by S. S. Segran
“And what do you have there, Kode-man?” Jag asked, one eyebrow cocked.
Kody wore a sly look. “When you guys are done eating, come join me.” He headed out to the center of the backyard and sat on the grass, waiting.
The friends and their siblings looked at each other, then gobbled down the remainder of their ice cream—with Roshon saying “Owie, brain freeze!”—and hurried down the steps to Kody. The adults finished a little more slowly, then made their way over.
From inside the bag, Kody carefully produced five rocket fireworks. The group gasped in delight and Roshon clapped his hands. “Yay!”
“I got these for a couple of reasons,” Kody said as he got to his feet and began setting up the rockets on the ground. “The first is for fun, of course—just all of us being here and having a great time. The second reason I got these is to kick off our road trip.”
A whoop came from Jag, Tegan, Mariah and Aari. They raised their fists in the air and wore huge smiles. “Love you, man!” Jag laughed.
Kody raised his fist as well, a large grin on his face. “So the idea is, we’ll each fire a rocket and see how high it goes.”
Roshon ran up to Kody and wrapped his arms around his brother’s leg. “Kody, I wanna fire a rocket.”
Kody picked Roshon up. “Tell you what, why don’t you help me with mine?”
Roshon draped his arms around Kody’s neck happily. “Okay!”
It warmed Samuel’s heart to see them like that. Looking at his boys, he felt reassured that he and his wife had done right by their children. It had always been a question in the back of their minds—in the back of any good parent’s mind—whether everything they were doing as they raised their kids was shaping them to be the best they could be.
They watched as Jag lit the first rocket. There were cheers as the missile flew up into the sky before exploding into bright colors. Tegan launched hers next, then Mariah, then Aari. When it was Kody’s turn, he kept to his word and let Roshon help him light the rocket’s fuse before scooping him into his arms and bounding off to a safe distance. Roshon watched along with the others, his mouth open and his hands covering his ears, as the final rocket burst and lit the darkened sky with vibrant hues .
Another round of cheersswept over the families. Samuel watched it all with a small smile. While the chat with Roberto had allayed his fears, he couldn’t help but feel some trepidation as he watched the friends enjoy each other’s company, their arms around one another still.
He could still clearly recall the heart-stopping moment when he’d regained consciousness after having been flung far from the plane, only to realize the teenagers weren’t anywhere to be found. He’d searched for them, limping and falling and yelling out until he eventually ended up at the edge of the forest and passed out from hunger and exhaustion. When he awoke next, he’d been taken to a hospital in a nearby town and no sign had been found of his son or his other passengers.
Samuel slowly looked up at the sky as the stars began to appear. He offered a silent plea: Keep them safe.
4
Kody packed the last of the friends’ baggage into the back of the black Grand Cherokee. When he was sure everything was stowed properly, he readjusted his sunglasses, closed the rear hatch and gave the others a thumbs-up. “We’re good to go!”
The families were crowded in the Sanchez’s driveway to see the group off. Jag, Tegan, Aari and Mariah went to their parents and siblings to give them one last hug. Kody turned to his own family and embraced his mother and father tightly before gathering his brothers in a huddle. He turned to the youngest Tyler of the family and removed his shades. “Alright, Roshon, you gotta be good, okay? Don’t be a brat all day long.”
Roshon looked thoughtful. “Is half a day okay?”
“As long as that half a day is when you’re sleeping.” Kody winked and turned to his ten-year-old brother. “George, you know the drill.”
“Of course I do. Don’t worry about me.” George lifted his chin and grinned.
Kody hugged them both, then put his shades back on. Someone placed a heavy hand on his shoulder and he looked to see his father gazing down at him with hopeful confidence and a hint of concern. “Take care, okay? Be safe. Don’t do anything senseless . . . please.”
Resting his hand on his father’s, Kody gave him a reassuring smile. “We’ll be fine, Dad, don’t worry. No dumb stunts, I promise.”
