77...

Alexis slipped off of Matthew's body, sliding the steel loop from around his neck at the same time. She fastened it around her own neck and it hung dutifully as an innocuous charm bracelet. She adjusted herself in the driver’s seat. She looked out the windshield and realizing that the car was sitting at a slant across the narrow canyon road she reached over and patted around for the keys she had left somewhere near Matthew.
Alexis was looking at herself from somewhere far away. She could almost hear her mind shrieking red, locked away inside the still cage of her body. Her hand, like a piece of machinery, found the keys to the Cadillac and pulled them to her. Eyes locked forward, she put the keys in the ignition and started the car, moving it only far enough to get it off to the side of the road before stopping the engine once again.
She looked over at Matthew slumped over on the passenger side. His face only lightly lit by the diffuse light coming from over the canyon walls and the silvery light of a moon she couldn't see. His one eye stared softly at nothing.
"Now what?" she asked softly.
Matthew, of course, didn't answer. He merely continued to stare silently.
"I'm pretty much fucked now Matthew. The company's after me, and being you're not going to report back in a couple of days, they're gonna send someone else; Vanessa and Lester more than likely. Lester I couldn't care about it, I can take him easy... But Vanessa wants me something awful."
Alexis found her cigarettes, rolled down the window and lit one up. She leaned her elbow out the window and blew an agitated stream of smoke out into the night.
"Nothing I can do. Huh? I mean I can't just call 'em up and call it off."
The rush of adrenaline suddenly dissipated like the smoke out the window and left her fully awake. She felt the sudden, maddening urge wail and cry a torrent. She let a few tears fall before sniffing loudly and taking another drag of her cigarette.
"Okay Matthew, I'm gonna have to get rid of you. It's certainly not gonna go good if I get pulled over and there you are, just staring at Officer Friendly with your one good eye and with one bad ligature mark around your neck."
She sat quietly for a moment, thinking over her options. She stared forward and took regular drags from her smoke.
"There's bad suburb behind, already with Louis, the mystery death, thank you very much. And the bars and restaurants up ahead at the beach are just gonna be getting ready to start jumping..."
She looked around herself, through the windows of the car and out at the dark dirt towers of the canyon.
"It almost seems perfect. To drag you out here and find some quiet place to lay you down in the dark." She looked back over at Matthew's blank face. "But, with my luck, I wind up putting you into the long driveway of a dog kennel or some such shit."
Alexis sighed, tossing her cigarette butt out the window. She sat silently for a moment before once again yanking the keys out of the ignition. She gave Matthew a sly sort of smile.
"It's risky, but... "
She opened the driver's side door and stepped out onto the road.