Javin walked by the empty husk of what had once been a gas station, the first evidence of any civilization since beginning his journey. Two 1940s style pumps sat in front of the building, each missing their hose attachments.
The pump, once painted orange, was now worn down to bare metal by decades of blowing sand. The dry air didn’t offer enough moisture for metal to corrode. Javin checked the abandoned station for any signs of his friend, or any living being. He found nothing helpful. The station had long been looted, even of its storefront glass. Obviously, something lived around here and made use of the stolen material. The garage had a single repair bay. It held nothing interesting. He hoped he could find food inside but came up empty. Everything was gone except a cash register and some junk he didn’t want.
He thought about resting inside but decided against it. He had not slept since arriving. what two or three days ago? Javin exited through the missing door and heard a woman scream. No. That wasn’t quite right. It sounded like a scream giving way to a low growling sound and it was getting closer. His skin prickled with goose bumps.
What could it be? A ghost? Am I in the land of the dead? Am I dead? He wondered if the stories were true then. Maybe he wandered in-between lives waiting to be reborn? The scream-slash-growl happened again, closer. Why would a growling thing be in his afterlife? Then it finally dawned on him. The scream was a big cat. As it growled, he had the sense it focused its ire at him.
Like many boys, when younger, Javin paged through dinosaur books and books on large mammals whenever he had library time. He guessed the sound either came from a bobcat, or a cougar. Unless he entered the Indian afterlife, in which case it could be a man-eating Bengal tiger. He did not know what they sounded like.
The growling came mere feet ahead of him, but Javin saw nothing. He eased his pack off his shoulders and pulled out the pink handball. Cats liked to chase balls, he thought. He hurled the ball above the direction of the sound. Not waiting to see where it landed, he ran in the opposite direction. Thick paws skidded against the ground, but they weren’t growing distant. The invisible cat chased him. His ruse had failed. He’d be eaten in the afterlife. He hoped there would be an after afterlife for him.
When the big cat seemed close to his legs, he spun and swung his backpack low behind him. It hit nothing but air, and Javin saw nothing except his own dusty trail. His momentum caused him to twist his ankle enough to lose balance. He tripped and landed on his stomach. As he lay there, he heard the big cat growling over him. He closed his eyes. “I’m dead,” he said.
The sounds of thick, padded paws hit the ground around him. It repeated multiple times like a prize fighter throwing punches at a bag. It thudded in his ears. Then the cat stopped and sniffed his face. Javin could feel the heat from the animal’s mouth. The cat let out another of its screams by his ear, causing a painful ringing, but it never touched him.
Javin worked up enough courage to roll over. He could hear it, but not see it. Which meant he had found a ghost cat.
“How interesting, but then that means I am already dead,” he said, saddened. The ghost cat could see him, and he could hear it, but they couldn’t touch each other.
Javin could tell it was frustrated that it couldn’t eat him. He walked back to where they started their chase. He spent some time looking for his ball, but it was as lost as he was. It joined one of hundreds of balls that he had lost during his life. The cat followed him for several hundred more feet, which kept his nerves on edge until it finally lost interest.
As Javin continued down the road, he felt despair. If he and Seal had both fallen and died, then maybe they had their own afterlife too. Theirs could differ from his own. His sadness didn’t last long. He decided being dead meant he had nothing to lose if he continued to look for her until something else happened. But he needed to sleep.
***
Javin woke up under an outcropping of rock he found. He felt safe taking refuge under it. Javin did not know how long he rested. He drank water and ate a little. His choices had been the sardines or old spilled trail mix at the bottom of his bag. He chose the stale raisins and nuts, wiping the lint off before nibbling slowly.
Javin returned to the road. Could Seal be ahead of him or behind him, or on it at all? Maybe she went the opposite way. “Should I turn back?” There was no way to tell in this land of ghost cats and dead grass. After what felt like a full day, he considered the sardines but resisted. He wasn’t that desperate yet. His mother had bought him an entire pack of fruit roll-ups and he had left those behind.
He wondered how much further before he saw another structure or ghost people like him. His answer came sooner than he expected. A man stood in the distance. He stood next to a motorcycle and wore a leather jacket over brightly colored clothing. He looked familiar.
As Javin came closer, he spotted big red shoes. He gasped. His dad had found him. Javin felt excitement. All his prayers in life were answered.
“Dad, is that you? It’s me Javin. I’m grown up now, so you don’t recognize me, but I’m your son!”
The man paid no attention. He hopped on the motorcycle and kick started it. Its engine roared. Javin ran towards him, but the motorcycle took off, spraying gravel behind it. The man drove ahead, then stopped again.
