Page 6 of Ablaze

He quickly asks me, “Where are you headed next?”

I decide he doesn’t need to know the truth, so I lie. “I don’t really know. I figure I’ll move east. See what I can find.” I try to keep my voice and attitude casual.

“Well, I’ve heard that the east isn’t as advanced as we are here. If you change your mind and decide to stay in town, I could always use a hand around here,” he says as he offers me a job.

I smile at him and genuinely feel grateful. No one has shown me this much kindness. “I’ll keep that in mind. I really appreciate you being so nice to me.” Now I feel a little guilty about lying to him. I get up from the table and start to head up the stairs to my room. I realize that I never asked his name. I turn around, and he’s still sitting at the table. “Hey, one more question for you, one I should have asked yesterday. What’s your name?”

“I’m George. George McLeanon,” he tells me. “What’s yours? He asks.

“I’m Sadie. Sadie Tran,” I say in reply. I wave goodnight and head back up the narrow stairs to my room. I get inside my room and lock the door behind me. I feel lightheaded, and I don’t know if it’s from my busy night or something else. I sit on the floor and pack my new items into my backpack, but my head feels fuzzy. Once I’m done, I settle in my bed for the day’s sleep. The sun is already up, and I need all the rest I can get. When I wake up at nightfall, I’m headed to the island.

Jesse

I take back my earlier idea of ever wanting to live in Utah. The orange clay dirt sticks to everything I own. The days are hot and dry, so dry that you don’t even realize how hot it is until you’re beyond hydrated and baked. I made that mistake the first day in Utah. The sun was blazing brightly, but I didn’t feel overly hot, so I kept moving. I had little choice after those guys in the canyon jumped me. I needed to get distance from them and find a safe place to spend the day. I walked for half of the daytime, something I hadn’t done since the disaster first happened when the sun was shrouded by ash.

I missed my one opportunity to catch a ride into Salt Lake. I stumbled into a small town with a man taking a group in on a covered wagon. I was so nervous about opening my bag in front of a group to trade that I missed out. I haven’t seen any other modes of transportation besides my own two feet since then. I’d even trade some of my water pills at this point to give my feet a little rest, but I don’t have the luxury of time to just sit around and waste it. I think about my mystery girl constantly. I wonder what and how she’s doing. I wonder if she’s in some ivory tower eating fat meals and drinking all the clean water.

The only thing that stands between me and the city is ten hours of walking. By sunrise I should be in Salt Lake, plotting my next move to Antelope Island. One good thing about being in Utah is the gossip in the small towns that I’ve passed through. I keep hearing increasing news about the city, and I’ve even heard some things about the island. I’ve heard they have fresh water which interests me most since I’m down to half my supply of pills.

I’ve also heard rumors that there is only one way in and one way out of the island. I figure that should make my walk there pretty simple. I’ve plotted out my walk as much as I can, but Antelope is only a tiny dot on the many different maps that I have. If the rumor of one way in is true, it should make it easier to find her if she’s there. Of course, I haven’t been able to confirm any of the rumors yet. I don’t trust anyone enough that I meet to ask. I’m more suspicious of people than ever before.

I keep my mind on mystery girl as I walk. It seems to make my walking go by faster. I play out scenarios in my mind of how things will go when I finally meet her. I’ll need to earn her trust. The way my parents’ message reads, she doesn’t know I’m looking for her, and I can’t tell her. I wonder if we’ll get along and if we’ll have anything in common. We need to have something in common if I’m going to be able to stay around her continuously. In my imaginings, I can never decide if we hit it off or not. My dreams have even increasingly been filled with her.

I’ve walked for a few solid hours on a trail that is now used as the road to get into the city, when a noise finally startles me out of my daydreaming. It is coming from behind me and getting louder by the second. I get to the side of the trail, ready to run into the thick foliage if needed. It’s a cloudy night with hardly any moonlight, and I have to squint to make out the dark shapes coming down the trail. As the shapes get closer, my eyes adjust and begin to make sense of it.

Thank the universe it’s a pull cart! It’s not covered, but I couldn’t care less about that. It’s nighttime, and at this point, I’d get on it no matter what! As the cart gets closer to me, I step out onto the trail and wave my arms like an idiot to get the driver’s attention. The driver eyes me suspiciously but slows down to a crawl to speak to me. He’s refusing to come to a complete stop, so he’s smart enough not to put everyone on the cart in danger. I have to yell over the noise of his horses and the noise the metal pull cart is making for the driver to hear me.

“Do you have room for another person?” I yell up at the driver. “I can pay you in goods or trade for the space.” I try to hide my desperation as I wait for him to reply.

The driver pulls the horses to a stop and asks me what I’ve got to trade for the ride. I want this ride into town more than I’m willing to admit, so I pull four water pills out of my bag and hold them in my hand where only he can see them. It should be more than enough, but in these parts I don’t know. I want to be sure that he’ll give me a spot, but I don’t want to insult him. Luckily, the four pills do the trick. He takes them from me without a word and nods for me to get on. I quickly walk to the back of the cart and pull myself up into the back.

There are no benches in the cart, so I have to sit down on the floor. I put my bag on my legs and squeeze into the space. There are five other people sitting in the cart, three men and two women. The women are avoiding eye contact, but the men stare directly at me. They watch me until I’m situated and once I’m seated, the driver starts the cart moving again. I’m overjoyed that I’m not walking, but I hide my elation so the others don’t stare at me any more than they already have.

