Page 15 of Ablaze

We slowly make our way up the road, weaving between the cars. The ground is mostly even, and our feet walk silently on the pavement. I slow our pace down by taking the lead and whisper instructions to Sadie.

“Start looking in cars for anything we can use over time. Who knows how long we might have to be out here,” I tell her. She nods in response and whispers back to me.

“It’s too quiet out here. It’s unnerving,” she says.

“Yeah, well, hopefully it’s just us out here, and that’s why it’s so quiet.”

The only good thing about being on the road is that after a few minutes of making our way up the path between the cars, a mangled sign up ahead comes into view. It reads: Antelope Island, Great Salt Lake State Park. It’s up in the distance, and we can see it now. Sadie and I look at each other, and I give her my best smile. She doesn’t return it. She looks deep in thought and scared. Really scared. The smile drops off my face and we keep walking forward.

The sun is starting to make its way up into the sky, and we begin to make out smaller objects in the light. We’ve made it to the mangled sign. From far away we couldn’t see any of the smaller warnings written on it. The sign has seen major damage. It’s bent in places with large grooves, and I’m guessing it’s from rocks since there’s large rocks laying everywhere around the sign. Spray painted at the bottom in red paint someone has left us a warning: Turn Away. Do Not Enter.

I look at Sadie’s face, and she’s taking in the sign. She looks over at me with the same weary look.

“I wonder how long this has been here. Was it written just for us?” she asks as she looks around.

“I don’t know,” I tell her as I scan the trees and brush on both sides of the road. I can’t see any movement.

Further behind the sign is a barbed wire fence. It looks much newer than the sign. It seems in good condition, and it’s blocking the actual entrance to the island. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s at least twelve feet tall, and it’s spanning as far across as my eyes can see. It’s a mesh fence, and we just couldn’t see it in the dark. It looks like it even cuts through the woods and brush. I don’t know why, but it makes the hair on my neck and arms stand straight up.

If we’re going to go for it, I think it has to be now. Anything could happen if we try to make camp out here during the daylight. I’m about to tell her my thoughts when she whispers to me, “I think we should take cover in one of those cars we passed further back and watch for any signs of life.”

I have to physically restrain myself from rolling my eyes and laughing at her. Is she crazy? I’m not waiting out here for daylight to pass. I could die in this heat or from this gaping wound on my back or the big question, who knows how many Dome guards are out looking for us right now. I’m moving forward now, not later.

“Are you kidding me? We have to go now. This is the best chance we are going to have. We go in there now, at the beginning of daylight, and we see if anyone is in there. If we stay out here, the Dome Guards could catch up to us anytime,” I say, trying to hold back my agitation.

“I’m just scared, okay! What if I’m wrong? What if we go in there and there’s nothing or worse, we go in there and the Dome is already waiting for us,” she says.

I see real fear in Sadie’s eyes. She’s deeply afraid of what’s behind that fence. I’m going to have to push her to move forward. Doesn’t she realize I wouldn’t do anything to directly hurt her? I would put myself in front of the danger before letting her get hurt. The next words out of my mouth are going to sound harsh to her, but I have to say them.

“Sadie, you need to muster up all the courage you can find because we are not waiting for it to get dark again. We won’t survive. One of us won’t survive, and it will probably be me, and I need to keep living a little longer to get you inside.”

She just stares at me for a second and then, like a light bulb has gone off in her head, she looks at me and says, “If you came all this way to die, you’re going to have to wait a little while longer.”

I am completely shocked by her words. Apparently, my authoritative tone helped knock some sense into her. Does that mean she’s coming with me or staying though? “You understand we need to go right now, right? You get that? This is serious. We have to move, and we’re wasting time standing here arguing about it.”

She bends down and undoes the ties in her shoes. She re-ties them and stands back up. “Let’s go!” she says and starts walking toward the fence.

It’s like she didn’t even hear the words come out of my mouth. A little acknowledgement would be nice. I’m only trying to help her stay alive and keep myself alive at the same time. I hope whatever is inside this fence brings us good news and real answers. If not, I’m at my wits end. I’ve got a lot of thinking to do about what’s next for Sadie and me. The first thing is to keep surviving. I need some major stitches in my back to close up this wound or I won’t be doing anything. I have to keep mopping the sweat off my face. I feel like I’m burning up from the inside. This only tells me one thing… it’s infected.

Sadie

I keep my face toward the fence and refuse to look at Jesse as I walk. How dare he speak to me like I’m some idiot! Clearly, I have made it this far and most of it on my own. Where was he when I was trying to get out of San Francisco or getting attacked in the woods? I made it through those situations; I can make it through this one. It’s clear to me, when I do look back at him, that he’s having a rough time. He’s sweating profusely and his face has taken on an ashen color. He catches up to me, and I let him get a few steps in front of me. I can see the back of his clothing, and it’s obvious to see that he’s lost a lot of blood. His shirt is soaked through with sweat and blood and the darkest is over the spot of his wound.

We’ve made it to the fence and are now standing directly in front it. Jesse puts his hand up in the air to signal me to stop. He scans the length of the fence and then the height. He takes his backpack off of his back and opens it. He pulls out a shirt and hands it to me.

“What do I need this for?” I ask him, puzzled.

“I’m going to help you climb up first. When we get near the top, you’ll swing this up and lay it over the wire so your skin won’t get cut as we cross over it. That wire looks razor sharp, so don’t let any of your skin come into contact with it. If you do, you’ll be in the same boat as me with my back, and that’s the last thing we need.”

I instantly feel guilty for my previous thoughts. He’s just trying to look out for me, of course. That’s all he’s tried to do since we met. I don’t know why, but I instantly think the worst of him when really, when I think about it, he’s been nothing but kind to me. When I’ve snapped at him, he’s tried his best to not retaliate but explain himself to me and his actions. I resolve to do better.

“What about you? I don’t want you to get in any worse shape” I smile weakly at him, trying to convey that I really am worried about the way he’s looking.

“I’ll be fine. I’ll use this,” he says as he holds up another shirt since the first is almost shredded.

“Good!” I tell him with a little too much enthusiasm. “I’m exhausted. Let’s get this party started.”

He looks at me a little funny, but once he gets his bag closed and on his shoulders again, we start to climb the fence. It’s a chain link fence, but it’s got to be a minimum of twenty feet tall with another foot of wire curling at the top. We take our time climbing up the fence. It sways some under our weight and our close proximity to each other. As we climb, I have to keep repositioning my hands. The heat from the sun is quickly making the metal too hot to touch. I look down at the ground getting further away from us, and I can see heat waves rising off the road we walked down to get to the fence.

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