Present Day, Nashville
The next morning Amber threw her overnight bag into the back seat and looked for a place she could get some breakfast and an atlas. As long as she had been running, she should have already purchased one but she had been staying fairly close to Georgia and simply buying state maps. This time she would go farther and she would take longer to get there.
Amber pulled over at a pharmacy in downtown Nashville and purchased a road atlas that would get her anywhere in the United States. She then pulled into a Denny’s, ordered her breakfast, and began thumbing through the atlas. She had lived in Birmingham, Alabama, for six months, Middleburg, Florida, for a little over a year, Cleveland, Mississippi, for six months, and the last city, where she had been the longest at two years, New Orleans, Louisiana. She would have to leave the south altogether and hope that he would not follow her if she went further away.
She did not really believe that little lie she was telling herself, but it made her feel better anyway. By the time her breakfast arrived, Amber had her plans laid out. She had marked and highlighted a route that would take her east to the coast, south to the gulf, and then west and north to the state of Washington. That is about as far from Georgia as you can get she thought to herself. This time, she would not even tell Olivia where she was going. No one needed to know she was that far away. Maybe this time she could get lost for good.
As she ate, Amber tried to convince herself she was going on an adventure. This small town girl was about to travel across the country. She had already seen some beautiful scenery while driving, but this time she was going to ignore the fact that she was running from a maniacal killer and drive during the day so she could enjoy the beauty of the countryside. However, she couldn’t help continuing to think about how she ended up here.