When we’re all squeezed into the Volvo, we get back on the highway. Cara and Rocky Horror switch off driving while Taylor continues reading fromLove at First Swipe. The book is filled with innuendos—some Taylor doesn’t even realize as she’s reading them aloud, but Amy will snort or Cara and Rocky Horror glance back at me with wide eyes—and when she gets to a sex scene she dog-ears the page and says, “You can read that part later, Rocky Horror.”
When a dirty joke comes up that Taylor gets—or an inappropriate word—she either skips to the next sentence or comes up with some other word that has Cara, Rocky Horror, and me cackling.
We stop for the night in North Carolina. We should reach Bethesda tomorrow, and I can tell Amy is in high spirits. She might have been unsure about leaving the Keys, but she seems excited knowing how close we are to Henri now.
It’s Rocky Horror’s turn to read. We’re getting to the end of the book, so he spares Taylor and Jamar embarrassment and skips over the final sex scene—telling us he’ll read that to himself tomorrow morning at breakfast—and we listen, rapt, as Lucy and Dan confess their love to one another in a coffee shop after not realizing they’ve moved across the country to the same city.
The best part is, Dan ordered Lucy’s coffee order—a nonfat, no-water, double dirty chai—instead of his usual black coffee. So they both go to reach for it when the barista calls out the order. And they see the universe has brought them together again.
The next morning, after Rocky Horror has read the sex scene to himself while boiling water for the day, Taylor takes the book from him and writes in it. Then she hands it to me.
I smile and pass it to Cara, who hands it to Rocky Horror.
“I like that,” he says, then hands it back to her. Taylor places it on the ground, in the middle of the road. And we all stand in silence for a moment before packing up and getting back in the car. There’s less than a quarter tank of gas left, so who knows how far it will get us, but it’ll be close enough. We’re almost there.
As I pull the Volvo door shut, I look back down at the book on the road, remembering how Dan and Lucy were thrown together over and over, the universe conspiring to get them back into each other’s lives.
I just hope the universe does the same thing for me and Jamie one day.
Infinity rounded down to ten.
Jamison
WE START SEEING THE WANTED POSTERS AROUNDColumbia, South Carolina. Scattered on the ground or stapled to trees and utility poles, tucked under the windshield wipers of abandoned cars like take-out menus. There are even two white billboards with the same text as the posters painted in dark red or black—some of the words misspelled.
There are probably more in Georgia. Maybe even a few going up I-95.
We end up camping in Orangeburg, South Carolina, for two days, and the longer we stay put, the more anxious I get. Denton has become the main source of intel for Cal. He’s spent most of the past few days describing the layout of Fort Caroline, drawing crude maps, and explaining the ins and outs of the community.
I listen as often as I can, trying to distract myself from wondering if Andrew is okay back in Faraway and also trying to figure out what exactly Cal’s plan is. So far it’s been nothing concrete. At least for me. They’ve been taking people aside, giving them all tasks. The guy from the back of the RV came to me after he got his. He’s supposed tofind out where Fort Caroline is doing army training and see if he can join up. From there he’ll start asking around to figure out who’s most dissatisfied with Fort Caroline.
This whole mission could take months. I’m getting even more nervous because I have no idea how the hell they plan to keep me alive for that long. Or what Niki and the other people of color are going to do. We only saw white people in Fort Caroline while we were there, so best-case scenario is they say Niki and the others can’t stay. I’d feel better knowing Niki isn’t in danger.
Finally I get tired of worrying and waiting around for Cal to tell me what his plan for me is—because it washisplan; he was the one who came to me with this, and he’s the one in charge. I go over to the RV and open the door, climbing up into it. He’s sitting at the dining table with three others.
“I want to know what the plan is,” I say. “I’m sick of waiting.”
Cal nods. “Of course. We were going to come get you tonight, but since you’re here, this is what we’ve planned so far.”
He points to some maps and papers on the table. The map is ripped out of a book on the table calledGeorgia Atlas and Gazetteer, then taped together and marked up with boundaries and some color-coded routes.
“Our plan is to just go through the front door.” Cal points to a red-outlined road. “Your friend Denton says there’s a toll plaza that they turned into a security checkpoint. We’ll tell them we’re looking to join up with them and say we have you as a show of good faith.”
My stomach tightens with anxiety. “So I’m your bait.” It’s not that I thought I’d be given a prosthetic nose and wig and told to pretendI’m someone else, but it’s still a terrifying notion. Bait doesn’t usually survive.
“Were you expecting something else? We’re open to suggestions.” He looks at me but, honestly, I don’t. I doubt most Fort Caroliners would really recognize me, but Danny Rosewood won’t have forgotten my face.
“What if they just kill me right there?”
“They won’t,” Kevin says. “And if they try to, we’ll stop them.”
“Denton says morale is at an all-time low,” Cal says. “At least it was when he left a couple months back, and places like this, they don’t usually get much better. They need little moments of hope and joy—maybe an ice cream day or a rock star shows up and agrees to sing a couple hymns in church on Sundays for some extra food. If their leader’s been looking for you so hard, he’s gonna want to use you as an example. One of the morale-boosting moments of joy. ‘We got the bad guy! Sure, he’s a kid, but we got him!’ And they’re going to want to keep that rolling for as long as they can, so it’s in their best interest to give you a lengthy trial. Something for all the old ladies to gossip about.”
“Cal’s going to use you to get close to Rosewood. Put a bug in his ear about all the above and make sure he’s on the same page.”
“What if he isn’t?” I ask.
Cal frowns. “Look, you know there’s an element of danger here, yeah?”
