Traveling through the desert

"Why's it so hot here!?" Madoka complained as she strolled out on to the balcony.

"Just stay inside. Ugh, I hate this place," Emeri groaned as she looked at her phone.

"What's wrong?" Serika asked.

"All outbound flights are cancelled. That means we'll have to go to another airport if we wanna get out of here."

"And where's that?"

"Well, we've got a few options, but the big problem is finding a flight that will get us out of American airspace in the direction we need to go. The problem is Phoenix is the main port for flights like that, and that area's a no go for us with how prominent Thrasher is in the area. The other problem is that some of the nearby airports in the state have also stopped outbound flights."

"Why?"

"I think it has something to do with what Aunite said was going down in DC regarding the Vice President. Remember, Yuma is supposedly his home town."

"Is all outbound traffic closed?" asked Yuni.

"Hmm... Looks like both the International border and state border are closed as well. This isn't good. We might get boxed in."

"What about the river?" Madoka asked.

"It flows south, but I'm positive they'd be monitoring the river. Our best bet might be to take a risk a cut northeast before cutting back west and heading north to Las Vegas, Nevada."

"Yay! Now I'll get to gamble! I didn't get to last time on the cruise ship."

"No you idiot! We're probably going there for the airport right?" Serika asked.

"Correct. As for the odd route we'll take to get there, This is because I imagine this entire county's locked down, except to the northeast. That's the county where Thrasher reigns supreme, however, the bordering area appears to be barren desert. We can then take that thin corridor up and then go west to cross into the county directly north of us. That way we bypass any potential roadblocks from going directly north. I also don't see anything about the interstates being closed in that direction so its safe to assume they probably don't expect the Vice President or possibly us to go north east."

"Well then let's go."

The girls grabbed their stuff and went to a car rental place.

"Good, there doesn't seem to be anything amiss," Emeri muttered.

"[Hey welcome to Cacti Cal's cacti car rentals! Wanna rent?]" a happy salesman asked.

"[Yeah, we wanna go to the Grand Canyon,]" Yuni stated.

"[Even better! I've got a branch there so you can even return the car there if you wanna fky out from there.]"

"[Where else you got branches?]"

"[All over the state, and some in California, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, even Colorado.]"

"[Perfect. Thanks for the info. Give us the best one you got.]"

                                                                             ...

The girls loaded up into the car and drove off.

"We aren't taking any rest stops until we get to the county north of us. So be glad you emptied everything out at the motel cause here we go," Emeri stated.

The girls began driving and hopped on the interstate. After some driving, they crossed into the first county.

"Looking good so far. Let's keep it that way," Serika grumbled.

They then began driving north.

"Slow down a bit! I think I see patrol cars out," Yuni warned.

"They're probably just here on routine business, but it's probably best not to risk it. I'll slow down a bit just in case," Emeri affirmed.

A few hours later, the girls crossed into the second county.

"Well that was good. Now can we please pull over? I gotta go!" Madoka pleaded.

"This is why I told you not to down all those lemonades!" Emeri grumbled.

"But I was hot!"

"Us too, but we just drank water. I'm not going to give you any more of my lemonade either," Serika growled.

                                                                               ...

After a rest stop the girls were back on the road.

"Ugh, it's starting to get dark and we aren't even close yet. How much further?" Yuni asked.

"Shit, we're probably going to have to spend another night. I guess we'll try and get as close as we can," Emeri sighed.

                                                                            ...

The girls ended up stopping at a motel in the middle of the desert.

"Why are we stopping here?" Yuni asked.

"Because it's dark and I don't want to run out of fuel in the dark," Emeri replied.

"Can't you just see how far the nearest fuel station is?"

"I thought we stopped by a fuel station too," Serika chimed.

"Not quite. This one's an all electric. It can only be charged at specific places. Plus it takes hours to charge it. In other words, it's not ideal for getting out of this place quickly," Emeri sighed.

"But that guy never said it was electric," Yuni stated.

"Yeah, plus it looked like a standard car, but when I popped the tab at the fuel station, I saw it was electric. Since we've been taking the more remote paths, there are less charging stations. There should be one in the next major town, but we might not make it before we run out. Luckily, this place appears to be fairly modern and has a charging station, but as mentioned, it will take hours to charge so we might as well spend the night."

As the girls entered, they saw an old man with a white beard dressed like a 19th century miner manning the counter.

"[Room for 4 please. Just for tonight]" Yuni asked.

The man nodded and tapped on a paper on the desk.

"Looks like we just gotta put down $100 and we're good for the stay. Checkout can be at any time."

"Good thing I was able to get some dollars," Emeri said as she placed five 20 dollar bills on the counter.

The old man held each bill up to the light before nodding and placing a numbered room key on the counter.

                                                                             ...

"This place sure has a rustic feel. it looks modern, but it feels kind of low tier," Yuni stated as she gazed around the room.

It was a room with a single bed and bathroom on the second floor of the building.

"The old man seemed fine, but this place just puts me on edge," Madoka stated.

"How long will that damn thing take to charge?" Serika asked.

"Two to three hours," Emeri replied.

"Then take a nap. We'll wake you up in 3 hours then bolt. As long as you're rested we can just snooze in the car."

"Not a bad idea. If Mado-chan says this place is sketchy it's probably best to get out of here quickly. Alright, though I think you should rest too. It'd be better to have two of us fully rested than one."

Emeri and Serika leapt onto the bed after they finished inspecting it and dozed off.

"Guess we're on guard duty then," Yuni smiled.