| |
“How are you set for water?” Charlie asks us when Beck has joined us again.
I think about how much I should tell this guy but then I just give up worrying about it. He seems to know everything anyway.
“We’ve gone through some of it but I hope we will have enough to get back to the cart if the valley is dry.”
He nods. “We will exchange your empty jugs for full ones to help with that.”
I look over towards the river. “Thank you for the offer but can’t we fill them up from the river?”
He shakes his head in caution. “No, it must be boiled and strained to make it safe to drink. We have plenty of treated water to gift you a few jugs and we’ll be home in the morning where we have a large treatment station set up.”
Before I can thank him for the generous gift, his son John walks up with a concerned frown.
“Sorry to interrupt, Dad but we’re going to have to move on today after all. There’s a windstorm heading this way.”
I look at him in surprise and awe then look all around at the quiet, still desert that surrounds us.
“How do you know that? Are there some kind of signs on the land that tell you that?”
He gives me a strange look before pulling a thin, black, shiny box from his pocket and holds it up for me to see.
“Uh, no. Satellite weather app?”
He says it like I should know what that means so I just nod like I get it. Charlie sees right through me and laughs.
“Old tech, child! We still have a few toys that help us out. Many of our older people had university educations and know how to hack past the North’s firewalls to get us information we can use.” My face must still show confusion at words I’ve never even heard before because he tries again.
“They went to schools before the wars and know how to use the tech. The north still has everything we used to have so we use their satellites to help us down here in the south.”
Ok, that I understand, so I ask John a question maybe he can answer. “Can your box tell you where the government is still handing out rations? Maybe we could go there?”
John looks at his Dad with a sad expression before answering. “I’m sorry Claudia, they’ve closed all the stations. The only choice people have now is to go to the labor camps for rations or try and find a way to survive out here. To be honest, I’m surprised they lasted as many years as they did. You could try northern Utah. I’ve heard that there are still some communities farming there but it’s a very religious area with strict rules. I’m sorry I can’t help you more than that.”
Charlie pats his son on the back and sends him to get us some water jugs while I think about everything he’s said. The only choices we have are the same as when we left home, the valley or north to the camps. I have a flash of an image of my mother laying on cool, green grass on the other side of the wall and feel burning anger at her for abandoning us. I shake the image away and focus back on Glo and Beck. There has to be another option.
“How do you get over the wall?”
His expression turns to pity as he shakes his head. “Many, many people have been asking that question for years now. There’s only two ways that I know of. They’ll take you if you have a high degree of education but you’ll spend the rest of your life working for them to pay your passage over. The other way is if you have enough money to bribe one of the wall guards to smuggle you through but it would take huge amounts and our dollar is worthless.” He looks down at Glo and then at Beck and I. “Go to the valley. If it’s dry...head north and try and find a community to take you all in. That’s your only choice now if you won’t go to the camps.”
He looks around at the activity in his camp that has picked up in the last few minutes as people started pulling down tents and packing up their belongings.
“We had planned to stay here tonight and travel the rest of the distance to Avi tomorrow but with the storm on the way, we will be leaving shortly. I’m afraid we will no longer be able to have a meal together. I’m sorry, I was looking forward to hearing more of your grandmother but perhaps it’s best if you get going. Coyote Rock is less than a hundred miles from here. That’s where Lucas always left Tilly and went into the mountains on foot. I went and brought the cart back to your grandmother after Lucas was found. You know to take the next junction where the tracks split? If you don’t switch, they curve south and go deeper into Arizona on the way to Mexico. I can tell you there’s nothing left alive that way.”
Beck steps forward with his hand out. “Thank you, sir, for the water and the information. We’ll let you get packing and be on our way.”
I echo his words and offer my own hand to shake but Charlie pulls both me and Glo into a fatherly hug. When we pull back, he has tears in his kind eyes.
“I’m so sorry I can’t...”
His words are interrupted by men yelling out in concern, causing all of us to turn and look in the direction of the commotion. I feel a cold shiver race down my spine when I realize they’re pointing at the direction we came from. I feel Beck put a hand on my shoulder from behind and turn to see him start stepping back with fear in his eyes. He reaches out and snags Glo’s arm and pulls her with him as he moves back further towards where our cart is waiting. I’m shaking my head in confusion at him when he says one word that has me moving too.
“Boyd!”
Charlie grabs my arm as I try and move past him. “What? What is Boyd?”
I see Beck scoop up Glo and run for the cart so I turn back and watch as Charlie’s men form a line between their camp and some kind of vehicle that’s heading towards us alongside the tracks. I’m only half relieved by all the rifles and bow and arrows that are starting to be aimed at whoever is traveling this way. A shake of my arm has me meeting Charlie’s eyes and I swallow hard before answering.
“Boyd is the leader of the gang that attacked us and killed Abuela. Beck is his younger brother and he betrayed Boyd to get us to safety. If it’s him, he’s coming for his revenge!”
Charlie gives me a hard nod and the grip he has on my arm turns into a push.
“Go, go now. Whoever it is, my men will hold them off until you are away. Good luck, Claudia!”
