Rafferty sat with her back against the rock.  From up here, she could see all the way to the horizon.

Still nothing.

Rafferty sighed, and a strand of green hair fell in front of her face.  Irritated, she blew it away, but a moment later it fell back, now pink.  She squinted at it, still dissatisfied, and blew again.  When it returned it was teal.

That'll work.

Gus had lectured her about wasting the Blue on something as mundane as a hair band, but Rafferty had insisted.  First of all, Gus didn't even have any hair of his own, so what would he know.  Secondly, did he not understand exactly how empty it was out here in the Breaks?  If you didn't make time for a little self-expression, you'd go insane.

Rafferty wasn't exactly sure she had won the argument, but she'd gotten the hair band.

Truth be told, she loved the Breaks, emptiness and all.  She liked the heat at the height of the day, and how it leaned on you.  She liked the scratchy feel of the dust under her fingers, and the weird, spiky plants that grew out of it.  Mostly she liked that everything out here was ready to hurt you if you hurt it first, and sometimes even if you didn't. 

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The Breaks made you earn it, every bit of it, and Rafferty wasn't quite ready to go back.

That was why she had ditched her Jack, and bought a little more time.  Trevor was smart, and Rafferty knew he would catch up in a few hours, half a day at most, which is why she had sought out this high place, looking for any worthwhile signs.

He was probably worried, and Rafferty felt a little bad about it, but she also knew that as soon as he got here he'd start whining about needing to get back.  Jacks were never happy unless they were on schedule.  Rafferty wasn't going back without a knock if she could help it.  

She hadn't found anything her last two tries either.  Too many fruitless trips, and she'd find herself on guard duty, or worse yet, with a stint as a town liaison.  Ugh.  Just the thought of all those gawkers made Rafferty shiver in the sun.  Yes, she knew that their whole deal was about protecting people, but Rafferty had learned a long time ago that she liked most people better at a distance.

Rafferty heard metal scrape against the rock, and looked down at her blade, which was sitting to  her left.  Had it moved, just a little?  She glanced at her hand, just to make sure she hadn't touched it.  She hadn't, her fingers were still at least a foot away from the handle.  

A short little tremor snaked its way under her right hand, and when she spun her head that way, she saw a small cloud of dust shimmy toward the sky.  Rafferty sat up straight.

The third time, she actually heard it- the effortful, echoing thud that only meant one thing.

Staring out toward the horizon she still couldn't see anything, which meant something else.

It was big.

Oh yeah.