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rainbowfic2014-12-21 12:31 am
greenling) wrote in rainbowfic2014-12-21 12:31 am
Entry tags:
Famous #15, Rose #15, Sherry #14
Name: Greenling
Story: All Great Things/Standalone
Colors: Famous #15 (Could we fix you if you broke? And is your punch line just a joke?), Rose #15 (Man is harder than iron, stronger than stone and more fragile than a rose.), Sherry #14 (The World - feels Dusty)
Supplies and Styles: None
Word Count: 4,181
Rating: PG
Warnings: Not really.
Summary: Kara and Sophie find food and a place to sleep. Kara begins to question certain things.
Comments, criticism, and questions are all appreciated.
"I'm sorry to leave you girls here, but there's a- there's something going on a ways south of here. I've got to see my family."
The man was clearly on edge, shifting his weight slowly from foot to foot. He'd brought them to town, and once Kara had settled down enough to explain that they were on their own, he'd even bought them food. Sophie had refused to leave Ichi to go inside, so she and Kara were sitting in a shady spot of the curb, wolfing down at least fifteen bucks' worth of hamburgers, burritos, potato wedges, candy, juice, and bottled water. He'd even bought a can of dog food; Ichi had already devoured it, his tail beating back and forth like a drum solo. A faraway part of Kara would have felt embarrassed at the charity, but her stomach wouldn't let her.
It really shouldn't have been as warm as it was that early in the year, even in New Mexico, but it had gotten well into summery as the day had progressed. The gas station was one of those sprawling all-in-one things you find in tiny rural areas: not quite as nice as a truck stop, but at least as big, and well-taken care of. There was both a deli and an actual (closed) restaurant, plus a DVD rental section, a half-wall of books and magazines, free WiFi, a pool (also closed), and as much alcohol, cigarettes, lottery tickets, and Jesus tchotchkes as anybody could ever want. The decor was shiny red and white tile in vaguely Southwestern themes. It was a good place. It felt normal.
Kara shook her head. "Uhm, it's fine. Thank you. We're sorry for the bother, but I'm sure we'll be okay from here."
"No, it's no bother," he said firmly. "Just trying to do the Christian thing. If everybody around here did that- well." He rustled around in his wallet for another twenty, handing it to Kara before she could react. "If you need to buy something for your phone, or get bus fare, you'll need this."
Hesitantly, but quickly once he'd resolved it, the man turned on his heels and headed back to his truck. Kara just watched. South was roughly the direction they'd come from; she wondered if his family had been caught up in the same thing that hit the bus.
Sophie was watching him too, all the way back to his truck, her eyes not moving as she tore into her second burger like a very meticulous sort of feral dog. As he drove off, she stuffed the last bit in her mouth, then turned away to stash her half of the potato wedges and candy.
"So..." Kara found herself saying, "that turned out better than you expected, I guess?"
Sophie turned to look at her, quirking an eyebrow. "What?"
"Uhm. You seemed like you didn't want to go with that guy. Was there some reason?"
They both stared at each other for a moment. Kara looked away first, shoving her hands in her pockets and frowning.
Sophie shrugged. "I don't like religious people." She stood up, brushing off the back of her dress, then snapped her fingers to catch her dog's attention, pointing at Kara. "Ichi, follow. I'm going to look around while you find what you need."
"Okay..."
Sophie got up and walked off, further into the tiny town. Kara finished her food and cleaned up.
*
Ichi tried to follow her inside the store, looking offended and yipping briefly when she stopped him. Kara smiled at him; he really was a pretty dog, even dusty from walking.
The store was mostly empty; it was cooler than outside, but not by much. Outside of the large middle-aged woman behind the counter, watching Kara with bored, beady eyes, there was an older couple browsing the Jesus tchotchkes and a ratty-looking guy in his twenties spending way too much brainpower picking out a bunch of sodas and beers. He looked like he probably wasn't sober already. Kara looked them over and decided to just go to the counter.
"Uhm, hi," she asked the counter-woman politely. "I was on a field trip near here and, well, I got seperated. I need to call my Dad, but my phone is out of charge. Can I borrow a charger or a phone?"
The expression in the woman's eyes didn't change. She wiped her hands on the side of her shirt and shuffled in place a bit. "We don't got phones here. We got phone cards, if you can get up a signal. We don't got phones here."
"Ah- no, I have a phone." She held it up as some kind of example. "It's just run out of charge. I need a charger, like a USB charger or something."
"We don't sell those here. We don't have anything like that."
"Well-" Kara hesitated, taken aback at the woman's insistance. Her breath fluttered in her stomach. "It's kind of an emergency. I need to call my Dad- is there any phone I can use?"
The woman began to look agitated, shuffling around behind the counter. "We don't have anything to lend to strangers. You can get a phone card, that's all. You gonna buy something?"
Kara stood there with her mouth hanging slightly open. Did the woman think she was trying to... did she think that Kara wasn't real? One of those phantom people who came from the shatters, like she'd worried Sophie was at first? Or was she just one of those adults who thought all teenagers was trying to rob her? Sparks ran through Kara's stomach. She had no idea what to say.
