Under a Fallen Sun: Chapter 4
Early Chapters Series
Author’s note: Welcome to another installment of my Early Chapters Series. This is where I post chapters included in the Amazon free sample for each of my novels. First on deck is Under a Fallen Sun — my science fiction thriller I first released through Samak Press in 2019. I’ll share the first four chapters of this companion prequel novel to the Alien People Chronicles from November through December.
Throughout December, Samak Press is raising money to help homeless animals find new homes. Click to learn how you can help with this cause.
Paige became convinced her thumb had turned invisible to passing motorists. She stuck it out and waved in both directions. The effect remained the same eastbound or westbound. Half a dozen cars and trucks drove past since Paige and her friends started walking east along the highway.
None slowed down. Not even for a second.
Heather and Rich finally crossed over to the narrow median. It alternated between patches of sandy dirt and grass. The median divided eastbound and westbound lanes, creating two fully separate roads from a single highway. They made a goal to draw attention from motorists traveling east back to Amarillo. This approach didn’t yield better results for Heather or Rich. If drivers in any of the vehicles whipping past the group saw or cared about the foursome, they did nothing to indicate it.
“Tell me again why we didn’t fly to Vegas?”
Paige glanced sideways at Jason and frowned when he said these words. A glare sprouted on his face after seeing yet another car zoom past. It softened once he noticed her worried expression.
“I know. Flying is tough for you.” Jason’s terseness softened. “I’m just feeling frustrated. I thought at least one person would have given enough of a damn to stop and help us out by now.”
Paige gazed down at her feet. A fear of flying didn’t keep her on ground. She wanted to share with him exactly why she insisted they spend a couple of days driving out to Nevada from Louisiana. But she convinced herself Jason wouldn’t understand her reasoning. Paige had to travel this road. Sure, it seemed like a desperate gamble. Then again, she had run out of options.
Nearly a month had passed since her family’s world turned upside down and inside out. Her brother had to be out here somewhere. Paige knew it. Whether or not Jason, Heather, or Rich also possessed the same knowledge did not seem as important at the moment.
“Have a little faith,” Paige finally told Jason. “Somebody will stop soon. I’m sure of it.”
Empty words.
They felt empty leaving her mouth. In her heart, she had a tough time envisioning anything but a grim fate.
“I said no!”
Paige and Jason simultaneously whipped their heads toward the median. Heather shielded her face with her hands and backed away from Rich. His smartphone pointed straight at her.
“Get that phone out of my face,” she snapped. “I don’t wanna be in your damn video.”
Heather sounded exactly like she would toss a rock at him if she had one available. Rich laughed and kept his phone locked on her like a rifle scope.
“You’ll love this video once it goes viral.”
“I don’t care if you get 10 trillion views. Leave me out of it.”
Typical Rich.
All he seemed to care about these days was posting a bunch of new videos to his YouTube channel to entice more subscribers. His smartphone could be put to much better use. Like checking to see if he had a signal. Then they could call for help instead of trying to flag down random vehicles passing by the group.
“Hey Rich, how about looking and seeing if you got any bars on that thing?” Jason had no reservation about vocalizing thoughts he obviously shared with Paige. “It would sure speed up getting out of this predicament.”
Rich pulled down the phone and swiped the screen with his index finger. He glanced up at Jason and Paige and shook his head.
“No bars. No 4G. Nothing. Same as usual.”
Paige stopped in her tracks. She closed her eyes and lowered her head.
“You got a headache?”
Tangible concern arose in Jason’s voice. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
Paige nodded.
“Something like that.”
She pinched the bridge of her nose between her fingers to let Jason think he correctly diagnosed her body language. Paige didn’t want to reveal what actually cluttered her head at that moment. Her thoughts focused on a desperate prayer.
God, if you’re there and listening, please help me out, Paige pleaded in silence. Don’t leave us stranded here on this highway. Don’t leave me to die out here.
Once those words rolled through her mind, Paige’s eyes popped open again. She scanned the highway in both directions. Nothing. Not even the sound of a car or truck engine in the distance.
Paige kicked at a patch of grass and scowled. Her parents celebrated prayer as a miracle solution to all of life’s problems.
“God is watching you,” her mom always told her. “If you talk to him, he’ll take on all your burdens.”
How would Mom feel if confronted with breaking down and ending up stranded countless miles from civilization? Would she be so quick to parrot whatever platitudes the pastor dished out in his Sunday sermon? Paige smirked while she pictured her mom sitting in the passenger seat screaming and hyperventilating. This same woman freaked out when Peanut, their family cat, scratched up a leg on a brand-new sofa —only a few hours after her parents bought it and brought it home.
A gust of wind kicked up from the east and sent locks of Paige’s hair into her eyes. She brushed unruly blond strands back into place. Feeling even a small breeze brought welcome relief from the sun relentlessly beating down on her.
