I woke up to silence. I turn to see if Evelyn's awake, but instead I find no one there. Alarmed I sit up. On the seat is a slip of paper. I hear Jack and Ray get up behind me.

"What's that?" Jack asks.

"It says Evelyn couldn't sleep so she went to go look for gas," I say.

"Well then we should probably go too," Jack says.  I nod and say,

"Probably". The three of us step out of the car and into the summer heat. I look down the exit and start walking.

"There," Jack says. I look at where he's pointing. No more than a block away stands a gas station. We walk quickly.

"Wait," I say, "Look at the road carefully".
Everyone stops to look at the giant hole in the ground.

"We should find another gas station," Jack says after examining it. "That's probably what Evelyn did," he adds. Ray nods and I say,

"Probably," even though something's not sitting right with me. We walk around until we find another gas station about a mile away from the exit. I look into the garage and find to jugs for carrying oil. We find a gas tank that actually works and jack goes in to say that we "paid" on the machine. I look around at the desert town. It makes me sick to know that the rebels, his old friends, were the ones who did this. Jack returns and we start filling the tanks.

"Any sign of Evelyn?" I ask.

"No not a thing," Jack replies. "She probably went somewhere else and is waiting back at the car".

I nod even though I don't believe a word he just said. It's not that I think Jack's lying it's just a feeling I have, that something terrible happened.

As we walk up the exit ramp the feeling gets worse. My shoulders feel like they're holding up the sky. I was right. As we get to the car it is clear that Evelyn isn't there.

Evelyn

I sit in the bottom of the whole looking straight up at the sun so it warms my face. Noon. I open my eyes and look down at my swollen ankle.

It hurts like hell. I close my eyes and for not the first time let the tears come. I look at my ankle once more this time truly examining it. I gently run my finger across it and the pain grows on a certain part.

Holding down a scream I press down. My ankle feels like it's on fire and I didn't even press for a second. Broken. It's not even a question, I know I broke it. I wonder when and if anyone will come for me.

I remember Liam telling me he would never look at me differently for who I was, but did he really mean it? Was he know thinking, good she's gone? God I hope not.

Liam

I drop my bucket. Ray runs to the car and jumps in looking to see if she's truly gone. She comes back crying.

"No. No, no, no," Jack says ripping at his hair. "She's gone!"  Ray grabs her pad of paper. She writes.

What happened to her?!

"Something must have happened when she was looking for gas. She'd never leave us," Jack says. Even though he's trying to calm down Ray, he's just making things worse.

I look back down the ramp as jack try's, and fails, to comfort Ray. The hole. The hole is the only possibility. I race down the ramp. I near the hole and collapse on my knees peering into the bottom I see her curled into a ball eyes closed.

"Evelyn!" I shout. Her face turns towards me. I can see she looks tired and her eyes are dead from crying. "Thank god," I say my tears rolling down my face.

She allows herself a weak smile before closing her eyes. She knows she's safe. I turn and see Jack and Ray coming towards me. The come and peer into the hole. Ray covers her mouth and tears start rolling down her face.

"How are we going to get her out?" Jack asks pain ripping through his voice. Ray points to a swing hanging on a tree. I run to the tree and unfasten it from the branch. I smile at Ray.

"Your a genius," I say. Jack starts climbing down the whole and slides the swing under her. He ties the end to the string we have. Jack nods. Ray and I take hold of the rope and start to pull. It's not that hard and we realize Evelyn is extremely light. We pull her out safely onto the pavement and Jack climbs out.

"Get the car," I say to Jack perhaps a little to harshly.
I walk over to Evelyn and watch her chest rise and fall holding her hand tightly.

The car arrives after ten minutes and we load her in the back. I smile and wipe a strand of hair away from her face.

"You're safe," I whisper.