Free Seven Days To Brooklyn: A Sara Robinson Adventure by Christopher Westley Page A

pistol, squeezing off one well-placed shot. The animal collapses in a heap. Jumping up out of the sidecar, Sara runs over and picks it up by a hind leg, holding it up for everyone to see. “Lunch.”
    “Oh, great. Another fine meal in wasteland America!” replies Ava with a sigh.
    Sara walks back over to the sidecar and ties the meal onto the rear luggage rack of the bike before jumping in.
    “Onward.” She points to the interstate as she looks over at Ava.
    Ava guns the bike, and it shoots forward toward the on-ramp, followed closely by Mac. Within minutes, the familiar thump, thump, thump of the concrete soothes Sara into another round of deep sleep, but not before she has queued up another round of heavy metal on her iPod. Ava tilts her head to the left and can tell Mac is getting the hang of riding already. Giving him a nod, she guns the throttle wide open and takes off ahead of him, quickly clicking off the miles to their next turn off.
    Hours later, Ava reaches over and shakes Sara, startling her.
    “What? What’s going on? Ah, damn it, we’re still in Texas aren’t we?”  
    “Yes, but I just passed a road sign that said Fort Stockton, ten miles. We should stop there and see if we can find some gas.”  
    Sara opens up the small notebook and retraces the handwritten map. Flipping to the next page, she sees Fort Stockton printed in the middle, with a road number printed next to it: 285.  
    “We need to stop here,” Sara says, pointing to the map and holding it so Ava can see it.  
    “Right.”  
    Minutes later, Mac and Ava steer the bikes off the interstate and come to the stop sign at the end of the ramp. Just off to their right is a gas station. A sign out near the pumps tells them what they already know: Out of Gas.  
    Sara points straight ahead. “That way; we are only minutes away from him.”  
    “Minutes from who, Sara?” Mac asks.
    “ Pete ! We need to see Pete! He’s here, and I want to see Pete before we leave Texas.”
    Ava looks over at her new friend and just shakes her head back and forth as she steers the bike ahead. Driving into town, they pass a few more gas stations with the same ominous message. Abandoned building after abandoned building materializes on both sides of the two-lane road.  
    Two minutes later, Sara jumps up, standing in the sidecar while they are still moving at thirty miles per hour. “Pull over! Pull over!”  
    Ava pulls the bike up in front of a huge, ten-foot-tall statue of a roadrunner. Jumping out of the sidecar, Sara runs up and jumps onto the base of the monument. Turning around, she starts clapping her hands together and yelling. “Paisano Pete, Paisano Pete. I finally got to see Paisano Pete.”
    “Good lord. I thought we were going to meet up with another one of her friends from the past, but all we are doing is playing chauffeur to a bratty twelve-year-old.” Mac smiles back at Sara as he talks in a low voice to Ava.  
    Jumping down and skipping her way back over to her fellow survivors, Sara joins them in conversation. “So, bout time we made our way north.”
    “Sure, Sara, got any other local points of interest we should know about before we head on?” Mac is a bit perturbed but does not show it on his face.  
    “Hey, let the kid have some fun. God only knows what she has been through before we got together.”
      Ava puts her arm around Sara’s shoulder as the two of them walk back over to the motorcycle.
      “ Nope ! Nothing else interesting in Texas, but as soon as we get up to northern New Mexico, I’m sure we will find something cool. Besides, I’m twelve; give me a break. At least I’m not a dentist.”
    Mac lets out a big sigh as he steps back over his bike, kicking it to life once again. Jumping into the sidecar, Sara settles in for another jaunt up the road. She points to the journal again and shows Ava a point on the map that looks as though it is on the outskirts of town.
    “That’s where we are going?” Ava