Alden Bensen was only moments away from sleeping through the most important encounter of his entire life.
"Hey."
Alden groaned, turning over in his seat. He just wanted to sleep a little longer. A couple other passengers had been keeping him drifting in and out during the trip, never quite making it past snoozing.
"Aren't you getting off here? We're in Rallsburg." The voice broke through his lethargy, ending any hope of resting further.
He spluttered awake. What if the train started off with him still on board? It could take hours and hours to get back here—if he even could. This was the last train out to Rallsburg for the day, if not the next couple. He'd end up at some dead-end motel out on the coast for the night. Probably infested with insects, too, and with an owner that was either uncomfortably cheerful or just likely to be an axe murderer.
As his eyes slid open, Alden was greeted by an attractive young Japanese woman, raven haired but with a bright streak of electric blue framing the right side of her face. She looked bored and impatient—but then again, she had just taken the time to make sure a complete stranger didn't miss his stop. She was probably worth talking to.
"Thanks," he mumbled, struggling to his feet. He felt exhausted, not having slept more than a couple hours in the past day, and those on a rumbling Amtrak through Tacoma to get here. Not the best for relaxation, and Alden had a hard time sleeping under normal conditions.
He glanced out the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of the town, but all he could see was the small train station. A single employee manned the platform outside, helping the few passengers debarking with their luggage. It was a heavily overcast evening in May, the sun peeking through the clouds at odd intervals but never long enough to really brighten the day at all.
The station—if he could even call it that—was a single building with a gate on one side, squat and unremarkable. Beyond it grew the trees, state forests that would stretch north all the way to the ocean. Already he found them foreboding. Deep thickets of evergreens infested with who knew how many species of insect, how many other predatory creatures that wouldn't have a second thought about eating him alive.
With that unsettling notion, he decided he could use some friends local to the area.
"What's your name?" Alden started, turning back to the girl, but he was unsurprised to find she was long gone. He'd taken too long to speak up. Still, her face was etched permanently in his mind. He was pretty good with faces, and hers was particularly memorable. He sighed, pulled his bag out of the overhead compartments, and made his way off the train.
What am I supposed to do now?
Alden had arrived in town with only a single clue. A single scrap of paper that pointed him back here to Rallsburg, Washington. He took it out and examined the front once more. He'd kept it in the inside pocket of his coat, not trusting it to leave his side at any time. In his hands he flipped it over, closely scanning every inch of it again just in case he'd missed something—though of course he hadn't. The rumpled envelope was exactly the same as he'd originally found it, plus or minus a few wrinkles from the number of times it had creased within his pocket.
Alden had a purpose for being in a small, out-of-the-way town like Rallsburg. There was someone he had to find, though he had no idea who that person might be. The only clue was the envelope he now held, with the return address and crest of the local Rallsburg University stamped on the front, along with a cheerful, handwritten "Congratulations!"
He sighed again and put the envelope away. Alden had inspected every inch without any revelations so far; he wasn't likely to discover anything standing around in the train station. On top of which, the tall, thick-muscled and thick-bearded man swathed in a deep coat with his hood drawn currently occupying the bench across the empty street was setting him ill at ease. He could have sworn the man's eyes were following his every step. With great reluctance, Alden approached the clerk working the station counter.
"Excuse me," Alden mumbled.
"Can I help you?" he asked brightly. Alden recoiled momentarily at the energetic response before gathering his composure. He wasn't awake enough for this yet.
"Can you tell me how to get to the college campus?"
"I'm sorry, I couldn't quite understand you."
Alden cleared his throat and tried to enunciate more clearly. "How can I get to the college from here?"
"Oh, it's just two blocks west and two blocks south. Can't miss it. If you look it up on your phone you should get directions from the first result."
"My phone's dead," Alden said, glancing away embarrassed.
"Oh! Sorry. Well, like I said, just two blocks west and then south."
"Thanks." Having suffered through a conversation with someone far too energetic for his current state, Alden turned and headed out into the town, his bag slung over his shoulder. As he stepped into the street, he turned right and started down the road.