Mia watched the sky darken to a surreal shade of grey from the back seat of Naila’s car. She’d seen this on TV, but never paid attention to how the surroundings dulled in color, how life drained from them.
“It wasn’t supposed to rain today…” lamented the driver.
“Mother Nature must’ve made her own plans.” Roxie remarked solemnly. She watched flags rustle in the wind. “California doesn’t get tornadoes, does it?”
“Not any strong ones.”
“Lucky~ Tornadoes are the worst.” What an eerily straightforward way for her to put it.
“They sound like it. I hope the weather clears up soon. There’s a lake close to where your crew is staying, behind all the trees.” Naila smiled to herself. “Skipping rocks there helps me destress.”
Roxie looked into the back seat, her eyes filled with the same excitement as Mia’s heart. “Mia, did you hear that? The wonders of nature are just beyond our reach! You can feast upon it with your very eyes!”
“I’d love to!”
“Then it’s decided!” She turned back around, folding her arms. “We’re going to the lake!”
Naila nearly asked something, but instead pulled over to the sidewalk and braked the car. “I just realized you’ll be closer to the barracks if I let you off here. Just go straight down that street,” She pointed at the corner they just passed, “make a right at McBeefy’s, and then go straight until you see a bunch of trees. That’s when you’ll know you’re there.”
“Thank you for the ride.” Mia struggled not to step on Naila’s backpack or her medical books as she exited the car.
Roxie simply hopped out. “And thank you for your knowledge of the lake!”
“No problem. Stay dry!”
“You too!” Only after the fact did Mia realize what a fool she sounded like. Naila had a car. The freckled ranger didn’t have enough time to fix her mistake before she drove off.
“Onward!” Roxie led the way, denying Mia the chance to dwell on it.
Mia caught up to her as she rounded the corner. To their left, a metal fence separated them from a field with a running track. How would it have felt to run with the wind at her back? “Does it feel nicer, running laps on Earth?”
Roxie tilted her head side to side as she walked. “That’s not as simple a question as you may think.” She wagged a finger. “We are always at the mercy of the weather here, my dear Wattson. Once you’ve experienced a training session in the blistering heat of a summer afternoon, you’ll know the sun’s full wrath. But don’t be fooled by winter. She’s just as harsh a mistress, her cold winds sending daggers into your lungs with every breath…!”
“Oh. What about weather like this?”
“This is fine!” She answered cheerily.
Darkened windows across the street reflected cars that sped by much faster than the 30-mph-limit. Mia saw her own reflection, and Roxie’s, alone on the sidewalk, so quiet compared to Lunaria.
She held her hands out. “It’s so empty.”
“No one walks in America!” Roxie explained.
“But,” Mia thumbed behind her, “so many people were walking around in that city we came from.”
“That’s because it’s a city. Us country folk have to fend for ourselves!” The shorter redhead stabbed a finger into her own chest. “Driver’s licenses are a necessity in the rural wilderness.”
“Don’t you have buses?”
“No. It’s drive or die!”
Mia smiled, then grimaced when her heel collided with something unexpectedly squishy. Her foot sprang up, revealing a tomato slice absolutely covered in pepper. Moving pepper. “...Are those ants?”
Roxie turned, then gasp. “What a feast! Their queen will be so proud!”
Mia studied the ants intently. They crawled along the sidewalk, with a trail leading all the way back to the fence. Along the way, grass sprouted from a crack in the sidewalk. “It’s weird that someone would plant this here.”
“No one planted it, silly!” Roxie’s laugh carried nothing but kindness. “Grass grows wherever it wants to.”
“I never knew a crack in the sidewalk could be so alive.” The freckled ranger watched ants carry tomato pulp back to their home. She could do this for hours.
“Waaaah, how cute~!”
“They are kind of cute in a way.” Mia never thought she’d be saying this about ants, but she never thought she’d see ants.
“I wasn’t talking about the ants.”
“Huh?”
Rumbling cut through the sky. It shook Mia to her core, but in an exciting way.
“Sorry Mia, but we’ll have to leave the ants to their work! Time is ticking until–”
A darkened spot appeared on the sidewalk, and more joined it. Something cold landed on the back of Mia’s neck.
