by Tina Chan
“I think the driver Dr. Hanson promised us is here,” Finn said, looking out the living room window.
He had barely finished his sentence when the sound of a car’s horn was heard.
Troop slung his backpack over his shoulders and headed outside.
“I still can’t believe Jaiden is ditching us,” he said.
“I don’t think he really wanted to be part of this whole fiasco in the first place,” Kristi replied. “I’m pretty sure the only reason why he came with us was because I kind of pressured him to.”
The automatic front doors swished open and they walked down the driveway to the black van idling. A nondescript man in a polo shirt and jeans came out from the driver’s side of the car.
The man checked out the group of teens and said, “I’m sent by Dr. Hanson to drive you to segment 9 of Route 56.”
“That sounds right,” Troop said.
“The drive will take around three to four days, depending on traffic and what not.” The driver opened the doors to the van and ushered them inside.
The van was made to hold nine people, so the five of them (six if counting Ghost) fit comfortably. Kristi dropped her backpack into the trunk and crawled to the backseat. Troop joined her in the back as well and thought, Not bad. I have enough room to stretch out my legs if I want and there’s a mini-fridge in this vehicle as well.
Chelsa and Finn took a seat in a separate row each. Ghost curled up in the empty seat besides Chelsa. Once everyone was settled in, the driver locked the doors and pulled out of the driveway.
“I never thought a three day drive would feel so long,” Kristi moaned.
Troop laughed and said, “We could’ve always walked. That would’ve taken over a week.”
“Only three more hours until we arrive at your destination,” the driver informed them from up front.
“Thank goodness,” Kristi muttered good-naturedly. “My butt is so sore from sitting. What time is it anyways?”
Finn briefly consulted his watch. “A bit past three.”
“I think I’m going to take a nap to pass time. Wake me up when we arrive.” She grabbed a pillow from beneath her seat and fell asleep.
Troop watched her eyelashes slowly flutter to a standstill, like the petals of a flower stilling for the night. Her breathing slowed to a steady inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. A small smile graced her lips and she let out a soft sigh.
“Troop,” said Chelsa, “what do you say we do about Zala?”
“Did she ask for an update?”
“Not yet, but she’s bound to soon.”s
Troop grunted a noncommittal reply. Chelsa returned to her ponderings.
He removed his electro-slate from his pocket and trawled through his instafication inbox, which had reached an all-time high of two hundred and twenty messages; he’d been neglecting it. Not surprisingly, most of the instafications were from Jennifer. His mom had sent a couple messages to ask how he was doing. Darrel had messaged him several times asking where he was.
Troop gave his mom a brief but to-the-point answer, letting her know he was doing just fine and not to worry about him. For Darrel, Troop replied with a vague instafication of his whereabouts. He deleted all one hundred and thirty messages from Jennifer after reading the first one.
Troop, where are you? I swear, if you don’t show your face at school or answer my messages soon, I am going to break up with you.
He was tempted to respond Jennifer, telling her that he wasn’t aware that they had been going out in the first place. He smothered the urge to do so, though, knowing nothing good would come out of it. Instead, he blocked her off his contact list.
chapter thirty-two
[ Kristi ]
