Transcontinental Read Online Free Page A

Transcontinental
Book: Transcontinental Read Online Free
Author: Brad Cook
Pages:
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off and held them in one hand, then crept over to the front door, his eyes never leaving the employee. He placed a hand on the door, readying himself, then shoved it open. The bell rang as he sprinted silently to the fitting rooms, then peered around the corner at the young man, who threw a lazy glance to where Leroy used to be, then resumed folding shirts.
    He cracked a fitting room door open and slipped inside, releasing the doorknob slowly to avoid the click it made when it closed. A small bench jutted from a corner of the cramped room, decreasing the space he had to lay down, and the bright fluorescent lighting wasn’t very restful, either. Still, Leroy managed to curl up around the bench, laying on his side, which is how he liked to sleep anyway. If he couldn’t catch a train and get moving, he could think of no better way to spend the day than sleeping in the air conditioning.
    * * *
    When he awoke, the store was still and dark.
    He scampered to the front door, but it wouldn’t open, until he found a deadbolt at the bottom and yanked it upward. Outside, night had fallen, daylight replaced by dark and stars, as if the sun had split into trillions of tiny fragments.
    The plan worked even better than Leroy had hoped. He was well-rested, awake, alert. Which could prove to be an issue later, in the midst of a lengthy train ride, but he’d just have to grin and bear it.
    A mile out, the golden glow of the rail yard’s floodlights looked, fittingly, like a forcefield, protecting it from penetrators such as himself.
    He couldn’t wait to get on a train and make this place his past.
    Eager to leave as he was, Leroy knew he couldn’t rush things. Caution was key. He wasn’t sure if guards scanned the property at night as well as during the day. A yard this big, it was likely they did. Couldn’t be that hard to see them coming though, he hoped. It was his own fault that he’d gotten caught anyway. He wasn’t paying attention. He fumed at himself.
    Leroy hiked parallel to the yard, keeping a lucid awareness. He couldn’t see a car in any direction, and the terrain permitted sight for miles.
    The scent of the evening desert intoxicated him; he found himself nearly hyperventilating to fill his lungs with an aroma that was soft and pungent, lush and crisp, floral and piney. It was vaguely similar to a laundry detergent his mother had used a long time ago, but there was something missing in those chemicals that could never be manufactured, the special ingredient that only nature could add—a whiff of life.
    And if he couldn’t smell the life of the desert, he could certainly hear it. The wind blowing through the various types of brush produced a distinct sound, a constant dull roar, which Leroy found relaxing. Countless insects and frogs added layers of high-pitched chirping and thick, textured buzzing to the concerto. Occasionally an owl or a coyote would take a solo, the latter of which grew somewhat worrisome to Leroy as he lumbered down an unlit, undeveloped street on a clear but nearly moonless night.
    A cursory glance across the way told Leroy that he was nearing the departure section of the yard, as he recognized the worn section of fence he’d begun to climb. But, it might be better, he reasoned, to reach the edge of the train yard and scale the fence there. He doubted any security guards would be positioned at the furthest point from the station, and once he was in, there would be a vast number of places to hide, were he to encounter trouble.
    As he approached the embankment the train yard sat atop, Leroy sipped on a bottle of water from his bag, cool from its time in the air conditioned fitting room. He savored each reinvigorating swallow as it blazed a cold trail down his throat.
    It wasn’t the steepest hill, but Leroy had a hard time getting up due of the sand. He had to grab onto a bush at one point just to keep from falling backward. Near the top he knelt, kicking sand into one shoe by repositioning the
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