by D. K Lake
The rock walls towered up the sides and in the center, there was a large pool of water, and on the far side of the pool, there was water trickling down the rock wall. The tall rocks created just the right amount of shade from the sun but still let enough light in so it wasn't too dark and shaded.
“Impressed?” Drew said.
“What is this place?”
“Hot springs. As in the water's warm.” he said with a grin before unbuttoning his pants.
“What are you doing?”
“I'm going in.”
“The water's kinda murky.”
“No, it's not, it's the shade, and it's not very deep, you'd see if there were any in there, plus there's no way they would have made it up the wall, stop worrying.”
“I wasn't talking about deadbies. What about bugs? Snakes?”
He ignored me and stripped down to his underwear, and jumped in.
Then he laid back in the water, and floated on his back, watching me.
“No snakes.” he said. “C'mon, Alex, you're never gonna get this chance again.”
“Well, when you put it like that.” I said, giving in, and the lure of the water tempting me in.
I dropped my tote bag next to his crossbow and stripped off as well (keeping my bra on, though, and boxers, obviously!!).
I sat on the edge and dipped my feet in. The water was warm and just the right temperature. I soon eased off the side and slid into the water. I swished my arms back and forth creating waves, letting the water skim over my arms, and sending a few playful splashes in Drew's direction.
“So explain to me why there are bathtubs in the desert?”
“The water in here flows out through there and all the way down to the bathtubs.”
He pointed to a gap in the rock where the water was flowing out.
“And people just come here to bathe in the water?”
“Yes,”
“Bit strange, don't you think? Why come all this way when you can just run a bath in the comfort of your own home?”
“I guess, but people like to come here to relax and be close to nature, and all that shit.”
“Close to nature? Ants in my underwear and creepy crawlies aren't my idea of relaxing. This place is too hot and my skin's peeling, and I'm afraid I'll wake up with a snake waiting to greet me 'good morning'.
“There's a large water source on the other side of this place, looks good to drink as well.”
“Clean water and a bath, you spoil me, Drew.”
Drew started scrubbing his arms and face, using the springs like a bath.
“Should I leave?” I joked.
He flashed me a smile and splashed me. We stayed in the pool for quite some time, the water was helping to sooth my aching muscles and burned skin. I wished I could stay in the water forever, except I was starting to wrinkle like a prune. I looked around at the large cavern, there was a ledge at the side with plenty of room for us to spend the night, and we would be well hidden in here.
“I don't want to leave.” I murmured to myself.
“You wanna stay here tonight?” Drew asked having heard me.
“I like it, I don't want to walk anymore.”
“Okay.” he said agreeing to my request.
“And maybe we could stay tomorrow night as well.” I added.
He looked at me for a moment.
“If that's what you want.”
“Actually... I was thinking maybe we could stay...until,” I stopped speaking, I couldn't finish that sentence.
“It's just, I've had enough of walking, like you said, there's clean water here, and I'm sure there's something edible around here... Just admit it, you think Argon is a waste of time?”
He tilted his head and chewed on his thumbnail.
“I don't know how long I'll be here, and I'm not saying you have to stay with me, you don't owe me anything...You should just go!” I realized I was one notch away from shouting at him.
“No.” he said deadpan.
“No? Why not?”
“I can't.”
“What? Yes. Yes, you can.”
“No, I made you a promise to stay with you and I intend to keep it.”
“I only slow you down, it makes sense that I stay here, but you don't have to-”
“Alex, no. If you want to stay here then we'll stay here. Together.” he said firmly.
Drew wasn't budging, and I don't think he was going to leave me anytime soon.
I smiled a thank you.
“You do realize we're gonna have to eat lizard? Those cookies won't last you much longer and I'm no coyote hunter, I don't even know where Anton found it.”
“Lizard will do just fine. Now, I think I need to get out before I shrivel up. Don't be too long,” I said to him. “I thought we could go lookin' for some lizards for supper” I said in a southern accent which made Drew laugh.
Day 15
Feeling sleepy, but I'm okay otherwise, no vomiting today. Tired legs which is understandable.
The next day arrived too soon, I was up early, Drew was up even earlier, and was already out doing his own thing. I somehow managed to make it back down onto solid ground without breaking my neck, and took a morning walk but didn't stray too far from the cave. I wasn't as good as Drew at finding my way back to places. I found the water source, Drew was talking about. More like a water oasis. A healthy-looking spring, it was wide and flowed from the rocks up above, but unlike the water in the cave this water was cool and refreshing. I took off my boots and socks and dangled my feet in.
I was lost in my own thoughts when I heard a scuffle in the dirt behind me, and the speckled, gray wolf, Shayleigh, flashed through my mind.
I turned ever so slowly and saw a tall shadow looming over me... Drew's shadow.
He looked as though he'd seen a ghost. Were the wolves coming for us?
He looked unhappy about something, holding his crossbow at his side in one hand, his other hand was clenched into a fist, and he was holding it close to his chest... I saw something red.
