A/N: Hello guys! Here is your exclusive sneak peak into book two in the Disillusionment series: Deserted Highways.
Deserted Highways
Chapter One
His mom kept telling him it was a low profile. He had to stay under the radar. It did strike him as laughable, anyone who wanted to already knew his name. And yet, he was still here finishing high school, like it even still mattered, and living in his mom's house. The bell rang, and he jumped. He looked around him, the school had closed one side of the building, trying to repair the damage, and the rest of the students had been cramped in on the other side. He still flinched every time a door banged open, remembering the last time he'd been in this building.
He shuffled out of his class, head down, and wandered along the sidewalk. He was heading towards the bunker, it somehow felt less claustrophobic than his own house, with his mom constantly asking him how he was doing. He knew she was trying to help, but her questions only made him want to retreat further into his own mind and he didn't want to snap at her.
He made it to the bunker, on the outside, another large house in the middle of suburbia, the same beat up gold Explorer sitting outside. He punched in the code that would let him in the front door, and he stepped in quietly, closing it behind him and looking around at the walls-still bare.
He started down the stairs, there was a training room of sorts down there, and he went everyday to learn, Michael was teaching him to fight, Ben was teaching him to shoot, Lilith let him play with knives. Sarah watched a lot. She didn't speak very much anymore, her brown hair was often tied back messily, and she looked worn down. None of them had been back to school, and he didn't really think they would be.
"Jace," Michael called. "How was school, kiddo?"
"Shut up, asshole," he yelled back, and it brought a smile to his face, in spite of himself.
"Ready for some training today?" Michael asked.
"Yeah, what fresh new torture have you got for me today?" Jace said, and Michael's smile gave him an uneasy feeling.
"Just some sparring, that's all. Work on your roundhouse kick. Maybe today you could actually land a hit on me, validate all my hard work," Michael said, and his voice was taunting. Jace rolled his eyes.
He stepped onto the mat in the center of the room, and he stretched, and that was a mistake because Michael took advantage of his distraction and aimed a punch to Jace's face. Jace caught his wrist and twisted and Michael groaned. Jace let him go and shoved him back harshly, and then struck out with his left fist. Michael just batted him away and they kept dancing around each other. Jace leaped again, throwing punch after punch until he heard Michael panting with the exertion of blocking him, and then he swung his leg up around, high, and the grunt told him he'd connected solidly with Michael's ribs.
Jace grinned in satisfaction. "Gotcha," he said as Michael stumbled back.
"Yeah, yeah, one in a hundred, don't look so proud of yourself," Michael tossed back.
"I'm gonna call it quits, tired and all that," Jace said. "I'm gonna take a shower, I'll see you around."
Michael raised an eyebrow. "Jace," he started but Jace had already walked away, he didn't want to hear another placation. He was sweaty, sore. Tired. He didn't sleep much now, and it was starting to take its toll. He wandered back up the stairs and to the bathroom and he stood under the shower's spray, letting the hot water sluice over his skin as the minutes trailed by. He scrubbed his hands over his face, and for awhile, he just stood there, heart aching.
When he shut off the water, it had started to go cold, and he wrapped a towel around his waist and wandered aimlessly down the hall, toweling off his hair as he went. He paused in front of an unmarked, plain door, and his breath caught in his throat when he opened it. He sat on the bed and he looked around at all the photos tacked to the wall. There were so many, of Michael, Sarah, Lilith. None of Ben, none of him, and he wondered if he'd have made it there too, next to the people she held so dear.
His eyes pricked, and he thought, not for the first time, that he was being silly. He shouldn't be crying anymore. But he couldn't deny that his heart ached, and he longed for her touch, to feel her silky red hair, and to fall asleep next to her again. The room smelled like her, floral perfume, rose shampoo, and he laid down, his face pressed into the pillows.
When his eyes slid closed, Kaelie appeared before him. Her hair was soft, it brushed against his arms, the red ends tickled him, and her eyes- grass green, stormy blue- watched him with humor in her eyes. Her lips were painted burgundy and Jace noticed they were sitting on a bench outside of the school. "Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked him, her eyebrows raised.
"I missed you," he told her and she looked confused.
"I missed you too, babe," she said. "But I was just in class."
"But I-" he started and the scene shifted and there were outside a large concrete building, tall, ornate, and it was pouring rain. "It's time to go, Jace," she said, and she tried to pull him away but he refused.
They were on the roof now, and it smelled like roses, and the rain seemed to be washing all of the red out of her hair and onto her shirt, the red stain was spreading along her stomach, and she looked scared now, scared and angry, and then she was toppling over the edge of the roof and Jace tried to catch her, but his fingers closed on air. He looked down, and she was gone.
Sharp knocking roused Jace, and he sat up, disoriented, vision blurred, his eyes felt swollen. "Jace?" someone asked, and he looked up to see Sarah in the doorway. "You were talking. I just came to make sure you were okay."
"I-yeah, I'm fine. I was just wandering, and I must've fallen asleep when I sat down, and- I'm sorry, Sarah," he said stumbling over his words and she just waved him off.
"You dreamed about her, didn't you?" she asked, and his shoulders slumped. He nodded at her, and she smiled sadly and pushed off of the doorway where she'd been leaning.
"I miss her," he said, and he hated that his voice cracked, but Sarah just sat down next to him and leaned her head on his shoulder.
"I do to," she said, and then it was quiet. After a while, Sarah spoke again, saying "sometimes I think I see her. Or someone that just kind of looks like her, and I turn around, and it's gone."
He was silent. And then he said "I should probably get going," and Sarah nodded.
"It's late, and your mom is probably worried," she said. Jace stood, and he left, walking back out the door and down the sidewalk. It had been strange to realize he only lived about a mile from the bunker, and so he settled in for a long walk, relishing the quiet, the solitude.
It was light out still, but dusk was settling and Jace thought this was one of the better times of the day, peaceful. He saw a black truck idling at the curb, and he kept trudging on. His ears pricked at the rumble of an engine, and he turned his head subtly, the truck had pulled away from the curb. Don't be so paranoid, Jace thought to himself, and he looked around again. The truck was still there, driving slowly down the street, and the driver must have realized Jace noticed him because the truck roared past him, screeching around the corner.
Jace shook his head and kept going, but he quickened his pace, and he cut down an alley. Just to be safe. He heard the engine again, and he whirled around, the truck was sitting at the mouth of the alley and then it sped off again. So it was following him. He cursed out loud, and fought the urge to run. He didn't want whoever it was to catch on, and so he sort of speed walked down the sidewalk.
Suddenly, the engine roared behind him again, and he turned around to see the truck speeding at him, no sign of breaking or stopping, and for a moment he just stood there staring, and then all the air was ripped from his lungs as something collided solidly with his body, knocking him out of the way just as the truck raced by. Jace groaned.
"Okay, ouch," he said, and then he registered the weight of a person laying across his chest, and his eyes widened. The girl looked up at him with big doe eyes, a shade of purple that told him she was wearing contacts, and her hair fell in chocolate waves around her face, and still, Jace thought she looked-different. Familiar.
Her lips parted in a grin and he felt his heart skip a beat because it looked like Kaelie's, and for a second, he could imagine it was her familiar weight. "Watch where you're going, huh, pretty boy," she said, standing and pulling him up with her. He tried to splutter out arguments- the truck had tried to run him over not the other way around, thank you very much, but she just chuckled, and the wind blew gently, and her floral scent filled his nose. His eyes widened, he knew that smell but when he looked up from the ground, she was gone, and her final words floated on the breeze with her perfume. "Catch you around, yeah?"