DECEMBER JANE

December: Kenningcross

Because Smiley said it was cool, I found myself even farther than my typical spot. We also exchanged walkie-talkies in case of an emergency. I wandered probably another ten-ish miles from the hospital. The dirt road sort of ended around where my old spot was, but I found after my long exploration, there was another road; it was a paved highway, definitely not abandoned in any way.

When I stumbled upon it, I walked onto it and looked both ways. This must be the road to the small town that Smiles always talked about. He took patients from it sometimes, but he mostly went for the tourists, because it makes the place seem 'haunted' and dumbass teenagers like the thought of being tough enough to drive out here. Obviously, he only took a patient every month or so, but he had collected a decent stack of missing person papers on his desk. He used to hang them up on the wall, but he at some point had so many that he didn't have room to decorate them anymore. After that, he just took them all down.

I would have followed the road, but it was noon now, and I was already a two-and-a-half-hour walk from home base. Besides, I'd hate to get caught out here by someone shady, or even the police. I turned around and walked far away from the highway. I found a small oval clearing where the trees parted. Figuring it would be fit to do some work, I found an old fallen tree to lean my back against.

Smiley got me too excited about his commission when he mentioned explosives. He just wanted some sort of vial-release system for the injection of his medicines. But the deal of me being this far out was pretty sweet, so I tried to not care. I don't think I'll ever be crazy enough to actually torture other people like that. Ann doesn't think so either, but she urged me to not say a word to Smiles. He thinks he's actually helping them. Whoever told him that is sick as hell. I don't mean that literally, either.

Ann just took care of the dead ones, or she just killed people who tried to get away. She took ownership of it, thank God. She's 2% sane at least.

I was trying my best to sketch out some beginning designs in my workbook when I heard crunching footsteps from nearby. Jumping up like last time, I only bothered to pull out one pistol. I didn't hold it up to shoot, but I did scan the area.

The source of the footsteps came from a young girl, probably no older than twenty, dressed up in a skirt with stockings, dress shoes, and an old gray fleece. I noticed she had a gold cross necklace. Her hair was curly, and her face was the human equivalent of a deer. It was probably the small nose that gave me that impression.

She gave an awkward wave-like gesture. "Sorry to bother you," she said. "I'm kind of lost."

I snickered, surprised by the southern twang of her voice. "All the way out here?" I said. "Wouldn't figure that." I lowered my gun. She nodded toward me. "Why've you got that?" she asked. I put it in my holster. "Well, I'm out here all alone, so might as well have something, ay?"

She smiled. "That's smart, telling a stranger that."

I rolled my eyes. "Please, dear, you look absolutely harmless."

"That's good," she said. "I'd hate to scare anybody off all the way out here."

I looked around her. I kept my left hand on the pistol, just in case she was actually screwing with me. "Where are you from then?" I asked.

"Kenningcross," she replied. "It's not too far from here. You?"
I shrugged. "Good question."

She frowned. "Nothing permanent?"

"Nah." I lowered to the ground and stuffed my work back into my bag. When I stood back up, I caught the girl staring at me. Her face was disconcerted. My hand raised to my barbecued half. Well shit.

"What's that from?" She asked, voice soft.

"Nothing big," I said, ambling in her direction. My hand was ready to rip my pistol from its holster again. She looked me up and down. "It wasn't?" she quipped. I rolled my eyes. "You know what I meant," I teased. "Where are you headed?"

"If you could get me to Keystone Catholic Church, I'll be able to get home from there."

I nodded. "Is that where you were before right about now?"

"Yeah. I always seem to wander off after service."

My bag was now on my shoulder again. "Well, I know nothing about Kenningcross," I said. "But I know a highway I could get you to."

She sighed in relief. "Thank you so much," she said. "You've never been to Kenning?" I shook my head. "Wow," she said. "That's crazy. You should see downtown sometime. It's a lovely spot."

"I'm not a public-place kind of woman," I replied.

I began to guide her to the highway I had seen. The way there was silent, but I didn't bother striking up any sort of conversation. I'd never see this chick again, statistically. God knows if she would survive the wrath of my emo roomies back at the ghost town.

We made it to the roadside after about ten minutes. Her face lit up. "I recognize this road," she said. "This is the one they found James on."

"Who's James?" I asked.

"Oh, just a guy from my Church," she replied. "Priest's son. He's adopted, I think." She pointed to the road on her left. "That leads to rural Kenning. The church is that way, too." She then pointed to the right. "That goes downtown."

I nodded. "Thanks."

She smiled at me. "Maybe I'll see you around?"

I stepped off the road and turned to walk back home. "Probably not."

"Oh, well that's alright," she said. "Thank you anyways."

I waved goodbye. "Of course. Try not to get this lost again, alright?"

She giggled. "I'll try my best!"