The two-lane road stretched wearily into the distance, riddled with ruts, cracks, and poorly filled potholes. Only the faintest hint of lines remained to mark each lane.
There was nothing as far as they could see that resembled a hotel or a motel. Maybe there was someone who had a room they could rent for the night.
All in all, not a lot of options.
Of course, the fact that there was no one out on the sidewalk or going in and out of the stores didn’t help the town’s creepiness. A car pulled out of the gas station and slowly drove past them with the driver giving them a thorough inspection before turning down one of the two dirt roads that led to a residential area.
They stood at the edge of Caspagir, in a town the world seemed to have forgotten. Did they know that on the other side of the kingdom one of their ports had been attacked? Or were they more concerned with what crawled out of the Ordas at night?
“Where should we start?” Drayce asked. He stood in the middle of the sidewalk and turned one way and then the other. “Grab some grub?”
“I think we may be better served stopping in the general store for some supplies and visiting the mechanic to see if he has any cheap transportation that we can take off his hands,” Rayne suggested. “Either one could have a lead on a potential place to stay for the night. We can see to food afterward. At the very least, we still have our own supplies.”
“Come on…” Drayce whined. With shoulders slumped, he flapped his hands once to his sides and waved them in the direction of the white-and-silver building that resembled a diner from a long-lost era. “But it’s a diner and I smell grease. Where there’s grease, there are fried potatoes.”
Caelan chuckled and turned with Rayne toward the general store. It was in a two-story building. The exterior had been painted yellow a couple of decades ago, and it was now faded from dirt and sun so that it was now a watery white-yellow. A few signs decorated the front windows, advertising tools and a facial cream that had all been new at least twenty years earlier. It did not give him high hopes.
But appearances could be deceiving.
Caelan sucked in a hard breath when they walked in the doors. A little bell jingled, announcing their arrival, but he barely noticed. The interior of the store was shiny and filled with the latest tech, foods, and everyday supplies. It had all the same supplies that he might find in any store in Stormbreak, but that didn’t make any sense considering they were out in the middle of freaking nowhere on the edge of the Caspagir border.
“What the hell…” Drayce said slowly. His mouth hung open as he turned in place, examining over everything that surrounded them. The store wasn’t more than a few aisles, but it had an overload of stuff filling the shelves straight to the ceiling.
“This is unexpected,” Rayne agreed carefully.
“At least we know that we’re going to find what we’re seeking here,” Eno muttered.
“Hey, boys!” a woman’s voice from deeper within the store called.
Caelan led the way through the maze of food, clothing, and even a shelf filled with paperback romance novels to a square counter with an old-fashioned cash register on the top. The woman behind the register appeared to be in her midthirties with bright-orange hair that was piled into a messy bun on the top of her head. Her T-shirt advertised for Andy’s Savage Sundries in a mix of neon green and yellow bright enough to hurt Caelan’s eyes.
“You boys ain’t from around here,” she observed. Her tone was friendly, but there was a caution in her eyes that made Caelan hesitant. She wasn’t going to be the only one who was suspicious of their sudden appearance. There couldn’t be a lot of other towns in the area, and probably not within easy walking distance. It wasn’t like they could admit to coming out of the Ordas or they’d risk getting a shotgun to the face.
“Yes, we were part of the supply train from Erya, but there was a problem on the tracks. We hopped off this morning and walked here,” Rayne quickly replied with a kind smile. Caelan had to hand it to him. It wasn’t all that far from the truth. At least Rayne had been smart enough to think of an explanation to give people.
The woman’s mouth fell open and her brown eyes widened with shock. “Whoo! Now there’s a hike! Have any problems?”
“Nothing too difficult,” Eno answered.
“We’re hoping to stock up on a few supplies before we continue on our journey,” Rayne added.
She chuckled and waved both hands around her toward the narrow rows of shelves. “Well, we’ve got what you’re looking for, I guarantee it.”