Paige and Jason continued walking forward, sticking out their thumbs and waiving. Rich made random goofy comments as he kept filming. A couple of things he said made her smile. Paige turned away so he couldn’t see it. She didn’t want Rich to take it as a sign to crack more jokes. The ratio of bad ones to good ones wasn’t worth it.
A blaring horn pierced the relative quietness of the surrounding plains. Paige flinched and snapped her head toward the source of the sound. A semi-truck approached from the west.
“This one isn’t passing us. I’ll make sure of it.”
True to his words, Jason set himself up as a human roadblock. He strolled out onto the asphalt and straddled the white dotted line separating the two eastbound lanes. Jason waved his arms with the same vigor of an air-traffic controller signaling to a plane approaching a runway. The truck horn blared at him again as the semi-truck closed on his position. It didn’t intimidate Jason into budging from his spot on the highway.
“Are you out of your mind?”
Paige’s first instinct was to dart up, grab Jason’s arm, and pull him to safety. She couldn’t force her legs and feet into following through with that action.
“We’re getting someone to stop one way or another. I’m so tired of this shit.”
Paige swallowed hard. Her lips trembled. Why did Jason have to be this way? She desperately wanted someone to help them too, but not at the expense of her boyfriend’s life.
A low rumble ripped through the air. Paige plugged her ears when she heard the engine brake. The others all followed suit. The semi slowed and rolled to a stop only a few yards ahead of Jason.
A husky bearded man, sporting a flat-brimmed cap, poked his head out of an open window.
“Damn, son! You got a death wish? You’re gonna cause an accident standing out in the road like that.”
Jason grinned. “I got you to stop.”
The trucker scratched his beard and answered with a hearty laugh.
“That’s just because I’m a charitable man.”
Rich and Heather sprinted across the median to the passenger’s side door. Paige approached the driver’s side door.
“Thank God you stopped.”
The trucker cocked his head downward and flashed a broad smile. His teeth bore the same shade as the coffee he downed at the last truck stop.
“You bet, honey. Now what can I do for you?”
“Our car broke down a few miles up I-40. We’re hoping you can give us a ride into the nearest town, so we can get a tow truck out here.”
The trucker glanced down at his wristwatch for a moment and then closed his eyes. Paige tried to read his lips while he mumbled a few words. He appeared to be weighing if he had enough time to make a quick detour.
“We can give a little money for your time if that helps,” Paige offered. “We really need your help. We’ve been stranded out in these parts for most of the day now.”
The trucker popped his eyes open again and shook his head.
“Y’all don’t need to pay me. I can drop you off in Travis. Just a few miles southeast of here. Won’t be a problem at all.”
Paige’s smile threatened to break out of the boundaries of her lips. She motioned to Jason and pointed toward the passenger’s side door. They finally found their lifeline out of this awful situation.
“Thank you so much, sir. You’re a lifesaver.”
“The name’s Randall. And I’m happy to help.”
Heather popped open the door and they all filed into the semi-truck. Jason and Rich joined her on a long seat in the back of the cab. The seat also flattened out into a small bed where a driver could sleep when needed. Paige took the cushioned leather seat up front. Once they closed the door, Randall shifted gears and started down I-40 again.
Hearing the steady hum of a diesel engine soothed Paige’s nerves. Things looked more promising now. With any luck, they would get a tow truck out to their car, get it all fixed up, and then be back on the road before dark. Paige didn’t want to spend a minute longer than necessary in Travis. They already lost so much valuable time they couldn’t get back.
Randall cast a glance over his shoulder at Jason’s McNeese State Football shirt. He gave a low whistle.
“What are a bunch of Louisiana college kids doing out in this part of Texas?”
Jason shrugged.
“Spring break road trip. We decided it would be fun to drive to Las Vegas from Lake Charles.”
Randall let out another hearty laugh.
“You’re serious? Haven’t any of you kids heard of airplanes?”
Jason answered him with an icy stare. Heather crinkled up her nose and held the corners of her mouth tight. It was her way of restraining nasty words resting on the tip of her tongue. Rich had a much different reaction. His head bobbed up and down with extra vigor.
“I’ve read about them on Wikipedia,” he said, glancing at Paige and adding a chuckle. “Maybe one day, I’ll get to be inside one.”
Rich’s sarcasm elicited no change in expression from Randall.
The trucker simply laughed again.
“They did it for my sake,” Paige explained, turning to face the trucker. “I don’t deal so well with flying.”
“Fair enough.”
The semi turned down a narrower road cutting through grassy plains. Paige retrieved her smartphone from her handbag. She unlocked the screen. A couple of bars finally registered. Paige swiped the screen, clicked on her contact list, and immediately dialed.
One ring. Two rings. Three rings. No answer.
The next thing Paige heard was a man’s voice.
“Hey, if you’re hearing this message, then you know what to do.”
“Why haven’t we heard from you for so long?” Her words spewed out in a rushed frantic tone. “Call me. Please. We’re all worried sick about you.”
Paige ended the call and glanced up from the screen. Four sets of eyes locked on her and faces adorned with suspicious expressions greeted her.
