The squelching sound Amy's cheek made when she peeled it off of the window triggered a faint alarm-skin stuck to glass wasn't normal. There was something very wrong about that. But she didn't have time to worry about it too much. Other problems were trying to crowd their way to the center of her attention. Her head felt like it was full of cotton wool and someone had been beating on it with a shovel. A failed attempt to breathe revealed a blocked nose. And Amy felt a damp ooze running along her upper lip.

She wiped it off expecting to find blood on her fingertips, but discovered that the swampy green mucus was even more disturbing.

Through squinted eyes, she saw an archaic gas station. It looked like something out of a museum or an old movie. Beyond it, was an expanse of endless empty country. The light glaring off all that desolation seared her retinas like the flair of a flashbulb that never stopped.

"Are you awake?"

"I guess so." Amy was surprised by the rasp in her voice and coughed to clear her throat.

"You had me worried there for a while."

Sitting beside her with his hands on the wheel, R.J. looked weird. She couldn't quite figure out why. Her head wasn't working very well.

"I thought you might really be sick. I wasn't sure what I was going to do." He was trying to talk matter-of-factly but an alarming amount of concern was hidden beneath the surface.

What had been wrong with her? What was wrong with her?

The last thing she remembered was stepping outside. There had been too many sounds-too many smells. It was nauseating, like a carnival tilt-whirl which spun her in so many directions there was no equilibrium. She hadn't been able to tell if she was seeing or smelling something-hearing or touching it. It was all jumbled and then somehow it stopped. She must have fallen asleep or passed out.

Now she was in the middle of nowhere, in some-she looked out the back window to confirm her suspicions-cruddy, old pickup truck.

"Where are we?"

"Just passed Datil, New Mexico. Population fifty-four." R.J. flashed a smile at her as though she should be impressed by the statistic.

Amy went to rub her eyes but stopped when she remembered the snot on her hand. "How long have I been out?"

"About eight hours. Are you alright?"

"No. Need to blow my nose and the light's too bright."

"There are tissues in the bag. Water too." R.J. gestured to the knapsack on the floor between them and took off his sunglasses. "Here. They're not your style but we'll pick you up something better when we can."

Amy realized that it had been the wraparound glasses that made him look strange. That and the clothes. He was wearing a short sleeve plaid shirt and grungy jeans. She had never seen him look so casual. She had also never actually seen him in any light except under the artificial UV bulbs of The Music Box. His skin seemed more alive out here. It was tanned and healthy and his eyes didn't seem as sunken.

As she dug through the bag, she wondered what she might look like in this new reality.

If it's anything like I feel, I must look like hell, she thought.

Amy eventually managed to clear out her sinuses after several blows into a pile of gross tissues she let pile at her feet. With the pressure gone, the vise on her temples loosened and when the daylight was dampened by the dark glasses, the pain felt like it was almost gone.

With her nasal passage open she took in her surroundings as though for the first time. The truck stank of oil, grass clippings, sour Freon, and leather so old and dead it wasn't even animal anymore. Did everything in the real world stink this bad?

She went back into the backpack and pulled out the water. Greedily, she sucked back a bottle and started on a second before talking again.

"Where are we going?"

"The next town is Magdalena. Staying clear of the interstates doesn't give us a lot of options. There's a whole lot of nothing on this road. But I'm beat.I need find a motel and hole-up for a while."

"No. I mean, where are we going?"

Without turning to her, he nodded as though he had been waiting for her to get to that. "Mexico. At least, at first. I have a friend who will run us down to the Mayan Peninsula in his fishing boat. From there, we'll have to play it by ear. My hope is to eventually get us down to South America, far from the Agency's grasp."

Amy watched the scenery go by. Lots of beiges, browns, and some oranges with very little living that could be seen. But she smelled the hares, coyotes, mice, and cold blooded creatures, which she couldn't be certain of. It didn't seem real. She still felt like at any moment, she'd be returned to her cage. Amy almost hoped for it.

She was feeling strangely homesick. Would she ever see Katie or Emily again? What about Barbara? And Dr. Tan? She missed her room-her books and her music. And she could really use a run on the treadmill.

Yes! That was it.

What she needed was to run. That would clear her head. Blast a Pink album and just run until the world was only the slapping of her feet against the rubber mat in beat to the music in her ears.

Would she have someplace like that in her new home?

What did she know about Mexico anyway? When you were eighteen you could go to a border town and get wasted, that's what the kids at school had said. Growing up, she had some neighbors that had come from Mexico. Their daughter had a quinceanera party and Amy was jealous and asked her parents if she could have one when she was sixteen. Maybe she could have one when they got there. Not that she'd have any friends to invite.

Amy dug deeper into her memories but found her knowledge of Mexico was sorely lacking.

South America was worse. She could name three-wait, there was Peru-four countries. She had watched a documentary once about Machu Picchu but she didn't think R.J. was planning on having her live among the ruins so that wouldn't be much help.

"How much further?" she asked.

R.J. gave her question a knowing grin.

"What?"

"Isn't that what kids always say on a road trip? It's right up there with, are we there yet?"

She glared at him. He should know better than to call her a kid.

"A little over an hour." He answered not losing the smile. "We'll sleep until it gets dark then travel through night. If you're not tired, you can watch TV while I get some shut eye. We'll need to get some food too. Are you hungry?"

Oh, why did he have to mention food? She hadn't noticed the gnawing pain in her stomach until she imagined eating.

"Starving," she said.

"We'll have to be careful. We can't sit around a restaurant too long. They issued an Amber Alert for you."

"What?"

"It's all over the radio. I guess, the TV too. Apparently, I'm an internet predator who abducted you. The Agency's way of getting local law enforcement to stop us, I guess."

"But that's not fair." How could they just lie like that? They were the ones that had kidnapped her and held her prisoner. If anything, they should be on the news as the bad guys, not the person who freed her.

"I'm afraid, it might be the most fair thing they have in store for us. We'll have to keep our heads down for the next few days and try not to attract attention. Maybe for lunch we can find a place with a drive-thru. We can see about risking a restaurant tonight, when we have darkness on our side."

"Drive-thru? You mean as in fast food?" Amy could hear the awe in her voice. It was pretty pathetic, but what did it matter. She had been in a steel cage for a quarter of her life, she was allowed to feel wonder at the things the rest of them took for granted.

"You seem to be excited about that prospect. What do you want to eat?"

"Everything."

Her hunger only grew as she thought about it. She really did feel like she could eat absolutely everything.

"Come on. Any requests? It's your first meal on the outside."

The possibilities flooded her mind as drool flooded her mouth. Amy was afraid to speak for fear it would swell out and run down her chin like she was some dog in front of a dinner bowl, but she couldn't help herself.

"I'm going to have a cheeseburger-no. Two cheese burgers," she told R.J. "And fries. And a milkshake." She felt like she was forgetting something, then remembered. "And something for dessert."

"You're going to make yourself sick."

Amy looked out at the road absorbed in images of food she had almost forgotten existed.

They couldn't get there fast enough.