Lonely

Chapter 68, Sadie

I peeled my eyes away from the passing landscape to look at Hanger. He was driving intently, flinching when the car made weird grinding sounds. I looked behind us at the can that followed, and at the red car that led us. We had been driving for four hours, straight. We had turned onto some road I had never noticed, and I had not seen another sign or car since. It was just a road that stretched straight in front of us for as far as I could see, surrounded by hills of the “gently rolling” type at some times, and dense forests that made me feel claustrophobic at another.

We were in one of the forested areas right now, and it felt like someone had put me in a cage made of twisted tree limbs and spider web like vines, snaking up trees and other us to form a barrier that blotted out the sky. Trees covered every inch of the ground, and never once did I see a squirrel or deer or any living thing in them. It was gloomy, and dark. The trees were covered in moss and gave the appearance of alien creatures at times, standing waste deep in mist and waiting until we weren’t looking to sneak up on us.

“How much further can it possibly be?” I grumbled. Hanger patted my shoulder.

“Just be glad that you aren’t in the doomed van behind us.” He said, looking in the rear view mirror at it. We hit a bump that jolted my spine and sent a foot into the air. I grumbled and adjusted my position.

“I bet Dodger’s wishing he had those head phones right about now.” Hanger commented, trying to distract me. I almost smiled at the idea. He was probably suffering far worse than I was. I sighed and put my feet on the dash board.

“When I was a kid, we went in this trip to Yosemite, and we had this really nice black car my dad had just bought. My mom and dad were fighting about something, and I was in the back, and something came out into the road.” I frowned.

“My mom said it was a bear, but it walked on tow hind legs and was huge, at least eight feet tall. It was muscular too. I didn’t see much of it. Anyways, we got to this camp ground, and we were right under these really nice oak trees. In the middle of the night, there was this really loud groaning sound, and the tree fell, crushing the car. I thought it was hilarious, but my parents were freaking out. Somehow, the branches fell around us, like we were in the only clear path around the tree.” I looked at Hanger.

“Doesn’t that seem sort of weird to you?” I asked. he frowned as he thought about it.

“Well, assuming that isn’t the average family vacation, yes, it does. Maybe, even back then, the monsters were after you.”

I shook my head. “What are the chances of a tree falling and crushing our new car, but miraculously missing us by three feet?” he didn’t answer, and just then the trees broke. I forgot my story and sat up straighter as we came into new territory. I was stunned.

We were in the middle of a desert.

We had just gone from being in the heart of a forest to being in the jungle. Hanger and I sat silent as we looked around. “Now, I’m no professional with the whole climate thing, but I’m pretty sure that’s not how it works.” Hanger said. A cactus shifted in the wind as Arianna and Jaspers car went past it, but other than that, everything was still. The sand blew a little in the dry wind, and random plants that looked dead were scattered around like lonesome people.

Again, there was not one living thing to be seen. I saw something in the distance though. It looked distorted and odd through the heat waves, but as we got closer, I realized it was a gas station. An old, run down, spray painted and boarded up gas station in the middle of the desert. To my surprise, Arianna and Jasper pulled into it and stopped their car. We followed, and even though it was creepy, I was glad to be able to get out of the car.

Arianna hopped out, cheerful as ever, with Jasper behind her. I got out and stretched my arms and legs. Hang er shook his arms out, but was otherwise fine. The van pulled up behind us, and the doors opened slowly. Instead of a rush and tumble of kids and nearly grown boys, only the guys got out, slowly and quietly. Levy put his finger to his lips, telling us to be quiet. They closed the door quietly, flinching at the click the door made when they shut it. They all sighed in relief and came over, stretching. Arianna smiled at us.

“So, what do you think?” I raised my eye brow.

“Of what? The four hour car ride or the sudden change in biomes.” Arianna ignored my pessimistic remark.

“I thought we could stop here for a little break, but I need to warn you-” I cut her off, my curiosity about the kids getting to me.

“Where are they and what did you do to them?” I demanded, putting my hands on my hips. Boomer cleared his throat.

“Well, as you know, they are all really rambunctious and all, and they were really, really excited that we were going on this road trip.” He said.

“So, for the first while, two or three hours maybe, we played with them, trying to keep them quiet and under control, and keep the twins form killing us.” Levy said, glaring at Liam and Nicco.

“But Ryder kept growing stinking Johns, and Roxi kept getting mad because we were interrupting her signals, then they went out completely. Then Sophia kept turning really bright colors, and Ariadne said it was giving her a head ache, hence the short storm we had a while ago.” Dodger explained. That explained one thing, at least. Apparently, they were going to give me the whole story.

“And Sully kept disappearing on us, and Libby got bored and was pulling stuff apart and building stuff and all. Then Jett un buckled and was crawling around under the seats, grabbing people’s ankles and scaring them, and that made them all scream and shout and laugh and give us all headaches.” Nicco continued.

“So, after a while we were getting kind of tired of it, and then Max feel asleep and was snoring and it was battle just to keep the kids from playing some awful prank on him, because as fun as that would be, Arianna wouldn’t be pleased.” Liam said sheepishly, glancing at Arianna. “This does not answer my question.” I said, glaring at them. Max swallowed.

“Well, we were really tired of them, and I love the kids and all, but after Ryder shoved a stinking john up my nose while I was sleeping, I got a little frustrated. I may have, you know, used my ability to make them sleep. For a really long time.” He said, looking away. I stared at them.

“You told me all of that when all you had to say was ‘Max put them to sleep’?” Boomer let his gaze wander before snapping back to me.

“Well ,yeah, pretty much. We were kind of worried you would be mad.” He said. I smiled and laughed.

“I am so glad you said that. It tickles me to know that I strike fear into the heart of the strongest guy alive.” I said. Boomer scowled at me, and even Hanger smiled a little.

Arianna cleared her throat.

“Yes, well, that is all well and good, but I have something to tell you. The people in this little place are very interesting. They are sort of like police, and they have something that we need. They are really stubborn though, so getting them may be impossible. They have coins that we need to get into lonely. Getting them could mean trouble.” She said, looking at us. I waved my hand dismissively.

“I can take care of this.”