Chapter 7
Jesse
The sun is disappearing quickly over the Colorado horizon in front of me.
I can’t help but gaze into the orange mass as I change into a cleaner t-shirt.
I’ve made my way through this week and with tonight’s travel, I should make it into Utah.
I have another week of traveling to go but getting closer to finding the girl in the picture fills me with anxiety and fear.
I’ve been going all of these months with the sole purpose of finding her.
I’ve followed my parent’s instructions exactly.
I know it will be my job to keep her safe once I find her, but what else?
I’m relying on her to have the answers as to what to do next.
The real unknown is what truly scares me.
As I get closer to Utah, and the larger city of Salt Lake, I feel the anxiety creeping up in my chest. It makes me feel confused.
I know I’m walking on foot, but I feel like I’m on a speeding train headed straight into a wall.
I think about speeding up my travel and as I close the distance to Salt Lake, I think I should be able to find transportation.
When I passed through Denver, I heard rumors that a few major cities were starting to become more civilized.
Salt Lake City was rumored to be the leader of this movement.
I heard that they have started a free trading system for goods, have clean water and food readily available at a price.
I couldn’t help but smile to myself at the thought of a good meal.
I’m really tired of eating nuts and berries and killing small animals that I randomly come across in the woods.
I regret not rationing the food my parents supplied me with in those first few weeks.
They had given me a two-month supply, and I blew through it in a month.
Hopefully those rumors are true because I’ve got my hopes up on finding some good chow.
Besides my mystery girl, food is always the other thing on my mind.
Oh… water. Of course. Water is always on my mind.
I’ve got my gear packed and loaded up on my back.
The last remnants of the sun have faded out, and the stars are visible in the sky.
I dampen the fire I had for my food and make sure that it’s completely out.
It’s time for me to start moving and make my way into Utah.
I found out about this trail right outside of Denver after some major haggling.
I had to give up some flashlight batteries to find out the easiest way through this rocky, mountainous region.
I must have gone back and forth with the local guy for half an hour.
I had to dig through my bag until we found something he would trade the information for.
I didn’t have a choice though. I’m no expert at climbing, and the terrain in this area is almost all rough rock and canyons.
If I wasn’t in the position that I am, I’d stay here longer.
The days have been extremely hot but dry, and the nights have been cooler to walk through.
The land seems peaceful, and that’s been in a nice change since this whole mess began.
I’ve started down the path that I paid for, and it’s taking my full concentration.
When my mind starts to wander, I find myself being startled back into reality with my feet slipping on the rocks beneath them.
It’s a steep climb down and as I take my time with my foot holds, I begin to lose track of the time.
It’s taking me a long time to climb down.
I don’t realize how much time has passed until I make it to the bottom of my descent, and I’m on flat land again.
I realize only then that it’s taken me almost all night to make it down the mountain and inside the border of Utah.
If that was the easiest path, then my trade was a good one.
I’m covered in dirt sticking to my arms from the sweat.
For an inexperienced rock climber, it sure has been hard.
Thankfully, I’m in excellent physical condition.
The color of the ground below my feet surprises me since I’ve only ever seen it in photos.
I reach down and touch the orange dirt and quickly brush it off my hands.
It’s almost clay-like and smears in my hand to leave a stain.
I keep walking forward and realize that I’ve climbed straight down into a canyon, and the only way to continue on this path is to climb up and out on the other side.
I walk for a few minutes and reach the far side of the canyon.
I start to look for places that I can grip with my hands and feet to make my way up.
I’ve just placed my right foot on the rock and go to push myself up when a man’s voice booms out behind me.
The echo bounces off the canyon walls and stills me.
I slowly take my foot down off the rock and turn around to face the man.
When I turn around, there isn’t just one man standing with me in the canyon, there are four standing about 300 feet away from me.
The men are holding weapons pointed and drawn directly at me. This can’t be anything good.
I stand still with my hands up in the air.
I try to remain calm as they walk toward me.
My heart is beating so hard, it fills my ears with the blood pumping through me.
They are the hunters, and I am their prey.
As they approach me, I recognize one of the men.
He’s the guy I made the trade with back outside of Denver.
I gave him the batteries for the path information.
That’s when it hits me - this was all one big trap.
The friendly guy, the haggling of the supply for the route…
the guy knew exactly what he was doing. My eyes scan the canyon looking for any way out.