"Uh, hey," said the voice of beer-and-soda guy, who at some point had shown up behind her. "If you're not paying, can I cut in front of you? This stuff is heavy."
She tensed, hesitated, then after a moment, stepped out of the way. The guy shuffled forward, laying down a double-armful of 2-liters and three different six-packs he was somehow hanging onto by his fingers. Upon reflection, he looked young, maybe in his early twenties. Kara licked her lips and tried again.
"Do you have a charger?"
"Huh?" The guy paused as he took his wallet out.
"A phone charger. I need to borrow one. It's an emergency." Her voice was strained.
"Uhm... no. I mean, I have one, at home, but... no." He frowned, looking at Kara like she was the one being weird.
She balled her hands up, wanting to punch him. She glanced around the store, hoping to try the old couple, but she didn't see them; her hands clinched tighter and she turned back to soda man.
"Please," she begged. "Why? I can wait. I can pay you. I just need to make a goddamn phone call-"
"There's no need for that language in here," the woman behind the counter snapped. "You can buy something or not, but don't be harassing my customers..!"
The woman's voice raised to a shout by the end, but Kara was already out the door.
She slammed them behind her and ran, feeling a thousand miles away.
*
It was only a two-lane road, but it ran for miles, stretching out through the town like a layer of frosting spread thin over a giant dust-red velvet cake. Kara's mind wandered far afield as she walked down the road looking for Sophie. With solid food in her belly, she was finally able to think, and she wasn't sure that was a good thing. She felt a lot more tired on her own; her limbs were heavy, and the only thing keeping her from falling into despair was the steady sound of her own feet that she'd gotten so used to in the last few days. She needed someone to talk to, and... Sophie wasn't that person, but she was a person. The only one available.
"No offense," she told Ichi. The dog's ears perked, but he went back to sniffing in the dirt when he saw she wasn't offering food or praise.
She considered just walking up to houses and knocking on doors until she found someone with cell reception. Someone, somewhere had to be willing to lend her a godforsaken phone call- hadn't they? It was an emergency. Even if no one would help her, there had to be something she could use. There were a number of houses scattered around, most of them several hundred feet away from each other, but they existed. Many were trailers, or aluminum houses with white-painted sides; they all looked empty. There weren't any cars, or any obvious lights on (not that it was easy to tell at midday), and there certainly weren't any people outside. As she made her way around the slow curve of the road, one trailer had a sign out front in rough black paint:
GONE TO PHOENIX GOD HELP US ALL
She felt a sudden chill. Her hands went to her sides and she pushed her thumbs under the fold of the jacket wrapped around her waist.
Kara's mind went back to Sophie as she kept looking. The other girl didn't seem to make any more sense now than she did when Kara had first met her. She seemed normal enough to talk to, when she did talk. Maybe she was a little paranoid, definitely assertive and closed-off, but there wasn't anything obviously- Kara couldn't think of any better way to put it: there was nothing obviously wrong with her. Sophie was a real person who happened to take long trips through the desert alone, for some reason. Maybe that was normal in the world of tiny towns in Arizona. Maybe she was just as lost as Kara and didn't want to think about it. That seemed really unlikely, though, given the girl's certainty as to where they were going and how long until they were getting there. It wasn't like she was carrying anything she could hold a map in; from what Kara could tell, there weren't even pockets in her dress or over-jacket thing.
Was this something Sophie had chosen to do, whatever "this" was? How long had she been out there? Kara wasn't really clear on how old Sophie was, so "where are her parents" may have been a dumb question. More importantly, once Kara did find a way to contact her Dad (she refused to think if), should she offer to help somehow? Give her a ride somewhere? Ask her for contact info and attempt to make friends? Just little things, things that wouldn't stay solid in her head, kept making her wonder.
Just then, there was the sound of a diesel engine. Not too far away, it revved up for a moment, then turned back off. Perking up at the noise, Kara started jogging.
A few hundred feet away was a wide brick building next to a chain-link fence, with few windows and a faded sign out front advertising the move of some public building. Ichi started to run as they got closer, passing Kara, ears back. He looked frightened; Kara slowed down, confused. Beyond the building was a huge liquid tanker, and a huge man in a trucker cap-
Sophie yelled. Ichi went straight for the man, who had her by one arm, yanking her off her feet and towards the truck cab as she pulled and kicked. Ichi snarled and snapped sharp teeth into one of the man's legs- he yelped, letting Sophie get footing for just a moment. Quickly, she pulled back and rammed her foot into his stomach. Flinching, he let go of her, and gravity tossed her skittering into the gravel lot. Kara stared, frozen- Sophie slipped getting to her feet. The man shouted and kicked at Ichi, his face bright red and blood beginning to seep through his pants leg, dragging himself back to the truck cab.
Just as Sophie got to her feet, he fell in, flailing angrily. There was a gun, a shotgun or a rifle, inside the cab. Kara saw it. Kara saw Sophie not see it. The world slowed to a crawl.
