Crossroads

“CQ, CQ, CQ, this is November Zero Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Mobile. Is anyone out there?”

Grey waited for a response in the passenger’s seat. After a brief lesson in ham radio basics from Jordan, Grey had been trying to establish contact with anyone she could. She’d been flipping through frequencies on and off for the better part of an hour.

They had stopped at a trucker stop to fill up on gas. Jordan was leaning against the side of the car, counting the remaining bills of what Frank had left her. She hadn’t said a word since they’d left Bolloron behind.

Karen had noticed. She handed her daughter a candy bar. “You still like peanut butter and chocolate?” Jordan numbly took it out of her hands and began nibbling on it. “You know I’ll always love you, right?”

Jordan took a larger bite of the bar. Her mind was stuck on those who weren’t with her. “Why did I have to be a ‘good girl’? Why couldn’t they want me for me? It’s not fair.”

“Life isn’t fair,” said Karen. “I can’t help but think a little of it is my fault. Maybe if I’d stood up to your father and grandmother. Or if I’d done something differently with Blake.” She pulled out a small bottle of soda and took a small sip. “That’s going to haunt me for the rest of my days. But we don’t have to let them define who we are anymore.”

Jordan got halfway through her candy bar before the gas tank was full. With a practiced motion she put the pump back.

She looked around the stop. Most of the other truckers had gone to sleep for the night, but a few were still loitering about. Jordan’s sense of trust had been broken. Were they all who they looked to be? Were they going to tell the Party where they were?

Was there anywhere left that they could be safe?

Jordan and Karen got back into the car, with Jordan letting out a long and exasperated sigh. The adrenaline of their escape had long left her body. Now her eyes were drooping, her shoulder screaming. All she wanted to do was rest.

Grey took Jordan’s hand and squeezed. “DeVon says we need to go north. His father’s got a lakeside house about three hours from here. We can crash there until he’s got the next place lined up for us.” She squeezed a second time. “I’m about to switch channels to talk to other branches of their network. You want to say anything?”

“No.” Jordan shook her head. She reached back and took an unopened bottle of soda known for its caffeine from her mother before chugging half of it down in one go. “I need to focus on the drive ahead.”

“Ok.” Grey kissed Jordan on the cheek. “Let me know if you want to talk, ok?”

Jordan nodded and started the car.

Grey switched channels on the ham radio and went over the introduction again. “This is November Zero Whiskey Tango Foxtrot Mobile. Bolloron is gone. Do not send anyone to Bolloron. Any assistance you can render to those who’ve escaped in the coming days is appreciated.”

She paused in thought, watching the gas station slowly start to be left behind. Grey thought back to her escape from her hometown. What she wished someone had told her before everything kicked off.

“Tell anyone you can. Anyone who will listen. They are coming. Their smiles, their honeyed lies, they will be the death of us. Everyone is in danger. Maybe they can’t see it yet, that’s why you have to help them see. Before it’s too late. Everyone who doesn’t fit, everyone who doesn't toe the line. Your friends, your family, they’re all in danger. They'll be sacrificed on the altar of a past that never existed. For a future that will never come.”

Jordan focused on the road ahead, occasionally telling Grey how to disassemble the ham radio before letting her nod off for the next hour or so. That left her alone with her own thoughts.

Bolloron. Green Pines. Her family. All she had left of them were her memories and the truth. In a strange way, she missed those simpler times. But she couldn’t live for the that simple past. It would only kill her future.

She twisted the radio dial, trying to find some music to put on. But instead, she settled on a news station covering the night’s events.

----

The sound of a helicopter’s whirling blades thumped behind the reporter’s words.

“…chaos. No signs of emergency services being activated at all, no statement from the mayor’s office. No calls are getting through. It’s like we’re watching a town die in real time.”

A second reporter, a woman, piped in. “We had a caller tell us earlier that this isn’t the first time we’ve seen something like this. Do we know how if state officials have any idea how to prevent this from happening again?”

“We don’t know,” the male reporter replied. “The governor’s office has put out a statement claiming that he’s considering deploying the National Guard to ‘communities at risk’ to ‘maintain law and order’. Which communities those are is unclear at this time.”

“Alright. We’ll keep everyone informed as this breaking news continues to develop.”