Mahingga

Chapter 24: The Road

Distant thunder rumbled through the air, and a light rain pattered against the ground, casting up the scent of moistened earth. Small bushes and grasses spotted the landscape, as well as the occasional stunted tree. Rocks and dirt crunched underfoot. A Small lizard glided through the air past Ako's head and disappeared behind a bush.

Ako picked at his clothes as if it might make them more comfortable, but to no avail. Kita and Melovi walked in front of him, following some invisible trail. They'd been walking for a full week now, and Ako felt like he was back out on the ocean again, stranded. This time, it was somehow worse. Perhaps because his legs had to do all the work instead of the wind. His eyes were drooping as he looked to the east where he could still see the mountains stretching from north to south. He, Kita, and Melovi had gradually been working their way a bit more westward, but their journey so far had taken them far to the north. Ako expected the ocean to show up eventually, but it never came.

"How far away are we?" Ako asked.

"I don't know, I didn't bring a map," Melovi said, his voice rich with sarcasm. "I'm pretty sure Paingitan was north though; We might get there in a month or two."

Ako rolled his eyes. Talking to Melovi was often very frustrating.

"Seriously though, Mel. Do you have an idea?" Kita asked, throwing in her support.

Despite himself, Ako didn't like that Kita had started referring to Melovi by his nickname. It seemed too chummy for a guy who had kidnapped them. Granted, he was helping them find Taiyo, but aside from that, Melovi was something like six years older than them.

Melovi shrugged in his casual way without looking back. "Yeah, maybe another week. I'd say we probably have sixty miles to go."

"How long is that?" Ako asked Kita in Mahinggan, not knowing what a mile was.

Kita shook her head back.

"Oh! Wait here," Melovi said, waving them back with a hand. He pulled his gun off his shoulder and started sneaking ahead through a patch of gray bushes.

Now familiar with Melovi's repeated activity, Ako sat on a rock, grateful for the moment's reprieve. He pulled off his boots and rubbed his feet where the blisters had just recently turned into aching calluses.

Kita sat across from him on another rock, her expression dark. It was just last night that Ako had overheard her sobbing. She must have thought that he and Melovi had already fallen asleep. Her eyes still looked a little puffy, and he wondered if she'd gotten any sleep at all. He'd been too afraid to ask her about last night, and he wasn't about to do so now.

"I loved my dad, you know?" Kita said, her eyes suddenly looking up at the distant landscape.

Ako said nothing, but regarded her with a sense of saddened concern.

"I came here, not just to help you find Taiyo, of course, but hoping that I'd find my dad. I wasn't really sure that we'd find him, but we did, and by accident." She shook her head. "Just a few days later, and he's gone again. Forever this time."

Ako felt achingly uncomfortable. He was worried that she might cry again, and he hated the idea of her being in so much pain. "I'm sorry, Kita."

She looked back at him with a wan smile. "Maybe he's just gone somewhere else, though, and I can find him again."

"Uh." Ako looked around awkwardly and ran a hand through his black hair. "They don't teach about that kind of thing at the university."

Kita shook her head and her smile broadened a little bit. "Yeah, I don't think afterlife is a discussion that would come up in a mechanics or engineering class." She shrugged. "It's just a thought."