“Where to now?” Dex asks as we gaze around.
“I say we keep going this way. There should be a road within a couple of miles,” Sly says before turning and heading in that direction. With no better idea, we follow.
After a couple of hours, the sun starts to rise and I let out a long groan. “How much longer? I’m tired and it’s so hot!”
“I’m not sure. I thought we should have hit it by now, maybe we’re not exactly where I thought we were.”
“This forest could go on forever!” I groan, dropping to a fallen tree trunk to rest my feet.
“Hey, I’m open to suggestions here. We have three choices. Straight, left, or right.”
As I look at all our options, Dex just points the way we were going. “Straight. It’s a crap shoot either way, so I’d rather be putting as much distance between us and Stoney Creek as possible.”
“Agreed,” Sly says, before turning to Jagger, who nods in approval.
“Fine, fine, lead on, Sly,” I grumble, pushing to my feet.
He nods, and I watch as Dex stops to pluck a yellow dandelion from the ground, scrutinizing it.
“What are you doing?” I ask as I start to follow Sly through the trees.
“I want some flowers to give to Wren.” He picks up another yellow weed, then pushes them both into his pocket, no doubt crushing them.
I shake my head as I try not to laugh. A girl like Wren doesn’t need flowers or jewelry to impress her. She’d want something more personal, something that shows my obsession with her.
My mind starts to come up with ideas as we march through the forest. Eventually, the sun begins to rise, as does the temperature, and my stomach rumbles with hunger.
“Anyone know if there’s anything safe to eat out here?” I ask as I trudge through the forest. “Isn’t Arizona supposed to be all desert, anyway? Are we sure they didn’t take us out of state?”
“There are forests in Arizona,” Sly says with a sigh.
“How do you know?” Dex asks, clearly thinking the same as me.
“Because we’re walking in one right now.”
“That doesn’t—” Jagger grabs my arm and makes a shushing motion with his finger over his mouth.
“Guys!” I hiss. They both turn to us, immediately going on alert as they scan our surroundings.
Jagger points ahead and to the side, and I squint to figure out what he’s pointing at.
“Looks like the trees thin up ahead, it might be a road,” Sly says, and we move a little quicker until we step out onto a quiet road.
“Finally, I ain’t made for hiking, especially in this heat,” I say as I tilt my head up toward the sun. August in Arizona was no joke.
“Sorry to break it to you, Pete, but we’re not done walking yet,” Sly says as he turns to the right and starts moving.
“Hey,” Dex says, with a slap to my back so hard I stumble forward. “At least you won’t trip over any more roots!”
I narrow my eyes at him, and he just smiles back, probably not even realizing that he’s insulting my stealth by bringing it up. In my defense, the woods at night are fucking dark.
We walk along for about fifteen minutes before we hear a vehicle approach, quickly moving into the trees to hide until it passes. This continues on for another twenty minutes, until we spot a vehicle up ahead, parked on the side of the road.
We move into the trees to approach, but when we get to the SUV, we see no movement. Squatting low, we watch it fora minute and wait. The windows are tinted dark, so there’s no way to tell if there’s anyone inside.
“What do you think?” Dex asks quietly.
“I’m not sure,” Sly responds as he frowns at the large black SUV.
