Road Rash

CHAPTER 1 BODY DUMP “Quit crying and grab her legs.” Megan Thornton wiped her wet face and did as her mentor instructed. “Bethany was my friend, Linda.” “And now she’s just heavy.” Together, they pulled the body out of the back of the SUV. The night was alive with the ratcheting drone of katydids, punctuated by the hooting of a pair of owls perched on opposite sides of the truck. The gibbous moon’s argent light washed out the red rock landscape silhouetted by Capitol Butte, Coffee Pot Rock, and Sedona’s other oft-photographed sandstone towers against a mandala of stars. Under any other circumstances, Megan would have savored the breathtaking splendor of Sedona after hours. But this evening, her heart felt as heavy as the remains of her friend wrapped in a threadbare bedsheet. Megan sobbed, straining to carry her end up the narrow, dimly lit trail. Thorny palo verde branches scratched her face and arms, but she paid them little mind. She was being punished, though she didn’t know why. When they reached a small clearing, Linda set her end on the rocky ground. “This will do.” “I don’t understand why we couldn’t have called 911.” “Because NCB said so, that’s why.” The words triggered a childhood memory in Megan’s mind. Her mother Nita used the same non-reason for many of the crazy things she did prior to getting clean. “Because I said so.” Megan sat on a rock and cried heaving sobs, no longer caring what Linda told her. She wanted to understand, to know that she was a good person, changing the world for the better. Linda’s hands gently wrapped around hers, the older woman’s breath a whisper next to Megan’s ear. “Sweetie, I understand you’re grieving. It’s understandable. No one wanted Bethany to die. I did everything I could to save her. But now she’s gone. Leaving her here at this beautiful vortex is the most loving thing we can do to honor her memory, to pay tribute to all that she contributed to Luminos and the world.” “But shouldn’t we bring her back to her family?” “NCB has confirmed that laying her here is for the greater good. Taking her back to her family will only bring trouble. We don’t need the government interfering with our work. They are part of the system we are trying to change. You’ve accomplished so much in your six months with Luminos, rising faster than many of your peers. I know you understand that.” Megan didn’t understand. But after reflecting on the lessons she’d learned over the past six months in Luminos, if NCB said it was true, then it must be so. “Yeah,” she mumbled. “That’s my girl. Now let’s go.” “Shouldn’t we…shouldn’t we bury her or something?” Images of coyotes or other animals tearing her friend’s body assailed Megan’s mind. “She’s in Inagua’s hands now. She’ll be okay.”