Reality Bites - Wattys 2018 Shortlist

Chapter 7 - High Beam

There's a lot of abandoned mine shafts in Nevada, I thought to myself, trudging along resentfully. Dangerous snakes, lizards, and scorpions, too. If I did things right, I might even be able to make it look like an accident! The last ten hours in Guardian Stan Alto's company had been such a joy.

Not!

It was blisteringly hot; I was thirsty as hell, but reluctant to drink too much as water could be scarce. And worse – I was with Stan!

While he'd always taken a particular dislike to me in classes, at least at school, there were forty other students to distract him. Here, with just the two of us, I was the sole target for his vitriol.

Arriving at the campsite near daybreak, I'd wasted no time in getting us packed and moving. Looking at the map, I'd worked out the distance to Yomba Reservation was around forty-three miles. Unfortunately, the most direct route would take us through some mountainous and inaccessible areas. As tempting as it was to walk there in a direct line, it just wasn't practical. So I navigated a longer but safer route. The downside – I figured it was going to take two solid days of walking to get us there.

We'd walked for five hours, but by 11 am it was just too hot to walk any further, so I'd set up a midday camp. Finding a large pile of rocks, I'd inspected them thoroughly for snakes, lizards and scorpions then set up camp in their shade. The idea was we'd siesta through the hottest hours of the day until the afternoon, and then put in another four or five hours of walking. Remembering Stan was meant to be a Moroi, I prompted him to drink water and sleep.

Stan was loving this gig. He was taking the whole 'helpless Moroi' role to the extreme. Then he'd intersperse his role as defenseless, scared Moroi with asshole chip-on-his-shoulder Guardian. The problem is, no matter which role he was enacting, I wanted to murder him!

About 3 pm the heat of the day was dispersing, so I woke Stan, and we started walking again. True to his 'Moroi' role, he was intentionally walking slowly, complaining the whole bloody way. Trying to channel a bit of Dimitri 'Zen' I was mentally repeating to myself 'this, too, will pass.'

It was 6 pm, now, and still light out. Looking at where the sun hung in the sky, I figured we could get another couple of hours of walking in today. We weren't walking anywhere near as quickly as I'd like, though. At this rate, we'd be lucky to reach Yomba Reserve by tomorrow night! The next part of our journey should be easy enough, at least. While we'd been walking through scrub and brush for most of the day, we were approaching the pass between Sherman and Paradise Peaks. The dry rocky area was inaccessible, so we had no choice but to travel alongside the road.

We'd been walking for around twenty minutes when I heard the sound of an engine in the distance. Using my binoculars, I looked behind us along the road. A pickup truck was heading towards us. While I couldn't see the occupants clearly, I could see enough to notice there were only two of them. Deciding Stan might well be safer on a lonely country road with two strangers than with me for another twenty-four hours, I made a snap decision.

"Up to the road edge – NOW!" I ordered. Surprisingly, Stan complied!

"Is this a good idea?" Stan asked testingly, walking beside me on the road's edge.

"Well it's daylight, and I can see the occupants, so they're not Strigoi," I replied. "Besides, Strigoi are not the only thing we have to worry about at night out here. It's worth trying to hitchhike. If they stop and they're not friendly, I can easily take two humans down, and we'll use their vehicle. Worst case is they don't stop and might report our position. But I think it's a risk worth taking."

The vehicle was approaching, so I quickly ordered, "Take my bag, Stan – and walk a bit hunched down. Don't show them your size."

Accentuating the swing of my hips ever so slightly, I stuck my thumb out – the universal sign for hitching a ride. For a moment as they approached there was no response, but then the engine slowed, and I could tell they were not going to drive by. Pulling up alongside us, the passenger rolled down his window.