She stooped to one knee, snatched without looking- his hand was on the gun- a rock, ran three long steps. His head came out- her hands came up. Sideways, she spun.
Three years of girls' softball cracked him square in the face. He slid to the ground, screaming as both hands went to cover his nose.
Time slowly sped back up.
"Ichi, come!" Sophie shouted. And so they ran.
*
They ran past houses; they ran past rough, dead bushes. They ran past a store, and over a ditch, and through yards filled with cinder-blocks and half-full kiddy pools. They ran until Kara collapsed on her knees.
She landed with a thud, and her head went down onto her arms. Bile burned in her throat as her lungs worked, slow and sharp. Her whole body was covered in a slick cold sweat, her backpack felt five times its weight, and her hair felt like it was about to untie itself from her braid.
Breathe. In, out.
She heard Ichi barking, and the sound of feet on grass, heading back towards her.
"What happened? Get up!" Sophie snapped, then a moment later: "Can you get up?"
Kara tried to move, and her stomach convulsed. She clenched her eyes shut and forced the bile back down into her stomach, trying to breathe more slowly, trying to get enough breath in her to form a full word. She'd scraped her palms, and her knees hurt, but not like something was broken. Ichi sniffed her face, and she winced.
"What happened?"
Kara had the thought of rolling onto her side, getting her backpack off her lungs. That helped. She lay there a moment, then opened her eyes again. There was a blank look on Sophie's face, like she wasn't sure what to do with herself; she was bent over, hands on her knees, carrying something small in one hand.
"I... fell," Kara managed. "What... happened? You okay?"
"I'm fine. Nothing happened." Sophie stood up straight, crossing her arms. "Did you charge your phone?"
"No." Slowly, muscles complaining bitterly, she attempted to force herself to her feet. She failed, settling for a sitting position. "Is that guy following us? Do we need- do we need to find the police?" Sophie didn't answer.
"What the hell is going on in this place?"
Her voice came out as more of a sob than she wanted. More than she could accept. Her hands went to her face, pressing hard into her skin as a wave of emotions hit her, trying to ground herself in reality.
"I don't think he's-"
"Is that a wallet?"
Kara hadn't realized she was talking, that she was focusing on the thing in Sophie's hand, until it was out of her mouth. It did look a lot like a wallet now that she really saw it, brown and leathery and rectangular. She stared in blank surprise; Sophie's eyes narrowed, her hands slipping behind her back.
"What are you-"
"Was that guy angry because you were stealing things?" Dots connected themselves in Kara's head, words spilled out of her mouth. "W... is that what you were doing? We have food, we have money, you keep... slipping off, is this a thing you do? Is that how you get around? Why would you-"
"It ain't your damned business what I do!"
There was a stillness in the air, and Kara's mouth finally went shut.
Sophie's complexion had gone from olive-brown to purple-red in half a second. Her accent was clearer, not like in the phantom singing Kara had heard before- then it died. "You have been following me around, and I have allowed you to do that," she said in her normal clipped Midwestern tone. "I could have just left you there. If you want to find a goddamned phone somewhere in this town, call your parents," she spat the word, "and go. Home. Then..."
There was a long pause. Kara felt dumb- not embarrassed-dumb like she regretted something she said, exactly, but headache-dumb, like she'd run out of feelings to have. Run out of brain to think with.
"Then you do that," Sophie continued. "But don't presume you know anything about what I'm doing, or why."
She wasn't purple anymore. She was still glaring, fists clenched tight to her sides. Kara just stared, trying to figure out what the hell to say to that, what she was even feeling; a wisp of thought passed through her brain that she wished she didn't feel like curling up and crying 'til she fell asleep, but she ignored it until it moved on. Wishes weren't any more helpful than crying.
A long, empty minute passed; no sound passed between them but the far-off cry of a bird. Even Ichi was silent, tail low, as the tension simmered like hot pavement.
"Okay," Kara said softly.
"What?" Sophie half-snapped. Her face was blank.
"You saved my life. Now I saved yours. That makes us even, right?"
For a moment, Sophie tensed up. An odd expression passed over her, then she rolled her shoulders uncomfortably, visibly forcing herself to stand down. Sophie closed her eyes- Kara briefly noticed she wasn't holding anything anymore before her mind went elsewhere- and sighed. Ichi whined a bit.
"All right. We're even. Now what?"
Kara shook her head. "I have no idea. I've looked around and tried to think of something, but everyone is... most people here seem to be gone. What were you going to do?"
"Mmh." Sophie's mouth went flat. "There's a motel a few miles up the road. I want to take a shower and sleep in a bed."
Kara perked up at that. "That- I like- I like that plan. Can I come?"
"I'll be paying with someone else's money," Sophie replied in a sardonic tone.
Kara raised both her hands, then pushed herself to her feet. Her lungs throbbed once with dull pain before settling down. "Never happened, clean slate. That cool?"
"What if I do it again?"
"Uhm... maybe we can try to order pizza?"
That got a small snerk from Sophie, not quite a laugh. It make Kara feel a little better, though a little didn't go very far.
"We need to go. If you can't run, we'll keep further off the road."
Kara shrugged and nodded, and they got back to walking.
*
The motel's name was Traveller. It was a ratty old place in orange and pink brick, with the shattered remains of kitschy mosaics covering the external walls. It gave the distinct impression of being decorated by someone who had never seen the Southwest prior to opening the establishment but was certain that cow skulls were involved somehow. The creepiness of all the skeletons was mitigated by the bright colors and stylized, almost psychedelic designs. The two of them got a little room with a single large bed; Sophie insisted on going in to reserve it alone, and Kara didn't care enough to ask why. They snuck Ichi in with them.
All Kara's worries dropped out of her head when she walked in the room and was hit by a blast of AC. It was the sweet smell of comfort and clean linens, a contrast that made her conscious of both the stink on her and how little she cared about it. The noise she made started Sophie snickering again, but she didn't care. Her backpack landed somewhere in the floor and her butt landed her backwards on the bed, where she immediately started yanking her shoes off and undoing her sweat-tangled braid. The world was soft, floaty, and impossibly cold. It was perfect.
It should have surprised her less that she fell asleep as soon as she spread out her hair over the mattress.
She woke up shivering. She realized her feet were chilly before she realized she was awake. A fluffy dog stomach was curled up around her head, she was curled up in a ball, and her arm was getting poked.
Kara extricated herself and looked up into the pale afternoon light coming in through the blinds. It shone through Sophie's bleached-white hair and scattered over the shiny threads in her translucent overshirt. It was bright enough to make her face hard to read.
"There was a phone in the dresser drawer," she said without much emotion. "I plugged it in, and I think it's working."
Kara blinked a few times, then sat up on her elbows.
"What?"
"I got bored while you were sleeping. In one of the dresser drawers, there was an old phone wrapped up in its cord." Sophie gestured to the dresser the television was sitting on. There was in fact a beaten-looking beige landline sitting on it, a sight which shot adrenaline right through her. "I think it's working."
Kara hopped out of bed, not knowing what she was expecting.
There was a dial tone.
She sat in the floor, her back towards the bed. She almost thought she wanted to cry, but no tears came. Sophie took a place on the bed behind her, curled up with Ichi, who was still fast asleep.
It took a couple of tries to figure out how to get an outside line, but she remembered her father's number just fine. It rang three times and went to voicemail. She looked up to the clock on the dresser: it was nearly 6pm. She took a breath, hung up, and picked the phone up again, rapidly dialing his work number.
It picked up. "Calloway's," said a male voice she vaguely recognized.
"Hi, I- I need to talk to-" she spat out.
"Kara? Is this Kara?"
"Yes."
"Are you all right? Where are you?"
"Is my Dad there?"
"Your Dad-" The man hesitated. An image sprung into Kara's mind: a big man with a neat black beard and rimmed glasses. He was an assistant manager or something at the bar, one of her Dad's friends. "They all camped out at your school, Kara- everyone who had a kid on that bus and half the town. They're trying to get the highway patrol to look for you all the way down to Albequerque."
She could hear her heart beating in her chest. They were looking for her- and everyone else. Of course it made sense that they would be, but somehow it hadn't occurred to her. In her mind she'd just presumed everyone else had made it home, they'd told some story, and she was alone. Presuming home still existed.
"Kara?" The man had an edge of fear in his voice.
"Sorry. I'm here." She rubbed her eyes and made herself think. "I'm okay, I'm safe, and uhm- I'm at at a motel, the Traveller Motel. It's, I think, north of Santa Fe? We're in a little town, still in New Mexico. I'm not sure where. My phone's out of charge and this is the first line I've found."
"Okay- okay." She could hear the rustle of paper on the other end. "Is that where the bus is? Is everyone all right?"
The worry and excitement was beginning to drain from his voice. She sighed and decided then how much she wanted to tell.
"I'm not with everyone else. The bus... it ran into some kind of bad road and we had to stop someplace for the night. I think they got a ride, and then... I got a ride later."
"Okay... so you got a ride at some point, to some little town, but you haven't been able to contact anyone because your phone is out of charge? And you're not with anyone else? Do you have money to eat with?"
He sounded a little confused, but willing to leave it at that. "I'll be okay for a couple meals. Tell my Dad I think he can call me at this number."
"Okay," he said again. "I will get in touch with him as soon as humanly possible. You stay by the phone, okay?"
"I will. Uhm- I might take a shower if it's a while, but I'll be here all night."
"Good. Is there anything else you need?"
Kara turned and looked at Sophie. She was lying on the bed with her legs flopped over her dog, stretching her bare toes in his fur as if the world had come to a contented and temporary stop.
"No. Not right now. Thank you."
The phone made a soft clunk as she put it down, and the sound hung in the air. Sophie looked at her expectantly.
"That was his work- they're going to try to get in touch with him. I should-" she picked the phone back up again. "I should leave a voicemail. That might help."
Kara dialed the phone again; Sophie slipped silently off the bed. Ichi made a nasally hruff sound.
"I'm going to get some robes and a change of clothes. You can take the first shower, if you want."
