"So, are you going to tell me how you know that John guy, and why he seems to not like you?"

Sitting with Hunter at dinner, Grace looked up at him in surprise. He hadn't said much since their meeting the John, but now he looked at her with curiosity.

Grace let out a small laugh. "I may have caused a small bit of trouble the first time I came through here," she said. "I was on a job, I think I was looking for," she paused, trying to remember. "Acrylic paints? Or maybe it was shaving cream. I don't remember. But I had gotten it, but the people who I bought it off of apparently later decided that they didn't think the price was very fair."

"So what happened?"

"I was on the run. This was in my early days," Grace explained, "so I was still pretty inexperienced. I stayed the night at the inn here, hoping to lose them, but I didn't."

"They attacked you here?"

"I don't know if attacked is quite the right word," Grace said, thoughtfully. "For them to have attacked me, they would have had to catch me. It was just a couple of guys, and I was a lot faster than both of them, so when they finally did catch up to me, I just took off through the middle of town. But they still decided to chase me, so they made quite a mess."

"They?" Hunter repeated, the corner of his lip twitching.

"I went around everything in my way," Grace said, drily. "They crashed through everything in their way."

"Uh huh." Hunter seemed like he was doing everything he could contain a laugh.

"Eventually John and some of the security forces chased us all down and questioned us about what happened. I don't know what they told John, but he didn't believe them, so I got off without punishment. And like I said, I didn't destroy anything."

"But he still isn't your biggest fan?"

Grace shrugged. "I mean, if I hadn't come in the first place, he never would have had any problem. I think I just stress him out."

Grace had finished her plate of food and was currently picking at the crumbs.

"Do you think any of the information he gave us is useful?" The laughter died out of Hunter's face and anxiety replaced it.

The smile slid off of Grace's face as well. "The short answer is maybe," she said, cautiously. "But what you need to keep in mind is that in this business, maybe is as good as it gets."

Hunter nodded. "So, what do we do next?"

"Go to Oktana," Grace said confidently. "It sounds like whatever happened to them happened between there and Cherry. So we start at the bottom, and work our way up if we have to?"

"How long is the stretch between the two towns?"

Grace pressed her lips together in a thin line. "A lot," she admitted. "But also, a lot less than the entire state of California."

"Do we even have a chance, though? If John's men couldn't find anything, how are we supposed to?"

"What did I tell you about doomsday thoughts?" Grace chastised.

Hunter held his hands up in surrender. "You're right, you're right," he conceded. "Sorry."

"It's hard, I know," Grace acknowledged. "It helps to have people keep you accountable."

"Who holds you accountable?" Hunter questioned.

Grace fell silent. She didn't have an answer to that.

"Alright, Oktana it is," Hunter said, driving away from the awkward silence. "Have you ever been?"

Grace shook her head. "Nope. I rarely go that far north."

"Sounds like fun."

"You didn't pass through there when you came down here?" Grace asked him.

Hunter shook his head. "I think I missed a lot of towns," he told her. "I had no idea what I was doing, I didn't have any sort of map."

Hunter went back to picking at the remains of his dinner, but Grace stared at his profile. Despite his constant worrying, Grace had to admire his strength. Few people could have made it across the state with no map and no help.

Grace could only imagine what he had to go through to make it.

***

Grace estimated that the journey from Arden to Oktana would take about two days, although she couldn't be sure. The maps weren't accurate enough. Desiree let her take some blank pieces of paper and a few pens so she could map out the territory.

"But you better get a copy of that map back to me," Desiree said after Grace told her about where she and Hunter were going. "I don't have anything very accurate for far north of here."

"Of course," Grace had promised her. "And whenever else we end up, you'll get those maps, too. Whenever the next time I'm here."

Neither Grace nor Hunter slept very well that night, and it didn't have anything to do with their cramped living quarters. Both were anxious to get on the road, so when the sun finally came up over the horizon, they immediately got up, packed up the breakfast Desiree left out for them, and headed on the road.

Grace and Hunter were much friendlier with each other on this leg of their journey. She sensed Hunter felt more hopeful, now that they had at least some news of where the train and its passengers might have ended up. Grace, herself, felt cautiously optimistic. She had half expected to get definitive, bad news right away, so the fact that John had given her a possible location helped raise her own spirits.

Sitting in front of the fire as they made camp for the night, Grace even felt confident enough to pry into Hunter's life a bit. "Can I ask you something?"