He heard a whistle and turned to see his friends already piling into the Jeep. He waved goodbye to his family then jogged back to the vehicle and slid into the backseat with Mariah and Aari while Jag and Tegan sat up front.
“Get the AC on,” Aari said, grimacing.
Jag started the engine and quickly turned on the air conditioning. The five breathed a sigh of relief. It was only eight in the morning, but the heat was building up rapidly. Kody turned around so he could see their families standing at the back of the vehicle. He started to wave as Jag drove the car onto the road. Aari and Mariah joined him.
“Okay, keep waving, keep waving.” Kody watched carefully until their families were out of sight, then faced the front, whooping. “And we’re clear! Woo!”
His friends laughed. There was an air of release as they left behind their school and homes. For the first time in nearly a year, they were starting to feel truly at ease and their sense of adventure was returning, coursing through their veins like fire.
They drove by a small park, barely noticing the parents sitting on benches and their little ones monkeying on the playground. As the Jeep rolled past, an African-American woman with jet-black hair sitting astride a motorcycle picked up her phone. She tapped the device a couple of times before placing it to her ear, staring at the retreating SUV as she waited for the person on the other end to pick up.
There was a click and a voice came on. “Hello?”
The woman only said two words before hanging up: “They’ve left.”
* * *
Kody watched as Aari pulled a slim laptop out from his black sling bag. As he opened it and booted up a coding program, Kody let out a mew of incredulity. “Are you serious, dude?”
“Huh?” Aari didn’t look up from the screen.
“We’ve only just left for a trip and you’ve already pull out your inner geek.”
“Inner geek?” Tegan echoed. “He’s never had to bring it out. He pretty much wears it all day, every day. Like a cape.”
“Captain Geek,” Mariah said with a grin. “No, wait. Super Geek.”
Aari raised an eyebrow calmly without taking his eyes off the screen. “Laugh it up all you want, powder puffs. Who’s the guy who fixes your tech, takes care of malware and all the bad stuff you let onto your computers?”
“I’m sticking up for Aari, here,” Jag chimed in. “I’ve saved a lot of cash with him helping me out.”
“What else do you do on that little computer of yours aside from surfing and gaming?” Mariah asked.
Aari’s fingers moved quickly over the keyboard. “I don’t use a laptop like this to game. That’s what an actual computer’s for.”
“But what do you do?”
“Stuff.”
“What stuff?”
“Programming and whatnot. Nothing any of you would really be interested in.”
“Try us,” Jag said.
Kody rested with his head back against the headrest, eyes half-closed as he listened. Aari spoke about some of the knowledge he’d been picking up on his own for the past few years. Kody managed to follow along for a bit but was completely lost—and somewhat bored—after Aari explained different methods to achieve denial-of-service. His thoughts wandered off and he slipped into his own world, his friends’ voices melting into the background.
He wasn’t sure how long he’d been absent, but Jag must have noticed his quietness because he asked, “Hey, Kody, you alright?”
“Huh?” Kody blinked. “Oh, yeah. I’m fine. Just thinking.”
“Uh oh,” Aari said jokingly. “‘Thinki
ng’, he says. Something’s definitely wrong.”
“Let’s hear him out before jumping to any conclusions,” Jag replied, somewhat amused. “What’s on your mind?”
Kody rubbed the top of his head. “It’s nice to be away from . . . from home. It’s weird to say that, because you’d think of home as a place of safety and warmth. Home is where you’d want to be. But we’re pretty much running away from it.”
The others were silent for a few moments until Aari spoke up. “We’re not really running away. We just need a break from it.”
“Because home’s not home anymore.”
The words sank in and silence took hold of them again. Jag glanced at Kody through the rearview mirror. “Home . . . home is where we are. As long as we’re together, nothing will change that. Not the idiots in Great Falls, not the media, not the doctors.”
They sure played a huge part in making home feel unfriendly, Kody thought, but kept it to himself. Out loud, he said, “Sorry for bringing it up. It just bears down on you after a while, you know?”
Mariah smiled comfortingly at him. “Let it out. This trip is for healing.”
He gave her a half-smile in return.
