Dial Tone

[Namira]

Car Guy asked Javi to make a call as soon as he could.

He wasn't going to make any calls passed out from exhaustion, so he stood still and let himself drop. First time since he couldn't remember when, he wasn't moving forward.

Javi hated it. His brain kept screaming that if he didn't go go go then within a few minutes, that hunting car would come roaring over the horizon and run him down before he could react. but he hadn't seen it in hours. all day, even. If they were coming this way then there'd have been some sign of them by now, and he had to rest, had to. Keep pushing himself and he was going to fall apart. The haze sat so heavy in his head that it felt like he could puke at any second, if he didn't crumple like tinfoil first. Besides, now the pursuers would run into Car Guy before they reached Javi, wouldn't they?

He really wished Car Guy hadn't left. He'd known things about all of this, could have torn away some of the mystery. Could have drove them both away instead of leaving Javi here and racing off to the compound for himself. but Javi couldn't do anything about that. couldn't have done anything about that. Everyone else alive was still back there, and they couldn't have all died in the space of time that Javi had been walking. If Car Guy knew what he seemed to know and had the gear and the gift then who the hell was Javi to tell him not to go? hadn't he thought earlier about the chance that he had and the others didn't? Javi didn't need to say anything about what was going on, but he did anyway. Would've been fucked up not to.

Javi knew that. He did. He just—

Being alone out here sucked. and it was selfish to feel like that. but it still sucked.

That wasn't everything. Cause there was the other side of all this, which was Javi could have gone along too. Sure he was tired as shit, but steering Car Guy in the right direction wasn't beyond him. There was a lot more info he knew that he hadn't got the chance to say, and any part of it would have boosted the chances of Car Guy busting the survivors out. That was the hero move. Javi riding along with Car Guy and helping him save the day. Hey, didn't abandon you all. Found help as fast as I could and came straight back with the cavalry.

Yeah. Okay.

Javi spent the night wrapped up in his sleeping bag, trying to rest. He figured that he would have trouble getting any kind of sleep, but it came much easier than he thought. Probably something to do with the whole, walked for a day and a night thing.

Not that he woke up feeling rested. at all. Javi's eyes opened and he thrashed around, arms and legs confined by his sides. Who, where, what—

He was alright. It was alright. Nobody here. Inside the sleeping bag, that was all.

Javi slid himself out of the sleeping bag and stood, brushing himself down. Still dark. He checked the cell phone Car Guy left him. 4:03. Yeah. Okay. Fine. He wasn't gonna sleep again anyhow. Might as well get started early. East, Car Guy said. Javi looked over the compass, and then turned in the right direction. Alright. His legs ached worse than before, but he could handle it, and better for being off his feet for a few hours. He'd eat on the move.

He set off. Every once in a while, he'd check the phone, hold it up in the air to try and get some bars. Try a call anyway. Move on.

Javi let himself rise, bit by bit. Higher was a better shot at a signal, he thought.

Check, raise, call.

The phone droned nothing into his ear.

[Namira]

"Hello?

"Hey, can you hear me? You can hear me, right? You can—fuck!

"Fuck.

"Okay, Javi, okay. Try again. Just try again.

"Hey! Can you hear me?

"Yes! Okay, okay. Police. Ambulance.

"There was—some people attacked my class trip. A, a lot of us are dead. Some of us are like, hostage.

"I got out. My Gift. Please you need to send everyone you can.

"I'm—I'm not sure exactly where. Out in the desert. I only just got signal—hello? Hello!?

"Okay, fuck. Sorry. You broke up. I thought I lost you. Please come quick, the longer you take the... the more people are going to die.

"Thank you, fuck thank you.

"Yeah. I'll hold on."

[Namira]

It was an hour and a half before Javi saw anyone. First, the kick of a dust cloud on the horizon, and then the far-off figure of a car. Javi went completely rigid, stock still in his midair vantage. This was it. He was caught.

"Javi, are you still with me?"

He'd kept on the phone with the operator. Lillian was her name. He realised after a moment that it was the second time she'd spoken. Maybe the third.

"Y-yeah."

"Is everything alright? You sound as if you're hyperventilating."

"I'm..." Javi stopped. His breathing was out of control, hammers pounding his chest moment after moment. "I-I see a car."

"We sent a patrol car and an ambulance. They should be quite close to you by now."

A grip was around Javi's throat and squeezing. He touched the collar, white knuckled, wishing he could wrench the thing clean off. This woman could be in on the whole thing. The car could be coming to grab him up again. Or maybe this whole escape had been a trick from the start, and the group were just experimenting, seeing how he would react if they strung him along and then snatched him back at the last second. Up, up, he needed to get higher up—

Beyond the car, Javi's eyes focused on another vehicle. Ambulance.

He choked out a sob of relief.

By the time the paramedics arrived on the scene, Javi was nearly at ground level.

((continued in the King High))