CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: THE SHORT DRIVE TO NOWHERE
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There were always two sets of doors to every hub entrance, so right inside the first set of doors was a second set. Only a few days ago, a giant wolf had destroyed the second set of doors here and been killed right in the hallway after mauling my coworker Danielle. The little airlock room still stank of it.
We entered the Raceway as casually as possible, but at least three people sitting at various little booths watching the television noticed when we walked in.
“What the hell?” I heard one of them say, but he shrugged and went back to staring at his cell phone immediately. It was deadly to go outside right now. I could almost see the rationalizations as they traversed his mind. We couldn’t have come from outside. We must have just walked over towards the door without him noticing.
“I… expected that to be harder,” I commented idly.
“Me too,” Clara said.
“Are we sure it’s okay to just leave April out there? I mean… it’s got to be four hundred degrees right now, at least,” I asked.
“Did it feel like four hundred degrees?” Clara asked, a cheeky grin on her face. “It’s weird at first, but trust me. She’ll be alright. I don’t know when she’ll wake up, though. She might not open her eyes until we get her to Telilro’s regulation chamber. Hope you’re ready to gain some muscle because there’s no way your car is going to get us all the way to Texas. We’re going to have to walk. A lot.”
“You don’t know that for sure. Telilro isn’t all that far. On the highways overnight it's easy to make it six hundred miles,” I replied.
“On cleared highways. Highways that have been maintained. Not to mention the weird plants that have adapted. You know the Scorched Lands haven’t been staying scorched after all,” Clara said under her breath. She grabbed a basket and began loading food into it. Bread. Soup Cans. There was some frozen bacon in one of the freezers, mostly for the Hub’s residential district and folks who didn’t want to make a trip to the grocery store.
“I’m gonna make a call. You…” I paused as the girl began grabbing every bottle of water in the fridge. “You keep doing what you’re doing. Hey, get some RC?”
She flipped me the bird and I chuckled before turning towards the counter. As I approached, I realized that every television and radio in the place was tuned in to the Activation. People were all gazing up at the TVs mounted on the ceiling, so it was no surprise hardly anyone had noticed us come in.
“I repeat, it is not safe to leave your homes! The Activation has been delayed unfortunately. News we are hearing is that the tower’s activation was sabotoged. It may be hard to tell from down here, but Scarlatte herself has claimed that someone set off a bomb in the tower. No one save the attacker, a thirty three year old Scientist from Milwaukee named Ciara Schmidtt, was harmed, but the attack has delayed the Activation by as long as a few months. A few minor burns occurred when some attendees of the activation left the safe areas prematurely, but we’re being told they’re all going to survive. In other news, Doctor Violette Fontaine, long time recluse and well known for her part in destroying the world, made a surprise appearance at the failed acti–!”
I stopped listening and approached the counter where Barty, the owner, was leaning back in a large stool.
“Hey Barty,” I said softly.
“Bran! Did you hear? They say the activation was a bust! Can you believe it! After all this fucking time and money, changing the damn skyline for christ sakes, and it doesn’t even work! Gah! I…” Barty finally looked at me, his eyes widening as he took in my appearance. “Oh. Hey. Are you okay? Is… Bran is that blood?”
I gulped. I’d actually forgotten about the dried blood that had gotten on my shirt when I’d carried April. Her wound was gone, but the evidence wasn’t.
“I… its a long story. The blood isn’t mine. I just need a favor, okay?” I asked. Barty was the dad of an acquaintance of mine. I wouldn’t call him a friend but he looked out for me in the same way any dad might look out for their kids friends. I’d spent the night at his house a couple of times when I was younger, and he’d hired me when I wanted a job. Good people.
“I think I should probably call your father. What in god’s name happened to you?” he asked.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and shook it. “Going to call him myself in just a minute. I just… I’m going to need to buy everything that girl over there is grabbing as an advance on my check. Can you do that for me?”
His eyes narrowed. “Tell me what’s going on, Brandon.”
Shit. He wouldn’t take no for an answer at this point, and no amount of explaining could possibly prepare him for this. Worst of all, Sirahn or whoever the heck had been behind the attack on April might actually have people in the Hub, capable of hurting us. We didn’t have time to linger here.
