Quoted By:
"Yeah, we'll need to stop for a while when we get to this town. I better get a haircut, hair dye, some glasses... Could you guys buy some clothes while I'm doing that? Anything that doesn't look like something I'd wear. You can get some lunch while you're waiting for me too. Once that's out of the way, we can see about getting a bus."
"Leave that to me," Alex says. You really don't like how she's grinning.
You resume jogging but thankfully, you don't have to go far before a kind-hearted fella pulls over and offers you a ride since he's heading that way anyway. That cuts an hour or two off of your travel time, which you're grateful for.
He drops you off on the main street of Mansfield, a town that's still pretty rural but at least it's populated enough that it has most of the amenities that you need. You leave the others to go shopping while you find someone to deal with your hair.
When it comes to telling the stylist what you want, you make suggestions that you know that you'll hate while occasionally relying on her advice. By the time that she's done, she actually hasn't gotten rid of much hair. Mostly along the sides where she's given you a low fade, while the long top has been slicked back and dyed a pale shade of blonde. She's even tied up your beard a little. You almost cringe when you look at the final result in the mirror.
Alex can't stop herself from laughing at your transformation when you met up with the others. Even Ella smiles a bit. As for what clothes they picked up for you, they thankfully didn't spend too much money on making you look like an idiot. A white t-shirt, a casual bomber jacket, some skinny jeans rolled up around your ankles and canvas shoes. Some aviator glasses complete the image.
"I look like a goddamn fuckboy."
"No, no! You look great." You're not sure that you believe Alex when she's got a massive shit-eating grin on her face and has hard time keeping herself from giggling. In the end, all that matters is that you look nothing like Samuel Pullman, the kid from Eastchurch who went missing over a month ago.
You help yourself to what's left of the lunch that they picked up at a local deli. They also bought a couple of hats for Marley so that his bald head doesn't stand out so much, but he's not that keen on wearing them. Once you're finished, you head over to the bus stop to plan out your journey to Tennyson.
It's basically on the other side of the state and there's no route that will take you directly there. Instead you'll need to take multiply buses across Pennsylvania, from here to Williamsport, then to State College, then over to Pittsburgh and up to Erie, getting off half-way at Tennyson. It'll be a long, meandering trip and the sun will have set long before you arrive at your destination, but at least it will be a whole lot faster than trying to get there by foot or even by Hispo.
