Scorched

by Theresa Shaver

  I huff out a breath of frustration. “Because we don’t have enough water to do that! Once we stop after the third junction, we go overland on foot. We only have what water we brought with us and there’s no way for us to get more that I know of. Most or all of it will be gone by the time we find this place. We won’t have enough to survive a trip back to the cart and then forward to somewhere else.”

  His eyes track over to the shelves on the opposite side of the cart and the water jugs stored there. His brow furrows in thought before asking, “Do you know exactly how far we will be traveling?”

  I give a shrug. “Not exactly but I think we can work it out with these maps.”

  He nods his head and moves his finger along the route we are taking before running it back and past where we started to the edge of the country. A slight smile tugs at his lips.

  “Wouldn’t it be amazing to go to the ocean? To see water with no end?”

  I roll my eyes. “Sure, and then die of radiation or worse but hey, we got to see it first, right?”

  He looks sheepish when he nods. “I know it’s not an option but I wish we could just go there, get on a ship and sail to a new land that’s better than here.”

  I point to a northern spot on the map. “Last thing I remember learning in school about that was all shipping goes here now and it’s on the other side of the wall so not an option. And I hate to say it but I don’t think there is a better place out there anymore that’s not behind a wall. With all the coasts flooded or bombed and the interior nothing but desert and ruins, I think the best we can hope for is a small pocket of land like the valley that we can survive in.”

  He lets out a defeated sigh. “I know, just dreaming. Anyways, I can start figuring out distances. Any idea how far we’ve come and how long we have until we have to start pumping again?”

  I stand up and check on Glo, who’s gone back to the front window before moving over to the control panel and taking a good look at every gauge and button for the first time. I’m surprised and happy to see the speedometer steady at twenty-three miles an hour. That’s double the speed we were making when I was pumping. The engine charge light is still in the green with two bars to go before it goes to yellow so I’m guessing we have at least an hour and a half of charge left before it’s back to pumping. There’s a little glass square with four zeros, an eight and a two that slowly changes to a three as I’m watching it so I guess that it’s keeping track of the miles we travel. I think about how far eighty-three miles is from home but I don’t really understand just how far that is. All I know is Abuela said we would go hundreds of miles before we stopped.

  I go back to Beck and tell him what I learned. His eyebrows jump in surprise at how fast we’re going and how far we’ve gone. His finger shows me on the map but it doesn’t look that far to me.

  “How long will it take for the engine to charge back up once it runs out of power? If we can keep going this fast, it should only take us three days at most to get to where we stop.”

  I shrug my shoulders again. “No idea. It’s not like this thing came with instructions. We were pumping for around five hours today when the green light came on but this thing had been sitting in a dark building for decades so it might have taken longer than normal for that first charge. Just go with the five hours for now until we know from the next charge.”

  He nods in agreement and starts adding up numbers. I try not to laugh at him when I see his tongue poke out of his mouth as he does the calculations. He used to do the same thing when we were kids and he was reading something that confused him. I still find it hard to trust him but now that I’ve shared our destination with him, I don’t have a choice.

  He catches me looking at him with the amused expression on my face so I quickly lean in and tap the map asking, “Well?”

  He gives me a look but just tells me his figures.

  “So, it looks like we have a total of four hundred and thirty miles to get to our stop. If the engine goes for two hours a day for fifty miles and we pump eighty miles that takes us one hundred and thirty miles a day. That’s roughly three and a half days but say four just to be on the safe side. How much water do we have?”

  I glance at the jugs on the shelves and then nudge the two half empty ones on the floor at our feet before answering.

  “We started with twenty. These two halves make nineteen left.”

  He starts counting on his fingers and then bites his lip in thought.

  “Ok, if we stick to no more than two jugs a day that gives us ten days of water. Let’s say it takes us two days on foot to get to the valley so we’ll use up twelve of the jugs getting there leaving us eight in reserve.” He looks back down on the map and taps on a blue squiggly line that we will be crossing close to the end of our rail journey. “This used to be a huge river. It was the main water source for this region of the country. We learned in school about it. Do you remember?”

  I think back on what we were taught about the water wars and remember that the drying up of this river was the start of the conflicts so I nod and he continues.

  “There might still be a little water here. Not enough to support all the population that used to live here but enough that we might be able to refill some of the empty jugs when we get there. If not, we still have the eight jugs if the valley is dry and we need to come back to the cart. That will give us enough to get back and try for somewhere else.”

  I feel my shoulders tense at the thought of a dry valley. Sure, we’d have enough water to get back to the cart and continue on for a few days but the problem is, where? Where are we supposed to go that we can survive? I look away from him and down to the map with all the lines that seem to go nowhere. That's exactly it, there is nowhere for us to go.

