Tej is panting to keep up, but I don’t care if I’m leaving him in my dust. I’m thinking about hamburgers, a six-patty monster dripping with cheese. And milkshakes. Chocolate. Strawberry. Both. And apples, a whole bag of apples. And pizza. My legs burn and the back of my throat feels like I’ve swallowed a scrub brush. “Hurry!” We’re charging up a slope strewn with rocks. Behind me, Tej stumbles and I turn to haul him to his feet. The sound of the siren has faded to nothing, but it plays in my memory. The highway. We’re going home! The slope grows steep and I have to scramble. I use my hands to pull myself up the rocks. Finally, the slope flattens to a broad plateau. Tej calls from below me. “Can you see it?” The light is getting flat. “It must be over the rise.” I wait for Tej to catch up, and then I start running again. I don’t know what makes me stop, but I do, and good thing. At the edge of the rise, the ground falls away down a sheer rock face, so far down that it makes me dizzy.