Hunter looked up from roasting a squirrel and nodded.

"And I don't mean this in a judgmental way," Grace clarified. "I'm just curious."

"Oh boy," Hunter said, sitting back on his heels. "One of those questions."

"I just wanted to know how you could bring yourself to leave her. Your sister." Grace bit her lip, realizing how what she said sounded. "Like I said, not that I'm judging you," she tried to quickly clarify. "I guess, it must have been hard."

"It was." Grace relaxed as Hunter seemed unoffended by the question. "I don't think I would have been able to, if not for the family who took her in." He stared into the fire, and Grace knew that for this moment, he wasn't sitting with her by the fire, not really. "And it also helped to know that she was the strong one in the family," he continued, and gave a small laugh. "I was always the one to cry and Disney movies. I was a vegetarian because I didn't want to hurt animals."

Hunter glanced down at the roasting squirrel. "It took my forever to kill my first animal," he admitted. "And after the bombs fell, even though Anna was the younger one, she was half the reason I didn't completely fall apart."

Shocked into silence by how open Hunter was being, Grace didn't have a response. She just joined him at staring into the flames.

"I knew she could handle being on her own," Hunter said. "Honestly, I probably handled it worse than she did. I think I cried every night for two weeks after I left."

"It's a brave thing to do," Grace told him.

Hunter shrugged. "It was a necessary thing to do."

Grace nodded, knowing he was right. Traveling on your own as a man was dangerous, but traveling in a small group with women would be even worse. Anna needed the protection the train would have given her.

"What about you?" Hunter's question. "Family, siblings?"

Grace's jaw tightened. Even if Hunter was comfortable opening up about his life, she wasn't. "I guess that's what I get for prying into your life," she sighed.

But Hunter just shook his head. "You don't have to answer."

"No family anymore. But two brothers." Grace stopped short, and Hunter seemed not to mind.

"You think we'll be there tomorrow?" he asked, changing the subject.

Grace shrugged. "Who knows?"

It took almost a day and a half longer than Grace expected, but eventually the town of Oktana came up on the horizon. The pair had stayed away from anymore personal talk, even though for some reason Grace was dying to know more about Anna.

She suspected Hunter wanted to know more about her family, or lack thereof, too, but he thankfully refrained from asking.

By their third night on the road, Grace was fully worried that they had gone on the wrong path and missed Oktana entirely. Her own worrying seemed to set Hunter off; kept shooting her glances but didn't question. Grace was glad he didn't; she wouldn't have had any answers.

"Do we have a plan if it turns out we're lost?" The question was innocent and reasonable, but it made Grace release a sharp, annoyed breath.

"Do you want to try to figure this stupid thing out?" she snapped at him, waving around the crude map she had been following in front of his face.

"Sorry," Hunter muttered. "I was just wondering."

"Well, don't."

The rest of the journey to Oktana passed in a tense silence, and when they finally reached the town and Grace confirmed it was the right town, a weight disappeared off both of their shoulders.

Oktana, as Grace soon discovered, had a designated spot for travelers to camp out, complete with security at night to prevent thefts. As soon as Grace and Hunter checked in, they both dropped their stuff and themselves to the ground, thankful to finally be at their destination.

"Sorry I snapped," Grace said as soon as they both ate some food. "It's not your fault navigation is so crappy."

Hunter shrugged. "Sorry I put pressure on. I know you're doing the best you can."

Grace almost hated the fact that he apologized back to her. He hadn't done anything wrong.

"What's the plan, now that we're here?" he asked.

Grace sighed and looked toward the town. It was a sizeable place, bigger than Arden, which meant that it was more likely for someone to be there who knew something about the missing train. But it also meant that it would be a lot harder to find the right person to talk to.

"Start at the alcoholic establishment," Grace finally said. "Even if they don't know anything, they're the ones most likely to know who would. And besides," Grace reached into her pack, dug around for a moment, and pulled out a small, corked bottle, "atkey always gets you something."

Hunter glanced at the bottle in her hands. "You carry that around?"

"It comes in much handy more than you would think," Grace told him. "And apparently it's better alcohol than most places have."

"I'll take your word for it."

"So you're okay at starting at whatever bar they have here?"

Hunter glanced at her in surprise. "You're the boss," he told her. "And besides, I started at the bar in Seaside, and that worked out for me. So, full steam ahead, I say."