Shallow Creek

The signs for the state park appeared closer and closer together on the roadside.  Brendan’s mirror still showed the mysterious black truck, but now he was seriously doubting himself.  Could he just be paranoid?  This was the main highway that led to a large portion of the state, and there weren’t that many stops along the way, so it shouldn’t be that unusual for two vehicles to travel vast distances with different destinations in mind.

An arrow etched into a short stone wall commanded Brendan to turn right into the park.  As he did, he caught a glimpse of the Dodge slowing down in his rearview, but then the truck shot off down the highway.  It could’ve been some kind of optical illusion to do with turning and looking backwards at the same time, or something.

Whatever, the truck was gone now.

Brendan killed his truck’s engine in the vacant parking lot and grabbed Kim’s pack off her lap.  When she gave him a look of surprise, he smiled.  “Chivalrous, right?  Come on, I’m not getting the door for you. Let’s go.”

Chapter 27

“What really happened that night, back in high school?” Kim asked.

“Which night is that?”

“The one where you drove your brother’s truck under-aged.”

Brendan kicked a stone and watched it skitter off the path and into the short bushes.

“Why do you care?  You were, what, sixth grade when that happened?  Michelle wasn’t even in high school yet.”

“Didn’t mean to pour salt in the wound.  Sorry.”

Neither spoke again for a solid five minutes as they hiked the open trail.  That amount of time typically flew by, but these minutes dragged on awkwardly until Brendan couldn’t hack it anymore.

“We should get to know each other a little better before raking up that mess,” he said.  Kim’s serious expression loosened at this.  “What do you do for work?  I never asked you when you said you worked a late shift the other day.”

“I’m the receptionist at the hospital.” She shielded her eyes against the sun and stared intently at a stand of small trees off in the distance.  “It’s not glamorous, but it’s pretty much my job to lose, so I’ll stick with it.”

“You probably see some interesting patients roll through there.”

“Ugh, you would not believe the messes that end up there.  Recently it’s been a whole bunch of serious burn cases.  Most of the time they arrive with the EMTs, so they get rushed right past me, but a couple of smoldering arms have come my way.”

“Sounds nasty.”  Brendan knew all too well the disgusting scent of burned flesh and hair.

“It’s totally gross, and usually it’s hands, chest, or face, or a combo of the three, so it’s kind of hard to miss.”

“Ever have to deal with people you know?  Shallow Creek ain’t a big place.”

“Yeah, not that long ago it was my ex in there with a bad burn on his neck.”  Kim wasn’t too impressed with this guy from the shift in her tone.  “He made up some story about a firework accident, but I overheard Dr. Channing telling Chloe, one of the nurses, that most of these burn victims have been cooking meth in their trailers.”

“That doesn’t sound smart.”  At least now Brendan didn’t need to worry about the ex-boyfriend throwing a wrench in the works if he and Kim ever had a thing.  The guy sounded like he possessed all the brains of a doorknob.

“It’s not safe either,” Kim pointed out.  “For anyone.  I mean, they do this in trailers right next to their neighbors.  You could be watching TV when suddenly the place next door explodes and sets your house on fire.  Brice actually lives right near Michelle, but I never talked to her about it.”

“Brice?  That your old flame?”

“Yup.  Long gone and so long.”  She waved into the distance for effect.  “Thank the Lord.”

“Sounds like a genius to me, cooking homemade meth.”

She nodded.

“I Googled it after I heard the doctor talking about it.  They stick it all in an empty two-liter bottle of Coke, then microwave it, and then shake it, or something like that.  The damn things explode more often than not, giving them really bad burns.”

“So you think this is happening a lot around town?”

“Seems like it, judging on how many idiots immolate themselves.”

Kim suddenly cut up a side trail that eventually led up to a slightly elevated plateau.  To some people, this part of Texas looked desolate, but the mix of colors and textures took Brendan’s breath away.  The sun drew out all the hidden pigments of the exposed rock formations, revealing a majestic view that so few cared to see firsthand.

“You still running your little investigation?” she asked him before prompting him to slide the backpack off his shoulders.

“Yeah, trying to.”

Kim opened up the pack on the ground and started pulling things out.  She unfolded a plaid blanket and laid it out for them to sit on while she unpacked their lunch.

“Brice ran around with Scott, my cousin,” she said while handing him a sandwich.  “I figured you might want to know that.”

“Interesting.”

“And my cousin Dave ODed about a year ago.  That was Scott’s younger brother.”

Brendan left his sandwich untouched.