"I'm fine," Neil said again, "but I need a favor. I think Andrew's going to come looking for something of mine today. If I'm not there, can you keep him out of our room? I'll owe you one."

"You won't owe me anything," Matt said. "Didn't I tell you I'm good for it?"

"Thank you," Neil said. "We should be heading back soon, I think."

"You be careful, okay?" Matt said. "We'll see you in a couple hours."

Neil hung up and went inside the gas station. He stocked up on water bottles and a map, but he ran through the conversation a couple times as he walked the aisles. Matt's reaction to Neil's whereabouts was telling. Matt had been through this already; he knew what sorts of things Andrew got up to in Columbia. This was what Matt meant when he said Andrew put him in his place last year. This was what Andrew and Abby had argued about on Neil's first day. Apparently it took the team's psychiatrist to patch Matt up after Andrew was through with him. Either Andrew listened to Abby's warning and toned Neil's party back, or Neil avoided the worst of it by getting himself knocked out.

Neil snagged a notepad and pen last and checked out. The cashier loaned him a phonebook so Neil could look up the number to a taxi service. The cab came by five minutes later and Neil took it to the nearest truck stop on Interstate 20.

There were a dozen or so big-rigs parked across the giant parking lot, most of them collected around the gas pumps. Neil was comforted by the number and sat on the sidewalk to unfold his map. He found three combinations of major roads that would get him to the northwestern region of the state and tucked his map away. He swallowed against the edges of nausea and approached the nearest trucker with a smile on his face.

"Good morning. I'm a sociology major, working on my summer project. Can I ask where you're headed?"

It took four tries before Neil found a northbound driver. The rig was taking 77, which wasn't Neil's first choice, but at least it crossed I-85 near Charlotte, North Carolina. That was the interstate Neil needed if he wanted to get back to Palmetto. Finding a truck was only half the problem. Convincing a driver to take a stranger along was the other.

He offered the driver his politest smile. "Would you be willing to give me a lift as far as Charlotte? I can pay you fifty dollars for the ride and for answering a couple questions about what it's like working this job."

"I'm not into taking on passengers," the driver said.