Part 1: The Runaway

  Chapter 5: A Day at the Clown Motel

  “Would you rather be chronically overdressed or under-dressed?” DD said.

  “In terms of fanciness right, like not including solar gear?” Trent asked.

  “Fanciness.” DD clarified.

  “Do I have to find or buy all the fancy clothes?”

  “No, you just have the clothes.”

  “Under. Who has fancy parties in the apocalypse anyway?” Trent said.

  “Good point. Although there were occasionally parties in Seattle.” DD recalled the one time she tried a fancy party, what a mess. She’d been unable to talk to anyone and ended up drunk to an embarrassing degree instead.

  “Did you ever dress up for one?” Trent pondered.

  “Yeah, I wore a pink dress. Hated it.”

  “It’s because of your thing with showing skin, right?”

  “That’s part of it. My mom always insisted that I’d be safer if I never wore revealing outfits. I guess I’m too scared now.”

  “You know, last night was the first time I’ve actually seen your legs.”

  “Wh-What a weird thing to say.” DD almost swerved the car when he spoke, Trent was also blushing now.

  “It was just a random thought chain.” Trent began tapping his feet to the song that was playing.”What’s this song anyway?” DD’s shoulders relaxed and her grip on the wheel loosened.

  “Everything I’ve Ever Learned, by a band called Bloxx.”

  “It’s a nice song to hang out to.”

  “Bloxx is good chilling out music.”

  A lull as they dodged eye contact.

  “Alright my turn. Would you rather wear the same socks for a month, or the same underwear for a week?” Trent was fighting to make this conversation less awkward.

  “You’ve backed me into a corner Trent.”

  “What?”

  “The pair of underwear I had on until this morning was more than a week old.”

  “Eww DD!”

  “I was traveling dude! I have exactly one clean outfit right now, I have to conserve.”

  “I always make sure I have decent laundry.” Trent affirmed.

  “You’ve always been more of a clean freak than Scott and I.”

  “It makes sense to clean. A clean space, clean clothes, clean sheets. It makes you feel good.”

  “Seattle aside, there aren’t just shops and laundromats everywhere. I drove a long way back here.”

  “You make Seattle sound great for a place you hate.”

  “I’ve told you, the luxury didn’t make me happy, that being said I guess I kind of miss the laundromat, and being able to get tampons. Do you want to know what I have to normally do once a month without those?”

  Trent put his hands up like he was being arrested. “No ma’am, you do not need to go further.”

  “Thank you.” DD said, smiling to herself. “Would you rather have your skin change colors with your mood, or start everyday with tattoos of what you did yesterday?”

  “I’ve got nothing to be ashamed of, I’ll take the tattoos.”

  “Fair enough.” She said softly, she would’ve picked the other option.

  “Would you rather receive a small fortune in gold next year, or fall in love today?”

  “Fall in love, I think.” DD said quietly, clearly in thought. “I need the gold for sure, but, in this world I think falling in love is a rare treat.” Trent looked at her and nodded.

  The horn of the truck ahead of them honked and suddenly they began passing old buildings, a few hotels, an old Chevron gas station. The solar plant was shining like a daytime star to the groups’ right, about 20 minutes away from where they were now. The truck turned into a faded blue building, and DD pulled in next to it. Scott and Aina were already out as DD and Trent joined them.

  “This place looks like a dump.” Scott noted. DD walked up to the small check in shack. The motel was an L shape, and every support beam was decorated with faded, and frankly disturbing, two story tall clowns. DD turned as Scott smashed the glass right behind her and pulled open the door.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Everyone be weary of the ground. Trawlers do show up in this town. If you feel the ground shake, hold still.” Trent instructed. DD was painfully aware already, a small pain shooting through her arm reminding her they hunt by vibration.

  “Have you guys ever been attacked by one?” DD asked.

  “Nope. They don’t tend to come into towns, but they really love that solar plant apparently.” Scott replied, pointing at the shiny spire in the distance. “Oh nice!”

  “What?” Aina asked.

  “Keys.” Scott had a large key ring, and was jingling it happily. “Shall I show you to your rooms?” He bowed.

  “After you sir.” DD snickered. Scott led the group to the very first room, and began trying to stick keys in the lock. Looking more closely, DD could tell any clue to their use had all faded and he was guessing.

  “Here at the Clown Motel, we strive for more clowns per customer than any other hotel in Nevada.”

