I hugged my knees tight to my chest. Stars appeared in the dusk sky. More than I’d ever seen.

Was Mel with them? 

The nearness of death clung to the back of my neck ever since I woke. Scavengers might be the only ones to find my body. 

I’d always been a good napper, but as Chuck snored in the room behind me, I wondered if he wasn’t better at it than me. 

The sun hid behind the mountains. He’d been kind enough to let me sleep longer.

Once the cool air blew in the doorway and the sunlight had darkened to the barest glow to light our way. I knew that we’d need to travel at night, but I’d forgotten that it might mean we would have to stumble through the dark.

I rested my forehead against my knees and drew in a deep breath. We would come back for Todd’s body if we could. If it were still here. I stifled a sob as I thought of the impossibility of finding Mel’s body. I watched stars appear one at a time, until they filled the sky.

“Okay, time to be the bad guy.”

Survival first, then I’d worry about my friends. I pushed myself up slowly to a standing position and drew in a sharp breath as pain stabbed into my skull.

“Chuck,” I said. “Time to wake up.”

There was a certain thickness to the air of that room I’d noticed again when I woke up. Chuck grumbled and rolled over.

“Chuck, it’s dark. You told me, we’ll move as soon as it gets dark.”

“No.” 

“No, what?” 

Chuck gave a heavy sigh before curling into a ball on the floor.

“I’m dead already. Heavy metal poisoning. Organ failure. No point in trying to fight it. They couldn’t dilute out of my system fast enough. You’re still showing early signs.”

Damn Chuck and his stupid knowledge. Why did he have to be so smart that he’d decide to give up?

“Chuck, I need you to help us survive.”

Chuck flipped me off. I balled my fists ready to scream, but stopped. His pale face turned to mine with a slackened expression. I choked back some tears and looked up at the sky through the hole in the roof. God, or whoever watched over us, might give me some strength. It was a long shot, but so was my idea.

I’d felt like Chuck plenty of times, especially after a night out partying with Mel. She pushed through until she collapsed. I smiled at the memory. Mel, somehow, still got us out to brunch the next morning with an efficiency I’d never understood. Until now, at least. I pushed my hair back and shook out my hands. Time to channel my inner Mel.

“Come on, Chuck, you’re a smart guy. You came out here to learn about the Great Salt Bowl to help you write an article, right?”

“Yeah, but,”

“No buts,” I said. “How else are you going to write this article unless you get home? Think of being the first person to write an article after surviving the Great Salt Bowl.”

While I didn’t know Chuck as well as I might have hoped, most smart people liked to do one thing above all else. Share their knowledge. Mel always knew what people needed, and maybe she was helping me with Chuck at that moment.

“I mean,” Chuck said, “there aren’t many first-hand experiences. It’s all research and po, postu, lations.”

That’s it. I reached for Chuck and he let me pull him to his feet. 

We prepped our bags and ate whatever food remained. Eating through wind and dust caked our mouths with more of the battery flavored toxins. I handed Chuck his bag and got him moving. That was always the biggest thing for me. Once I got moving, I would make it to brunch.

Chuck handed me his watch.

“You’re our time keeper,” Chuck said. “We have about fourteen hours until we’re both mad or useless. Keep an eye on it.”

11:47 PM. The cold air sent goosebumps across my arms. A good omen, I hoped. Dark clouds neared the bright moon. I turned my focus to the road ahead. We started down the dirt-covered blacktop. Chuck groaned behind me, but waved me on the first time I turned back to check on him. Chuck took ten steps, stopped, bent over. I waited, patting his back as he dry-heaved. We repeated that for a while.

Sand hissed under each footstep, warming my feet through my shoes. Buildings on either side of the street stood like shipwrecks in a desert. The gas station on our left was where Mel always made us stop for mixers for our pre-concert drinking. Not that my parents ever admitted to knowing we drank underage, but we never got in trouble, so I don’t think they worried as much. My mouth twisted into a frown. Drinking got us into this trouble. 

I wish I could completely blame it on the alcohol. Thunder cracked behind us. My heart ached. No, it was supposed to go the other way. Darkness stole the little remaining moonlight. Chuck dragged his feet through the sand. The smell of rotten eggs surged with the wind. Time to move. I raised my voice to speak through the circular sand stain on my shirt. 

“Chuck, you mentioned heavy metals?” I asked.

A reminder of his condition might make it worse, but the words were already out.

“I only remember our teachers talking about arsenic in class. Do we need to worry about other toxins?”

Chuck gave me a side-eye, but in a small break in the clouds, I noted the glint of excitement. I faltered a step and my foot slid down the side of a bank. Off the road. 

