Chapter 7 New Land of Rebirth

But now, Scarlett, who had sworn she absolutely couldn't fall asleep, was sprawled on top of a huge hard-shell suitcase, mouth slightly open, snoring evenly and loudly.

Celeste sighed helplessly and rolled her eyes in the darkness.

Scarlett's nerves were thicker than water pipes.

Celeste hugged her knees tightly, bouncing back and forth between woven bags and suitcases like a rag doll as the bus jolted along.

Every bone in her body was protesting, and her thighs were already bruised in several places from bumping against the corners of cardboard boxes.

But she didn't dare sleep, not even for a second.

She was afraid that if she closed her eyes, she'd miss a stop along the way, and then this bus would drag them straight into the long-distance terminal parking lot, where they'd suffocate to death like two turkeys forgotten in an oven.

"First stop..." Celeste counted silently in her mind.

The bus stopped briefly. Someone got off and took away a luggage bag from the front.

"Second stop..."

Time became unbearably long in this dark, stinking box.

Celeste could only stay awake by pinching the inside of her thighs.

Her big eyes, usually as innocent as a lop-eared rabbit's, were now wide open in the darkness, bloodshot.

Her mind kept replaying Quinn's mean face and those greasy frying pans at the highway diner.

Just get through tonight, just get through these damn three hours!

Twenty thousand dollars.

Los Angeles sunshine.

No cursing, no bills.

Celeste clenched her teeth and forced herself to endure all the exhaustion and fear.

After what felt like forever, a faint grayish-blue light seeped in through the rubber seams of the cargo door.

Dawn was breaking.

The bus slowed down again. With a harsh screech of brakes, the vehicle shook violently and came to a complete stop.

"Sixth stop." Celeste's dry lips moved.

Next stop would be the final destination, Darktide Harbor.

Celeste took a deep breath and reached over to push Scarlett, who was sleeping like a dead pig.

"Hey, wake up." Celeste kept her voice low. "Your drool is about to flood that leather suitcase."

Scarlett jerked awake from her sleep.

She blinked confusedly in the darkness, then gasped sharply.

"God! I fell asleep?" Scarlett whisper-screamed, grabbing Celeste's arm. "Celeste! Why didn't you wake me? You stayed up the whole night alone!"

In the dim light filtering through the cracks, Scarlett could see Celeste's pale face and the heavy dark circles under her eyes.

Guilt instantly overwhelmed Scarlett.

"I'm such an asshole!" Scarlett grabbed her own hair in frustration. "I let you keep watch alone. What if something had happened?"

"Quiet." Celeste brushed her hand away and rubbed her nearly broken back. "We're almost at the harbor. Save your energy to figure out how to escape."

Scarlett slapped her own cheeks hard, forcing herself to wake up.

"Listen, Celeste." Scarlett leaned close to Celeste's ear, her voice serious. "When the bus stops, the driver will definitely open the cargo door. We'll hide behind this pile of woven bags in the back."

"When he drags out the luggage in front and turns around to push the luggage cart, we'll just run out. Got it?"

Celeste nodded, her palms covered in cold sweat.

"Move fast, absolutely no hesitation." Scarlett gripped Celeste's cold hand. "Ready?"

"Ready." Celeste took a deep breath.

The engine gave one last roar, and the bus finally came to a complete stop.

Final stop, Darktide Harbor. They had arrived.

Outside the cabin came noisy voices, seagull cries, and the distant sound of ship horns.

Then came the driver's heavy, impatient footsteps.

The sound of the metal latch being unlocked exploded in their ears.

Celeste's heart leaped into her throat. She and Scarlett pressed themselves tightly into the darkest corner, using a huge red and white checkered woven bag to hide their bodies.

The cargo door was yanked open.

The dazzling morning harbor sunlight instantly flooded the storage compartment, so bright that Celeste could barely open her eyes.

Fresh sea breeze, carrying a salty fishy smell, rushed in, dispersing the nauseating diesel fumes in the cabin.

"Damn it, how much junk did these poor people bring?" The driver's hoarse voice sounded outside.

He roughly pulled out several suitcases near the door, throwing them on the ground with dull thuds.

Celeste held her breath, staring intently at the driver's dirty leather boots.

The driver bent over, sticking half his body into the cabin, reaching for a duffel bag further inside.

His hand was less than four inches from Celeste's knee.

Celeste could even smell the strong scent of cheap tobacco on the driver.

"Damn it, it's stuck." The driver cursed and yanked hard, dragging the duffel bag out.

Then he turned around and walked toward the luggage cart nearby.

"Now!" Scarlett whispered urgently.

Scarlett and Celeste shot out from behind the woven bags like two cats whose tails had been stepped on, scrambling on all fours.

Celeste didn't care about appearances at all. She rolled straight down from the edge of the half-meter-high platform.

Her knees hit the rough asphalt hard, hurting so much she almost cried.

But she didn't dare make a sound. She crawled and stumbled after Scarlett toward a row of vending machines nearby.

The driver came back pushing the luggage cart.

He didn't notice at all that in those few seconds while his back was turned, two "stowaways" had escaped from his bus.

Scarlett and Celeste hid behind the vending machines, gasping for air.

Celeste felt like her lungs were about to explode, her heart pounding wildly in her chest as if it might burst out at any moment.

"We did it!"

Scarlett leaned against the cold machine shell, trembling with excitement.

She turned to look at the disheveled Celeste and suddenly couldn't help laughing.

"Celeste, you look like a groundhog that just got dug out of a coal mine."

Celeste glared at her and looked down at herself.

Her secondhand sweater, which had been relatively clean before, was now covered in dust and mysterious oil stains. Her hair was a mess like a bird's nest, and her jeans had a hole torn at the knee.

Not a single bone in her body didn't hurt.

But she had survived.

They had successfully escaped that broken town and made it to Darktide Harbor.

"Stop laughing. Check what time it is."

Celeste rubbed her aching knees and nervously looked around.

The early morning harbor station already had quite a few passengers walking around. They looked way too conspicuous in their current state.

The smile faded from Scarlett's face. She pulled out her phone and lit up the screen.

"Five twenty. Meeting time is six o'clock. We've got forty minutes."

"The abandoned gas station at the Nightthicket Road intersection..." Celeste recited the address from the email.

"Do you know where that is?"