Kara nodded as the phone picked up, her mind finally on something else.
Story: All Great Things/Standalone
Colors: Famous #15 (Could we fix you if you broke? And is your punch line just a joke?), Rose #15 (Man is harder than iron, stronger than stone and more fragile than a rose.), Sherry #14 (The World - feels Dusty)
Supplies and Styles: None
Word Count: 4,181
Rating: PG
Warnings: Not really.
Summary: Kara and Sophie find food and a place to sleep. Kara begins to question certain things.
Comments, criticism, and questions are all appreciated.
"I'm sorry to leave you girls here, but there's a- there's something going on a ways south of here. I've got to see my family."
The man was clearly on edge, shifting his weight slowly from foot to foot. He'd brought them to town, and once Kara had settled down enough to explain that they were on their own, he'd even bought them food. Sophie had refused to leave Ichi to go inside, so she and Kara were sitting in a shady spot of the curb, wolfing down at least fifteen bucks' worth of hamburgers, burritos, potato wedges, candy, juice, and bottled water. He'd even bought a can of dog food; Ichi had already devoured it, his tail beating back and forth like a drum solo. A faraway part of Kara would have felt embarrassed at the charity, but her stomach wouldn't let her.
It really shouldn't have been as warm as it was that early in the year, even in New Mexico, but it had gotten well into summery as the day had progressed. The gas station was one of those sprawling all-in-one things you find in tiny rural areas: not quite as nice as a truck stop, but at least as big, and well-taken care of. There was both a deli and an actual (closed) restaurant, plus a DVD rental section, a half-wall of books and magazines, free WiFi, a pool (also closed), and as much alcohol, cigarettes, lottery tickets, and Jesus tchotchkes as anybody could ever want. The decor was shiny red and white tile in vaguely Southwestern themes. It was a good place. It felt normal.
Kara shook her head. "Uhm, it's fine. Thank you. We're sorry for the bother, but I'm sure we'll be okay from here."
"No, it's no bother," he said firmly. "Just trying to do the Christian thing. If everybody around here did that- well." He rustled around in his wallet for another twenty, handing it to Kara before she could react. "If you need to buy something for your phone, or get bus fare, you'll need this."
Hesitantly, but quickly once he'd resolved it, the man turned on his heels and headed back to his truck. Kara just watched. South was roughly the direction they'd come from; she wondered if his family had been caught up in the same thing that hit the bus.
Sophie was watching him too, all the way back to his truck, her eyes not moving as she tore into her second burger like a very meticulous sort of feral dog. As he drove off, she stuffed the last bit in her mouth, then turned away to stash her half of the potato wedges and candy.
"So..." Kara found herself saying, "that turned out better than you expected, I guess?"
Sophie turned to look at her, quirking an eyebrow. "What?"
"Uhm. You seemed like you didn't want to go with that guy. Was there some reason?"
They both stared at each other for a moment. Kara looked away first, shoving her hands in her pockets and frowning.
Sophie shrugged. "I don't like religious people." She stood up, brushing off the back of her dress, then snapped her fingers to catch her dog's attention, pointing at Kara. "Ichi, follow. I'm going to look around while you find what you need."
"Okay..."
Sophie got up and walked off, further into the tiny town. Kara finished her food and cleaned up.
*
Ichi tried to follow her inside the store, looking offended and yipping briefly when she stopped him. Kara smiled at him; he really was a pretty dog, even dusty from walking.
The store was mostly empty; it was cooler than outside, but not by much. Outside of the large middle-aged woman behind the counter, watching Kara with bored, beady eyes, there was an older couple browsing the Jesus tchotchkes and a ratty-looking guy in his twenties spending way too much brainpower picking out a bunch of sodas and beers. He looked like he probably wasn't sober already. Kara looked them over and decided to just go to the counter.
"Uhm, hi," she asked the counter-woman politely. "I was on a field trip near here and, well, I got seperated. I need to call my Dad, but my phone is out of charge. Can I borrow a charger or a phone?"
The expression in the woman's eyes didn't change. She wiped her hands on the side of her shirt and shuffled in place a bit. "We don't got phones here. We got phone cards, if you can get up a signal. We don't got phones here."
"Ah- no, I have a phone." She held it up as some kind of example. "It's just run out of charge. I need a charger, like a USB charger or something."
"We don't sell those here. We don't have anything like that."
"Well-" Kara hesitated, taken aback at the woman's insistance. Her breath fluttered in her stomach. "It's kind of an emergency. I need to call my Dad- is there any phone I can use?"
The woman began to look agitated, shuffling around behind the counter. "We don't have anything to lend to strangers. You can get a phone card, that's all. You gonna buy something?"
Kara stood there with her mouth hanging slightly open. Did the woman think she was trying to... did she think that Kara wasn't real? One of those phantom people who came from the shatters, like she'd worried Sophie was at first? Or was she just one of those adults who thought all teenagers was trying to rob her? Sparks ran through Kara's stomach. She had no idea what to say.
"Uh, hey," said the voice of beer-and-soda guy, who at some point had shown up behind her. "If you're not paying, can I cut in front of you? This stuff is heavy."
