Chapter 4

Riah and Camille drive to the Fence together

Chapter 4
     Camille
                 Riah pulls up to my house in a small car. It took him so long to get here, I thought he wouldn't come; it had taken at least half an hour since our call ended. I yanked open the passenger door as soon as the car halted to a stop. "What's the rush, honey?" he asked with the same smirk I could hear in his voice when we were on the phone. I rolled my eyes, annoyed and told him to just drive. The car smelled strongly of alcohol and I was starting to regret this decision and tell him to let me out and go home. Then I think of Maverick somewhere in the Dead Mile with his life on the line and I keep my mouth shut. It takes us a while to get through to the middle class portion of the city.
             The houses begin to look less cared for, the lawns dead and dry. We are still pretty far from Fence, but we are definitely getting closer. Meanwhile, the conversation is kept to a minimum until he takes a swig out of a bottle and I know it's spirit. Without thinking, I yank the bottle out of his hand and shout, "Are you crazy?" Most of the rare car crashes that do occur in our city are due to intoxicated drivers. He slams on the brakes and reaches for the bottle like it was his lifeline.
"Give that back!"
"No! I'm not dying like my parents!" I shout back.
"I'm not drunk! I'm just fine." I continue holding the bottle away from his reach and stare at him, unwilling to give in. There's a long pause until he says,"Fine. Get out of my car."
"What? No!" I say, shocked. I weigh my options. He seems to be sober enough for now, but if he takes too many swigs, I'll get out of the car and walk. Hesitantly, I hand him back the bottle. He calls me a rude name in a quiet mutter and pushes down on the gas. I clench my jaw and restrain from commenting every time he takes a drink from that bottle. I have no idea how much he has already had before he picked me up, but I have to trust that he will be okay. We drive through the poorest part of the city; the Forsaken territory. I see squat shacks and small buildings that look to be the size of my kitchen at the largest. For half an hour I observe the meager neighborhood. The sun has already begun to dip down towards the horizon. Finally, I see the Fence separating our city and the treacherous Dead Mile.