God's Country

Chapter Four: Mad World

"Presley! Presley!"

Hearing my sister's frantic calls, I dropped the sleeping bag I'd been rolling and ran in the direction of her cries. It didn't sound like she was in danger, but I couldn't tell for sure. I prepared to pounce just in case.

I rounded a particularly thick tree trunk and smacked head first into Paisley. We fell in a jumbled heap.

"Ow!" I snapped and rubbed the sharp pain in my forehead.

Paisley cradled her head, less in pain than surprise.

"Sorry. But, look! You have to come see!"

She grasped my wrist and yanked me up and over to the steep edge of the mountain. I peered across the city with no name. None of the cities had names anymore. Not much separated them from the landscape surrounding; they were all stitched together by weeds now.

Paisley points to our right enthusiastically and grins.

"See!"

I follow the line of her finger with my eyes. The yellow truck stood out like a flame in the rising afternoon sun.

"We can carry a lot more in that!"

I soaked up her excitement like a sponge, but I had to be practical first.

"We'll have to see if it has gas and make sure it will start... "

"Oh, c'mon Prez, you could start that truck with your eyes closed," Paisley said, rolling her eyes.

I cut a sideways glance at her, even though I agreed.

"I'm just saying, let's not get our hopes up until we know the state it's in."

"Whatever," she dismissed. "I know you're excited too."

I shook my head and we both broke out in smiles.

Then Paisley eyed me mischievously. Before I could say anything, she slapped me playfully on the shoulder and took off running, shouting, "Last one there's a rotten tomato!"

"Paisley, I-- !"

I groaned aggravatedly as I trailed off. She wasn't listening anyway. I glanced back in the direction of our camp. I hadn't finished packing.

I considered coming back for it. The only downside was having to climb back up here. I'd buried most of our food, so that was safe. And the sleeping bags weren't much of a steal.

I glanced back towards Paisley; her figure was slowly stretching further away. Dammit. As an afterthought, I darted back for my bag before following her down to the truck.

I reached the asphalt a couple minutes after Paisley did. She jumped down from the hood of the truck and skipped over to me.

"How's it feel?"

"What?" I asked, catching my breath.

She danced close to me and teased, "To be a stinky, rotten tomato?"

I shoved her lightly away from me. She just giggled.

"Hilarious," I grumbled. "Why don't you make yourself useful and pop the hood?"

She smirked and skipped back to the driver's side door. I watched the hood lift up slightly as Paisley pulled the release latch. She closed the door and grinned at me. Dark shadow movement drew my gaze to the left of the truck bed.

I signaled the danger to Paisley, but when I returned my eyes to her, she hadn't seen it. Her attention was fixed to a point behind me. I shifted slowly. It had been a long time since I'd seen a man. Human as he looked, the glint in his eyes suggested different.