Maybe he heard me too late. He’s stopped for me now, for sure, Javin thought. The motorcycle sat to the side of the road, waiting.
“Dad, it’s me. We are both dead. I am here to join you. Wait for me.” Javin again ran towards the motorcycle. The man looked back at Javin. It was him! Just like his dad in the photos his mom had kept. “I died like you, dad!” As Javin approached, his dad revved up the motorcycle and again drove on, moving further from the road before stopping.
“Dad, this isn’t funny. Are you like the ghost cat? Can you hear me?” If his dad was dead, shouldn’t he be a ghost too? He didn’t understand the rules of being dead, but it required a lot of walking and now a lot of running, too. As he approached, the motorcycle zoomed off again.
Javin’s shoulders fell but he wouldn’t give up on his dad like he wouldn’t give up on Seal. Maybe his dad wasn’t dead. He was stuck down here like him. Maybe he lost his memories because it had been a long time for anyone to be stuck.
“How about you come to me, Dad? I won’t move. You just drive here.”
His father turned to him once again and beckoned him with one hand. He wanted Javin to follow. Maybe his dad knew the way home. As Javin again ran towards the man on the motorcycle, something pushed him down. Another man stood above him. Javin yelled, but the man covered his mouth with a wide hand.
“Shhhh, stop, kid.” Javin kicked at him and the man put his full weight on Javin’s legs. “It’s a trick. It will kill you.”
“No, it’s my dad. That’s his motorcycle from our photos. Get off. Dad, help me!” Javin tried beating the man off with open palms, but the new man grabbed him by his forearms and twisted him around so he could fully view the figure ahead.
“All I see is the white spirit,” the new man said. “That is not your dad. It’s a trick.”
“No, it’s my dad,” Javin protested. “I died so we could be together. Or I’m alive and I have to bring him back.”
The man shook his head. “You see your dad because that is what you desire. But that… is a trap. Go further and it will consume all of you. Nothing will be left of you but a pile of ash. And maybe not even that. Look more closely. Just stare and stop thinking.”
The man rose and lifted Javin up. He held the older boy to keep him under control. As Javin stared at his dad, the image of him wavered like a heat mirage. A brief glow gave way to the form of a woman. She disappeared quickly. Tears welled in Javin’s eyes. That wasn’t his dad. He took time to recover. With tears still running down his cheeks, he asked, “Who are you?”
“I am Creighton.” Creighton offered Javin a cloth to dry his face.
Javin brushed it on his face and handed it back. “I am Javin. Thank you for saving me from… that.”
“They call her the Lady of Light. But that’s not really her. It’s an echo. But it still has enough power to kill you. It’s known to trap people not pure of heart and turn them to dust. You must be worthy to approach her, and no one down here is worthy. We are all being punished for something.”
Javin had heard of the Lady of Light and knew this wasn’t his afterlife, but Seal’s. He could still find her. “So I am dead,” Javin said.
Creighton laughed and looked him over. “No, you are alive. You are the only living boy down here. Although looks to me like you’ve almost hit puberty. You give off a glow. Only the living do that. You can’t see it, but the dead can.”
“So, you’re dead too?”
“I’m something else,” Creighton said cryptically. “But I know enough to tell the dead from the living.”
Creighton took Javin to his campsite. It looked like he had been there for a few days. He started a fire and gave Javin food like what the ancestors had given to Seal. And he warned Javin of the Paleskins and the danger they posed. In exchange, Javin told Creighton about his missing friend. “I’ve been looking for her for two or three days.”
Creighton listened closely, asking the occasional question. He seemed curious about a second living person down here. More curious than about Javin, but Javin didn’t notice.
“Can you help me find her?” Javin finally asked.
“You won’t find her on this road.” Creighton spit on the ground next to him. “This road leads to a dangerous place. There are some that will help you track your friend. They can help you find her and help you escape.” Creighton pointed in the direction he meant for Javin to go. “It is rough terrain. Be careful. There are steep falls and ankle breaking crevices everywhere. But those that are not Paleskins hide there.”
Creighton walked with Javin back to the road. He handed him some bits of extra food, though not much. “Will you go with me?” Javin asked.
“I can’t,” Creighton said, sounding genuinely sorry. “I am waiting for friends of mine.”
“Thank you for saving me. I’d be nothing but ash right now. If you happen to see Seal, can you send her my way?”
“Of course. If I see the girl, I will tell her how to find you.” Javin wanted to give the man a hug but thought better and waved at Creighton instead. Creighton gave an awkward wave back. Javin walked off, heading toward what The People called mako sica, The Badlands.