<b>Roo'd</b>

# Roo'd

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# Chapter #35

Fede spent the rest of the ride in the passenger seat. Marcus drove, one large arm draped over the wheel, his thick legs hiding the pedals. He’d gotten Cessus to plug in the old white MP3 player into the stereo, selecting a constant stream of ancient French lounge music Fede found relaxing. It was like one long song, the way the MP3 player played it, blending each song into the next.

Cessus had started the trip up front with them, but ended up going into the back to setup for the run. Marcus had asked about his life growing up in the ’burbs, but there wasn’t much to tell and they’d ended up talking more about mod fighting. Marcus had done some crazy things in his life, and didn’t mind telling Fede the truth about it. Fede liked Marcus; he treated him with respect, even when he asked stupid things or didn’t know about something that must have seemed obvious to Marcus.

Every so often the pale green light of the GPS would flicker on over Marcus’s face, and eventually Fede noticed it had become nighttime. He’d nodded off a few times during the drive, but every time he woke up Marcus just took it like the conversation was still going. Eventually they stopped talking entirely, watching the plain scrub of the desert roll by. It’d been like that for hours, the night getting darker and darker. Not like in the city, where evening dropped down like a blanket over your head, but slower. It eased in over them, the countryside getting dimmer and dimmer. Shadows grew, and it got harder to make out the little cacti and stumpy trees alongside the road. He tapped his foot in time with the music. Marcus pulled slowly off the cracked pavement and onto a dirt road.

He turned and looked at him. The big man’s face was painted in green light, a frown driving his eyes deeper into the folds of his face.

“What up?” he asked. “You know where we are?”

Marcus didn’t say anything for a moment. Then he grunted.

“Yeah, but it doesn’t make any sense. Keep an eye out, would you?” he said.

The drove on and the crushed rock of the road gave way to a rutted track through the sand. Then even that disappeared, and they followed a series of bare patches through the weeds.

“This shit keeps up we’re going to get stuck” Marcus grumbled.

Just then they came to a rise and crested it, the truck bouncing and bucking as harder ground lifted beneath them.

“Well fuck me silly” coughed Marcus.

Ahead of them the dune crested to a long low beach, white sand spreading out as far as they could see in both directions. Their lights spilled over three trucks, similarly sized to theirs, all pulled up next to each other parallel to the beach. Their headlights were on, bright white LED light glaring against plastic tables and beach chairs. Just beyond the reach of the headlights a circus-type pavilion had been set up, the yellowed light of alcohol lamps rolling over a circular bar propped up on wooden struts. Dozens of people staggered and danced between the bar and the tables, and out beyond them Fede could see dripping bodies playing in the surf.

Soon after they’d crested the rise one of the bodies separated from the bar and ran up towards the truck. As it came closer Fede could see it was Tonx, tanned nut brown and ferociously drunk.

“Welcome! Welcome welcome welcome!” he called, pounding over the sand to jerk Fede’s door open.

“Just in time for the party, goddamn” he panted, pulling Fede out of the truck and subjecting him to a bone crushing hug. He smelled of sweat and the ocean, and of strong liquor.

Cessus appeared, one lens out and his fingers tapping frantically on his chest.

“What the fuck is this? Jesus Christ, have you seen the bandwidth out here?” he said.

Fede hadn’t, and made to reach for his goggles.

“Don’t” said Tonx. “No need. What’re you getting, Cessus?”

“Upload and download speeds are both at the top of the possible spectrum!” he said, his dreads bouncing crazily as he gaped at Tonx, at Fede, at the bar below. “It’s pure unshared bandwidth just for us!”

“It gets better out by our tent” said Tonx. “But forget that, I’ll explain it later. For now come get a drink.”

“What the hell is this?” asked Fede.

“What do you think? It’s a party! Don’t ask stupid questions and you’ll have a good time. Where the hell is my girlfriend?”

Cass was suddenly standing in the mixed light from the beach, her fists balled up, eyes gleaming wet as she regarded her shirtless, dirty, drunken boyfriend.

There were certain times, Fede was convinced, that the right thing to do was the unexpected one. He decided that Tonx was a master of it that night, when he grabbed his girlfriend in one long, deep kiss. He did it right in front of everybody, almost hitting Marcus as he came around the front of the truck, and he took an unabashedly long time of it. When Cass stood upright again she was flushed and speechless, and Fede knew everything was going to be okay.

“Park the truck next to the others. Leave it on electric, we got generators everyone runs in the morning. Grab yourself a drink on my tab and I’ll see ya’ll in a while” he said. Then he lifted Cass up off her feet and ran down the beach, disappearing around the bar and into the night.

“That motherfucker never ceases to surprise me” said Cessus, his fingers still dancing over his shirtfront, his eyeglasses dimly illuminating the whites of his eyes. “We got serious net connectivity here, and traceroute’s giving me a different path out to the net every time. This shit’s as bizarre and secure a setup as I’ve seen in a while.”

He turned towards Fede. “I don’t know where the hell we are, but if we’re going to launch from anywhere, this is the place to do it.”

Fede smiled a half-smile, stared at the dark of the beach where his brother had disappeared.

Marcus’s heavy hand fell onto his shoulder.

“You want to help me park this thing?” he asked.

“Yeah” mumbled Cessus, standing back so Fede could climb up ahead of him. “Then we have a hard-earned drink to enjoy.”

A short while later they’d parked the truck, a redheaded guy with a beard and a mumu showing them how to tie into the generator line for the morning.

“Better to set it up before the hangovers start” he’d said, his eyes unnaturally wide and bright. He’d slapped Marcus on the shoulder a number of times, amazed at how loud it sounded. Then he’d led them over to the bar, explained to the bartender that they were on Tonx’s tab, and disappeared.

They settled into a table out near the truck, Fede nursing something Cessus had ordered for him that tasted like nail polish and lemons.

“It’s a gimlet” Cessus advised. “Give your tongue a chance to get used to it before you throw it out.”

He’d ordered something that came in a glass the size of two fists, thick clear glass revealing a dark swirl of small, almond-shaped leaves. It oozed cold perspiration in the warm night air.

“Mint julep” he said, noticing Fede’s gaze.

“I like mint” said Fede.

“Not like this” said Cessus, although he handed the drink over. A few coughing gasps later Fede agreed. It did bear a resemblance to what he knew of as mint, but only a passing, noxious one. Fede tried to finish his drink and succeeded, eventually, before deciding to try a martini. He’d only seen martinis in vids, classy guys drinking them like sodas. It turned out to be horrible. It tasted like pickle juice and gasoline, so he slurped it down as fast as he could, trying to gulp it when he thought Cessus and Marcus weren’t watching.

Marcus drank mineral water. After he’d finished half his martini Fede asked him why.

“You know how much I weigh?” Marcus asked, an amused smile on his face.

“No” said Fede.

“Somewhere around four hundred pounds. You know how much booze it would take to get me drunk?”

“But it’s on Tonx’s tab” said Fede. His head hurt, a little, and he was having a hard time following the conversation. He kept getting distracted.

“That’s not the point. I have the same size liver as you do, you know” Marcus said, then laughed. Fede’s head had become too heavy all of a sudden, and he’d dropped his drink to spill over on the table. Marcus steadied Fede with one hand and tipped the table with the other, the glass and its contents rolling off into the darkness.

“Grab that, would you Cessus?” he asked, reaching over to pull Fede up and out of his chair.

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