Seemingly noticing my reticence, Barty’s voice calmed. “Look son, it’s going to be okay. You just need to tell me what happened. We can get this sorted out. I know a few of the officers down at the precinct. Just… tell me who’s blood–!”
“Oi! Noonday! What’s your shoe size!?” Clara asked, her voice cutting through the din of the room and drawing pretty much every eye in the place.
“About an eleven,” I replied with a sigh.
“Twelve it is!” she said before plopping some hiking boots down into the basket. It was already overflowing as it was and I didn’t think she’d be able to carry much more with it.
I didn’t know we had a basket.
She was grabbing a few pairs of slick shorts and girl shorts from the racks as well and stuffing it into the basket as best she could. Most of it was West Steppe Goblins memorabilia, which I’d always found funny. Most places were the Bobcats or the Tigers, or some other wild cat. I’d always taken pride in the uniqueness.
“Brandon. If you don’t tell me whose blood are you covered in, I’m not calling your father. I’m calling the cops.” Barty asked with finality that in any other circumstances, would’ve left me stuttering to explain.
I didn’t have time to waste. Something in Scarlatte’s voice, made me think that we had to get out of West Steppe fast. Not just for our own sakes either. I’d been mentally ignoring the whole ‘save the world’ business she’d mentioned, because of how ludicrous it sounded, taking our time didn’t seem like a good idea.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Sorry Sir. We don’t have time for that though. Please just charge me for the stuff we’re taking. I’m good for it. I… hope to see you in a few weeks,” I said, as I turned around and began to gather stuff up that we would need as well.
“Oh thank god. Here, take this,” Clara said before handing me the overflowing basket. She’d opened a box of hefty bags and was busy loading snacks and food and drinks and everything she thought she could into it. She scooped in anentire box of twinkies, but threw out a box of snowcaps that had accidentally fallen in with them. Other people were beginning to notice the commotion, but I was already on my way towards the door.
“I wasn’t kidding, Brandon,” Barty said, picking up the store’s phone, hand hovering over the number pad.
I couldn’t tell him it was April’s blood. He probably didn’t know who she was anyway, but no matter how I said that it would make me look like a villain. Better if I just leave. I didn’t think I’d have a job here when I got back after this anyway.
“We’ll be long gone by then,” I said over my shoulder. “I’m really sorry about this though.”
“Brandon!” he shouted as I opened the first door. “Brandon the Activation failed! You can’t–!”
He cut off as I held the door open. I could almost see the people in the building wince in expectant fear as I opened the door. This time they noticed, but could do nothing as I stepped out, with Clara right behind me.
I stepped outside the door into the heat, and beamed at the feeling. I walked around the outside of the car, specifically aiming to feel the Sun on my skin. I popped the trunk with the button back there and found the car cool to the touch even though I knew it must be at least a hundred degrees, even in the shade where I’d parked.
I threw the bag in, but grabbed out a water bottle and a bag of cheetos. I knew for a fact that Barty would be frantically staring at his camera system, uncomprehending as I stood in the daylight with no obvious pain. I waved at the camera as if being out in the Sun was something I did every day before hoping back into the drivers seat. Clara tossed her own bag into the trunk and joined me in the passengers seat, holding a huge Atlas unfolded in front of her.
I knew the route I needed to take generally but I was certain it was wildly out of date. Still everyone knew roughly where Telilro had been built. San Marcos. The history books told us they’d chosen San Marcos as the location for the first tower because its theoretical projections said its barriers could reach as far as Dallas. It would make San Antonio, Auston, and Houston completely safe for sure, but at San Marcos they hoped it could cover Dallas and Corpus Christi as well. Curiously, in the years before the entire equator became unlivable, San Marcos itself became a larger city than any of the original cities the tower was meant to protect.
Getting there would be a different story. Where the roads weren’t impassable with abandoned cars and trucks, they were probably just plain melted. I didn’t know what temperature old roads like they used to build could melt at, but I was certain they had begun making entirely new ones about ten years ago, that were capable of withstanding the heat. It hadn’t been a simple process and I remember Dad groaning about the increased taxes involved.
“Well that was fun. Your boss seemed pissed,” Clara said with the sarcastic grin that I was beginning to realize was her default expression.
“Worried about me, more like,” I said sadly. “He’s going to be freaking the hell out. I really hope none of them try to come out here after seeing us. They might get the wrong idea and think the activation really worked.”
