I woke up with a jolt. I rubbed my eyes slowly, groaning to myself. “What time is it…?

“You alright?”

Still disoriented, I turned my head to Cleo, who had a singular hand on the wheel.

“Yeah… Yeah. How long have I been out for?”

“Well, it's four o’clock now, so like three hours and ten minutes, I think.”

I did some quick math in my head. We’ll be arriving in Cheyenne at around nine, maybe nine-ten.

“Nightmare, I’m guessing?” she asked. “You were talking to yourself. Again.”

“Yeah. It’s… It’s nothing,” I muttered.

I rested my head on the headrest, looking at the long road ahead of us.

“Hey, there should be a rest stop coming up. We should stretch our legs there.”

“Yeah, sure,” I said quietly.

We drove further for a few more minutes before the rest stop appeared over the horizon. I sat upwards, getting a good look at it. From what I could tell from here, it seemed pretty much untouched. Not surprised, either - it’s fairly far out in the middle of nowhere.

“You sure you’re alright?” Cleo asked again, “You seem… Off.”

“Yeah,” I replied again.

We quickly approached the rest stop. The first thing I noticed was the trucks still parked neatly next to the gas pumps. There was something about them that I couldn’t help but not think about. It was kind of unnerving, seeing these things just parked in the road. They stood perfectly still, as if they were frozen in time, only collecting dust as they waited patiently for their drivers to come back - drivers who will never return.

The car slowed to a stop in the parking lot. I got out, walking to the truck to get a gas canister. I took one out. As I began to refuel the tank, Cleo leaned against the car door.

“How’s the leg?” she asked suddenly.

I looked up to her as I put the cap back on the canister. “Huh?”

She nodded down to my leg. The one that was torn up.

“Oh, that one,” I chuckled, “it’s… Well, it’s feeling better. Much better. And…”

“And?”

“And,” I continued on, “well, if I had to be honest - I’m honestly surprised I made it this far. Really.”

“You live this long somehow, right? Obviously, you did something right along the way,” she nudged me on the shoulder.

“Yeah. Yeah, I guess you’re right… Might be because of skill, might be dumb luck, I still haven’t figured it out yet.”

Cleo looked down, scooching closer to me. Then, she looked back up, staring at me with her wolfish eyes. “What do you plan on doing? When we reach Pennsylvania, I mean.”

“Well…” I started to say. What did I plan on doing? I’ve spent all this time planning and planning, but I didn’t actually think of what I was going to do or where I was going to go. “I don’t know. Guess I’ll have to figure it out when I get there.”

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

I was about to walk back to the trunk again, when to my suprise, Cleo gently grabbed my wrist. “I know I said this before,” she said, “but I can’t thank you enough.”

I smiled and nodded, walking to the back. I still had two more canisters for later.

***************************

And just like that, we left as quickly as we came. This time, I was driving. It was getting late, and it was getting dark. But, we were still out in the middle of nowhere, so I wasn’t sure how many of those things we would come across. We were also just nearing Cheyenne as well, so it would’ve been best to just go all the way.

I slowed down the car as we reached the edge of Cheyenne. The lights of the car shimmered down the wide road that was still cramped with traffic. I managed to carefully maneuver our way past the cars, and through the roads. Eventually, with the help of Cleo, we managed to find what looked like a house that was still somewhat intact. I let the engine die as I got out, axe on my side and carrying a pillow.

“Let’s get in quick before anything smells us,” Cleo said.

I opened the door, allowing Cleo to go in first. I followed behind her, closing it.

Cleo flipped on the lights, but when she did, she tilted her head to the side. It seemed like a living room to me, though I could tell she noticed something. “Something’s wrong,” she whispered.

“What?” I asked.

“The house. It’s clean. Too clean. No dust, no dirt, everything organized… I think someone’s been here recently.”

I threw my pillow on the couch as we slowly cleared the house. As I rounded a corner, I could’ve sworn I heard something. It sounded like static. From a room just a little far up. I gestured for Cleo, pointing to the still closed door to the room. She went up to my side, nodding for me to open it.

“Wait,” I whispered, pointing to the small crevice underneath the door. It looked as if it was light dimly peeking out.

“Be careful,” she replied.

I placed my hand on the knob, slowly creaking the door open. Then, I stepped in, axe gripped tightly in my hand.

“Ya know, it’s rude to break into people’s houses,” came a sudden voice. I scanned the room, expecting a gun to be pointed at my head. But instead, it was an old woman sitting at a desk. She was… Smiling? She got up slowly, but I instinctively stepped a foot back.

“Oh please,” she continued on, slightly raising her hands. “I’m an old lady, there isn’t really much I could do to you both. She reached back to whatever she was working on her desk. It was a radio. She turned it off while still keeping her other hand in the air.

She tilted her head, “But, it seems like you two aren’t the regular bandits that roam the streets. You’re here for a reason, yes?”

I glanced at Cleo then back at her. I hesitantly nodded, saying “Y-yes. We’re just passing through. I’m, umm, I’m sorry we barged in. We’ll be leaving now.”

As I began to turn around, she interrupted. “It’s too dangerous to go around. Don’t you know there are fiends outside? Please, stay.”

I sighed, thinking of what to do. “What do you think?” I looked over to Cleo.

“She’s right. It’s dangerous to go outside.”

I sighed, “Alright. We’ll stay, but just for tonight. We’ll be out of your hair by morning.”

The old lady smiled, “Excellent! Name’s Greta, in case you were wondering. I’m assuming you’ve been to the living room already?. There should be two couches for you to sleep on.”

We both thanked Greta again, as we stepped out of her room. We backtracked to the living room

“Guess I’ll take this one,” Cleo said, sitting down on the couch closest to the door.

I sat down on the one I threw my pillow on. I threw my axe and its holster to the side, laying down.

“Hey, Cleo?”

“Yep?”

“Where do you plan on going? Or, atleast, what do you plan on doing once this road trip is over?”

I heard her laugh quietly, “Ain't that the million dollar question? Since my dreams of travelling to Europe have been basically sawed into dust, I’ll just have to settle with America. I heard New York’s nice this time of year.”

I sat up a little, saying “Well, I hope I’ll get to see you off when you do. Couldn’t have done this without another person along the way.”