She tensed, hesitated, then after a moment, stepped out of the way. The guy shuffled forward, laying down a double-armful of 2-liters and three different six-packs he was somehow hanging onto by his fingers. Upon reflection, he looked young, maybe in his early twenties. Kara licked her lips and tried again.
"Do you have a charger?"
"Huh?" The guy paused as he took his wallet out.
"A phone charger. I need to borrow one. It's an emergency." Her voice was strained.
"Uhm... no. I mean, I have one, at home, but... no." He frowned, looking at Kara like she was the one being weird.
She balled her hands up, wanting to punch him. She glanced around the store, hoping to try the old couple, but she didn't see them; her hands clinched tighter and she turned back to soda man.
"Please," she begged. "Why? I can wait. I can pay you. I just need to make a goddamn phone call-"
"There's no need for that language in here," the woman behind the counter snapped. "You can buy something or not, but don't be harassing my customers..!"
The woman's voice raised to a shout by the end, but Kara was already out the door.
She slammed them behind her and ran, feeling a thousand miles away.
*
It was only a two-lane road, but it ran for miles, stretching out through the town like a layer of frosting spread thin over a giant dust-red velvet cake. Kara's mind wandered far afield as she walked down the road looking for Sophie. With solid food in her belly, she was finally able to think, and she wasn't sure that was a good thing. She felt a lot more tired on her own; her limbs were heavy, and the only thing keeping her from falling into despair was the steady sound of her own feet that she'd gotten so used to in the last few days. She needed someone to talk to, and... Sophie wasn't that person, but she was a person. The only one available.
"No offense," she told Ichi. The dog's ears perked, but he went back to sniffing in the dirt when he saw she wasn't offering food or praise.
She considered just walking up to houses and knocking on doors until she found someone with cell reception. Someone, somewhere had to be willing to lend her a godforsaken phone call- hadn't they? It was an emergency. Even if no one would help her, there had to be something she could use. There were a number of houses scattered around, most of them several hundred feet away from each other, but they existed. Many were trailers, or aluminum houses with white-painted sides; they all looked empty. There weren't any cars, or any obvious lights on (not that it was easy to tell at midday), and there certainly weren't any people outside. As she made her way around the slow curve of the road, one trailer had a sign out front in rough black paint:
GONE TO PHOENIX GOD HELP US ALL
She felt a sudden chill. Her hands went to her sides and she pushed her thumbs under the fold of the jacket wrapped around her waist.
Kara's mind went back to Sophie as she kept looking. The other girl didn't seem to make any more sense now than she did when Kara had first met her. She seemed normal enough to talk to, when she did talk. Maybe she was a little paranoid, definitely assertive and closed-off, but there wasn't anything obviously- Kara couldn't think of any better way to put it: there was nothing obviously wrong with her. Sophie was a real person who happened to take long trips through the desert alone, for some reason. Maybe that was normal in the world of tiny towns in Arizona. Maybe she was just as lost as Kara and didn't want to think about it. That seemed really unlikely, though, given the girl's certainty as to where they were going and how long until they were getting there. It wasn't like she was carrying anything she could hold a map in; from what Kara could tell, there weren't even pockets in her dress or over-jacket thing.
Was this something Sophie had chosen to do, whatever "this" was? How long had she been out there? Kara wasn't really clear on how old Sophie was, so "where are her parents" may have been a dumb question. More importantly, once Kara did find a way to contact her Dad (she refused to think if), should she offer to help somehow? Give her a ride somewhere? Ask her for contact info and attempt to make friends? Just little things, things that wouldn't stay solid in her head, kept making her wonder.
Just then, there was the sound of a diesel engine. Not too far away, it revved up for a moment, then turned back off. Perking up at the noise, Kara started jogging.
A few hundred feet away was a wide brick building next to a chain-link fence, with few windows and a faded sign out front advertising the move of some public building. Ichi started to run as they got closer, passing Kara, ears back. He looked frightened; Kara slowed down, confused. Beyond the building was a huge liquid tanker, and a huge man in a trucker cap-
Sophie yelled. Ichi went straight for the man, who had her by one arm, yanking her off her feet and towards the truck cab as she pulled and kicked. Ichi snarled and snapped sharp teeth into one of the man's legs- he yelped, letting Sophie get footing for just a moment. Quickly, she pulled back and rammed her foot into his stomach. Flinching, he let go of her, and gravity tossed her skittering into the gravel lot. Kara stared, frozen- Sophie slipped getting to her feet. The man shouted and kicked at Ichi, his face bright red and blood beginning to seep through his pants leg, dragging himself back to the truck cab.
Just as Sophie got to her feet, he fell in, flailing angrily. There was a gun, a shotgun or a rifle, inside the cab. Kara saw it. Kara saw Sophie not see it. The world slowed to a crawl.
She stooped to one knee, snatched without looking- his hand was on the gun- a rock, ran three long steps. His head came out- her hands came up. Sideways, she spun.
