"Don't they ever wash their clothes?" Kat asked as she pulled on a smelly tweed jacket. "And don't they get hot in all these jackets?" Sora adjusted a newsboy cap on her head. "We have to blend in, so just shut up and put those boots on." "Where are we going to get food?" Kat slipped her feet into the big steel-toed boots and tied them tight. "Gah, I look like a hobo." Sora was busy thinking about the food. "Well, I have some Hawaiian Sweet Bread in my bag, but my Gatorade Propel is almost out. That's all I have." The two girls got up and quickly left the tower (Sora being careful not to run into the wall again) and they didn't stop until they were at least a half mile away. Once there, they fell against a rock, gasping for breath. "It's too ... hot ... out here," Kat panted. Sora got up. "Come on, we have to get farther away before the Plastic Surgery Victims come looking for us." She grabbed Kat's hand and dragged her down the road. The alarms went off as soon as they crossed a bridge. "Quick, hide!" Kat jumped down the bank, splashing in the mud stream, and climbed in the shadows underneath the bridge. Sora followed her, and they sat there, trying to be very quiet, although they were both gasping for air. They heard wheels thunder over the bridge. The Plastic Surgery Victims must be in their vans, looking for the girls. A couple minutes later, they climbed up the slope and each had a drink of Sora's Propel. Now it was gone. "Do you have to take such big gulps?!" Sora yelled. "We could've saved that for another hour yet!" Kat shrugged her off. "Let's just find our way to Battle Mountain." She looked to her left. "I can still see the Interstate. Let's follow it." They started walking west, but the sun was high, the sand was hard and rocky, and they were extremely thirsty. Pretty soon, Kat tripped and fell over. Sora came over to her and sat down. "I'd guess we've only gone two miles at the most," she said, wiping sweat from her forehead. Kat rolled onto her back and threw her arm over her eyes. "I am wearing too many smelly clothes. I'm serious; I can't walk with all these." "You have to wear the boots. We don't have any other shoes." "Fine." Kat sat up and threw off the musty jacket. Then she took off a ratty sweater, leaving on a button-down that used to be clean and crisp. "How can Nevada be so hot in January?" She picked up the beanie hat she was wearing before and shoved it on her head. "I don't suppose I brought suntan lotion?" wondered Sora, looking through her backpack, even though she knew she didn't. She threw her bag aside and lay down in the hot sand. After a couple minutes, Sora sat up again. "Why are we laying here?" she said, getting to her feet. "There are Plastic Surgery Victims looking for us. Come on. I think we should get farther away from the Interstate." She pulled Kat up and they headed farther north of the Interstate, into a shallow ravine. "And this is your idea of a good idea?" mocked Kat as she stumbled on the loose rocks. "Do you have a better one?" After two hours, it seemed as if they had gotten nowhere. They were still following the ravine, but the Interstate wasn't in view anymore, and they had no idea if they were even going the right way. Kat collapsed on the rocks. She took off the beanie and pushed her hair back. "It's too hot to go any further," she said. Sora sat down beside her and leaned against the ravine wall. The sky was bright, and no clouds were in sight. "Hey, look. There's a cloud." Kat shielded her eyes from the sun to get a better look. "Maybe it will rain." "Or at least give us some shade." "Come on leetle cloud; you can do eet." Kat sighed and put her beanie back on. "How far do you suppose we went?" "Well, normally, a person can walk about 4 miles an hour. But we've been going very slow, and it's hot, and we stopped a couple times, so I'd say we've gone ... 4 miles." "And how far is it to Battle Mountain?" Sora stood up and peeked over the edge of the ravine. "If I had to guess, I'd say it's at least 200 miles." Kat jumped up. "200 miles?!" "I'm sure. And we've gone a little northwards, I think, so we should get back to the Interstate." "Where's a vehicle when you need one?" It was dark when the girls finally decided to stop again and sleep. They found a nice, fat cactus to hide behind and sat down. "Kat, you should sleep first," said Sora. "I'll keep watch." "OK whatever." Kat lay down and was immediately fast asleep. Sora sat cross-legged beside the cactus and gazed south, looking for something to concentrate on so she wouldn't fall asleep. There was nothing. No lights, no mountains or plateaus, only stars. Sora looked up and started counting them. She got bored with that, but kept counting. At about 1134, she stopped and leaned against the cactus, her eyelids feeling heavy. "Ow!" Sora rubbed her shoulder. She looked up at the cactus. Cacti were thick-skinned and