Sugar Coated (24 page)

“We should try to keep walking until about noon,” Jonah said, “By that time it’ll be too hot to keep going.”

Brynn and Ty agreed to this, though Brynn’s legs were screaming with exhaustion. Her muscles twitched angrily every few seconds, not used to so much exertion over such a long period of time. She had a feeling the deep, soft sand wasn’t making their trek any easier, and she added it her list of things she was beginning to hate about the desert.

As the sun rose slowly in the sky, making its way above their heads, Brynn, Ty, and Jonah began rolling up their pant legs and sleeves in an attempt to stop the oppressive heat from getting trapped inside of their clothing.

“Whose idea was the all-black again?” Ty asked, sounding out of breath as they continued through the desert, never losing sight of the train tracks.

Jonah didn’t say anything
, but pointed the accusing finger over his shoulder at Brynn, who shrugged guiltily.

“It seemed like good cover for the night,” she defended.

“It is,” Ty said, almost encouragingly. Almost. “If they didn’t turn into human ovens during the day,” he finished, attempting to fan himself with his hand as they walked.

“Stop doing that—I swear, you’re just fanning hot air at your face. It’s probably making it worse,” Brynn said.

She had attempted to sound lighthearted and joking, but couldn’t muster the strength to put the emotion into her voice so she just came off as annoyed.

“Maybe if I wasn’t wearing a space heater I wouldn’t need to fan myself,” Ty shot back. Brynn could feel one of their fights coming on.

“And that’s our cue to make camp,” Jonah interjected, verbally stepping between the two before they could really get into it.

It took a long time to make camp, all three of them too overheated and thirsty to work very hard. Once inside of the tent Brynn was sorely disappointed by the lack of chill the shade provided. She lay on the floor of the tent with Ty and Jonah laying awkwardly beside her in the sticky confines of the small enclosure.

“I don’t know if it’s worse to be in the direct sunlight or stuck in here in the muggy heat,” Brynn said miserably, sweat drenching her entire body. “It’s like we can’t see the sun, but all of the heat is getting trapped inside.”

“Please stop saying heat,” Ty requested, wiping his hand across his forehead and groaning.

“I’m so thirsty,” Brynn commented, eyeballing the almost empty water bottle attached to her backpack.

“Okay, don’t talk about water either,” Ty said.

“What
can
I talk about, Ty?” Brynn asked in annoyance.

“Really, you shouldn’t be talking about anything because we’re supposed to be sleeping right now,” Jonah said from beside Brynn, his arm draped over his eyes so that only his grinning mouth could be seen.

“Do you really think you’ll be able to fall asleep in this heat?” Brynn asked, running her tongue over her dry lips in an attempt to bring some moisture back into them.

“I can sleep anywhere,” he answered, rolling over onto his side so that his back faced her as if to prove his point.

She sighed deeply at this explanation, finding that she was even becoming annoyed with Jonah. It wasn’t unusual for Brynn and Ty to fight endlessly. It was what they did. But she and Jonah had always gotten along. Even now he was still being his same funny, lighthearted self, but for some reason it was annoying her to no end.

She turned her head to look over at Ty. His eyes were closed
, but she could tell by his ragged breathing that he was using all of his willpower to keep from screaming about how hot and uncomfortable he was. Brynn could feel a massive headache coming on and tried to close her eyes to sleep through it.

Sleep didn’t come easily for any of the three, and when it did it brought its own set
of bizarre dreams. Brynn dreamed of her parents and good memories she’d had with them over the years, but this quickly turned into Orson and Lia running through the white facility the Angel ruled, trying to escape her twisted smile.

“You think your family is safe because you’re so far from home
, Rachel?” the Angel’s voice said to Brynn from somewhere in the dark recesses of her dream. “Don’t worry. If it means getting answers from you, I can always find them.”

Chapter 24: Glimmer

By the time Brynn woke at sunset, her head was throbbing and her clothes were soaked through with sweat. She placed her hand lightly over her face and wiped away a few tears that resided there as a result of her pounding head.

“Are you okay?” Jonah asked, already sitting up in the small tent and packing his things while Ty slept on.

“I feel like my brain is swollen,” Brynn explained, feeling that this was the best way to describe the pain she was currently experiencing.

“That’s the dehydration,” Jonah answered knowingly. “If we don’t find this place tonight we might be in trouble.”

“I think we were in trouble yesterday; now we’re just dying,” Brynn complained, stuffing dehydrated food bars into her backpack and wishing she was in the comfort of her own home so that she could simply ask Charlie for some water. “We’re kind of spoiled in the city aren’t we?” Brynn asked, never realizing before how accustomed she had grown to getting anything she wanted simply by asking for it.

“Just a little,” Jonah replied sarcastically. “But at least we’re excellent askers.”

“So we’ve got that going for us,” Brynn added with a groan.

“You should wake Ty. We need to get going so we can cover some good ground tonight. I refuse to die out here,” Jonah said, sounding as if he were simply refusing to eat his vegetables.

