I hugged my knees tight to my chest. Stars appeared in the dusk sky. More than I’d ever seen. Was Mel with them? Ever since I woke, I couldn’t shake the sense that I might die. My body only to be found by the scavengers. 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 I was. The sun hid behind the mountains. I wanted to make sure Chuck got plenty of sleep. He’d been kind enough to let me sleep longer. I could do the same for him.

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. None of the flashlights had worked. Todd had forgotten to check the batteries in the old lights before packing them. 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.

“Okay, time to be the bad guy,” I said.

I couldn’t think about them anymore. We needed to survive, and then worry about how we failed our friends for the rest of our lives. Chuck didn’t need to feel guilty, though. He’d just realized that he shouldn’t trust people he’s never met before. I wouldn’t blame him if he never wanted to talk to me again after this. I pushed myself up slowly to a standing position and drew in a sharp breath as a now all too familiar pain stabbed into my skull.

“Chuck,” I said. “It’s time to wake up.”

Even though I think I went scent blind to Chuck’s stench, I would rather stay out in the fresher air. 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,” Chuck said.

“No, what?” I asked.

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

“I don’t want to go on. I’m dead anyway. Heavy metal poisoning. No point in trying to fight it. They couldn’t dilute out of my system fast enough to save me.”

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 and was ready to scream, but stopped myself. His pale face turned to mine with a slackened expression. I choked back some tears and looked up at the sky. 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 up and going to brunch the next morning with an efficiency that 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.”

I did not know if the last part was true, but I needed Chuck to believe it. 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, there aren’t many first-hand experiences in most articles. It’s all research and postulations.”

That’s it. I held my breath and entered the stale-aired room. Chuck took my hand and let me pull him to his feet. We’d prepped our bags, put on our watches, and eaten whatever food remained. Eating while wind and dust caked our mouths with more of the toxins entering through our mouths and our skin. 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 with minimal complaints.

The cool air was a relief compared to the day’s heat. A good omen, I hoped. Dark clouds neared the bright moon. Heavy with the promise of rain. I tucked fear and pain under my guilt. We started down the dirt-covered road. Chuck groaned behind me, but waved me on the first time I turned back to check on him. I slowed. Chuck took ten steps, stopped, bent over. It slowed our progress.

Sand hissed under each footstep, warming my feet through my shoes. Buildings on either side of the street stood like shipwrecks in a desert sea. 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. It was my fault, but I couldn’t let that stop me from trying to survive, and trying to keep Chuck alive. Thunder cracked behind us. My heart ached. No, it was supposed to be going the other way. Darkness stole the little remaining moonlight. I hoped that we still walked in a straight line. Chuck dragged his feet through the sand. A smell of rotten eggs surged with the wind. Time to move. I raised my voice to speak through the makeshift mouth and nose covers. Chuck made them while I slept out of the two extra bags we couldn’t carry.

“Chuck, you mentioned heavy metals,” I said.

I didn’t want to remind him of his condition, but I couldn’t think of anywhere else to start.

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

Chuck gave me a side-eye, but in the darkness, I saw the glint of excitement in him. I faltered a step and my foot slid down the side of a bank. Off the road. Chuck reached out and caught my arm to stop me from falling in. It wasn’t clear if the ditch was deep, but I only 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 knows about arsenic because they think that’s the scariest one. In fact, lead, copper, cadmium, and a bunch of other heavy metals settled into the lake bed. Most of which are poisonous, especially once they’re airborne.”

He paused here, bent over, groaned, and then spat something out. 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. I should have given Chuck a chance, I realized. He 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 had turned what I hoped was west up the road, and the slight incline told me it should be. The rain came upon us with a marching patter of a muffled enemy force. The cold of the night turned into a quick chill that threatened to steal all the warmth from my body.

“Shit, we’ve got to move faster to keep our body heat,” 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. Though I hadn’t expected to need them much, I’d left heavier-duty sneakers in my tent. I’d just never thought I’d need them if we were sitting around a campfire. 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 pushed on. Luckily, the rain and darkness hid my tears from Chuck.

The rain turned the dirt on the road to mud, and we had to slop our way up the flat part as the sides fell off into what looked like 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.”

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. I grunted in frustration. Even though he was hurting, I didn’t want to climb the hill twice. I couldn’t live with myself if I abandoned him after everything. Chuck had 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 until I found where his path branched away from mine.

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, by 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 couldn’t leave Chuck. He might still be alive.

I followed his 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 this was as far as I would go. First, the vertical slope of the ditch. I couldn’t reach him without slipping. 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 body twisted to one side. I held my hand to my mouth. The rough bag fabric of my makeshift mouth cover 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. If the ravine weren’t so deep, I could have gone down to drag his body with me. I pushed it from my mind. I didn’t have the strength for both of us.

The Great Salt Bowl Chapter 3

The Great Salt Bowl Chapter 5