Page 42 of Red Hunt

radical_angel: …

electrona: It’s scary, I know, but if you’re from the area, too, we could meet somewhere neutral?

“Yes.” My finger hovered over the keyboard. Should I agree? Was electrona even a woman, could as well be a guy disguising with a female username. This was so not what I ever thought would happen. But then again. Taking down those bastards had been my number one priority since I joined that group.

Whatever it took.

Even if I had to show up IRL…in real life.

I hit enter and listened to my beating heart.

Time to face the music.

electrona: How about tomorrow? I’ll get the details of the geotagging, so we know the exact location, and I’ll ping you. Or we could meet no matter what. Do you know the diner in Three Oaks? How do you feel about meeting for lunch?

Okay, Three Oaks—the bus from Whitebrook to Moon Lake stopped right in front of that diner. I could visit Grandpa in the hospital in the morning, do lunch in Three Oaks and be home early enough to keep the store open a couple of hours and the library, as well. Totally doable, even with a bum leg.

radical_angel: Never been there, but I know it. Lunch sounds fine. How would I recognize you?

electrona: I guess two women alone in a small-town diner looking nervously around should do the trick, but we can do some kind of marker. Like a newspaper or a flower, maybe?

radical_angel: I guess a flower would look very much blind-date-y. No offense, though. How about black jeans, black T-shirt, black cap?

electrona: Perfect. Although maybe not, given the heat, but whatever… We’ll go with black. Tomorrow. Noon. Three Oaks Diner.

radical_angel: Perfect. See you there.

electrona: See you.

Tomorrow, my virtual world would meet the real one. Time to prove how strong I really was.

23

MAX

Peaches and Goofy ended up staying, and we enjoyed a nice evening on the deck. We drank all the beer I had and resorted to our friend Jack D after that. Not a good starting point for our morning PT. All three of us looked god-awful, but none of us said a word. Goofy puked after the first mile, and Peaches and I made it a contest as to who could keep it down longest. Epic fail.

“We’re getting old, boys,” Peaches said, with a bruising hit on my hunched-over form while I dry-heaved.

“Hell of a housewarming, Max,” Goofy, who looked marginally better now that he’d gotten rid of the remnants of alcohol, said.

This was an utter shit show. And even though we all felt miserable, we continued our run until sweat poured off us and soaked our T-shirts, embracing the suck.

We followed a path into the woods. It was overgrown, hardly recognizable, and more than once, I had to slow down to disentangle my feet from some kind of plant that hooked its thorns into my shins.

We turned around after about two miles, consenting without mentioning it to keep this run on the short side.

We passed a deer that watched us with big eyes while it stood frozen a couple of feet away. I smiled and gave it a two-finger salute and a silent thank you. Why, I didn’t know exactly. But being in nature gave me something I’d missed for a long time, maybe forever. There was a natural order, peace, quiet, and I felt connected to the earth and energized by just inhaling the scents of bark, moss, and fresh air. We never once got to a clearing so I could only get glimpses of the blue sky and the mountaintops in the distance, but all of it calmed a place deep inside of me, and I promised myself to make being out in nature a part of my everyday routine.

“I call dibs on the shower,” I huffed out, racing the other two back to the lodge and up the outer flight of stairs.

Goofy grumbled when we entered, but Peaches, sly fox that he was, just took the flight of stairs down and locked himself into the second bathroom.

“Goof, you’re getting slow.” I chuckled, handed him a water from the fridge, and went to get my shower while he answered his ringing phone. We were lucky we got cell coverage out here in the middle of nowhere.

While I showered, my thoughts floated back to Milli. Had she slept okay? Or had she been thinking about me, like I’d been thinking about her all night? Gosh. I stuck my head under the stream of water and turned it to cold. I loved Goofy and Peaches like brothers and nothing could ever change that, but right now I’d rather drive to town and have breakfast with Milli than hang out with them.

“Hey, man.” Goofy hammered against the door. “You getting ready anytime soon? My parents invited us over for breakfast, so take off the brakes.”

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