* * *

By the time Brynn, Ty, and Jonah had gotten back on track and were walking to their unseen destination, the sky was turning dark blue with neon pink and orange clouds skittering across the surface. Brynn had never seen a sunset like that before and she
was glad that in the color free desert there was at least one beautiful thing to look at.

Ty had seemed more groggy than normal when they woke him and he complained of a headache similar to Brynn’s. They both tried to ignore the pain in their heads and the dryness in their mouths as they pressed forward. Brynn
couldn’t help but wonder, as they walked with no results, if they had picked the right way to travel. She would have assumed they would have reached the city the night before, but on their second night into the trip, there was still no sign of Aywon.

By now the threat of wild animals was a moot point. Brynn and Ty had long since stopped turning their heads at every sound. They hadn’t seen so much as a bird since they’d left the train and Brynn figured no animals could live in such harsh terrain. Even if an animal had decided to attack them, none of the three were strong enough to fight it off anymore, so worrying about it was only using up precious energy that needed to be conserved for walking.

As the moon slowly made its way across the sky and began its descent, Brynn felt a tear roll down her cheek in the warm wind of the hot night. She was beginning to lose hope that Aywon existed and felt that she had dragged her friends out into the desert to die with her. They hadn’t even seen the train come by since they started their trip, which they all found odd, since it should have passed them twice a day. This bizarre digression from the norm, however, was the least of their concerns.

When Brynn’s headache became too great and her legs so tired she was sure they were about to give out, she saw a glimmer in the distance. It was a small flicker of light for only a brief second and she thought perhaps her brain was shutting down on her. She stopped in her tracks, causing Ty and Jonah to follow suit and squint into the distance with her, never saying a word.

“There,” she exclaimed, pointing straight ahead. “Did you see it?”

“Lights,” Ty said breathlessly. “Real lights,” he said again in disbelief. “From a city.”

“It’s really there,” Brynn practically shouted, before remembering they were trying to be covert. “I’m not crazy!”

“Well, let’s not get carried away,” Jonah replied as he started walking again.

Brynn had to exercise a great deal of willpower to keep from making a beeline for the lights in the distance.

“I really didn’t think it existed,” Ty admitted as they continued to walk towards the ever-growing flashes ahead of them. “I honestly came on this trip thinking I was going to die from dehydration or boredom. Whichever came first.”

Brynn shot him a look, but didn’t say anything. Despite his joking, she knew that what he said was true. He didn’t come on this trip with the same mindset as her and Jonah. He didn’t think he’d make some great discovery. He just came because he wanted to make sure she was okay.

“Maybe we should make camp,” Jonah suddenly said.

“Are you insane? We just found the city,” Brynn tried not to shout.

“But we’ll be like walking targets in these black outfits if the sun rises before we get inside,” he explained, though Brynn’s mind was far from what he was saying.

A realization struck her that she couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought of before. It was a complete deal breaker and she slapped a hand against her already throbbing head.

“What is it?” Ty asked, worried.

“The facility,” Brynn groaned. “It’s white. All white.”

“How do you know?” Ty asked, squinting through the darkness at the distant city as if he would be able to peek through a door and confirm her statement.

“I’ve been inside,” she said.

“Yeah, in your dreams. That doesn’t exactly mean it’s all white inside,” Ty pointed out, though even he sounded resigned by this revelation.

“Brynn, I’m so sorry,” Jonah said slowly, slipping his backpack off and unzipping it. “I didn’t keep my promise.”

“What promise?” she asked quizzically, looking down at the open pack.

“I promised I’d remind you of how brilliant I am on a regular basis and I’ve been slacking lately,” he explained as he pulled white clothing from his bag. “You didn’t think I was just ignoring you all those times you’d described your dreams to me, did you?”

“You’re kidding me,” she said, unable to believe he had really had the foresight to bring white clothing based on her dreams that she had vaguely described to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly, despite the fact that they were both exhausted and sweating. “I could kiss you right now!” she exclaimed, hugging him tighter and grateful that he had listened to her crazy ramblings about the white facility.

“You can wait until we actually get out of this thing alive, but I’ll be expecting a rain-check,” he said with a grin as they pulled apart.

Ty made a noise behind them that sounded like a snort
, but Brynn ignored it.

“Do we really have to wait until tomorrow to check things out?” Brynn asked, pouting slightly at this idea.

“I guess there’s no harm in just checking it out so we can spend tomorrow formulating a plan on how to get inside,” Jonah relented.

That was all the clearance Brynn needed. She immediately began leading the group at a quick pace, keeping the distant city as her motivation.

They only had about an hour of darkness left when they finally reached the city. Unlike Seaside and Central Wildwood, this city had no wall around it, so they were forced to duck behind bushes in the surrounding desert as they observed what turned out to be a rather impressive facility.

Instead of a traditional city with many individual buildings, streets, and sidewalks, Aywon appeared to be nothing more than one large, sprawling building that continued on for miles. It wasn’t particularly tall like the buildings in Seaside, but only one or two stories.

“I bet most of it’s underground,” Ty whispered from his crouched position beside Brynn.

