Necromance

Necromance: Chapter Eight

NECROMANCE

Written by: Rachel Kramer

Chapter Eight

Gavin parked his truck behind a sketchy looking motel off the interstate. Even with the sun high in the sky, I still felt uneasy in the strange surroundings. We were in BFE, in a shady part of town. I didn't like how open the desert felt; it made me feel vulnerable. After all, palm trees didn't make for great cover.

As we made our way through the motel's back parking lot, I was on high alert. The sun may be out keeping the monsters at bay, but my brother was not detoured by sunlight. If he had somehow managed to follow me and Gavin here, I would not let him catch me off guard. If he got the drop on us, he'd kill me for sure, and I didn't want to die today. Or anytime soon.

I scanned the vacant lot and deserted desert landscape for anything threatening, but there was no one around. A crow hopped along a thin patch of dead grass and cawed ominously. Then, like something out of an old western movie, a tumbleweed rolled across my path, carried by dry, hot wind. I stopped walking and stared at Gavin reproachfully.

"Where the hell have you taken me?"

Gavin didn't stop walking, but he shot me a quick, mischievous smile over his shoulder. "What? Not a fan of the whole 'Fievel Goes West' vibe?"

I jogged around the tumbleweed to catch with Gavin, whose long strides were hard to keep up with. His leisurely walking was like cardio for me.

"Seriously, I thought this was supposed to be a celebrity hot-spot. I can't see why anyone would come here willingly."

He shrugged. "During the cooler months, it's quite beautiful. Only the locals bother to stay during the summers - too hot for anyone else."

Yeah, tell me about it, I thought, as beads of sweat formed on my brow and down my back. Even in April's dress, I was burning up, and the garment didn't cover much. Especially now, after I'd ripped half the bottom off on a fence, fleeing APA's raid on her home.

"Somehow I pictured Palm Springs more..."

"Glamorous?"

I nodded.

"Oh, it is. Ten to twenty minutes south of here, it's fantastic," he explained, opening the front entrance of the run-down Desert Oasis Inn. The name was severely misleading. I'd gotten my hopes up thinking that the building would offer some relief from the heat, but it was just as bad as it was outside - worse, even. The lobby was stuffy and smelt like BO with the lack of circulating air.

"And we're suffering in this dump because...?"

"Because," he emphasized, "it's less conspicuous."

"Oh yeah, that's it. Not because you're cheap or anything."

Gavin turned his head to narrow his eyes at me. "I am not cheap. This is not a vacation."

I rolled my eyes. "Vacation or no, you could have chosen a nicer neighborhood," I said eyeing the sparse lobby that looked like it was last furnished in the eighties. It wasn't exactly dirty - they did have to meet certain health codes, I'm sure - but it wasn't exactly clean either.

"I'm not saying we won't be found here by whoever might be looking for us, but we do stand a better chance at staying under the radar," he added.

Gavin was probably right, but that didn't mean I had to like staying in this dump.

We approached the unoccupied counter and Gavin rang a silver bell meant to catch the attention of a concierge. No, concierge was too fancy a word for this place. Innkeeper fit best.