Chuck reached out and caught my arm. It wasn’t clear if the ditch was deep, but I remembered that they were deep enough for heavy rain drainage along the sides of the road. Still, his saving me offered some hope. Chuck’s pace quickened as he spoke.

“Everyone thinks arsenic is the worst.”

Chuck spat.

“But there’s lead, copper, cadmium… all the shit from a century of industry.”

He paused here, bent over, groaned, and then spat something out. 

“It’s all airborne now.”

I tried not to notice the vomit. Hopefully, he hadn’t lost too much of what he’d eaten before we left. Then he righted himself as if nothing had happened.

“Most of the chemicals present when the lake dried up came from the massive industrial and residential growth of the Salt Lake Valley.”

He rambled on for a while about this, stopping every so often to bend and puke. But we made it to the end of the road, where it intersected with one highway that people had long since abandoned. It only ran from Lake’s Edge to downtown Salt Lake. My memories stopped as a fresh smell registered in my mind. Wet and sulfuric, the stench of the oncoming rain made me reach out for Chuck’s hand.

“What is it?” Chuck asked.

We kept walking, but fell into silence. Chuck may have been quirky at first, but he was insanely smart about this. I didn’t think we’d have any kind of romance if we got out of this, but he could be a genuine friend. If he ever forgave me for getting him into this situation. 

We turned down what I hoped was the road west. My hope rose as the road inclined. 

The patter of rain marched behind us like a muffled enemy force on the advance. The cold of the night turned into a quick chill that stole any warmth from my body.

“Shit, we’ve got to move faster,” Chuck said.

My feet ached, but at least the rain had taken away the burning sensation. So much for wearing cute flats on a camping trip. I guess this satisfied one of my requirements for this weekend, hiking with friends. The water stung as it leaked through the thin fabric of my shoes. I gritted my teeth and took another step. 

The rain turned the dirt on the road to mud, and we slopped our way up the flat part as the sides fell off into bottomless ditches here. We did our best to stay in the center of the road, but the mud hid the broken blacktop like a slick sealant. We reached the top of the first hill and collapsed.

“I think that’s the worst we have to deal with,” I said.

No response. I didn’t blame Chuck. I wanted to catch my breath too. 

The rain fell in heavy drops, drowning out most noise. I hadn’t realized it until that moment. After a long silence, I sat up and searched for Chuck. There were no signs of him. My heart pounded in my chest. I remember that halfway up the hill I’d noticed that we were leaving trails like slugs in the mud. He’d been the only one to stay logical since this weekend went to hell. I drew in a deep, soaking breath and eased my way back down the hill.

My fingers clawed through the mud. Disturbed and undisturbed mud all felt the same. Lightning flashed. The light gave me a brief glimpse of my path. I breathed out in relief. The light faded. Darkness hid the confidence gained. I blinked away the water heavy on my eyelashes. A higher vantage might provide a better view. Climbing anything was out of the question. 

 I stood before the next lightning flash, but my first step to the side sent me sprawling. I screamed into the storm. Mud cut into my fingers as I slid. With luck, and flailing, I gripped a lip of fractured blacktop beneath. 

My body jolted with the stop. Aches re-flaring, an opposition to the icy rain. With heavy breaths, I calmed myself and waited. The next flash of lightning followed. I’d fallen far from where I started, but also got my confirmation of where Chuck parted from my path. The storm raged. 

I followed Chuck’s path as it faded into the darkness, and fresh mud and water smoothed out the divot from his dragging body. An incredible burn scorched my fingertips as if they were being dipped into fire each time I dug into the mud. I reached the edge of the road, or at least where I had to reach down to find the slide off the mud. The darkness gave me a moment to rest before I dared move any closer to the edge. I would not go blindly into things anymore. Not anymore.

The lightning came. Two things told me I’d reached the end. First, the vertical slope of the ditch slick with mud. Second, no safe way to get out. Tears mixed with the metallic water that burned all the same. The food had apparently given me enough water to cry. My body trembled. The second reason lay motionless in the ravine.

Chuck’s neck twisted, with a thick bulge on one side. Mud hid his face. His torso bent at an unnatural angle. I held my hand to my mouth. The rough sand and salt from my shirt scratched my lips. I closed my eyes. Somehow, through the dark and night blindness, I still saw Chuck, twisted in the small stream of muck-filled water that wrapped around his body. Bile stung at the back of my throat. I choked it down. A numbness crept into my hands and knees. 

Keep moving, Chuck had said. 

He would also tell me to leave him behind. He’d already tried.

Updated 02/03/2026: Added Chuck’s watch handoff and 14-hour countdown for increased urgency. Condensed technical exposition about toxins while maintaining essential information. Refined the rain/mud sequence for better pacing.

The Great Salt Bowl Chapter 3

The Great Salt Bowl Chapter 5