“Isn’t that your brother’s number?”
Paige looked away and stared down at her smartphone again.
She didn’t know how to answer Heather’s question without inviting other unwanted questions.
“Just a hunch, but I’m willing to bet that your fear of flying hasn’t got a thing to do with why y’all decided to drive to Vegas,” Randall said.
Paige’s eyes stayed glued to her smartphone. Her heart pounded as she searched for the right explanation.
“Is there something you’re not telling us?”
Heather reached out and touched her shoulder. Paige finally glanced up and turned to face her friend. She pursed her lips before releasing them into a worried sigh.
No reason to keep the truth hidden now.
“I thought he’d be out here somewhere.”
“Your brother?”
Paige nodded.
“The last time anyone heard from him he was driving down I-40 to Albuquerque. I know it’s a long shot, but I thought maybe I’d find some answers.”
Jason grasped the seat edge. Deep grooves formed in the upholstery around his fingers.
“You’re telling me the whole reason we turned this into a long-ass road trip is so you can look for your brother?”
His unsympathetic tone earned a fresh stony glare from Paige.
“We haven’t seen or heard from him or my sister-in-law in three weeks. I need to know what happened to them.”
“So, naturally, you make up a bullshit excuse to drive to Vegas instead of flying there?” Jason’s voice climbed a few decibels while he pondered their current unnecessary ordeal. “Why not tell me the truth? I tried to help you track him down. I shared photos on Instagram and Twitter. You didn’t say he was lost along I-40 somewhere!”
Paige sucked in her lower lip and closed her eyes. She knew she screwed up big time in trying to keep it quiet. Jason had done what she asked of him so far, like any good boyfriend would do.
“What did you think a drive through Texas would accomplish that couldn’t be done with emails and phone calls? It doesn’t make a lick of sense to me.”
“Jason has a fair point. This feels like a huge waste of time.”
Rich had a habit of offering up his thoughts when they weren’t wanted. Paige never considered it an appealing personality trait, but it annoyed her more than ever at the moment.
“I had to see for myself what happened.” Her voice grew crisp and cold. Each word matched the attitude she sensed from Jason and Rich. “Don’t you follow the news? People are disappearing in this part of West Texas all the time.”
Heather rolled her eyes.
“I sympathize with your loss, Paige, but now you’re starting to sound a little paranoid.”
“Paranoid?” Paige shot back. “What makes you think I’m paranoid?”
Heather shrugged.
“If even a few people around here were vanishing without a trace, don’t you think the FBI, or the military would be all over it by now?”
Paige scowled and turned away from the other three. She stared straight ahead. A few houses and other buildings began to pop into view on the approaching horizon. They passed a sign indicating Travis was only three miles ahead.
Randall turned and glanced at Paige.
“I don’t mean to pry about your brother —”
“Then don’t pry.”
An equally curt expression accompanied those words. Randall gave her a half-smile and shook his head before returning his gaze to the narrow road.
An uncomfortable silence formed inside the cab and settled everywhere like a heavy blanket of fog. Paige fiddled with the fabric on the right sleeve of her crop top and refused to make eye contact with anyone. She kept staring out the window, as though searching were the only thing that still mattered. Searching for anything. She never intended to act deceptive about coaxing her boyfriend and her friends into driving to Vegas. On the other hand, she didn’t believe they would have agreed to do it if they had known her true purpose.
Paige didn’t want to travel through this lonely part of Texas all alone.
Why didn’t her brother call or text or do something to let everyone know he was fine? That’s all she wanted. That’s all her parents wanted. One simple action to make it all feel better. Even a brief message would make all those posts on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter over the past month feel like they were not shared in vain.
“I have a feeling this day will start looking up for y’all. We’re finally here.”
Randall’s enthusiastic declaration cut through the silence. Paige saw a large square sign welcoming visitors to Travis. It wasn’t your typical street sign. The sign had been carved from wood and mounted on a pair of thick posts. Bright green lettering spelled out each word. Paige enjoyed the rustic design.
Once the cab moved parallel to the sign, a loud whoosh blasted through her ears. At that same moment, Paige’s entire body tingled from the crown of her head down to her fingertips and toes — like a bolt of static electricity surged straight through her.
She sat up straight and her eyes popped wide open.
“Did anybody else feel that?”
Paige turned around. Jason, Heather, and Rich showed signs they experienced the same sensation. Their expressions mirrored her own.
“What the hell just happened?” Heather leaned forward and peered through the windshield. “I feel like I just touched an electric fence.”
Randall laughed.
“You college kids worry too much. It’s probably nothing. We’ll get you to an auto shop here and then you can get back on the road.”
Paige hoped the trucker was right. Breaking down in the middle of nowhere felt stressful enough without adding other problems into the mix.
Did you enjoy these early chapters? Don’t stop reading now.
Under a Fallen Sun is available to own in hardcover, paperback or eBook formats at booksellers worldwide. You can also check out the audiobook on Audible or Apple.
Missed the first three chapters? Catch up here:
