The Girl at the End of the World by Richard Levesque

Author:Richard Levesque [Levesque, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
Published: 2014-01-12T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

“Where are you taking us?” I finally asked.

We’d come down the hill quickly as the sun set, and then I’d been able to watch through the windshield as Donovan navigated the bus along the path he’d already cleared on Los Feliz. Now it was fully dark out, and the bus’s bright lights cut eerily through the night. Ever since the power had gone out, I hadn’t been away from the observatory at night, and now it felt creepy to be down in the city with everything so dark, the headlights and those on top of the bus revealing new things in the distance that seemed to rise up out of the night without warning. Donovan drove slowly, but still it felt like we sped recklessly through the darkness.

Donovan gave no answer, no indication that he’d heard me.

I leaned forward, trying to get Dolores’ attention. “What about you? Do you know what he’s going to do with us?” I asked.

In the dark interior of the bus, I could see that she shifted her body in the seat and then turned as far around as possible with her hands chained like mine. I think she smiled. “No se,” she said.

Spanish, I thought.

“You don’t speak English?”

“Poquito.”

Just a little, I thought. Great. I’d had one year of high school Spanish and had struggled with it. I might be able to ask her where the bathroom or the library was, or to be able to say that Pedro’s father is a doctor, but as far as anything practical…I had my doubts.

“Okay,” I said. “Thanks. Gracias.”

She nodded and turned to the front again.

“What about you?” I said a bit more loudly so Chad could hear. I didn’t want to say his name, didn’t want him to think I’d forgiven him for helping Donovan. Honestly, I probably would have done the same now that I saw Dolores as a real person and not just an abstract idea I could write off in some survival-of-the-fittest fantasy. I could see how it would have been tough to run off into the wilds of Griffith Park and leave Dolores in Donovan’s hands when he’d promised to kill her if Chad hadn’t come back. Still…there must have been another way. He hadn’t needed to be so compliant, could have found a way to trick Donovan, to use me and get himself and Dolores freed in the bargain. But maybe he wasn’t that kind of hero. All he could really manage was to keep everyone alive. So far so good.

“Do you know where he’s taking us?” I asked a bit louder when Chad didn’t turn or acknowledge my question at all.

“East,” came Donovan’s muffled reply from the driver’s seat. “Riverside, if you have to know. Now shut up.”

There were a few lights burning in the instrument panel in front of him, and from their glow I could see his face in the wide mirror mounted above his seat. He glanced up now, staring at me for a moment in the mirror before turning his gaze to the road again.

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