The cart is moving faster than I could ever walk. At this rate, I’ll be into the city well before sunrise. I lean my head back onto the metal siding of the cart and look up into the clouds. I’m so excited I can’t sit still. I fidget in my seat and try to not bring myself any more unwanted attention. I stare at the sky for what feels like eternity. The slow bumps from the road beneath the cart and the silence calm my anxiety. I can feel my body finally falling into a rest. I hold my bag tightly to my legs.

Before I realize it, I’m fast asleep on the cart. There she is… mystery girl is sitting across from me on the cart. How could I not recognize her as soon as I got on? She’s smiling at me and eying me. Is she looking for me too? Is that why she’s smiling? My pulse quickens when I realize we are this close to each other. She sees that I’m awake and waves at me shyly, almost seemingly coy. I smile back at her, and she says hello. Her voice is soft and feminine with a Dome accent. It’s exactly what I imagined it to be. I tell her hello and find myself feeling shy. We stare at each other, smiling, not knowing what to do next. I tell her my name and she opens her mouth to tell me hers. As she starts to speak to me… BAM!

I’m jolted awake on the cart. My heart is racing out of my chest. I rub my eyes and look around me. Everyone on the cart is looking at me. I look at the woman sitting across from me, and it’s clear from her expression that she thinks I’m crazy. The woman beside her tells me, “We hit a bump in the road,” trying to explain what woke me. I think she’s trying to calm me down.

My shirt is soaked from sweat, and I realize that it was only a dream. I can feel my face flushing with embarrassment. I look up at the sky again to escape the looks of everyone on the cart. What is this mystery girl doing to me? She’s turning me into a jumpy mess. I need to get a grip. I’ve never even met the girl. The dream makes me wonder though, what if she’s looking for me too. I think about it for a few minutes, but there’s no way. My parents explicitly told me in my letter that she mustn’t know how I was sent to find her. What if though… what if she really was out there looking for me too? Maybe we were sent to find each other. I would need some real answers for that.

Once I find her, I resolve to get all my questions answered. My parents said she was the key to the future. She has to know something that can help us; surely they wouldn’t pin all their hopes and dreams on a young adult who didn’t have a clue. My parents are reasonable people… they wouldn’t do that to me. I have to stop thinking about it. Time passes as I stare at the sky again. I’m pulled out of my own thoughts when the women start giggling and whispering with excitement. I look around to see what is causing their delight. Even the men are sitting up on their knees looking excitingly around.

A few feet ahead of the cart is a large wooden sign. Even in the dark it is clear to see, and it reads: Welcome to the New Salt Lake City. A part of me is overjoyed to finally reach the city. My parents would be so proud. I’ve followed their instructions, and I’ve gotten this far all on my own. The other part of me has some reservations. I’m excited to have made it to the city, but I’m scared. The lingering questions and unknowns crawl up into my throat and make me feel like I’m going to be sick from anxiety. I’m dying to see which rumors I’ve heard are true and which are false.

As the cart gets further into the city, the streets begin overflowing with people. For as far as the eye can see, people are spilling in and out of buildings. The cart moves slower now that people are walking all around it. I look around, trying to take it all in. I take notice that all of these people look well dressed, well fed and in good spirits. The buildings aren’t run down either, and everyone seems to be behaving in an orderly fashion.

They have gas lamps along the street allowing people to see more clearly at night. They have shops and trading areas, places to get something hot to eat, and I even saw a sign for a place to spend your daylight hours. The city is more than I ever expected it to be. The rumors of the city are true; I for one am delighted. I can’t wait to get off this cart and get something hot to eat. As much as I want to find my mystery girl, my stomach needs food more. I got a whiff of something as the cart passed a food place, and it was the best smell I’ve smelled since the disaster. I’ll need to eat a real meal to keep my strength up.

I’ve got more traveling ahead of me and besides, it’s not like I’m going to make it to Antelope Island tonight. The sky is becoming lighter nearing daylight. We drive through the city and to a stable when the cart finally stops to let us off. I’m the first one off the cart, and I thank the man for the ride. I’ve got a little bit of time before I’ll need to find shelter from the sun. First on the list of things to do… eat a hot meal.

Jesse

I walk down the streets bumping into people who say excuse me. They are all so pleasant and proper. It gives me a creepy feeling of the Dome which was very civilized and very controlled. Maybe it’s because I’ve been on my own for so long, but their kindness makes me even wearier about trusting any of them. Granted, I didn’t trust that many people before the disaster and now even fewer after. Smile to their face and cross them behind their back; that’s one thing my social-climbing parents taught me early on in life.

As I make my way through the city, I try to take everything in. I walk into makeshift shops to see what goods I might be able to trade for and buy. I won’t be buying anything tonight, but tomorrow I can get started. I’m running low on food supplies, and I’ll need to stock up on those before I head out to Antelope. I walk a little bit further and find someone making hot food. I go inside and wait my turn. I have to trade for a bowl of hot soup mixed in with meat. I have no idea what the meat is, and I don’t ask. It tastes delicious, and that’s all I care about.

When I’m done eating, I feel like my energy is renewed. From the way the sky is beginning to lighten, I can tell that I’m under an hour away from sunlight. I need to find a place to rest and spend my sunlight hours. I ask the woman who served me my soup if there’s anywhere to stay in town, and she informs me about a lodging house further down the street. I thank her for the information and praise her cooking skills. The woman could have asked me for something in return for the information, but she gave it freely. I leave her area and head back outside.

---