Hunger (Gone 2)

Then, too, there were the coyotes. Edilio kept an eye out for them.

They were closing in on the hills. There was the fold formed by a spur, just like Caine had shown on the map he’d drawn for Bug.

There was a bad look about the place. The shadows seemed deeper than they should be for the middle of the day.

“I’m not crazy about this,” he said to no one.

“Do you have family?” Orsay asked.

The question surprised Edilio. People tended to avoid talking about family. No one knew what had happened to the families. “Sure.”

“When I’m scared I try to think about my dad,” Orsay said.

“Not me,” Bug said.

“Not your mom?” Edilio asked.

“No.”

“Because me, I think about my mom. In my mind, you know, she’s like beautiful. I mean, I don’t know if she was…is…in reality? Right? But in here,” Edilio tapped his head. “In here she’s beautiful.” He tapped his chest. “In here, too.”

They rounded the end of the rocky spur and there, in pitiless sunlight, a ghost town lay revealed.

Edilio put on the brakes.

“That look like what Caine told you?” he asked Bug.

Bug nodded.

“Okay.”

“Caine said go through the town. Past a building that’s still standing. Up a path. Mine shaft.”

“Uh-huh,” Edilio said. He knew what he was supposed to do. But he didn’t like it. Not at all. Less, now that he was here. He was not a superstitious person, at least he didn’t think so, but there was something very wrong about this ghost town.

He put the Jeep into gear and crept ahead, no more than ten miles an hour. The last thing he wanted to do was have to figure out how to change a tire.

“I don’t like this place,” Orsay said.

“Yeah. Let’s not go here for spring break,” Edilio said.

Through the town.

Past the ramshackle building.

The path was narrow, but the Jeep managed it at a crawl.

“Stop!” Orsay cried.

Edilio slammed on the brakes. They came to rest beside a high outcropping of rock. If this had been an old Western, Edilio thought, this is where the ambush would take place.

He lifted the gun. It was a reassuring weight in his hand. He checked to make sure it was cocked. Thumb on the safety. Finger resting on the trigger guard, just like he taught his recruits.

He listened but didn’t hear anything.

“Why did we stop?” Edilio asked Orsay.

“Close enough,” she whispered. “I…”