“Oh, Drew!” I said, jumping to my feet and rushing over to him.
I pried his hand away from his chest and uncurled his fingers... and found a red ribbon.
“What the hell is this? I thought you'd been bitten.” I snapped, releasing his hand but I still had the ribbon between my fingers.
“It's a ribbon.” Drew said.
“I know that it's a ribbon, Drew. Why do you have it? I thought you were bleeding for a second then.”
“It was tied to a bush near the road.” he said, picking it back out of my hand.
“And that's important because?”
“When Evan and me used to go deep into the swamps, exploring, we used to tie pieces of ribbon or cloth to the trees, and we always used the color red.”
I thought about it for a moment, using the color red in the middle of the green swamps would certainly stand out, and it was a good idea so not to get lost.
“You think Evan left this for you?”
“Why else would there be a random red ribbon tied to a bush?”
“Okay, so say Evan did leave this for you as a sign, it means they're heading to Colorado as well, right?”
“It looks that way, I thought they would have gone around the desert, it makes no sense for them to come this way...unless, like you said, they're heading to Colorado and looking for us along the way.”
“Which means they might not be alone, Lane and Josh might be traveling with them.” I said getting a little hopeful.
Drew nodded after a minute of thought. “But it wasn't there yesterday.” he said.
“So they're ahead of us?”
“Yeah... but it's no problem. We can just hang out here and then I'll just catch up to them after...”
Drew went quiet. I could tell he wanted to go after his friends, even if he said otherwise.
“No, we should go now.”
“But you said yesterday you wanted to stay.”
“I know, but..
Lane might be with them.”
Drew's face changed, I couldn't tell what it was but he looked upset?
“Right, no, yeah, Lane might be with them.” he said, and whatever it was that was bothering him quickly passed, and he walked around me to grab my boots for me.
“Do you think he really is with them?” I said, taking my boots from him and sitting down to pull them on.
“Maybe.”
“Well, we should start walking again. I just need to get my tote.”
“What's a tote?”
“Tote bag.” I laughed.
“Are you sure about this?” he asked.
“Yes, I'm sure.” I replied, pulling on my boot.
He stepped over to me and held out his hand to me, and helped me to my feet. Then he stared down at me.
“Yes, I want to go! So let's go.” I said, playfully pushing him away.
I was glad to be out of the desert when we finally came across a sign for Colorado. We had to trek over rocky terrain, but at least I knew we were back in civilization when I spotted houses and abandoned cars. We stayed away from the towns and kept to the roads leading around them. Drew must have checked every vehicle we came across. But no such luck. We found supplies in a few places we passed on the road, gas stations, and the odd house we came across. Two days of walking and we were back in the forest again, climbing steep grassy hills. I was so sick of walking!
On the outskirts of the forest, Drew found a Park Ranger's truck that actually started once Drew had hot wired it.
I never did ask how he knew how to hot wire a car, I guessed he got bored as a teenager and learned a few new skills. I was so glad to sit down and not have to use my legs... and I don't care how lazy that sounds.
We were soon back on the road and heading to Argon. Drew was a dab hand a siphoning gas and needed no help, so I put my feet up so to speak and tried not to think about what would happen when we made it to Argon. But I was hoping to see the others. I actually had butterflies I was so nervous and excited.
Since Drew had found that ribbon in the desert it gave me, even more, hope, and gave me something to hold onto to keep me going. I only hoped Lane and Josh were with Evan, who Drew was certain was the person that had left the ribbon.
Colorado was different, there were signs up outside of towns and at the side of roads, warnings not to enter. We passed a town along the way, with signs up warning people away from the town, and the main road leading in was piled high with body bags.
I had never seen anything like it before, Drew had apparently seen it before and it didn't even faze him.
So we stayed clear of the towns and stuck to the main roads.
It was easy to fall asleep in the truck, I had offered to drive but Drew refused to let me behind the wheel, which was probably a good thing, I might have fallen asleep behind the wheel. The last thing I saw before I closed my eyes was a sign for Denver.
Chapter 17
I felt the truck slowing down and slowly opened my eyes. I sat further up to see out the front windshield.
“We actually made it.” I said, taking a moment, slightly emotional, looking out the window.
In front, there was a large sign that read, Welcome to Argon, and the road was blocked with a long gate which was covered in spikes and barbed wire. On either side of the gate, there was a medium high fence (not much taller than me), with barbed wire spaced close together making it impossible to squeeze through, and the fence went on as far as the eye could see, running around the outskirts of the town. Drew turned the engine off and grabbed his crossbow.
“It's weirdly quiet.” I said through a muffled cough, watching a bird pecking a dead animal at the side of the road.
“Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking.” Drew said, rolling down his window.
“There aren't any of those bad signs up telling us to turn around, and no dead bodies littering the ground, so that's a good sign, right?”
“Dunno, maybe.” He opened his door. “Stay here.” he said firmly.
“But-”
“No arguing!”
