DISCONTINUED

Chapter 66

Something was wrong.

Luna huffed to herself as she closed her eyes and shook her head slowly from side to side. "Something" was wrong? Talk about an understatement. EVERYTHING was wrong, and had been for quite some time now. She chucked the rock she'd been nervously tossing back and forth between her hands and continued staring hopefully up the long dirt road that led into town.

She glanced at her watch.

Even if he'd missed the 9 o'clock bus, the 10 o'clock bus would have dropped him off at around 11, and it was only an hour or so walk from there to where she was waiting, so...

She pulled a long weed out of the ground and began tying knots in it as she paced back and forth across the road.

Maybe he'd decided not to come? No. No way. She wouldn't let herself even consider that possibility. Which meant that something must be wrong. She stopped pacing and stared up the road again, deciding that she'd wait another hour, and if he wasn't there by then she'd...

She honestly had no idea what she would do. What she could do.

She went back to her pacing, kicking stones into the ditch as she walked.

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She was sitting off to the side of the road about half an hour later, leaning against an old fence post as she continued to scan for any signs of movement, when all of a sudden a bunch of birds appeared to explode out of a tree on the far side of a distant rise in the road. She jumped to her feet and began scrambling down the side of the ditch before stopping abruptly and standing quietly for a moment, listening. There were no sounds, and she didn't see any sort of dust cloud that might indicate an approaching vehicle. She walked cautiously to the middle of the road and stood on her toes. At first she couldn't see anything. Then in the distance, slowly a lone figure began to appear over the crest of the hill. They were still too far apart for her to be sure, but it had to be him! If it wasn't, well... she decided she'd figure that out when she got there as she started running towards who she desperately hoped was Bo.

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"Finally! Geez Bo, you scared me half to death!" She shoved him in the chest and he awkwardly stumbled backwards a couple of steps. "What took you so long old man? I was starting to think that maybe you weren't coming at all. If I had to wait much longer, I was seriously considering walking right into town and..."

She stopped mid-sentence, noticing that Bo was standing rather unsteadily, his hands on his knees, staring up at her with a dazed, distant look in his eyes. He alternately squinted then opened his eyes wide a couple of times, shaking his head, as if he was having trouble focusing on her.

She looked at him sideways, furrowing her brow. "Whoa. What's up Bo? Are you ok?"

He stood and rubbed a hand across his forehead. When he spoke it was slow and deliberate, as if he had to search for each thought.

"Uh... am I ok? That's... that's a pretty odd thing to say Lu, even for you. Considering. You know. That I'm dying. Today. But, uh... other than that small 'bump in the road'..." He closed his eyes as he massaged his temples. "I dunno. It must be the DoD drugs or something. I feel so numb and clumsy... and tired. On that note, it's great to see you Lu, it is, but couldn't you have picked somewhere a little closer for us to meet?"

Luna cringed. "Right! I'm so sorry. I totally forgot about that. Well, at least you're here now" she said, her relative cheerfulness seeming rather inappropriate given the gravity of the situation. She put an arm around Bo's shoulder to steady him. "C'mon. We've got a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it."

Bo gave her a questioning look as they started off down the road, him shuffling along to try to keep up as best he could as he leaned on her for balance. "I'm sorry Lu. I don't know what all you had planned, but I don't think I have the energy to do, well... to do much of anything at all to be honest. I'd be happy to just, like, I dunno... sit with you under a tree or something until, well... until. You know. 'The End'."

"Sorry Bo, but as nice as that sounds, I'm going to have to take a 'rain check' on that whole 'sittin' under a tree' thing. We've got stuff to do!"

Bo stopped at stared at her. "Lu, there are no 'rain checks'. I'm out of time. This... today. This is it for me. You do get that, right?"

She flashed him a sly smile. "C'mon. You didn't think I was actually going to just let them go and kill the best friend I have left now did you? I didn't bring you out here to die Bo. I brought you out here to escape!"

Bo sighed, giving Luna a sad look. He spoke quietly. "Lu, look at me. I can barely walk now, and it's only going to get worse. And you want me to somehow escape?" He shrugged his shoulders and looked off into the distance then back into his friend's eyes. "It's not possible Lu. I've made peace with this. I mean, it is what it is, right? Can't we please just try to enjoy the time that I have left?"

"Enjoy the, what..." she glanced at her watch. "...the 6 hours that you steadily deteriorate before eventually, 'click', that's it, all of a sudden you're gone forever, and I'm left here in this horrible place all by myself? No Bo. No we cannot just do that."

"You won't be all by yourself Lu."

"I might as well be. Everyone else I cared about is already gone. You're all I have left Bo. As sad as that is it's true. Without you I'd have nothing. I'd have no one." She paused and gave him that 'I know something you don't know' grin again. "And that's why we're doing this together. You're not escaping Bo. WE are!"

Bo immediately began shaking his head in disapproval, slowly at first then quickening as he spoke adamantly. "No. No. No we are not. I won't let you do that. I won't. I wanted to escape with you when you were the one on the 'death clock', remember, and if you recall you shut me down. Just like I'm shutting you down now."

"This is different."

"What are you talking about? How is this any different?"

"It's different because A. I'm more stubborn than you are and B. I have a plan."

"C'mon Lu. You were the one who said it couldn't be done, remember?"

"Well, I changed my mind."

"Lu, there's no plan that involves you trying to help me escape that I'm going to go along with. Forget it Lu. It's too dangerous. I won't let you do it."

Luna stood with her arms crossed, staring expressionless at Bo until eventually he looked away, holding the back of his neck with his hand as he hung his head. "I came here today because you promised that you wouldn't try anything stupid Lu."

"Yea, I know. This isn't stupid. C'mon" she said, reaching out to steady him again. "Let's walk and talk."