Chapter 1
∞
The morning sun burned my eyes as I drove down the desert road. Brayson slept fitfully against the passenger side window, jerking awake at every bump. I tried to maneuver the truck slowly to avoid the potholes and washed out ruts of the highway.
Crumbling trailers and small broken-down trading outposts that we passed along the way were haunting reminders of the past. The world around us hung in a suspended state of decay. Giant letters from a sign that once said “gas station” had fallen onto the road. I turned the wheel and carefully drove around them. Every bit of the scenery we’d seen that day reminded me of a surreal fantasy book.
I loved it. We hadn’t seen another living soul the entire trip. There was a part of me that was sad my ideal small town waiting to welcome us with open arms was just a fairy tale. Now that we were out of the city, I saw the vast emptiness of the world. There was truly no one left out here, just miles of abandoned buildings nestled into pockets of desert wasteland. I’d never felt so free.
And lost…
“Brayson, wake up. I think I took a wrong turn somewhere.” The sun was now reflecting off the side mirrors. I vaguely recalled learning somewhere this meant I was heading west.
“How long was I out?” Brayson was suddenly alert beside me.
“I’m not sure.” I pulled the truck off the road and opened the map, embarrassed to admit I was daydreaming and couldn’t remember how long I’d been driving this road. “There was a highway marker a few miles back that had fallen halfway from the sign. I thought I turned on the right road, but now I’m not so sure.”
“You shouldn’t have turned off Hwy 93 at all. Where was this turn?” He leaned over and checked the lines I was pointing to.
“It was at this 229/93 split thingy.” I glared at the top of his head. “You do realize I’ve never been more than twenty miles outside of LA, right?”
“You think I’ve been all over the world?” Brayson snapped.
“Well you’ve been farther away than I have.” I shoved the map into his arms. “You and your fancy job outside the city.” Brayson rolled his eyes and then looked to the gas gauge.
“Fawn.” His voice was serious and condescending. “I told you to wake me up when you got to a quarter of a tank.”
I glanced down at the needle. Crap, he did tell me to do that.
“Wake up. Gas is one quarter of a tank.” I opened the truck door and slammed it behind me as I stepped out onto the road. Overgrown sagebrush as tall as my hips ate the edges of the asphalt and other weeds broke through the cracks of the pavement. I leaned against the hot metal of the vehicle and took a couple of deep breaths. The air felt so different out here.
A few minutes later, Brayson stepped out to join me.
“Look at those mountains.” I pointed straight ahead. “Is that Idaho?”
He held up the map. “No. I think those are the Ruby Mountains. We are still in Nevada.”
“Okay. Well let’s turn around and head back to the main road.”
“We don’t have very much gas left. I wish I’d grabbed another can.” Brayson’s eyes were red from the lack of sleep. Or maybe it was from the weight of everything.
I lowered my voice. “What should we do?”
“I don’t know.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I just know we aren’t making it to Idaho.”
I instantly felt awful about everything. Burning down The Nocere, leaving everyone behind, asking Brayson to steal the blueprints- this was all my fault. Vorie was dead because of me. I missed Genie and I knew she would be mad at me for a long time. That is, if I ever got to see her again.
And Alister? I forced myself to push the image of his face deep down in my memories. I barely even knew him, but a part of me was drawn to him in a way I couldn’t explain. I knew Roger said not to tell anyone the name of who killed him, but Alister seemed so worried maybe he should know. He said he’d be right back…
I’d ruined that too probably, and there was nothing I could do about the mess of a life I’d somehow created in the blink of an eye.
“I’m sorry you had to come with me,” I whispered.
Brayson smirked. “Don’t be. It’s not your fault. Vorie wouldn’t have let me live in this world or the next if I had abandoned you.”
Thinking of Vorie scolding him with her sweet voice made me smile. “You know, she would have thought the Ruby Mountains sounded cool. Why don’t we go check them out? Idaho isn’t going anywhere any time soon.”
“Alright,” Brayson sighed. “But I’m driving so we don’t get lost again.”
Chapter 2
∞
We followed the highway up the mountain, and then turned down an overgrown dirt road with a campsite marker on it. Where the road ended in a thicket of trees, there was a small building buried in younger branches. Brayson parked the truck.
“This place look okay?” he asked.
“Let’s check it out.” Despite everything that had happened, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t overly excited. As soon as I opened the door, I heard the sound of rushing water.
“Brayson,” I turned to him wide eyed. “I think there is a river here.” I’d never seen a real river. I scrambled out of the truck with Brayson calling after me to slow down. Then I crashed through the brush until I found the source of the noise.
Waves of water clear as ice rippled away on the rocks in front of me. “Wow,” I said. “I thought rivers were bigger for some reason.”
Brayson came up behind me. “I think this is considered a creek not a river,” he said.
“Hmm.” I tried to stretch my neck out so I could see past the bushes to where the water was coming from. I slipped on the muddy bank. My knees caught my fall and my hands splashed into the creek.
“It’s freezing,” I laughed, pushing my hand into the water again. I could feel the current tug against my skin. To my right was a shallow pool carved out by dark purple rocks. Something silver drifted lazily in a circle.
“There are fish in here!” I screamed. The silver little thing quickly darted away down the stream.
“There might be,” Brayson smiled. “If you don’t scare them all away first.”
We left the water and made our way back to the truck. Brayson and I began snapping away the branches so we could check out the hidden building. It was a small shack with two doors side by side. We cleared the debris from the cement porch in front of one heavy metal door and pulled it open.
Dusty air and cobwebs smacked us in the face as we peered inside. Yellow light filtered through a tiny stained window high in the corner, illuminating a single toilet, metal trash can, porcelain sink, and mirror. It was a large room to contain so little. Brayson quickly cleared the path to the second door and exposed a duplicate room like the first.
“Well,” I said, taking a step back to inspect the building. “I guess we found the bathrooms.”
“I wonder if the pipes still work?” Brayson emptied a bucket from the back of the truck and filled it with water from the creek. Then he poured the bucket into the toilet tank. We both held our breath as he flushed it. It worked.