“But what if-”
“Just stay here!”
I watched him walk around the front of the truck and look over the gate.
Either side of the truck, the landscape consisted of dusty fields with wild and untamed grass shooting up everywhere. I was actually looking for one of those tumbleweeds you see rolling across the dirt in the old western movies. I looked back out the window and watched Drew as he walked along the wire fencing. On the other side of the gate, there were two trailers at the side of the road, it looked a little odd how they were just sitting there. In the distance there was a residential area, I could see houses and cars parked in driveways, but it all looked very tidy.
I turned back in my seat to look for Drew to find he had disappeared. He had a bad habit of doing that.
I leaned forward to get a better look and saw something moving near a tree. Drew was already halfway up the tree.
I sat back in my seat. When he told me to stay I thought he was just going to walk along the fence and have a snoop, I didn't think he was going to climb a tree and go over the fence. As I was watching Drew I saw something else in the corner of my eye. The door on the trailer nearest to the gate swung open and a man carrying a shotgun walked down the steps. I shrunk back in my seat, not that it did any good, he'd already seen me... and the truck parked in front of the gate was a bit of a giveaway.
I glanced to the right, and up the tree, but couldn't see Drew, not unless he was doing a good job at camouflaging. The man walked toward the gate, I wasn't panicking... yet, he hadn't pointed the gun at me so that was a good start. He stood with the gun pointed at the ground, waiting for me to get out of the truck. I quickly searched for Drew again, but not seeing him I had no choice but to get out and talk to this man. He looked to be in his forties and I tried not to stare at his Danny Zuko haircut and clothes. He looked like he'd just stepped out of a Grease musical. Tight black pants, and a sleeveless T-shirt that was even tighter... but let's just say he didn't have the figure of a Danny Zuko.
I slowly opened the truck door, making sure he could see my hands, so he knew I wasn't concealing any weapons. But I still stayed partly behind the door in case I had to dive back in.
“Hello,” I greeted him.
“Where's the other one?” he asked sternly.
“My friend?”
“Yes, you're not in the driver's seat so who was driving?”
“Um, he err...” I casually looked back at the tree and saw Drew dropping down on the grass on this side of the fence.
“Do you have family here?” the man asked.
“What?”
“Family? Do you have blood relatives living in Argon?”
“Um, no... but-”
“Then you have to leave! Unless you have family living here in Argon, you can't come in.”
“Actually, we were looking for... um...”
All of a sudden I could feel my stomach churning as I was talking, then before I could stop myself I was projectile vomiting. It felt so bad, spluttering sick on my boots and retching so hard it felt as though my insides might fall out of my mouth.
It reminded me of that time when I was fifteen and I'd gotten so drunk one night and spent the next day with my head in the toilet thinking I was going to die.
After I had spilled my guts all over the ground and had a major coughing fit, I looked up to see the man looking at me disgusted and slightly freaked out, then he spotted Drew edging closer to us.
“Is she infected?” he asked, but neither Drew or I responded.
He looked me up and down then looked sideways at Drew with suspicious eyes. I looked at Drew and then at the man and before I could register what was happening, the man had the shotgun pointed at me and Drew had his crossbow aimed at the man's head.
“I wouldn't do that if I was you.” Drew said.
The man kept his eyes on me but didn't lower the gun.
�
�Maybe you can help us.” I said.
“No! You're not coming in no matter how much you beg, or threaten my life. I will defend this town until I'm dead!”
“Okay, if you could just tell us where the medical research center is we'll be on our way.”
The man took a moment to chew something inside his mouth, and seemed to relax when he knew I wanted to find the research center and not fight with him over getting into his precious town.
The only problem was, I was worried the research center would be inside the town. How was I going to get to it with Danny Zuko in the way?
Another two men started walking this way from the other trailer. I was praying this wasn't going to turn into a bloodbath. The man held up his hand to signal to the two behind him that he was handling the situation, I wasn't sure how this had turned into such a dramatic moment, guns and crossbows aimed at each other, and all I did was throw up.
“You have to take the road back the way you came, there's a bridge not too far down the road, take the next turning on the right after it, it will take you around the town, and follow the road around the mountains, there are signs up everywhere,” he said, rolling his eyes. “The research center is located on the university grounds, and there's a shopping center set up for refugees.”
I nodded to say thank you, and the man nodded in return. Drew threw me the truck keys, I didn't even know he'd taken them, that would have worked out well if he'd gotten shot and I had to make a quick exit.
At least now we didn't have to come up with a plan to get past Danny Zuko.
“Alex, start the truck!” Drew ordered, and I quickly climbed back into the truck and crawled across the seats and slid into the driver's seat and started the truck. Drew slowly edged around the truck to the passenger side.
“Go!” he said, ducking into the truck.
I stuck the truck in reverse and pressed my foot on the gas pedal.
And we both watched the man as he slowly lowered his gun and was joined by his two buddies.
“Don't stop until you're out of range, they could still shoot out the tires.”
