew about Clark, who she could tell every single detail of this mess from June to October. Some details were left unsaid. Martha knew Chloe had stayed in the house for half the summer. Chloe knew she also suspected some of what happened there.

"You're both adults," she said later. "I knew something was... Well, at any rate, I haven't interfered and... I don't know. A part of me wanted to talk some sense into both of you, but... I hoped Clark would come up to scratch, really."

"You did?" Chloe found herself smiling and stopped it quickly.

"You help him, Chloe. You're there. You're the only woman I've ever been able to talk to about my son. I don't think you know what that means to me."

Chloe felt her eyes welling up. "If he comes back... what is he coming back to? I'm not... The things I've done, Martha..."

"Honey," Martha crooned, moving to the chair nearest her and pulling Chloe close. "You made a few wrong choices, but you've done what you had to. You and Lois."

"But seeing what I have, doing what I have. My father... I don't think I'll ever be happy again." She laughed bitterly. "Five months ago, I would have been happy just to go and a date with your son. Now... I could win a Pulitzer and it wouldn't matter..." She felt Martha's hand on her back.

"Sweetie. It's okay."

And, for a moment, it was. It was enough to sit in this kitchen with Martha Kent calling her Sweetie and telling her it was okay.

"The cavalry has arrived!" Chloe and Martha both turned to the kitchen doorway, where Bart was now leaning. "Well, almost. The others have to, like, travel." He pointed to opposite side of the doorway. "P.S.- there's something on your floor," he whispered.

Chloe stood flabbergasted and walked forward, looking around the doorway to find Lucy crouched on the side. "Lucy!"


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