UnSouled

Down a dirt road, a half mile from the farm, they come across an abandoned trailer. There’s a bed with a mattress, but it’s so mildewed, they both decide their best bet is to sleep on the floor.

In spite of everything, Co

When he wakes, it’s morning. Lev isn’t there, and Co

He finds Lev outside, surveying their surroundings. There’s a lot to survey. What at night appeared to be just a lone trailer is actually the central mansion of an entire rust-bucket estate. All around the trailer is a collection of large, useless objects. Rusted cars, kitchen appliances, even a school bus so old it retains none of its original color, not a single window intact.

“You have to wonder about the person who lived here,” Lev says.

As Co

“Graveyard, not junkyard,” Lev corrects.

“There’s a difference?”

“One is about a noble end. The other is about, well . . . garbage.”

Co

“Give it up,” says Lev. “Your self-pity is getting old.”

But it’s not self-pity—Lev should know that. It’s about the kids who were lost. Of the more than seven hundred kids in Co

Co

“It has a kind of beauty, you know?” says Lev. “Like how sunken ships eventually become part of a coral reef.”

“How can you be so stinking cheery?” Co

Lev’s response is a toss of his overgrown blond hair and a grin that is intentionally cheerful. “Maybe because we’re alive and we’re free,” Lev says. “Maybe because I singlehandedly saved your butt from a parts pirate.”

Now Co

Co

“After what you did,” Co

“And other parts, I’m sure. But he’s got to find me first.”

Only now does Lev’s optimism begin to rub off on Co

Co

That is, if she’s still at the antique shop.

That is, if she’s even alive.

“The last road sign before we flipped the bird said there was a town just ahead,” Co

“No,” says Lev. “I traveled across the country to find you—I’m not letting you out of my sight.”

“You’re worse than a Juvey-cop.”

“Two sets of eyes are better than one,” says Lev.

“But if one of us gets caught, the other can make it to Ohio. If we’re together, then we risk both of us getting caught.”

Lev opens his mouth to say something, but closes it again. Co

“I don’t like this at all,” Lev says.

“Neither do I, but it’s our best option.”

“And what am I supposed to do while you’re gone?”

Co

•   •   •

It’s a long walk—especially for someone in pain. Before leaving, Co

Now, sweating from the heat and aching from the wound, Co

Co

This is the place where fun came to die.

It’s clear to Co

The main drag is full of low, flat-faced architecture, all in shades of beige. Although there are farms in abundance that Co

The town’s most attractive building is a new three-story parking garage, but it isn’t open for business. The reason, Co

The place isn’t exactly a ghost town—Co