  “Is that why they hired you?” DD asked. Aina and Trent began laughing as Scott shot her a dirty look. He finally got the right key into the door, and he pushed it open.

  “Oh my god this place looks like you’d catch a disease from touching it.” Aina complained. The rooms had… more clowns. Fucking freaky really. Otherwise this one was just dusty, and cleared out of it’s non clown furniture.

  “This one is your room Aina.” Scott gestures with his hands.

  “We’re not actually staying here are we?” Aina protested.

  “It’s haunted, of course we are!” Scott was ecstatic.

  “Oh good lord.” Aina was already retreating to the truck. Scott moved to the next room and got more lucky with the key, opening on his third try.

  “Oh hell yeah this one has a bed.” Scott jumped onto the dusty bed, and launched a half ton of dust.

  “Gross dude.” Trent was using his hand to wave dust out of the air. “Why would you do that?” No sooner did DD jump on top of Scott, renewing the dust in the air. “You’re both idiots.” He coughed. Trent was now retreating to the cars as well. Scott and DD gave each other a high-five.

  “We’re staying in this one together right?” DD asked.

  “Duh. I’m not sleeping in a haunted hotel alone.”

  “What about Aina?”

  “She doesn’t like sleeping with Trent and I.” Scott shrugged.

  “That’s fair I guess.”

  “I have a surprise for tonight!” Scott said.

  “Oh?” DD smiled.

  “It has to wait for the sun to go down.”

  “Yo!” Trent yelled. The pair returned outside. “Up!” Trent threw a flying disk with all his might. DD ran forward and Jumped, but the disk went over her hands, and casually into Scott’’s behind her instead.

  “Ooh that’s rough short stuff.” Scott mocked. At least she was taller than Aina.

  “It’s too hot for that, you idiots. Come on!” Aina complained.

  “She is right. Playing sports in the sun, gear or not, is a bad choice.” Scott agreed.

  “Let’s just nap until the sun goes down then.” Trent said. Everyone nodded and returned to their spots. In the trio’s room, solar gear was already coming off. They decided to lie on the floor, rather than awkwardly share the bed. Scott brought some water in for everyone before they laid down next to each other.

  “DD, why did you leave the way you did?” Scott asked. She began thinking about that day.

  “My mom had been pushing me to leave and do something to help people for a while, then there was our breakup.”

  “Ooh yeah… we weren’t the smartest.” Scott noted.

  “You still aren’t.” Trent noted.

  “We just sucked at communication.” DD explained. “Either way I assumed it was my fault. I just started walking. I made it to my hiding spot, and I just… I couldn't get it out of my mind, it was my fault, you’d never be my friend again. So I kept going that night. I wound up here eventually, when people still lived here. I started thinking you would’ve come for me if you cared. I know that’s dumb now, only Trent knows my hiding spot.”

  “I’m sorry.” Trent said.

  “It’s okay. I hitched a ride with an older man driving a water tanker. He thanked me for the company. I went along with it, and he drove me to Walker Lake. Said he was headed to Reno.”

  “Why’d he stop at Walker then?” Scott asked.

  “He didn’t. I got out there.”

  “Why?” Trent pressed. DD suddenly tensed up like a predator ready to pounce, a bad memory was coming.

  “He stopped us there. I got out with him, I went into a building to pee. That was when he-” She stopped for a second, Scott had now caught on that something bad was coming, both of the men came to sitting. “He came in, I literally jumped out of my pants. He pinned me to the wall-”

  “Oh no, DD...” Scott stopped her. “This is going where I think it’s going isn’t it?”

  She only managed a sad nod as tears welled in her eyes. “I ended up on the ground, I got an arm free and grabbed my pants, and my knife from my pocket. I fought him away and he yelled at me and abandoned me there.” Scott pulled her up to hug her and she began crying over his shoulder. Trent joined the hug shortly after. Her crying echoed in the small room for a few minutes.

  “I spent a few days alone there. There was so much going on in my head. I ended up being saved by a lesbian couple who were also driving north. I would’ve died if I stayed there longer to wait for someone who was headed south, even if I really wanted to go home by that point. I ended up in Reno, and there was no going home by then.”

  “I’m sorry all that happened.” Trent said.

  “It’s my fault. I ran.” DD said, still sobbing lightly.

  “You’re still here, that’s what matters.” Scott released his hug to look at her. He couldn’t fight the thought that she wasn’t the same person he’d lost all those years ago. The thought was almost chilling, the more he looked into her tear soaked green eyes.

  To Be Continued