Chapters (110)
- Cover
- ALSO BY J. TODD SCOTT
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- PROLOGUE
- I
- II
- PART ONE
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- PART TWO
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- PART THREE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- FIFTY-FIVE
- FIFTY-SIX
- FIFTY-SEVEN
- FIFTY-EIGHT
- FIFTY-NINE
- SIXTY
- SIXTY-ONE
- PART FOUR
- SIXTY-TWO
- SIXTY-THREE
- SIXTY-FOUR
- SIXTY-FIVE
- SIXTY-SIX
- SIXTY-SEVEN
- SIXTY-EIGHT
- SIXTY-NINE
- SEVENTY
- SEVENTY-ONE
- SEVENTY-TWO
- SEVENTY-THREE
- SEVENTY-FOUR
- SEVENTY-FIVE
- SEVENTY-SIX
- SEVENTY-SEVEN
- SEVENTY-EIGHT
- SEVENTY-NINE
- EIGHTY
- EIGHTY-ONE
- EIGHTY-TWO
- EIGHTY-THREE
- EIGHTY-FOUR
- EPILOGUE
- I
- II
- III
- IV
- V
- VI
- VII
- AUTHOR’S NOTE
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- Excerpt from LOST RIVER
- LITTLE PARIS
- DILLON
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- What’s next onyour reading list?
Once, Neva grabbed at Chayo, pointing at something dark and feral moving away from them beneath a knot of trees. They could smell its fur, thick and pungent, and they both held their breath as Chayo wondered if it could be un lobo or perhaps a jaguar. But it proved to be little more than shadowed movement, a rustle of dry leaves and a bending of grass, before it was gone. Whatever it was, it left them alone, and they did the same.
Chayo let them move slow, with many rests to help Neva, who had never hiked over such rough ground or for so long. Sometimes when they stopped, she folded into his arms and he could feel her body trembling with exhaustion.
One time she kissed him, and fell asleep standing that way, held up only by his arms, her dry lips still touching his.
As they silently walked, despite the trash and things they found, it was easy for Chayo to imagine they were the only people left in the whole world. Everything had been made only for them, and they were seeing it for the first time. Nothing existed until they arrived, and it would all disappear after they left. Each labored step created the very ground under their feet. If they chose one way, it created a new world, and if they chose differently, it made another.
If they stopped moving, there would be nothing at all.
Chayo finally decided that wasn’t so far from the truth.
—
AT LEAST NEVA’S WOUND was looking better, not so red and angry.
It was a jagged line running from the corner of her mouth to just short of her ear. Many of the stitches had pulled loose without it getting worse, and it didn’t bleed so much. It was still difficult for her to chew, forcing her to slip strips of tortilla and water past her barely open lips, and she was frustrated at all the things she wanted to say, but whenever she tried to speak, Chayo put a hand to those lips and shook his head to stop her.
Or he kissed her, and that worked just as well.
—
THEY SLEPT UNDER SKIES that flickered orange and red and white. Lightning, far away and high above the clouds. Afterward, the air around them was scorched and their skin was electric to the touch, but there was never any rain, no push of a wind, and if there was thunder, they could not hear it.
There was no storm at all.
Only a silent sky, playing tricks on their eyes.
—
BY LATE AFTERNOON OF THE FOURTH DAY, they found themselves crouched on a rise above the river.