I stand frozen for a heartbeat as he strides away barking out orders but then I hear Glo yelling my name so I turn and sprint toward the cart. We need to get out of here and put as much distance between us and whoever that is. I can’t really believe that Boyd would travel so far after us just to get revenge but I’m not willing to stick around and find out.
I fly up the steps and see Beck already standing by the control panel waiting for me to get on the cart. As soon as the door latches behind me, he hits the button to engage the engine and the cart starts moving with a lurch. I rush to the front windows while Beck goes to the back ones. I see the bridge a few feet ahead and it spans a deep river basin that has only a small stream of dirty water running through the center of it where once a mighty river flowed that provided life to millions of people. The wooden ties that support the steel tracks are white with age and I wish I had thought to ask Charlie if the bridge was still strong enough to support the weight of the cart and us in it. I look down at Glo who’s come up beside me and pull her against me. If we crash through this thing then I hope it’s over quick for all of us. Our speed increases, sending us out over the basin as I hold my breath and squeeze my eyes shut. I swear I can hear the beams under us creaking and groaning with every revolution of the wheels. Glo laughs and claps her hands making me open my eyes and releasing the stale air in my lungs. We’ve made it over the bridge and are back on solid ground.
I squeeze her against me for a second and then turn and rush back to the other end to see if we’re being followed by whoever was approaching the camp. Beck’s got both of his palms pressed against the glass and his lips are a hard, thin line as the group we just left gets smaller and smaller the further we travel.
“What did you see?” I ask him.
He shakes his head and blows out a breath, never taking his eyes off of the scene in the distance.
“I think it is Boyd. Look! They’re backing up. I think they’re leaving!”
I push closer to the glass, trying to make out what’s happening and see the vehicle moving further away from Charlie’s people. I’m about to smile in relief when the car or whatever it is makes a wide arc around the men standing between us and them and then heads back towards the river.
“They can’t get across without the bridge, right?” I plead desperately as we watch it turn again and travel parallel to the river until they disappear from sight.
Beck pushes off the window and turns to slump back against it.
“I don’t know. I don’t know if there’s another way across it. I can’t believe he followed us! What does he want? Why can’t he just let me go? It’s not like he ever cared about me. I was just his dog to kick when he felt like it.”
I bite my lip in uncertainty. What could the guy want if not his brother? I wrack my brain to try and figure out what would drive Boyd to travel so far for but come up empty.
“Are you sure it was your brother?”
His jaw tightens and he crosses his arms in anger. “Yeah, he stood up when they came to a stop to talk to those men. I’d recognize him anywhere.”
My own anger surges. “What does he want from us? Did you take something from him?”
Beck goes to snap at me but pulls it back and just shakes his head tiredly instead. He looks down the cart at Glo before facing me.
“No, I didn’t take anything from him except you. He wanted you and he wanted the supplies he thinks you have. You should just let me off here. Maybe I can stop him and convince him to turn back. I’ll tell him you don’t have hardly any supplies.”
I reach out and punch him in the arm. “I’m not doing that! Like Glo said, we’re a family now and family sticks together. If he finds a way across the river and manages to catch up to us, we’ll deal with him together.”
He rubs the spot on his arm that my boney knuckles connected with and gives me a small smile.
“Together?”
I roll my eyes and nod. “Yes, you idiot, together! Now, let’s go see where we’re headed.”
I walk back to the front with Beck following and we line up at the windows. The landscape has changed since we crossed over the river. There are quite a few abandoned buildings in the distance on either side of us and the land ahead is rising. The biggest change though is the mountains I can see straight ahead of us, growing taller with every mile we travel toward them. That’s our destination. Somewhere, deep in those mountains is the secret valley and hopefully our new home. We just have to make it there.
Glo and I stay at the front windows as we climb up the gentle hills toward the mountains that are getting closer. Neither of us has ever seen anything but flat land and we are fascinated by the changes even though it still just sand, scrub, and rock. Just slightly bigger rocks on an incline. Beck returned to the back windows to watch for his brother in case he found a way across the river. There’s still a little more than an hour left on the engine charge and then we’ll have to start pumping again. I know we’ll have a harder time on these hills. Most likely, both Beck and I will have to pump together to make any real speed but the sun will be down in a few more hours so we’ll do what we have to, to make as much distance from the river as possible.
“Día, what’s that?” I follow the direction Glo is pointing and my eyes flare wide. “Beck! Beck, get back here!”
I hear his boots pound our way so I just point.
“Oh, God!”
His exclamation says it all. The black mass heading our way is an act of God. It’s the sandstorm John said was coming and at the rate we’re going it’ll be less than an hour before we collide with it. I turn to face Beck but before I can ask him what we should do, a gust of wind from the open windows blows half my hair into my face and I hear the sound of blowing sand and small rocks scratch against the outside of the cart.
“We need to close the windows and hope there’s some cover ahead!”
Beck nods with fear in his eyes and rushes away. Before I go to help him, I turn and look at the force of nature we are headed for one more time and then past it to the mountains. We were so close!