“It would have to be,” Brynn agreed, her blue eyes quickly scanning the façade of the structure for a way in.

It didn’t take long to locate the lone door in the concrete building. Above it, in yellow paint, were two characters that explained more to Brynn than a whole book full of words could have.

“Do you see that?” she asked the two boys. “I was wrong.”

“Brynn, there’s an entire facility here. I hardly think you were wrong,” Jonah pointed out. “Just because Aywon isn’t a city in the typical sense of the word—”

“It’s not Aywon,” Brynn explained, pointing to the two characters above the entrance. “It’s A1. It’s the number of the facility the Angel told me. She couldn’t think quickly enough to make up a lie, so she told me what building she had just come from,” Brynn said, smiling in spite of herself that everything was coming together.

“Who cares what it’s called? It actually exists!” Ty told her excitedly. “I take back every rude thing I’ve ever said to you about you being crazy.”

“It’s about time,” Brynn shot back with a grin. “Because I was right,” she said, holding onto this fact like it was her most prized possession.

Brynn had spent her childhood asking questions that no one knew the answers to. When she had discovered the mysterious city just beyond the train doors when she was nine, her life had turned around. She felt as if she finally had proof that her questions were worth pursuing. But without proof that A1 existed, she had just been spouting off more crazy ideas. Now, with the building in front of her and her two friends there to witness the truth, she felt complete, as if her years of struggle were finally worth it.

This feeling of bliss lasted only moments while she stared at the dimly lit building until another realization hit her.

“I bet she’s in there,” Brynn whispered, almost to herself.

“Brynn, I know you were right about the city
…or facility…or whatever it is. But that doesn’t mean that your nightmares are true too. You just have to remember that at the end of the day, those were just part of your imagination,” Ty said reasonably.

“He’s right,” Jonah agreed. “You can’t let some bad dreams keep you from discovering the truth when you’re so close,” he said, trying to make her see reason.

She thought this over for a moment. Somewhere, deep inside of her, Brynn knew that the Angel was in that building. But even with this knowledge, she wasn’t about to abandon everything she had worked so hard for.

“I say we drink the rest of our water, change, and get in there. No waiting for tomorrow night,” Brynn proposed, afraid that if they waited another day she’d lose her nerve completely.

As it was, she was already shaking with the idea of coming face-to-face with her nightmare.

“Shouldn’t we try to plan this out?” Ty asked, though he wasn’t looking at Brynn.

He looked over her head at Jonah, knowing already what Brynn’s answer would be. She turned to face Jonah, her eyes pleading.

“I’m surprised at how little security they have here,” Jonah said, eyeing the door skeptically. “I mean
…it’s actually kind of suspicious. No cameras? No wall? No guards? Something has to be wrong with that.”

“Seriously?” Brynn said in disbelief. “You’re really going to complain that after everything we’ve been through, it’s too easy to get into the facility?”

“It’s just suspicious is all I’m saying.”

“They probably didn’t bother with security when they knew no one would be crazy enough to jump off of a train to get here,” Brynn said.

Jonah was silent for a moment, his eyes far away as he considered what Brynn was saying.

“I guess there’s no time like the present,” he said, his old grin returning to his face as he pulled the water bottles and white clothing from his bag. “Oh,” he said, looking at the clothes before loo
king up at Ty. Ty sighed.

“I kind of figured. How would you know to bring extra clothes for me?” he said in resignation.

The three were silent for a moment, squatting behind the bush and looking at the small pile of clothes between them.

“Take mine,” Jonah finally said.

“What?” Ty asked, so shocked by this generous offer that didn’t seem to have an ulterior motive.

“Take my white clothes,” Jonah repeated.

“What will you wear?” Ty asked, looking from the pile of clothing to Jonah in his all black outfit.

“I’ll just wear this.”

“You’ll be like a walking target,” Brynn said, her brow furrowed in concern.

“You won’t have any way to hide,” Ty added.

“Not to be rude Ty, but I think out of the two of us, I’m by far the more sneaky and resourceful. If someone’s going in there wearing all black, it should probably be me,” Jonah said, laughing at his own joke even through the worry in his voice.

“I’m definitely not letting you do that for me,” Ty insisted, though Brynn was seriously considering what Jonah had said.

It was true that stealth wasn’t exactly Ty’s strong suit. If one of them needed a little extra help once they were inside the facility, it would be Ty.

“I promise, you don’t have to owe me anything for this. Just stop whining and put the clothes on. We’re running out of time,” Jonah said as he drank the rest of his warm water out of the bottle. “And empty those bottles. You’re going to need to get rid of your headaches before you get in there,” he instructed them.

Brynn wasn’t quite sure how she felt about the entire situation, but she tried to trust that Jonah knew what he was doing. She quickly stripped out of her clothing with her back to the two boys and pulled on the white outfit, grateful for some clean clothes after spending the past two days sweating into the same outfit. She was aware of her dirty hands and tried to keep from streaking the new clothing with dirt as she emptied her own water bottle into her parched mouth and turned her attention back towards A1.