  Chapter Fifteen

  We pass the first junction not too long after that with Glo yelling out in excitement as she spots it. I tell her how good a job she’s doing and she beams with pride. I’m so thankful she’s such an easy-going girl and it takes so little to bring her happiness. After that, we all sit lost in our thoughts as mile after mile of empty desert passes by. I find my eyes constantly drawn back to the power gauge as it drops bar by bar into the yellow and then finally into the red. When there are only two red bars left, we all feel the change in speed. I go to push myself to my feet but Beck beats me to it and takes his place at the handle. I give him a grateful smile as I pass around him to switch the button on the control panel under the meter over to charge.

  With the sun at its hottest point of the day and the reduced speed, the cart starts heating up again. It’s not quite as bad as it was this morning with all the windows closed up but it’s very uncomfortable for all of us. At home, we would be hiding indoors with all the windows covered during this part of the day but out here in the open, we have no choice but to bear the heat. With nothing to distract us but the endless sand and scrub outside, I try and take our minds off of it by reading my Grandfather’s letters out loud.

  Excerpt from a private letter.

  November 28, 2028

  My Darling Bonita,

  Things have gone well on our claims and both of the veins are still producing out nicely. A few more trips out here and we will never want for anything again. I know my trips away have become longer than they used to but there is a reason for that. I’m very concerned with the way the war is going and I’m afraid the south will lose. If that happens, we will be forced out of our home. I hate the idea of returning to the north. We both know all the reasons I left there in the first place so, with that in mind, I have a huge surprise for you!

  I’m writing you from our secret valley that is as beautiful and as lush as ever. I have spent much of the time away from you working on our claims but also hauling in supplies to the valley. I have begun construction on a home for us. It will be a haven for us if we are forced out of California. We will be able to live here in peace and safety with all the water we will ever need. You will laugh at the idea of your miner being a simple farme
r but I would gladly give up all the trappings gold brings us if we can be together and safe. At night when it’s too dark to work I study up on raising crops and how to preserve them so when the time comes I will be able to grow our food and take care of us.

  I’m most excited by the front porch that I will build along the length of our home. I dream of us sitting on it watching the waterfall as the sound of our children’s laughter fills the valley. It’s a beautiful dream that I can’t wait to share with you.

  A few more weeks, my love, and I will be home in your arms again for a while.

  All my love,

  Lucas

  I lower the letter onto my lap and let out a sigh. How I wish I could have known my grandfather. He sounds like such a good man who clearly loved his wife very much. What a different life we would have led if he hadn’t died so young and been around to see us through the aftermath of the war. Maybe my mother would have turned out different. She might have stuck around and I would have a father whose name I knew. I don’t know how my life would be if grandfather had lived but I’m grateful that he put the effort into building a home away from the dangers of our world. If it’s still there.

  I look out the windows and see the sun is making its descent. There will only be a few hours of light left and then we’ll have to stop for the night. So far there hasn’t been anything blocking the tracks but we can’t take the chance of something damaging the cart. We would never survive on foot out here. I glance over at the power gauge and I’m surprised to see it’s already half way back into the yellow. Beck’s been pumping for over an hour so I guess I was right that it took longer to charge the first time because it had been sitting in the dark building for so long. If it only takes a couple hours to charge back to full, we’ll make way better time than Beck’s estimates which also means we’ll use up less water and have more in reserve if we have to turn back from the valley. It also means Beck and I will only have to pump for two hours each time to recharge the battery making it less physically challenging for us.

  I jump to my feet with that happy thought and wave him away from the handle to take a turn. He slumps away from it and shakes out the pain in his arms. He probably doesn’t have the same muscle group developed as I do from all the hand pumping at home. The thought dims my good mood. It reminds me that he’s been getting his water all this time from stealing it from the families in town.

  He must see something in my expression as I start to pump because he asks me what’s wrong. I ignore him and work on getting back into a rhythm but he won’t let it go.

  “Día, what’s wrong? Did I do something?”

  I roll my eyes when he asks again and spit out the question that’s burning inside me.

  “How did you live with yourself?” At his blank expression, I let him have it. “You took water and food from people who were barely getting by as it is. People with children! So how do you live with yourself?”

  At first, his face fills with shame but then it morphs into anger and his words come out harshly.

  “I wouldn’t call the last four years of my life ‘living’! I did what I could to run interference so some of the people could get away with at least some of their rations. Other times, I’d sneak away from the house with what I could carry and leave it on the steps or porches of homes that I knew had kids living there. Sometimes I’d get away with it and sometimes Boyd or his men would find out. So you want to know how I live with myself? I lived with a beating at least once a week, sometimes more. That’s how I lived. We didn’t all get to grow up in a house with food and water and love, Día. Some of us just had to find a way to live period.”

  His words make me feel my own shame. He’s right that I was lucky that Abuela had more to provide for us. I have no right to judge him for something he had no control over and I have no idea what I would be capable of doing to keep Glo alive if we had nothing. I know in my heart I would steal for her to live another day. I try and meet his eyes as I pump to show him my understanding but his back is stiff and firmly facing away from me. I look ahead and see something I never thought I would. Gloria is staring back at me with a frown and eyes that are full of disappointment...of me.