“How about some music?” Tegan asked.
“Anything but the radio,” Aari said, lacing his fingers behind his head. “Everything is so repetitive nowadays.”
“Agreed. That’s why we’ve got these”—Tegan connected her phone to the car’s system—“and voila! No need to worry about recycled tunes.”
They drove for a few hours, taking in each other’s company and jamming to the long playlist of songs. The scenery of shrubs and faraway mountains rolled by and they stopped taking notice of it after a while. They were nearing the Montana-Idaho border when there was a brief pause as one of the songs ended. In that period of silence, a collective rumble sounded from their stomachs. Laughter ensued. “Guess it’s time for lunch,”, Jag said.
Kody nodded. “I think you’re right.”
Tegan reached back to poke his knee. “You don’t get a say in this, Mr. I-Eat-A-Lot-But-Never-Gain-Weight.”
He adopted a snobbish, miffed tone. “How dare you, peasant? I must eat, otherwise my metabolism will end me.” He reached over to mess up her ash-brown hair. She retreated instantly and grumbled something incomprehensible as she combed her fingers through her layers.
“Let’s check this place out,” Jag said as he turned off of the highway into a town. A sign greeted them.
“Welcome to Llama?” Kody read, frowning.
Jag chuckled. “It’s Lima, not llama.”
“Oh, good. I’d hate to have lunch where a bunch of fluffy long-necked animals spit at me.”
“Right . . . Right”
As they drove up and down the streets, they realized quickly that Lima was a very, very small town. Kody pressed his face against his window. “Where’s the food?” he groaned. “The restaurants? The takeout?”
Mariah pushed Aari’s head back so she could look out of his window. “Hey, what about this little thing?” She pointed to a small building with her free hand as Aari flailed. “Mountain High Subs.”
“Let’s give it a shot.” Jag carefully parked the Jeep and the five got out, hastily making their way into the air-conditioned shop. Once inside, they looked around, pleasantly surprised by how charming the deli was. They ordered their sandwiches and happily munched away before thanking the storekeeper and scurrying back into the Jeep. Jag drove toward the highway, leaving the small town behind.
They crossed the border into Idaho and traveled for a while until they reached aa town, whereupon Kody cleared his throat. “Um, I gotta take a leak.”
Jag made a sound of exasperation. “Dude, you should’ve gone when we stopped for lunch!”
“I didn’t have to go at that time, though.”
“Okay, okay—here’s a donut shop. Be quick.”
As Kody hopped out, he heard Tegan murmur, “Is I it smart to let him go into a shop that sells food?”
“We just had lunch,” Jag said. “He’s not gonna get anything.”
A couple of minutes later, Kody walked out of the store balancing a large cardboard box in one hand and a half-eaten donut in the other. As he got into the Jeep, Jag groaned and slid down in his seat. Tegan smiled, her gray eyes alight with laughter. “Never underestimate that guy’s appetite. After seventeen years with him, you should know that.”
“Glazed delights, anyone?” Kody asked, mouth full.
“Why not.” Aari reached past Mariah and took a fudge-covered donut for himself, then said thoughtfully, “You know, if we were to drive thataway to Highway 20, we’d be heading toward Yellowstone National Park.”
“As much as I’d love to visit, I don’t think we have time for a detour,” Jag said wistfully as he put the Jeep into drive.
“I know, but . . . ” Aari took a bite. “You guys know that there’s a huge active volcano in Yellowstone, right?” When the others nodded, he continued. “Did you know it’s actually considered a super-volcano?”
“A super-volcano?” Tegan repeated.
“Yeah, the Yellowstone Caldera. Some folks are saying that it’s actually long overdue for an eruption.”
“That’s a real jolly thought.”
“It gets better. Because of its sheer size, when it erupts, the effects would be devastating. Everything within a hundred-mile radius would be destroyed. Ash would hang in the air for ages. With so much of all that stuff in the atmosphere, it’s not just North America, but the entire planet that would be affected. Sunlight would be blocked, making the temperature fall. It’d be nature’s equivalent of a nuclear winter.”
