Once the car was out of sight, she lowered her hand, shivering where she stood on the side of the road just outside Seattle. The surroundings of the city were normally bathed in mist, even during the day, but now, under the cover of darkness and cloud, the only illumination came from the highway lights spread at fifty-foot intervals, and the occasional headlights of passing vehicles, though those were rare enough too.

Sarah Beth shifted one shoulder, feeling a crick in her neck and wincing, rubbing at her upper arm and lowering her backpack to the ground.

Fifteen cars now… Fifteen cars had ignored her.

She sighed. The average was twenty-two. She’d taken to counting ever since she’d fled the group home four years ago. They’d said she’d get herself hurt, trying to live on her own. They’d said she wouldn’t make it a week.

Well, now, four years later, having turned twenty-one last month, she’d proven them all wrong. A life on the move, on the road, in box cars, or beneath underpasses, using gym showers or working for room and board wasn’t most people’s version of the American Dream. But Sarah Beth was free. More free than anyone she knew. A few uncomfortable nights, sleeping in a Walmart parking lot or tidying up in a Planet Fitness bathroom, was a small price to pay for freedom.

When it came to such things, though, it was always a bit of a balancing act. How much makeup to wear? How clean to look? On one hand, if she was too groomed and prettied up, often the entirely wrong sorts would stop to give her a ride. Though she had a gut feeling for these types of men.

On the other hand, if she abandoned grooming standards entirely, then no one would want her in their car.

Sarah Beth reached up and brushed her curly brown hair back behind her ears, while practicing her smile. She’d been told more than once that she had a very pretty smile.

She glanced back down the highway, her shoulder still aching, a soft chill falling over her. She shuffled a bit on the side of the road, her left leg prompting a wince as she readjusted her weight and half-limped into a more comfortable standing position.

She saw the truck before she heard it.

First, bright headlights, too far off the ground to come from a sedan. A second later, as the truck dipped over the road, the lights lowering, she spotted the large blue cab and the flatbed behind it.

Hastily, she brushed her hair back again, this time risking a full-toothed smile—like someone in the theater overacting for the sake of the audience in the back of the room—and jutted her thumb up. She leaned in just a bit, toeing the white line now and staring into the glare of the approaching headlights.

Her stomach twisted and her smile began to flicker as the truck showed no signs of slowing down. On it came, faster, faster…