Page 58 of Karma

“I know just the place,” Karma says excitedly and stands up. “We can take the tent, make a night of it.”

“We’ll see,” I say. “I might be needed here.”

She pulls me to my feet, shaking her head. “Joker can do without you for one night. Besides, I need you more.”

“Let’s go,” Grim says and starts walking out of the bar.

I’ll take that to mean he needs me more too. Because I want to. And because I feel a lot lighter in my body than I had in years and I don’t want that to end either.

They lead me on a ride all along the redwood forest lined roads around here. I like the shade, and the fragrant darkness under those ancient trees. I like how sunlight glimmers through every once in a while in tiny, blindingly bright bubbles of light. But most of all I like just riding.

By the time we finally stop at the top of one of the hills, this morning feels like it happened days, possibly months ago. The memory is old, dealt with and while some of the shakiness remains, it doesn’t seem like such a mountain of a problem. But I now once again know why I don’t talk about the past. And I won’t be making the mistake of doing it again anytime soon.

“What is this place?” I ask looking at badly overgrown wooden gates that have only the faintest outline of the word Camp coupled with something illegible written across them.

“This is one of those little gems no one but the right people know about,” Grim says as he starts rolling his bike through the gates. “Kinda like Eddie’s place.”

“I’d hardly call the clientele at the innthe right people,” I say and follow him.

“Legend has it this part of the forest is haunted,” Karma says, joining us. “But if it is, it’s gotta be by some good spirits, because I’ve had some of my best days and nights here.”

She’s already slightly out of breath from pushing her bike up the pine needle and root infested ground, but she’s smiling widely, her cheeks apple red and glistening in the sunlight that makes it past the canopy. As soon as we pass through the gates the ancient forest envelops us, as though sucking us into its embrace and closing the way back. She might be right aboutthose good spirits, because this feels like the soft landing I was hoping for. Only better.

“How far do we have to push our bikes?” I ask anyway, can’t help myself. Mostly because I’d prefer to be walking over this soft ground unburdened. As it is, I feel like my burdens are less just for coming here.

Grin scoffs, but it’s not a mean sound. And he’s grinning as he looks back at me over his shoulder. “Seems to me you’d like putting those muscles of yours to the test.”

“What, these?” I say, flexing my bicep a little more. “These are just for showing off. And baiting unsuspecting outlaw fugitives.”

That makes both of them laugh. It’s weird how light and carefree they sound. And how fitting and right. Seeing as I began this day mad as all hell at Grim, and how I told them about all my deepest and darkest secrets that should by rights make anyone feel at least a little nauseous when looking at me. If they’re not too disgusted to look at me in the first place. I know I am, sometimes, in the morning, after some stupid nightmare brings it all up.

Didn’t seem to have that effect on them. But maybe I’m just imagining that. Seeing the world through rose-colored glasses after the adrenaline rush of this morning. I will sometimes do that, since I’m not very good at facing the nasty, bad things in this world. I prefer to just ignore them. Probably why I’m here with them instead of back at the inn, helping Joker get the war started.

“We’ll leave the bikes just up ahead,” Grim says. “Then we continue on foot.”

He’s slightly out of breath too, and so am I by the time we reach the spot he was talking about. It’s a slight overhang that will keep our bikes dry if it rains. And after we cover them with fallen redwood branches, no one will find them.

“Just a precaution, so that no one knows we’re here,” Karma explains as they start picking up a bunch of gear they unloaded from their saddle bags and the small trunk on the back of Grim’s bike. We had stopped at a store to get some food and a few six packs too, and I figured we’d just make a picnic of that.

“You weren’t kidding about the tent,” I say and that makes both of them grin too.

After a short hike through a very dense part of the forest, we reach a clearing that’s surrounded by tall trees growing very close together on all sides, except the one that ends on a cliff. It offers a panoramic view of the rest of this forest and what will be the perfect view of the sunset. The orange ball is already making its way down to the horizon, leaving behind a tail of blood red clouds.

“It’s pretty amazing, isn’t it?” Karma says, watching me watch the sun. “It’s one of my favorite places in the world.”

“It could very well turn out to become mine as well,” I say.

Then it’s time to set up camp. They move like they’ve done it a thousand times before, and since I’m hindering more than helping, I settle for just fetching and handing them what they need.

I help build a fire pit though, since I’ve made a couple of those in my life, but nothing like the perfect one they end up instructing me to make.

“You guys do this often, don’t you?” I ask once we’re sitting by the crackling fire, roasting some sausages on sticks for dinner. The sun is setting, the sky over it blood red and it’s a very good end to a day that started very bad.

“Yeah, when we get tired of staying at places like Eddie’s,” Karma says.

“We don’t have that many options,” Grim adds. “Seeing as we gotta keep moving all the time.”

“Like sharks,” I say. “They have to keep swimming too, or they die.”

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