Three years of girls' softball cracked him square in the face. He slid to the ground, screaming as both hands went to cover his nose.
Time slowly sped back up.
"Ichi, come!" Sophie shouted. And so they ran.
*
They ran past houses; they ran past rough, dead bushes. They ran past a store, and over a ditch, and through yards filled with cinder-blocks and half-full kiddy pools. They ran until Kara collapsed on her knees.
She landed with a thud, and her head went down onto her arms. Bile burned in her throat as her lungs worked, slow and sharp. Her whole body was covered in a slick cold sweat, her backpack felt five times its weight, and her hair felt like it was about to untie itself from her braid.
Breathe. In, out.
She heard Ichi barking, and the sound of feet on grass, heading back towards her.
"What happened? Get up!" Sophie snapped, then a moment later: "Can you get up?"
Kara tried to move, and her stomach convulsed. She clenched her eyes shut and forced the bile back down into her stomach, trying to breathe more slowly, trying to get enough breath in her to form a full word. She'd scraped her palms, and her knees hurt, but not like something was broken. Ichi sniffed her face, and she winced.
"What happened?"
Kara had the thought of rolling onto her side, getting her backpack off her lungs. That helped. She lay there a moment, then opened her eyes again. There was a blank look on Sophie's face, like she wasn't sure what to do with herself; she was bent over, hands on her knees, carrying something small in one hand.
"I... fell," Kara managed. "What... happened? You okay?"
"I'm fine. Nothing happened." Sophie stood up straight, crossing her arms. "Did you charge your phone?"
"No." Slowly, muscles complaining bitterly, she attempted to force herself to her feet. She failed, settling for a sitting position. "Is that guy following us? Do we need- do we need to find the police?" Sophie didn't answer.
"What the hell is going on in this place?"
Her voice came out as more of a sob than she wanted. More than she could accept. Her hands went to her face, pressing hard into her skin as a wave of emotions hit her, trying to ground herself in reality.
"I don't think he's-"
"Is that a wallet?"
Kara hadn't realized she was talking, that she was focusing on the thing in Sophie's hand, until it was out of her mouth. It did look a lot like a wallet now that she really saw it, brown and leathery and rectangular. She stared in blank surprise; Sophie's eyes narrowed, her hands slipping behind her back.
"What are you-"
"Was that guy angry because you were stealing things?" Dots connected themselves in Kara's head, words spilled out of her mouth. "W... is that what you were doing? We have food, we have money, you keep... slipping off, is this a thing you do? Is that how you get around? Why would you-"
"It ain't your damned business what I do!"
There was a stillness in the air, and Kara's mouth finally went shut.
Sophie's complexion had gone from olive-brown to purple-red in half a second. Her accent was clearer, not like in the phantom singing Kara had heard before- then it died. "You have been following me around, and I have allowed you to do that," she said in her normal clipped Midwestern tone. "I could have just left you there. If you want to find a goddamned phone somewhere in this town, call your parents," she spat the word, "and go. Home. Then..."
There was a long pause. Kara felt dumb- not embarrassed-dumb like she regretted something she said, exactly, but headache-dumb, like she'd run out of feelings to have. Run out of brain to think with.
"Then you do that," Sophie continued. "But don't presume you know anything about what I'm doing, or why."
She wasn't purple anymore. She was still glaring, fists clenched tight to her sides. Kara just stared, trying to figure out what the hell to say to that, what she was even feeling; a wisp of thought passed through her brain that she wished she didn't feel like curling up and crying 'til she fell asleep, but she ignored it until it moved on. Wishes weren't any more helpful than crying.
A long, empty minute passed; no sound passed between them but the far-off cry of a bird. Even Ichi was silent, tail low, as the tension simmered like hot pavement.
"Okay," Kara said softly.
"What?" Sophie half-snapped. Her face was blank.
"You saved my life. Now I saved yours. That makes us even, right?"
For a moment, Sophie tensed up. An odd expression passed over her, then she rolled her shoulders uncomfortably, visibly forcing herself to stand down. Sophie closed her eyes- Kara briefly noticed she wasn't holding anything anymore before her mind went elsewhere- and sighed. Ichi whined a bit.
"All right. We're even. Now what?"
Kara shook her head. "I have no idea. I've looked around and tried to think of something, but everyone is... most people here seem to be gone. What were you going to do?"
"Mmh." Sophie's mouth went flat. "There's a motel a few miles up the road. I want to take a shower and sleep in a bed."
Kara perked up at that. "That- I like- I like that plan. Can I come?"
"I'll be paying with someone else's money," Sophie replied in a sardonic tone.
Kara raised both her hands, then pushed herself to her feet. Her lungs throbbed once with dull pain before settling down. "Never happened, clean slate. That cool?"
"What if I do it again?"
"Uhm... maybe we can try to order pizza?"
That got a small snerk from Sophie, not quite a laugh. It make Kara feel a little better, though a little didn't go very far.
"We need to go. If you can't run, we'll keep further off the road."
Kara shrugged and nodded, and they got back to walking.
