Miracle Jones hitched up her bag as she walked alongside the road, the moon high overhead and not a soul around for miles. She’d just been in some no-name town with only a diner and general store, and she’d been there long enough to give herself a well-needed haircut and to find out that nobody could give her a ride out of town before she started walking again.
At this time of night, the American desert had a surreal feeling of being almost nonexistent. If you stepped too far away from the road, Miracle felt that you could almost expect to find nothing but canvas and paint blocking you on either side. The only thing that felt real was the road, the sound of her feet slapping against the ground, and the cool night air. Those things grounded her and helped her know that she was walking, moving away from LA and the past. The more she walked, the more she put those things behind her. Those thoughts alone could keep her going for miles, though if someone offered her a ride she wouldn’t say no.
Miracle stopped as she heard the howl of a coyote. A second later another one howled a reply and then a third joined in. She shivered, hoping that wasn’t the signal that a good meal was all by its lonesome on the highway. Quickly she looked back to see if anyone was coming up the road, but there was not a single vehicle. Of course there wasn’t. Nobody travelled these roads unless they were from the backwater towns that littered the area or they had a damn good reason to avoid the main roads.
Quickly she started walking again, hoping that she would be left alone and listening for the sounds of coyotes howling in the distance. Quiet had descended upon the desert again, but it was an eerie quiet now. Miracle expected that at any moment that it would be broken, and when it was it would be the sound of something horrible coming.
Stop thinking like that! Miracle chastised herself angrily as she moved onwards. You left Frank three states back in Burbank. The worst thing that’s likely to get you is the wildlife. Just watch the road for anything dangerous and you’ll be fine.
Miracle stopped to take a deep breath and try to calm herself. Ever since leaving home she’d become very good at calming herself. She’d always been a little nervous, which Frank had taken advantage of more than once. Now that she was backpacking and hitchhiking to wherever the roads took her, she was finally learning to calm herself, to be Zen as all those super-moms whose groceries she used to bag would say after coming from their yoga classes. All it took was a few deep breaths and pleasant thoughts about Frank dead in a ditch with his face bruised and bloody and she could move on down the road with ease.
A little while later the coyotes started up again. Miracle wasn’t unnerved this time. They sounded far away, and she didn’t think coyotes could throw their voices. However, there was something about the howling that caught her attention. Last time it had been like the coyotes had been engaging in conversation, the way one would call and the other would answer. However now they were all howling at once and there was a shriller quality to the howling, almost urgent in nature. She wasn’t exactly scared or nervous, but something about it stuck in her mind. It was almost like they were warning each other about something.
Miracle walked on, but then she thought the road in front of her seemed a bit brighter. Was she imagining it—no, she wasn’t. The road was definitely a bit brighter, and it was getting brighter with each passing second. Miracle turned around, knowing what to expect, and sure enough a pair of headlights were approaching. Miracle stuck out her thumb, hoping that whoever was driving would notice her and would be considerate enough to pick her up. And hopefully not be a psycho.
The car pulled to a stop next to Miracle, who was surprised to see that it was one of those stretch Hummer limo things. Thirty feet long and painted black, the limo had a pair of cattle horns mounted above the grill and a trail of painted flames trailing along the side starting under the side mirror and ending at the back bumper. The engine of the giant beast rumbled as Miracle stared at it, incredulous. Living in LA, she’d seen limos like these before, but never did she think one would stop for her, especially out in the middle of nowhere like right now.