had prickers to keep the water in. If only they had something to cut through the cactus ... Sora looked at the Red Hot Chili Peppers lighter doubtfully. Could you burn through a cactus? She didn't think so. She laid down beside Kat and tried to sleep. There's no way we can do this on foot, she thought, right before sleep overcame her. Matt looked behind him again. It was still strange. The Potato Farmers looked at least 100 years old, but they could stand up straight, walk briskly, bore holes into you with their eyes, and drive their Ford pickups through the snow with the skill and ease of a 38-year-old trucker. "Watch the road!" TK yelled from the bitch seat. Matt looked forward and saw that he had drifted close the the shoulder, where the snow drifts threatened to creep on the road. He veered to the left and looked at the horizon. The sky was already getting dark. Something loomed up in front of them. Tai slowed to a stop right in front of a huge snow drift blocking the road. Trent came up beside him. "Oh, that's nice," he said, looking back at the Potato Farmers. The Head Potato Farmer (lovingly nicknamed "Spud" by Matt) shook his head. "Bulldozing snow is not in our contract." "We don't really have a contract," said Tai. "Do you want us to fight in the war or mow snow?" The Cowboys got the hint and hopped off their bikes to help Tai, Matt, and TK clear a path through the snow. It didn't help that the wind had picked up and night had fallen. Very late that night, Tai decided to give up. They had only cleared a narrow path in the snow, and it didn't even reach to the other side yet. He turned to Trent. "What do we do now? We don't have a place to sleep." Trent watched the Cowboys clearing snow. "The path is wide enough for the bikes. We could just keep at it until we've broken through." "What about the Potato Farmers?" "Well ... they can just plow through." A voice yelled from inside the snow. "We're through!" Tai and Trent looked into the path. They could see a couple figures at the end, waving their hands excitedly. Tai looked back at the Potato Farmers. They did have 4-wheel drive; maybe they could plow through. He went over to the Head Potato Farmer. "Is that the best you can do?" Spud mocked. "Hey, it's cold out here." Tai was starting to get annoyed at the Potato Farmers' attitudes. "We were just wondering if your pickups could just plow through it." "And what if they can't?" "Well ... "Tai never really thought of that. "Well, maybe we'll have to stay up all night clearing snow." "That was probably a good answer." Tai was flabbergasted. "What? You're not going to help at all?" "Nope." He went back over to Trent. "We're gonna see if they can plow through." "Shouldn't the bikes go first?" "Normally, I'd say 'yes,' but in this case, we have a very un-helpful Head Potato Farmer." "Damn that Spud," said Matt, coming up to them. "Don't call him that." "Why not?" "'Cause he gets mad easily." Tai turned and yelled at the Cowboys and TK to get out of the tunnel, then he beckoned Spud to drive through. The pickup started off slow, then didn't pick up speed. It slammed into the snow drift at a heart-racing 2 miles per hour. "What's he doing?" wondered TK. "It's stuck!" Spud yelled at Tai. "Hoo boy." Tai went over to him. "You really should try going a little faster." "And you really should try making this path a little wider." "Fine!" he yelled, throwing his hands in the air. "Have it your way!" Spud backed off the truck, and Tai, Matt, TK, and the Cowboys started widening the path, none too happy about it. "Maybe this is why they call it Dead Man's Lane," TK said to Matt. "You freeze your nads off listening to Spuds complain." Matt looked up. "What if this drift should suddenly decide to fall down on us? It's at least 15 feet high." "I just wouldn't be surprised if I found a nicely preserved corpse in here." Tai came over to them. "Just shut up." "Why?" "Because I'm already pissed off and tired, and you're not helping." TK yawned. "Yeah, really. What time do you suppose it is?" Matt took out his cell phone. "In New York time, it's 5:44 in the morning. Which means it's ... " He tried to figure it out. "Are we in Mountain Time of Pacific?" Tai hit the phone out of Matt's hand. "Just move the snow." A couple hours later, the path was widened to twice its width and Tai told Spud to try it again. He did, again going 2 miles per hour, but the pickup managed, brushing snow off the walls. After all the pickups were through (which took about 2 hours in itself), the Cowboys walked their bikes through the snow tunnel (the trucks had brushed snow onto the ground, making it hard to drive). Tai, Matt, and TK came out the other side just as the sun finished rising. The road still went on for miles, with not a town or a place to sleep in sight. |
| The Return of the Gov'na part four |
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