*
The motel's name was Traveller. It was a ratty old place in orange and pink brick, with the shattered remains of kitschy mosaics covering the external walls. It gave the distinct impression of being decorated by someone who had never seen the Southwest prior to opening the establishment but was certain that cow skulls were involved somehow. The creepiness of all the skeletons was mitigated by the bright colors and stylized, almost psychedelic designs. The two of them got a little room with a single large bed; Sophie insisted on going in to reserve it alone, and Kara didn't care enough to ask why. They snuck Ichi in with them.
All Kara's worries dropped out of her head when she walked in the room and was hit by a blast of AC. It was the sweet smell of comfort and clean linens, a contrast that made her conscious of both the stink on her and how little she cared about it. The noise she made started Sophie snickering again, but she didn't care. Her backpack landed somewhere in the floor and her butt landed her backwards on the bed, where she immediately started yanking her shoes off and undoing her sweat-tangled braid. The world was soft, floaty, and impossibly cold. It was perfect.
It should have surprised her less that she fell asleep as soon as she spread out her hair over the mattress.
She woke up shivering. She realized her feet were chilly before she realized she was awake. A fluffy dog stomach was curled up around her head, she was curled up in a ball, and her arm was getting poked.
Kara extricated herself and looked up into the pale afternoon light coming in through the blinds. It shone through Sophie's bleached-white hair and scattered over the shiny threads in her translucent overshirt. It was bright enough to make her face hard to read.
"There was a phone in the dresser drawer," she said without much emotion. "I plugged it in, and I think it's working."
Kara blinked a few times, then sat up on her elbows.
"What?"
"I got bored while you were sleeping. In one of the dresser drawers, there was an old phone wrapped up in its cord." Sophie gestured to the dresser the television was sitting on. There was in fact a beaten-looking beige landline sitting on it, a sight which shot adrenaline right through her. "I think it's working."
Kara hopped out of bed, not knowing what she was expecting.
There was a dial tone.
She sat in the floor, her back towards the bed. She almost thought she wanted to cry, but no tears came. Sophie took a place on the bed behind her, curled up with Ichi, who was still fast asleep.
It took a couple of tries to figure out how to get an outside line, but she remembered her father's number just fine. It rang three times and went to voicemail. She looked up to the clock on the dresser: it was nearly 6pm. She took a breath, hung up, and picked the phone up again, rapidly dialing his work number.
It picked up. "Calloway's," said a male voice she vaguely recognized.
"Hi, I- I need to talk to-" she spat out.
"Kara? Is this Kara?"
"Yes."
"Are you all right? Where are you?"
"Is my Dad there?"
"Your Dad-" The man hesitated. An image sprung into Kara's mind: a big man with a neat black beard and rimmed glasses. He was an assistant manager or something at the bar, one of her Dad's friends. "They all camped out at your school, Kara- everyone who had a kid on that bus and half the town. They're trying to get the highway patrol to look for you all the way down to Albequerque."
She could hear her heart beating in her chest. They were looking for her- and everyone else. Of course it made sense that they would be, but somehow it hadn't occurred to her. In her mind she'd just presumed everyone else had made it home, they'd told some story, and she was alone. Presuming home still existed.
"Kara?" The man had an edge of fear in his voice.
"Sorry. I'm here." She rubbed her eyes and made herself think. "I'm okay, I'm safe, and uhm- I'm at at a motel, the Traveller Motel. It's, I think, north of Santa Fe? We're in a little town, still in New Mexico. I'm not sure where. My phone's out of charge and this is the first line I've found."
"Okay- okay." She could hear the rustle of paper on the other end. "Is that where the bus is? Is everyone all right?"
The worry and excitement was beginning to drain from his voice. She sighed and decided then how much she wanted to tell.
"I'm not with everyone else. The bus... it ran into some kind of bad road and we had to stop someplace for the night. I think they got a ride, and then... I got a ride later."
"Okay... so you got a ride at some point, to some little town, but you haven't been able to contact anyone because your phone is out of charge? And you're not with anyone else? Do you have money to eat with?"
He sounded a little confused, but willing to leave it at that. "I'll be okay for a couple meals. Tell my Dad I think he can call me at this number."
"Okay," he said again. "I will get in touch with him as soon as humanly possible. You stay by the phone, okay?"
"I will. Uhm- I might take a shower if it's a while, but I'll be here all night."
"Good. Is there anything else you need?"
Kara turned and looked at Sophie. She was lying on the bed with her legs flopped over her dog, stretching her bare toes in his fur as if the world had come to a contented and temporary stop.
"No. Not right now. Thank you."
The phone made a soft clunk as she put it down, and the sound hung in the air. Sophie looked at her expectantly.
"That was his work- they're going to try to get in touch with him. I should-" she picked the phone back up again. "I should leave a voicemail. That might help."
Kara dialed the phone again; Sophie slipped silently off the bed. Ichi made a nasally hruff sound.
"I'm going to get some robes and a change of clothes. You can take the first shower, if you want."
Kara nodded as the phone picked up, her mind finally on something else.
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(If her Mom were alive, there'd be a whole other category of weird stuff going on.)