  I spend the next hour with my head down pumping out a rhythm that keeps us going at a steady twelve miles an hour. By the end of it, my stomach is growling and complaining about only having the one wrap I ate for breakfast. My knees almost give out when I see the final bar of green light up. I know my hand is shaking as I reach out and push the button so the engine takes over.

  The increase of speed has Beck finally looking to me and then over to the power gauge in surprise. His eyes track back to mine but all I get from him is a curt nod before he turns away again so I speak to his back.

  “It looks like we only have an hour or so of light left in the day so I figure we can make some good time before we call it for the night.”

  I see his shoulders shrug but that’s it, so I sigh and call out to my sister.

  “Hey Glo, you ready to help me make some supper?”

  She whips around to face me and makes an exaggerated head nod while holding her stomach like she’s in pain.

  “I think my tummy’s trying to eat itself, it’s sooooo hungry!”

  It feels good to laugh for a moment but it ends too quickly when she looks at Beck and asks in a soft voice, “Beck, will you watch the tracks for me so I can help make supper?” Her tone is like she’s talking to a wounded animal and I know it’s my fault but I don’t say anything.

  I turn away from them both and pull the basket of food off of the shelf. I still haven’t looked through the contents of it so I start laying everything out on the bench. There’s another set of three filled wraps we can have for breakfast that I set aside. Next comes a bag full of nuts and one with a mix of dried fruit. There’s a cloth covering a stack of tortillas and a small pot of Abuela’s homemade jam that will make a delicious treat. But for our dinner, I find six baked potatoes and a thermos of homemade soup. Everything is cold but my mouth waters at the thought of the meal. At the bottom of the basket are three old, scratched plastic cups and two shakers of her special herb blend.

  Glo holds the cups as I carefully pour the cold soup into them and then watches as I break open the jackets of three of the baked potatoes and sprinkle them with the herbs. Once I’m done, I take a cup of soup and a potato down to where Beck sits and hold them out to him. He stares so long at them that I don’t think he’ll take them so I swallow hard and say, “I’m sorry Beck. I had no right to judge you. I know you were in an impossible position. I wish there was something I could have done to help you back then.”

  His eyes finally rise to meet mine and he huffs out a half laugh. “You did try, remember? It got you shoved to the ground. I wasn’t willing to let you do anything else. I wasn’t willing to see you hurt worse. You have nothing to be sorry about, Día. I’m not mad at you. I’m mad at Boyd, the world and myself. Hopefully, things can be different now.” His eyes are full of sadness when he reaches out and takes the food from me with a nod of thanks.

  I nod back but don’t know what to say so I just return to Glo and settle down to eat. Before I can take my first sip of soup, she’s grabbed my hand and bowed her head to say grace. I keep my head up and eyes outside on the passing land but when I hear ask God to watch over Abuela, I find myself bowing my head too as she says the rest of her prayer.

  “Thank you for our food and this amazing cart to travel in. Thank you for bringing Beck to us and help him to forgive himself for the bad things he was forced to do. Help us be strong on the journey ahead and please Lord, let there be a waterfall in the valley! Amen!”

  I can only marvel at this sweet and kind girl, her eyes sparkling with delight as she stuffs almost half of her potato into her mouth. I shake my head at her and see Beck looking at us from over her head. The sadness is gone from his eyes and has been replaced by gratitude. I know it’s for Glo and I also know she’s made a fan for life. That’s a good thing bec
ause I think it will take both of us to see this precious girl through what’s ahead.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Boyd Baker kicks a dent in the door of the dune buggy as he roars out his frustration. After a long day riding in this death machine exposed to the harsh sun, fighting motion sickness the whole way, they still haven’t caught up with his prey. Now the machine is dead in the middle of the desert with no charge. He shoves away from it, spins to look out into the wastes and feels the ground sway underneath him as his body works to acclimatize itself to no longer moving.

  “Easy there, Boss! We need this thing to get back home. If you bash it too much, we’ll be walking back!” Marco cautions.

  Boyd spins back to face him with a glare. “Fine! How long until it’s ready to move again?” He asks through gritted teeth.

  Marco shoots a nervous glance at Pete before answering. “Uh, we had it pegged at full speed for most of the trip so we used the entire charge up. It’ll take at least a few hours to power back up.” He looks at the lowering sun and hesitantly finishes with, “We’re probably done for the day.”

  Boyd scowls at his men but knows they aren’t to blame. His brother and the girl are. They’re the reason he’s stuck out here. He pushes the burning anger down with a deep breath.

  “How far have we come?”

  Marco leans into the buggy and checks the odometer. “Looks like one hundred and eighteen miles.”

  Boyd nods in annoyance. “We should have caught up to them by now! How fast could the two of them be pumping that thing?”

  Pete answers this time. “I guess it depends if they went all night. I doubt they would have, too hard on the body to keep that up. They’re probably just a few miles further up the track. We’ll catch up to them in the morning, Boss.”

  Boyd looks down the tracks and imagines his prey being that close. He’s frustrated but knowing tomorrow will bring his revenge settles him down.