Kody, who had been silently listening with a perturbed look on his face, emitted a funny sound. “Can we please not talk of depressing doomsday scenarios? Donuts are present here, and all you guys care to chat about is the end of the world as we know it. Come on, people. Priorities.”
“Alright, alright,”, Mariah groused. “Teegs, where are we spending the night?”
“I think we were gonna stay at a motel in . . . hold on, let me check the GPS . . . aha, right. Salt Lake City, Utah.”
“Three states in one day. Neat.”
Tegan grinned. “I have a funny feeling Jag’s gonna be so done with this car once we return from this trip, what with all the driving we have to do.”
Jag scoffed. “How could I ever get tired of a car? Especially a beast like this.” He patted the dashboard affectionately.
Kody rested his head against the window, yawning, then muttered, “Food coma.”
Mariah glanced at him. “All the food’s catching up with you now, huh? How many donuts did you eat?”
“Like four,” he groaned. “And they were pretty darn big.”
She sighed. “Well, I hope you don’t get carsick. I wouldn’t want to be next to you when you throw up.”
“Gee, thanks for the concern.”
“Anytime, buddy boy.”
As they drove on, the chatter slowly died. Kody fought to keep his eyes open as Tegan, Aari and Mariah nodded off. He wanted to keep Jag company, but Jag must have been able to tell that he was struggling to remain awake. “Take a nap, Kode-man,” he advised. “I’ll be fine.”
Kody stifled back another yawn. “You sure?”
“Yeah. You look barely alive right now.”
“Mmh . . . ” The sound had barely left his mouth when his head lolled back against the headrest and he fell into a deep sleep.
5
One of the most family-friendly places in the United States, Provo, Utah was teeming with activity this particular day. With summer in and school out, kids and teenagers were biking, hiking, and enjoying the many outdoor activities that the town offered. Families were swarming the parks, trails, and recreation centers. Drivers had to be careful around neighborhoods and look out for kids and pets.
In a neighborhood made up of different-colored homes with single-car garages, a small blue house sat nondescriptly near the en
d of the street, overlooking Utah Lake. The view was splendid. The front yard was well-kept, with trimmed hedges and a perfectly manicured lawn.
Inside, the house was equally neat and organized, with the exception of a few papers strewn on a large teakwood desk next to a window. Upon the mantle of the living room were several framed photos. In between them, a carefully-placed box held a United States military decoration of valor, the Silver Star Medal.
A man dressed in a dark polo shirt and fitted jeans sat on a sofa facing a television that had been muted. He tinkered with a tennis ball-sized device in his hands; a light-shelled glass container that looked like an oval perfume bottle with a deeply-notched surface. Attached at the top was a safety lever and a pin. The container was filled with luminescent blue liquid.
The man glanced at the watch on his wrist and continued to fiddle with the device for a minute more before placing the object into a cotton-lined pouch. He then very carefully tucked the pouch into a pocket in his backpack, and headed to the bathroom, where he splashed his face with cold water. It was late afternoon and the heat was clinging to the day as it always did this time of the year until after the sun began to set.
He grabbed a towel off of a rack and patted himself dry, then studied himself in the mirror. Eyeing the scars on the left side of his face, he scowled at the memory of his mishap two months prior. Looking down at his arms where longer scars were somewhat visible, he shrugged to himself. At least he was alive and in terrific physical shape.
Running his hands from his blonde hair to his short beard with a sigh, he strode out of the bathroom to the coffee table and picked up a small, beautiful chip-carved wooden box. He opened it and peered in. Then, with a glint in his eyes, he latched the lid and carefully slid the box into his backpack. Grabbing his car keys, he quickly made his way to the garage and flicked on the light. His prized Shelby GT500 greeted him. The classic red Mustang was continuously maintained to preserve its pristine condition.
Once inside the car, he opened the garage door and started the engine, then backed out onto the street and activated the home security system via an app on his phone. With that, he drove toward the highway and hoped that the events scheduled for the evening would go as planned.
