Released by Megan Duncan

that her school always won state, Carter on the other hand didn’t like footbal and tried to convince us al, that track and field was a man’s true test of endurance and athleticism. Which only fueled Max to demand Carter name one track and field star that was as famous as any footbal player.
    When Taya blurted out the name of Bruce Jenner, we al roled with laughter to her dismay.
    “What’s so funny? I saw it on that show, The Kardashians. He was a track star, he was in the Olympics too.” As we wiped tears of laughter from our eyes, Taya folded her arms in a pout as she stared out the window.
    “Hey! Look at that!” She said as she tapped her fingernail on the glass of the window. “Does that flag say something?” Max slowed the Bronco down to a crawl as we al squinted trying to read the flag as it rippled in the windy sky.
    “I think it says safe,” Carter said almost as a question. “Stop for a minute Max. Geez, it does say safe.”
    “What do you think it means?” Taya asked.
    For an instant I had thought it was an incredibly dumb question, but then I caught on. Was it a trap? I watched Max as he put the Bronco in park. He slowly stepped out, but left the keys in the ignition. The wind tugged at his flannel shirt and sent his dark hair flying around on his head as he walked away from the Bronco.
    “What do you see?” I shouted out to him as he stood holding his hand up to his brow shading his eyes from the last of the setting sun.
    “We’re not going to go check it out are we?” Taya asked her voice sounding weary. We al stared at each other in silence for a good long moment. “You are al nuts!” Taya shouted. “We are halfway there, lets just keep going.”
    Carter put his hand on her shoulder. “Taya, you know we have to at least check it out. What if there are people there who need help or people who can help us?
    Can you live with just driving by, knowing you never even tried? Think of us just driving by you, as you were trapped in that van?” Taya sighed and stared at her fingers as she knotted the strings hanging from a hole in her frayed jeans. “Fine, but for the record I think this is a realy dumb idea.” I watched Taya slide out of the Bronco and stand next to Max at the edge of the road. “You sure about this?” I asked Carter.
    “Yeah. I’ve realized that I have been so consumed with either getting information into this book or just getting to New Mexico, I haven’t been thinking about what it is going to take to do those things. I meant what I said to her. I don’t think I could live with myself either, knowing that I may have left someone behind. I know you al think I don’t care, but I do. This is just a lot to deal with, and as childish as it sounds, I wish Dad was here.” I blinked away the urge to cry and reached over to the back seat to hug my brother. “We don’t think you don’t care Carter. I know you have a lot of responsibility to bear, and I miss Dad too. You’re not alone though, you’ve got me and Max and Taya too. We wil always stand with you, even when you act like a crazed dictator.”
    A smal laughed escaped him. “You’re such a brat.” He teased.
    “Yeah, I know. But you love me anyway.”
    I jumped out of the Bronco and headed straight to the one other thing that would give me comfort, my shotgun. The familiar weight of it felt right as I placed it over my shoulder. My wound was stil tender, but bearable. Strapping the knife to my leg, I walked over to my brother’s side and surveyed the white flag bilowing in the distance with the words “SAFE” written in red letters on it.
    We al hopped back into the Bronco and got off the highway, heading into the town. It was a smal town with unique “Mom and Pop” stores lining the trash filed streets. Display windows were smashed everywhere making the sidewalks look like they sparkled in the evening suns soft rays.
    “I don’t think I have ever seen those words look not so safe ever before in my