The Swailing

Vegas: A Betrayal

I wake up disoriented. My room is so dark that I can't tell what time it is. At first I can't remember where I am, but as my eyes adjust to the darkness I remember: Vegas, with its noise and its bright lights and its plastic-looking people. Without Buffy, I have no way of knowing the time so I get out of bed and open the curtains. It must be early morning because the sky is just starting to get lighter in the east. I've slept for a long time – probably at least 12 hours.

I stretch, doing a few yoga poses to wake up my muscles. My body feels strange already and I realize I haven't done any real exercise since volleyball practice two days ago. Has it only been two days? The combination of the time in the car and the lack of my regular diet makes me feel sluggish and tired. I definitely need to go for a run or something today.

I get dressed and wait until the sun is all the way above the horizon before going to knock on Finn's door. I stand outside it, hopping around to keep warm in the cool early morning air. But he doesn't answer.

I knock again, louder this time. Maybe he's still sleeping or in the shower. That thought sends a warm rush of something down to my stomach and I shake my head. Man, I am a hot mess. Even the stranger I've only known for a day is subject to my crazy hormones.

Finn still doesn't answer and I turn to look at the parking lot to find that his car isn't in the spot where he parked it yesterday.

Strange. Maybe he ran out to get some food. I let myself back into my room and wait for him to return.

But he doesn't return. I wait an hour. And then another hour. And then a sinking feeling settles in my stomach. I dig into the pocket on my backpack and pull out my money.

Or what is left of my money.

There is one Ɵ100 note left. So not only is the money I owed him gone, but almost all of my other cash as well – including the cash I took from my account AND the money I won in the casino yesterday.

He took it. It had to be him. And he basically left me just enough to hitch a ride back to the border and go back to Optima.

In the fog of my shock I try to piece everything together. He must have gotten an extra key to my room – probably why he picked this hotel, with its outdated key cards – and then snuck in while I was sleeping. Maybe he even drugged me – that would explain why I slept so long! I wonder how long he'd been planning it – if it was his intention from the very beginning to use me and lose me.

I sit with the meager amount of cash in my hands feeling like I've been dumped. It isn't the money – though that pisses me off – it is the betrayal. We weren't exactly friends, but I trusted him and he ditched me like a bad habit, and took my money to boot. I'm an idiot.

And he's a big jerk. A huge, sneaky, lying jerk!

I sit on the bed in the hotel room for an hour, trying to figure out my next move. I can always try to get ahold of my dad – it probably wouldn't be that hard. I could ask him to come get me and bring me home. I'm sure even the Optima government has contingency forgiveness plans for stupid runaway teenagers who manage to escape.

But I don't want to go home yet. I haven't even made it 800 kilometers and I know that my mom and Camden are not in Vegas. I have to get to Prospera, where they sent their last correspondence. I have evidence that they were there, at least for a while, and I know that I'd be able to find some record of them and maybe trace them to wherever they are now.

I look in the backpack again, hoping in vain that I am wrong, that maybe I put the money in a different pocket and that Finn will be back any minute with some breakfast and a funny story about why it took him so long. But it's still empty. I'm not worried about the money so much – I figure there has to be a way to get more money from my account somehow, especially here in Las Vegas. What I feel the worst about is that I had trusted Finn. He seemed like a nice, normal guy. I never for a second thought he was out to scam me.

But scam me he has, and left me with backpack full of a whole lot of nothing.

Nothing.

I gasp and dig through the pocket one more time. I realize, for the first time, that he even took the memory stick! Whether he took it intentionally or not, Finn now has the information I need to find my mom and brother.

If I was hurt and humiliated before, now I am furious. I pick up my backpack and leave the room, slamming the door behind me. Maybe he hasn't gotten far yet. Maybe he took my money and went straight to the casinos to try to win more. Wherever he's gone, I know he isn't in this hotel and sitting here isn't going to bring my money back. I have to get moving.

I walk purposefully in the direction we came from yesterday. I saw all kinds of tourist services in that flashy, downtown area and the people here are used to dealing with foreigners. Someone will help me figure out my next move.

As I get into the downtown and start passing casinos, I'm tempted to take my bit of money and see if I can win some more. It was so shockingly easy yesterday. But if I lose and am not able to get more, I'll be really screwed. So I continue walking.

Today I notice things that I didn't notice yesterday. From Finn's car all the sights and sounds were at a distance and I never felt like I was a part of the chaos. But today, as I walk down the crowded sidewalk, I am wedged between handsy men who apparently think it's their right to fondle any woman who walks by. Up close I see the plastic women aren't as young as they first appear – their crepey skin betrays them. Men and women are covered with drawings – tattoos, I think they're called – up and down their arms, even on their faces. Desperate looking people hand out little paper fliers (paper fliers! ALL that paper!) at the street corners. I take one, curious, and see that it is covered with pictures of naked people performing all kinds of sexual acts I had never dreamed of. Apparently in Vegas you can go watch people do just about anything and for a little bit more money you can participate.

Although I'm not particularly hungry for a change, I stop to eat when I pass a sign that offers cheap breakfast. Though the somewhat disturbing pictures have dampened my normally healthy appetite, I force down some fruit, a bowl of oatmeal, and a sausage link. I'm becoming quite a carnivore awfully quickly. Kyri would be disgusted with me.

Back on the street I ask a few questions and am pointed in the direction of a car rental place. But I realize quickly that doesn't do me any good since I don't know how to drive a car. Besides the very basic lesson Finn gave me yesterday, I have no idea how they work or what the rules are for operating one. And Vegas is filled with far too many pedestrians – I know I'd probably hurt someone if let loose on the roads without proper instruction.

So next I am directed to a bus station. At the station I find a unit where I try to, unsuccessfully, withdraw more money. I guess Finn was telling the truth about that, at least. My digital money is no good to me here. That fact sure benefited him – I had a nice big wad of cash on me when he robbed me. He played me like a puppet, got me to take out a bunch of money, and then slipped it out from under my nose and disappeared into the night. Kind of like my mom.

I hope what I have left is enough to at least get me out of Vegas.

There is an information kiosk at the station with a computer terminal where I do a little research. I study a map of all the territories, which I had once memorized as a young girl but haven't looked at in years. It's funny how little I know about the other sovereigns other than what I learned in elementary school, and even most of that was colored by Optima's interpretation of history.

Past Vegas there is a region called the Rockies, a mountainous area that consists of several former US states: Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana, if I remember correctly. It is a large, rustic territory with a fairly low population for its size. I check the schedule and see that there is a bus leaving in the afternoon that will take me to Denver for about half of the money I have left. I'll have a little left for food and possibly a night of lodging. And Denver is on the way to the Prospera so at least I'll be heading in the right direction.