Fissures formed in his righteous placidity. His smile vanished, and the man abruptly stalked off but only to take a call.
He paced next to his Buick with a smartphone pressed to hisear, and an uneasy pit formed in Amelia’s stomach at the request. No one with an iPhone needed directions from another human being.
Brian hurried from the gas mart to the pump. He fussed with the nozzle and slid into his seat.
“What did he want?” he asked with heavy scrutiny on the Buick and its driver.
“He said he’s lost and needs directions.”
Amelia couldn’t remember if she’d seen him at the party. If he’d been there, he made quick work putting himself to rights.
“How is he lost? We’re right off the highway.” Panic on the rise again, Brian reached in his pocket for his phone that wasn’t there. “Fuck, fuck,fuck!”
“It’s okay,” she said calmly. They couldn’t both lose their shit. “Let’s get off at the next exit. We can make some turns and see what he does. If he follows us, we’ll find the nearest thing open and call the police.”
Though Brian agreed, the plan was swiftly moot. The man climbed into his car and disappeared down the country road. If he meant to find his way again, he was heading in the wrong direction.
They left the station as the clock hit one-thirty. The numbers burned in the veil of darkness behind Amelia’s eyes. Leaned against the window, she twilighted in and out of restless sleep and woke worse for the wear with sore legs and a splitting headache. She’d lost time too, a couple of hours’ worth.
Along the empty, southbound highway, fluorescent signs dotted the service road, every icon of American consumerism standing tall and proud in the night. Columns of light bled through the windshield and refracted through drops of fresh rain.
Amelia glanced at Brian with his eyes trained on the rain-slick road. “Where are we?”
“Medford.”
Medford was the last real town before they ventured into the wilderness, yet Brian barreled past its exits.
“Where are we going?”
“Sacramento. My parents are there for the weekend. My dad will know what to do.”
The stretch ahead wound through hilly terrain. With the rain returning, their travel would only become more treacherous.
“Brian, Sacramento is another five hours, at least. We should stop and get some rest.”
He stirred in his seat as a lone car passed. “Let’s get into California. We can stop at the first town over the border. It’s not that far.”
Not that far, but so far from home. Leaving Oregon felt like leaving behind the known world and the promise of safety.
“Okay,” Amelia reluctantly agreed, “but only if you let me drive.”
Brian put up no fight. On the shoulder of the last Medford exit, he stumbled to the passenger seat. After ten minutes, he was out, but his limbs jerked and head tossed. With every twitch and groan, he surely relived the nightmare in his sleep. Soon enough, Amelia would too.
The suburbs thinned, and Medford’s glow faded. The road curved through craggy slopes, and the hills beyond were black giants in the night. Every so often, passing headlights illuminated the road before disappearing into the folds.
The world around them had gone silent and dark, as if she and Brian were the last souls on earth, running from fleeting shadows and monsters made real.
The rain eased to a drizzle as Amelia crossed into California, but thick fog blanketed the road, and the first handful of exits snaked off into pitch-black hills. A few exits down, Amelia spotted a sign for a town nestled in the valley.
That town boasted only a church, gas station, and school. At its edge, an abandoned factory loomed with broken windows and graffiti-covered walls. Piles of scrap metal and decaying cars made up the perimeter. Across the street, neon lights announced a motel. Amelia pulled into its parking lot invaded with weeds.
The place probably hailed from the sixties and had changed little since. Painted in faded pastels, twelve rooms—six to eachfloor—opened to the outside. Out front, a rusted fence encircled a small pool, its sagging cover green with algae. She parked next to the only other car and killed the engine.
Brian rubbed his eyes and squinted at the vacancy sign.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
“You said the first town in California.” Amelia motioned to the featureless horizon around them. “This is it. The firstrealtown.”
