and Rudy stood upright, speechless as he stared at her dark, thin frame. The undershirt and underwear did a flimsy job at hiding her private parts, and he swallowed hard, unable to turn away. Coraset didn’t have time to be shy or to set him straight. She started for the road.
“What are you going to do?” Rudy managed to ask.
“Stay out here, out of sight, Rudy. Don’t move until I tell you. You understand?”
He looked at her weird, not really sure what was going on.
“Tell me you understand, Rudy.”
“I understand.”
Coraset continued towards the road. The car was moving in quickly. She looked to Rudy and pointed to the ground.
“Stay out of sight!” She yelled back at him.
Rudy did as he was told. She made sure that he was down before turning her back to the approaching car. She hid the gun with her body as she waited.
A black four door sedan came to a screeching halt. A man in a prison guard uniform stepped out. He didn’t understand why a half-naked woman would be in the middle of the road. He called to her, but Coraset didn’t answer. The man turned around where he stood, not really sure what to do. He stepped away from his car.
“Hey,” he called with uncertainty. “Are you okay?”
Coraset waited patiently for him to get closer. The man would stop and call to her every other step. When he finally reached her, Coraset turned towards him in a quick motion and pointed the gun at him.
The man was startled and threw his hands up. Her aim was dead on his chest.
“Rudy,” she called.
He was already halfway on his feet. He grabbed both of their bags, and he started running towards Coraset.
“Get in the car,” she ordered.
Coraset rushed to the driver’s side of the vehicle, opened the door, and immediately got in. The man kept his hands up.
She turned the car around and floored it towards Baker or rather what was left of it. She kept looking in the rearview mirror, the fear of someone tailing them overbearing her mind, but there was no sign. The drive would be an hour and a half long, and she wasn’t going to slow down for a second.
Shifting in his seat, Rudy tried to stand slightly, reaching under himself to find a cellphone. Spotting it out of the corner of her eye, Coraset reached over, snatched it from his outstretched hand and turned it on. As the dial tone resounded throughout the speeding vehicle, she smirked. Dialing in an all too familiar number, she shouldered the electronic device and waited, eyes still focused on the road stretching out like an endless ribbon before her. A busy signal sounded off, and with a groan of frustration, she dropped the phone in her hand to shut it off.
“Who were you trying to call?”
“Our ride to Erato. He should be going through Baker in a couple of hours.”
“Text him,” Rudy suggested.
“Good idea.” Coraset remarked as she immediately opened the phone again. She handed it back to Rudy and told him to recall the last number dialed. “Type in Baker at 9:30 a.m., 7772.”
Rudy did as she said and asked, “Do you think this person will answer the text?”
“Oh yeah,” Coraset said with confidence.
He held on to the phone with both hands, and a few minutes later, a text appeared on the illuminated screen. Rudy read the message back to Coraset.
‘85234, old Baker at 10:00 a.m.’
She smiled and nodded with confidence. They were set.
Rudy looked at the phone, thinking about his sister. He wanted to reach out to Alice, but he wasn’t sure if he should. Rudy was concerned about the man they stole the car from. Would the police track the phone to find them? A fear overtook Rudy, and he quickly turned it off
CHAPTER SEVEN
After what seemed like an endless drive, they stopped just before old Baker. They slowly and as casually as possible, walked towards the highway. Rudy lingered behind. His eyes gaped tiredly at the surrounding dilapidated stucco homes. He wanted so much to be back in Barat. He didn’t like the desert anymore. He was tired of it. Nothing seemed to exist. He wanted his life back. He wanted to see his sister again.
Rudy rushed to catch up with Coraset and asked her, “Who are we meeting?”
“His name is Getty.”
“Are you sure he’ll meet us here? This town looks like there hasn’t been anyone here since the outbreak.”
“There’s a gas station near the highway where we’re going to meet him.”
“Do you think the police will be looking for us?”
“I hope not, Rudy.”
They arrived at the gas station, only to find an attendant sitting in a small booth. He was leaning back in his chair against the wall with his mouth wide open and sleeping. Coraset and Rudy kept out of view by sitting under an awning at a nearby hoary general store.
It was another thirty minutes before Getty drove into the gas station in his truck. Erato Federation in big bold cursive lettering was sprawled on each side of the long white trailer. Getty exited the cabin, and Coraset swiftly walked over to him with Rudy in tow.
Getty was really plump with an unshaven, ratty, grey beard littered with the crumbs of past meals. Large blue green eyes twinkled with a sort of joy that Rudy had pictured on a certain jolly elf in red from his childhood.
“Cora,” the big man cheered, arms spread wide as he swept her up in a hug, causing Rudy to snicker in amusement.
“Coraset…” she grounded out in half-hearted annoyance. The man was far too cheery for her to ever stay mad at for long, and besides that, she was too tired to even put forth the effort.
Getty released a long, hearty laugh, dropping Coraset onto her feet and reached out his hand to Rudy. “My name is Getty Solomon, and you are?”
“Rudy Remald,” he said as he gripped Getty’s thick, calloused hands.
“Good to meet you, Rudy.” Getty turned quickly to Coraset, pointed to Rudy with his free hand and asked, “New boyfriend?”
“No,” Coraset and Rudy said at the same time.
“It’ll take time, son. You’ll be with her soon enough.” He said as he threw an arm around Coraset.
Rudy looked at Coraset, and she shook her head as she grabbed the bridge of her nose.
“Getty, can we get going, please?” She asked impatiently.
Motioning for the two to follow, he hastily walked towards the cab of the truck. The two entered Getty’s vehicle first and moved over so he could take his seat at the steering wheel. He shifted and turned to find his comfort, and then he buckled in.
“Alright, I hope you’re ready for a haul?”
“You are headed to Barat, right, Getty?” Rudy asked inquisitively as he crawled in the back area of the cab.
“Yes, sirree! I drive a load to Las Vegas at night, and in the morning, I take another load back to Barat.”
Getty shifted his way out of the gas station and unto the empty highway. The truck’s slow roll began its steady ascension to 70 miles per hour. Coraset watched as the landscape sped by in a mixture of yellows and reds.