“Gyah!” Roxie ran away. Her arms failed to protect her mass of hair. “My dye is under attack!”
Mia ran after her, taking off her uniform coat. She finally caught up at the corner across from McBeefy’s. “Here…” she wheezed. “W… We can…”
Instead of wasting precious breath to explain, she lifted her coat above herself and Roxie. Roxie held the side closest to her, allowing Mia to let go of it.
“Thankies!” Roxie’s round eyes looked up at her. “I could use my coat if you want.”
“It’s fine.” Mia strained. “Feels good!”
Rain sprinkled her left arm like freckles. She didn’t lie; it felt nice! Looking toward the sky, Mia couldn’t see any source of the raindrops.
“The water… It’s falling out of the sky.”
“That’s what rain is!”
“Yeah, but–,” Logistically, Mia knew this was true, but it might as well have been magic to her. “Yeah. I guess you’re right.”
“You have a lot to learn.”
“I can’t wait to.”
Mia continued with Roxie down the final sidewalk, watching rain fall into the open field across the street. Beyond them, the sidewalk would come to an end soon. All it lead to were grassy clearings on either side of the road.
“Didn’t Naila say there’d be trees around here?”
“There are!” Roxie pointed ahead. “See?” Mia’s eyes followed her hand to a miniscule forest in the distance. It had to be a mile or two away from the end of the sidewalk.
“We have to walk all the way there??” The younger ranger’s excitement proved to be too much for her body, because she launched into a coughing fit.
Roxie slowed down, worry clear on her face. “Mia, are you okay?”
Mia nodded anyway, too embarrassed to tell the truth. She never cared for running, but the short jog over to Roxie shouldn’t have taken such a toll on her. It hadn’t been that long since she last ran. She shouldn’t be this out of shape.
“You don’t have asthma, do you?”
She finally recovered. “Can you even get into the IF with it?”
“If it’s mild, yes.” answered Roxie.
“My breathing exams came out normal, so I don’t think so.” Mia tried to remember if there were any signs she might’ve been missing. “I dunno, I never had any issues with it growing up.”
“Roxie Safety Tip!” She pointed with her free hand. “If you have trouble breathing, let someone know.”
Raindrops slithered down Mia’s elbow. The sprinkling became a steady downpour, shrouding their destination in mist. At this pace, she didn’t know how long it would take them to get there, but she knew her coat couldn’t hold out for much longer. Even now, it sagged and dripped onto their shoulders.
“Um,” Mia looked behind, “do you think we should head back to McBeefy’s? We’re still close. Maybe we could call Emil to pick us up from there. I can’t imagine being out here is very Roxie Safety Tip of us.”
“You are correct.” Roxie lifted up the sagging section. “McBeefy’s is an oasis of warmth and acceptance, so long as we buy a combo meal for $5.99! A perfect place to retreat.”
The two turned around, only to be met with curtains of rain. Their surroundings became a blur that only the light of the McBeefy’s sign could cut through. Angus, the bull mascot, crossed his arms and smiled down on them. The yellow circle at his back shined like a halo.
“How much water can fall from the sky?” It amazed Mia more than it annoyed her, and getting soaked was not her usual method of fun. Lightning flashed. She couldn’t even show it to Roxie before it disappeared. Thunder roared so loud, it nearly drowned out the truck passing by. “You could make an ocean out of this…”
“That’s what we here on Earth call–My truck!”
“I don’t think that’s–” Before she could finish, Roxie sprinted away from McBeefy’s, waving at a familiar red truck with a familiar driver.
“Captain Galhardo! Captain Galhardo, it’s your faithful crew!” Roxie’s curls glistened in the rain. Grey splotches splattered her white coat. “Please don’t forsake us!” Her pleas continued in vain as the truck continued at a respectable speed. “Please! Captaaaain!!”
Her calls went unheard. The truck passed the end of the sidewalk, where Roxie stood alone. Both her arms and voice lowered, defeated. Once again, Mia used her coat to shield her from the rain, but with how soaked it had become, the gesture meant little from a practical standpoint.
“He’s gone.” Roxie whined. She leaned her wet hair on Mia’s shoulder, and together, they watched the truck drive away… onto the side of the road?
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