| Can't Trust Anyone

'I left a note,' Ava began to explain. 'I tucked it in your—'

'I don't care about some stupid note!' Jack groaned. 'Writing doesn't count, ok? I'm not just a few lines of typed text, winking and smiley-facing you from behind a screen. I'm right here. I know it's not what you're used to but … ' His voice dried, and he hoped Ava wouldn't see just how close to tears and emotional he was becoming. 'Look. I just need to know that I can trust you. That you won't run out on me again.'

Ava's hands slipped from the wheel and fell into her lap. 'I came back for you, didn't I?' she said quietly.

'Because of me? Or because of the wolves outside?'

She turned to face him, the look on her tear-stained face darkening.

Jack took one look at Ava and knew that he could not stay mad at her for long. And so he made a decision. Placing his hand on her chin, he raised her face to him and said, 'Semi-colon-dash-right bracket,' then he released her chin and mimed the emoticon for her.

When she smiled, he wished he could lean in to hold her, and to be held. In your dreams, he told himself. Not while you're stuck in your nightmares.

Ava turned the ignition, and the battered Chevy rattled into new life.

'Know where we're going?' asked Jack.

'Not really,' she admitted, calmer now. 'But I guess at least now we know where we're coming from.'

*****

An hour later on the interstate, it seemed Ava had worked out a fair idea of where they were headed.

Twin Cities, Idaho. Her old home.

'Won't your mom be expecting us to make for there?' Jack worried. 'It's the same route as the bus was taking.'

Ava nodded. 'But we need new transport.'

Jack looked at her quizzically.

'Think about it,' Ava continued. 'Someone drove into sweet old lady Patience's house – and her Chevy is missing. The cops are probably already looking for it. I'm hoping we can borrow something else from someone I know in Twin Cities.'

'You said we can't trust anyone,' Jack reminded her.

'This is different.'

'You must know them pretty well.'

Ava didn't answer.

Rocky stretches of desert and wilderness gradually gave way to wide-open fields. They arrived in Twin Cities as dawn was smudging trails of golden-red across the paling sky. They drove past fields and farmsteads on the outskirts of town for a few miles, then Ava jerked hard on the wheel.

'Hey!' Jack yelled as the Chevy started plowing through a wheat field.

'Off-road and out of sight,' Ava briefly explained as she turned off the engine and the car slowed to a graceless halt. The wheat waved wildly in a stiff breeze, as if in surrender.

'Thanks, Patience,' said Jack reverently. 'Your car was a virtue even if you turned out not to be.'

Ava didn't smile. She picked up her rucksack, got out of the car, and walked away without looking back.

Jack followed her back onto the road, where they walked for about a quarter of a mile before hitting a dirt track.

'This is the place,' Ava told him.

The track swerved round, a blind bend.

'So, who's this person you think can help us?' Jack asked.

Ava suddenly stopped dead in her tracks. 'Him,' she said.

Jack froze too. A blond-haired guy, probably in his early twenties, with clear blue eyes and a straggly goatee, was standing in the middle of the track. He wore muddy jeans, a plaid shirt, and a heavy waterproof jacket.

And he was pointing a shotgun at them.

*****

'Hey, Jedi,' Ava said, pushing her hands deep into her coat pockets. 'You going to shoot me or what?'

Jedi was staring at Ava like Tarzan seeing Jane for the first time: part wonder and desire, part fear. He lowered the shotgun, hesitantly. 'Ava? Jesus, is it you?'

A tiny smile appeared on Ava's face. 'Yeah. Really.'

Jedi shook his head, disbelief stretching his face somewhere between a goofy smile and a baleful frown. 'Three years since you disappeared.'

'Long story,' Ava told him, but before she could manage another word Jedi grabbed her in a clumsy hug.

Jack felt a cold spark of jealousy kick through him. Ava was embracing Jedi too, her hands pressing against different parts of his back like she couldn't work out where best to hold him first. 'Hi, I'm Jack Rivers,' he suddenly announced loudly.

The two broke off the hug and Jack smiled inwardly.

Jedi skittered back a few steps like he'd been sleepwalking and now he'd woken up with a shock. He nodded at Jack without enthusiasm. 'Jedi Carlos.'

'Jack's a friend of mine,' Ava said casually.

'Is that a fact?' Jedi remarked.

'Do you greet all your visitors at gunpoint?' Jack fired back.

'Saw you dump the car on our land,' replied Jedi. 'Thought you might mean trouble.' He turned back to Ava, and there was something raw in the way he looked at her. 'Then I saw it was you, and … '

'You were right the first time,' Ava cut off stiffly. 'We do mean trouble.'

Jedi looked quickly at Jack. Then he shrugged. 'You want to come up to the house?'

'If that's OK,' Ava said.

A keen wind was whipping up as they trudged along the path to the farmhouse. Storm clouds were blowing in from the west, but the sun was still blazing. The fallen leaves that were dotting bare branches glowed copper against the dark edges of the cloud. Jack tagged along after Ava and Jedi, feeling like a kid who couldn't quite grasp the undertones between the adults leading him on.

The farmhouse was old, its whitewashed exterior peeling and cracked. The heavy timber door stuck in its frame when Jedi went to open it. He gave it a sharp kick. It loosened and he stepped through.

'I hope we won't be disturbing your folks,' Jack said.

'They're farmers, Jack,' said Ava, rolling her eyes. 'Jedi's dad and mom get up before he's even gone to bed.'

'You being funny, Ava?' Jedi asked hoarsely. It was like shutters had come down behind his eyes. 'You know mom's dead?'

Ouch. Jack felt his toes curl.

'No. I – I had no idea.' Ava's face drained of color and she gripped hold of a kitchen chair. 'I'm so sorry. When did – '

'The night you left.' Jedi stared at her, his gaze glassy and unfocused. 'Some kind of wild animal, the police said. The same kind that had killed all the others. Slit him open from top to bottom.'

Jack and Ava both froze.