I am completely trapped with only one escape, which is up the rocks behind me.
They’ve baited me, and now I’m at their mercy.
What they don’t realize is I’m not a sheep in a lion’s den. I am the lion.
The men are within a few feet of me when they stop and the tradesman I recognize speaks up.
“That’s him alright,” he says while he nods toward me.
“He’s the one who wanted to know how to get out of town so fast,” he tells his friends.
“He traded me some fancy batteries to find the easiest way out. I got a good look in his bag too”. He points his finger at my bag.
The older, heavy-set man of the group, who is clearly their leader, looks me up and down.
He spits nonchalantly on the ground, and I can see he’s only got about five teeth in his head.
His thick, gray beard holds drops of the spit he just released from his mouth.
I look at him with disgust, and he gauges my reaction.
Before I can speak, he racks his shotgun and says, “The bag.” He advances forward and stops in front of me.
His men move closer to me and nudge the straps of my backpack with one of their guns.
I slowly take the bag off my back and put it on the ground at my feet.
One of his men with dirty hands snatches my bag up and starts digging through it.
I stand there, staring at their fat leader.
He never takes his eyes or his gun off me.
I keep my face calm and silently pray that this idiot going through my bag doesn’t feel around on the bag itself.
My parents didn’t raise a fool, and I’ve got my orange water pills hidden in the lining of the bag. I’ve also got my maps hidden there too.
“All he’s got in here are some dirty clothes, a few batteries, a flashlight and some old wrinkled letter,” one of the men says disgustedly as he pokes through my bag.
He looks back at the guy I had done the trade with a few days ago with pure hatred.
“You drug us out all this way for a few batteries and a flashlight! It’s almost light out, and you’ve wasted our night!
” he screams. “We could have been a part of the gas leak.”
“Quiet.” the leader tells them calmly. “Search him for anything he may have on him,” he tells his men.
They come closer and start patting my body down.
They pull the ID tag out from under my shirt and rip it from my neck.
The pain from the metal cutting my neck hurts, and I instinctively put my hand to my neck that’s slightly bleeding.
One of the men takes the tag over to their leader.
He shines his light onto my tag and reads my information aloud.
“Jesse Foxworth. Dome citizen. 21 years old.” His group of men laugh, and he asks, “You’re a long way from the Dome kid. What are you doing out this way?”
I stare him straight in the eye and reply with a lie, “I haven’t lived in the Dome since I turned 18. I was in Indiana when the disaster happened, and I’m working my way west to start a life in this new world.”
He holds my gaze, and after a few seconds of silence his face tells me he’s pleased with my answer.
He shrugs and says, “I guess some people can start over now. Not in this town though. We’re going to take your valuables, but we’ll leave you the clothes and bag.
Crawl up the canyon wall and keep going straight.
Don’t come back here. Ever! Or we will kill you. ” He never once loses my gaze.
The man searching my bag throws it to the ground.
He stuffs the batteries and flashlight into his own bag.
The black envelope falls out of my bag, spilling the photo of the mystery girl onto the dirt.
He reaches down and pulls the photo off the ground.
His smile is so disgusting and perverted that I have to hold in my urge to rip his throat open.
He looks up at me and asks, “Who’s this one, your girlfriend?
I’d like a go at her. Where are you hiding her?
” He holds up the photo for the others to see.
They’re all laughing and having a good time.
I just stare at him and don’t answer. Their leader quiets them down which is almost a punishment for them.
The pervert throws the photo back to the ground like a playing card and starts to walk away.
Their leader continues to eye me and point his gun at me as they retreat.
I hold my hands up in the air as the men walk away from me.
I wait until I can’t see them in the canyon anymore before I reach down and begin to pick up my things.
I feel my backpack first, and the pills are still in the lining.
These idiots think they stole everything valuable to me, but they have no idea.
I am more than the average loner passing through their dirt town.
I pick up my clothing and shove it back into the bag.
I bend down and dust off the photo of the girl.
The thought of someone hurting her enrages me.
Maybe she’s beginning to grow on me more than I realized.
What did they mean about a gas leak? The only one in that group with any brains is their fat leader.
Those idiots would probably accidently kill each other playing with gas.
Nonetheless, now I’m curious. Is there a person out there letting off gas?