Chapter 96

It was dark. That didn’t seem right. Adam opened his eyes, remembering instantly where he was--in Naomi’s garage--but he didn’t think it should be dark outside if he’d only slept for a couple of hours.
Jumping up, he looked around and saw Naomi still working by lamp light at the other end of the building. She had her hair tied back, her face scrunched up in frustration as she worked with what he thought might be a wrench on the front tire of the bike, which was tipped up in some contraption so that the wheel was in the air.
Grabbing his backpack, Adam headed over, wondering what time it might be but also afraid to find out. “I guess things aren’t going well,” he said.
She didn’t take her eyes off of the piece she was working on as she answered. “No, it’s not. I mean… it’s better now. For a while, I was having the hardest time repairing the brake line, but I finally got that. Now, I’m just trying to straighten out the front end. I’m just about there, I think.” She didn’t sound particularly certain of herself.
“Is there anything I can do to help?” he asked.
“Not at the moment,” she assured him. “There.” Whatever she had been doing, she seemed satisfied that it was finished and stood up straight, stretching her back. “I would’ve woken you, but I didn’t see the point when I wasn’t finished. You seemed to need the sleep.”
“I did,” he admitted. His stomach growled and he realized he also needed to eat. And use the restroom. “How long was I out?” he asked, bracing himself for the answer.
“Seven hours,” she said, an apologetic look on her face. “Sorry--I was wrong about how long it would take me. I think I’ll be done in another hour or so, though.”
“Seven hours!” he repeated, running a hand through his hair. With the time he’d already lost with his detour, he knew he probably couldn’t make it to Louis City in time now, not even if he drove as fast as possible straight through until he got there. Would Rain and the others leave without him? Would he be able to locate them on the road to the Nation of Quebec?
“I’m really sorry, Adam,” Naomi said again, moving on to another part of the bike. He had no idea what she was doing now, so volunteering to help might just put him in the way.
“It’s okay,” he assured her. “I’m sorry to eat up your whole day. I bet you had other things you needed to get done.”
Naomi shrugged. “It’s all right. Work will always be there. If you need to use the bathroom, there’s one back there.” She pointed to the far end of the garage across from where he’d been sleeping.
“Thanks,” Adam said, glad he hadn’t needed to ask. He wound between discarded scrap metal, tools, and bins of other items to make his way to the back and went about his business, trying to do the rough math in his head to figure out how long it might take for him to get to Louis City from here if he left in the next hour. The outlook was not good.
Back at the front of the garage, Naomi seemed to be making some progress. Her face revealed that she was much happier now with how the project was going. “My mom made you a sandwich a little while ago,” Naomi said, not letting go of the parts she was working on to point but gesturing with the top of her head in the direction of a table behind him. Adam turned to see a large sandwich wrapped in plastic, what looked like some baked, sliced potatoes in a small bag, and an apple. There was also a bottle of water and a chocolate chip cookie, too, something he’d been introduced to in Esther’s kitchen. “She didn’t know if you’d want to eat before you left or take it with you.”
“That was really thoughtful of her--and you,” he said, moving over to unwrap the sandwich and dig in right that moment. He had had a few snacks on the road, but eating and driving at the same time were not easy, and he had found out pretty quickly he wasn’t good at it.
Adam unwrapped the sandwich and took a big bite. He recognized turkey and cheese, and he’d discovered lettuce and tomato while in Judea, but there was some sort of white sauce on the bread that was delicious. “What is on this?” he asked her between bites.
“Turkey and cheese?” Naomi said, raising an eyebrow at him.
“No, I know that,” he said. “This white stuff.”
She stopped working and stared at him. “Mayo?”
“Mayo?” he repeated. It sounded funny, but it tasted so good.
“Yeah, mayonnaise. You’ve never heard of it?”
Realizing he probably sounded really strange not having heard of something he thought must be pretty common, he tried to play it off. “Well, I’ve been raised on a pretty strict diet,” he said, trying the sliced potatoes. They were crisp and salty, and he instantly loved them but didn’t dare ask what they were.
Naomi went back to her work, but she was shaking her head. “You’re an odd duck, Adam Blue,” she said.
“Being different has its perks,” he argued, almost finished with his sandwich already. He slowed down to take a drink of the cool water. He absolutely loved water and could drink it all day long.
“I guess that’s true,” Naomi agreed, tightening a lug on the bike. “I think this is done. I’m going to take it out and make sure the engine is working correctly in a minute. I need to straighten out the front wheel on the cart, and I think we’ll be set.”
Adam was relieved to hear it, but he was also sad to have to leave Naomi. She was a good person, and he could count her as a friend. “I really appreciate it, Naomi.”
She finished her work and looked up at him. “Are you sure you don’t want to wait until the morning to go? You’re welcome to stay here as long as you need to.”
He shook his head, finishing up the bag of potatoes. “I appreciate it, but I have to go. As it is, I’m going to have to hurry to get there on time.” He didn’t even think that was possible.
“You know, my mom said the Mothers are still searching Oklasaw for rebels. Our forces are trying to drive them out, and there are skirmishes going on all over the place. It’s really not safe out there, especially at night, when you can’t see where you’re going.”
Adam swallowed hard, wondering if he should tell her the truth. Deciding he wanted to keep her from knowing too much, in case the Mothers showed up at her door, he said, “I’ll be all right.”
Something about the way that she was looking at him made Adam think she either already knew that he was one of the rebels or at the very least had a sneaking suspicion. “Okay,” she said with a shrug and a shake of her head, showing she clearly disapproved. “I’m going to take this out, and I’ll be back in a minute, assuming it works.”
“Thank you, Naomi.” He stood to help her lower it down off of the stand she had it attached to but let her wheel it out by herself. If she wanted his help, she’d ask for it.
“No problem. By the way, I’ll need to reprogram the navi for where you were headed since I had to detach the battery. Do you know the address in Louis City?”
Adam’s eyes widened. “No, I have no idea where I was going.” That was a problem.
“Oh, no. I’m sorry. Did they tell you anything at all about where you were supposed to meet them?”
“No, Seth just called it a gate.”
“The Gate?” Naomie repeated. “The Gateway? Oh. That won’t be hard to find. You can see that from miles away from Louis City. But I’ll look up the address on my phone and put it into your navigation system.”
“Thanks,” Adam said, wondering how big this Gate was that you could see it from so far away. He had no idea what it might even look like, so how would he know he was seeing it?
Naomi wheeled the bike outside and Adam went about finishing his cookie and water, so glad the person he’d ran into was such a good person. Anyone else might’ve left him lying on the side of the road to fend for himself. Something tells him he wouldn’t have made it too far--unless the Mothers found him. Then, he’d probably be back in Michaelanburg by now. Or dead.