“They’d be fucking stupid if they did. Should be fine,” she said nonchalantly. “And if they don’t, then they’re probably just about as smart as you, huh?”
I scowled but, she was grinning placatingly as if to soften the sting of her joke.
I drove the car out into the sunlight and pulled onto the road, marvelling at just how clear everything was in the daylight. It was… well. It was as if I’d been driving in the dark my entire life. The world seemed like an entirely different place when the sun was lighting everything.
“Hey… I was just kidding. Don’t be offended,” she said, misreading my silence as anger. “That’s the second time you’ve saved me. So thanks, again.”
“We both know you saved me when I ran out after you,” I said softly.
“Yeah. And you’re still an idiot for that. Under the right light, with lots of make-up, and plenty of time to forget the idiocy, it could’ve been called gallant.”
“Jee, don’t hold back,” I said.
“That’s not what I was talking about though. The fire hydrant. Ciara. That fucking… gah, I can’t think of a word insulting enough! But she might’ve really killed Thelma, and I’m sure I wouldn’t have been far behind on her list. So thanks for beating the shit out of her. I’ll cherish the memory.”
A sudden surge of guilt flooded me. I’d killed that woman. Well. I hadn’t really, but my actions had led to her death. Till now, I hadn’t really thought about the implications of that. To my surprise, I didn’t feel nearly as guilty as I thought I probably should.
“Not to dim your light or anything, but I wasn’t really thinking about you when I did that.” I spared a glance for the rearview mirror which I’d tilted down to let me look at April sleeping in the backseat.
“Ah. Lovergirl,” she said, turning back to look down at April as well. “She’s a cute thing, isn’t she? Nothing like your last girlfriend. Haley.”
I frowned. “Haley… she said something about what you did to her Dad?”
Clara immediately stopped talking, turning to look out the window. “I don’t want to talk about that.”
“Alright,” I said before an uncomfortable silence fell around us.
We continued driving for a while. We were still on the normal roads, and would be until we reached old highway three ninety five about ten or fifteen miles away from the Hub. I hadn’t spent much time on the old roads at night, but a lot of kids liked to do so on dares, or dates. At least they liked to say they did. If any highway was going to be in good enough condition for us to still use in the middle of the day, it would be three ninety five south.
“So, not that I’m complaining or anything, but do you just make a habit out of dashing headfirst into dangerous situations?” Clara asked. “I’m not so sure about your survival instincts but you’ve got the stupidly reckless heroism thing down pact, Brandon.”
“Even when you’re trying to thank someone, you can’t help but being sarcastic, can you?” I asked, genuinely curious.
“I already thanked you. Now I’m just stating a fact,” Clara said, before smiling warmly at me. “Still. She could do worse, I suppose.”
I sighed. “I just hope she wakes up soon. I don’t know what we’re going to do if we have to carry her.”
“You heard Thelma and Scarlatti. They didn’t think she’d wake up until she gets to a regulation chamber,” Clara said with a shrug. “We’ll come up with something. Might have to go garage raiding. I do it around here sometimes, during the day. Every now and then I’ll find these beautiful old cars that have been protected from the sunlight.”
“I… huh,” I replied casually. “If you can go out into the sunlight, I guess that does open a whole lot of places that nobody else could get to, doesn’t it?”
Clara smiled. “I… uh… yeah. I’ve never had to be afraid of the Sun so I do a lot of things like that. Wow. I…”
She paused in sudden excitement. “I’ve never been able to show anyone else before. Its always been just me… Uhm. Now that I think about it, don’t ever go two mile south of that gas station. Or to the abandoned railroad tracks. Uh. Or to the top of the Hub. Actually, can you just move somewhere else?”
I snickered. I’d initially thought that we were going to die, but that was before I’d felt the sunlight on my face. Before I’d felt the safety of being out in it where no one else could come. I was trying not to delude myself. The sunlight was far from the only dangerous thing about the Scorched Lands. But as we drove on and I turned onto the old highway asphalt, I began to feel optimistic. Maybe we could get April to the tower after all.
I thought to myself ironically, that April’s dream was coming true. She was finally exploring the scorched lands, yet she wasn’t awake to see any of it. I laughed out loud when I thought of how pissed off she’d be if she slept the entire way there.
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