Hope's Ruin

15 | Lone Pine

Pluto's engine gurgled into life like a half-drowned kitten, desperate to find its voice. Erin hammered on the accelerator with her right foot, the clutch pumping under her left. Her fingers coiled round the enormous steering wheel, knuckles white.

Pluto whined and growled.

Finally, when Pepper was almost convinced that all their hard work had been for nought, Pluto roared like a mighty lion. Plumes of acrid smoke belched from the exhausted, consuming the stables and half the farmhouse.

"He's alive!" Erin squealed, bouncing happily in the threadbare seat as the machine lurched forward as she thrust it into first gear.

Pepper crossed her arms and clutched the seatbelts with all her might.

Pluto rolled across the cobbled courtyard. The four remaining tyres struggled to sustain the weight of the tractor and its five riders.

<< alive >>

Pepper turned in Flake's direction. Thick straps lashed the robot to the back of Pluto. His new boots hung only a foot from the ground. Socks jumped on and off Erin's lap and barked happily at Marshall in the opposing passenger seat.

The quad bike tracks had dried in the mud. Erin straddled the indentations with Pluto's enormous girth, following the missing scarecrow and Pepper's stolen vehicle.

Evening sun bloomed across the horizon beneath a sea of angry clouds. Wisps of pink and gold veined the sky.

Erin steered Pluto down the hill, away from the warmth and security of Coldharbour Farm. Pepper glanced at the girl and smiled, but Erin's eyes were on the journey ahead, fierce and determined as ever.

Pepper thought of the story Erin had told her about Number Twelve and Lazarus and how they had set off across the silent grey ocean with nothing more than a waterproof coat and a handful of food tins. She patted the reinforced central axle beside her chair that connected the chair to Pluto. They were far more prepared this time. And more experienced. But the journey ahead was still unknown.

Pepper's stomach roiled with trepidation.

She hoped Pluto would make it most of the way before the gasoline and the hybrid engine—or more pressingly, their water supplies—expired.

Pluto reached the bottom of the hill without incident. Erin swept left, churned loose soil and rocks as the tyres dug and bit. They took the long way, climbing slowly through the foothills—rather than charging up the steep main road—and out over a crest.

The world spread before them in green and gold. Pepper's heart fluttered. Her mind, a tornado of emotions. She glanced at Erin once more, but the girl seemed impervious to the beauty of the world.

Erin wanted Number Twelve.

Erin wanted her brother.

For without them, it seemed, there was not a sunset in the universe that could fill her heart with joy.

* * *

Erin drove through the night. Pepper heard Marshall talking to her from the other side of Pluto, but his voice was muffled beneath the roar of the engine. She struggled to get comfortable. The terrain was rocky, uneven. Tyres juddered on loose soil, jarred over stone outcroppings, and slid on long grasses. Pepper must have slept—even for just a minute or two—for the sun was soon breaking cover and flooding the world with warm, morning light.

Erin stuck to her task for another hour before cradling Pluto inside the remains of the gas station. The roof had been ripped away leaving six broken columns on the cracked forecourt. Twisted rubber hoses sprouted like weeds. Only two walls remained of the kiosk. Crumbling bricks and smashed refrigerators swept off into the distance, chained together by colourful electric cable and air-conditioning ducts.