Hello, readers. This is my first dip into Night Vale fanfiction. As you read in the description, I'll be going through Carlos' time in Night Vale, filling in the gaps left by the podcast. Updates will probably be pretty sporadic, but I appreciate your time.

Disclaimer- I do not own Night Vale, all rights go to Joseph Fink and the rest of the Night Vale team.

"Are you sure?" asked Travis, leaning forward from the middle seat of the station wagon. Delaney, who was sitting in the shotgun seat, nodded and jostled the GPS once more. "I don't know how I could have missed it. Must have gone out miles ago." She wedged her fingernails in the crack in the side and pulled the back off the small machine. It crackled with energy and spewed a cloud of black smoke.

She shouted in surprise and threw it out the window. Fredrick, the environmentalist, clicked his tongue from next to Travis. "That's bad for the biosphere." Delaney, a physicist, flipped her blond ponytail and scowled. "Well, sorry if you wanted me to suffocate from breathing in potentially poisonous gas. No idea how that happened, and now we have no directions. Think I should call the university?"

Carlos, who hadn't taken his eyes off the road yet, glanced at her. "Don't worry. It's pretty much a straight path. I'll be fine."

Delaney smiled as her nerdy, gay co-worker adjusted his glasses with one hand and continued diving. He was always calm and levelheaded, even in bizarre situations such as now. He would have made a good leader, she decided, even though Travis was older and had two more degrees. Apparently he had been too busy studying and hadn't "had time" to get a driver's license. Fredrick leaned forward and looked at the driver. His round glasses and freckles made his eyes look wide and concerned. "Well, cell phone reception apparently starts malfunctioning about ten miles away from the city, so you won't have much longer to call." Carlos shrugged. "We're in the middle of a desert. A big city shouldn't be that hard to find."

"Yes, but where is this desert? Last time I checked the GPS we were near the border of Arizona, but we've been in this desert for over an hour."

"That's just the way this city, Night Vale, I think it's called, works. It's not on government papers, it's not recognized by the media, and that was the only GPS system that acknowledged its existence."

Neal, the dark skinned geologist in the backseat, smiled mischievously. "I'm sure there's a reason for that. And I'm sure there's lots of things to science!"

The group of six laughed and exchanged high fives, except for Carlos, who was still driving. He grinned, and directed Delaney to check the thermometer attached to the windshield. Peeling it off, she turned it over. "It's- whoa!"

"What?" asked Carlos.

She turned it towards the others. It was a hundred and four, which was typical for a summer in a desert, but the typically red mercury was bright, poisonous green, sizzling quietly. Her brow was furrowed. "What is up with the microche-"

"I see something!" interrupted Carlos, leaning forward. "We should be almost there, and that's a sign, I think..."

The others leaned forward as well, squinting, and could make out a blurry purple figure, wavering in the heat. As they came closer, Carlos could see it was a strange, pinkish purple, with "Welcome to Night Vale" spelled out in florescent letters. It looked like any other country town entrance, other than a strange symbol above the words, like the shape of an eye with a crescent moon instead of a pupil.

"That's... not strange at all," said Delaney, still holding the thermometer.

"Do you think-" began Bethany, the last scientist, but was cut off by a screech from the radio. It had been humming quietly, but started blaring static at least five times louder than the music had been. Delaney yelped and tried to turn it off, but it refused to stop. The static rose to a fever pitch, and Delaney tried switching the channel. Nothing happened, until several tries later it died down. Strange, almost future-esque music slowly filled the car, and Carlos motioned up ahead. They were nearing a cluster of buildings, most of which were the same strange purple. They were all overlooked by a slim silver building, several stories higher than all the others. The music faded, and a deep, smooth, male voice sounded from the little radio. "A friendly desert community where the sun is hot, the moon is beautiful, and mysterious lights pass overhead while we all pretend to sleep. Welcome- to Night Vale."

The next chapters will almost definitely be longer, this is more or less an introduction to Carlos and the rest of his team. If you like what I do here and you want to help boost my self-confidence enough for me to continue adding more chapters as regularly as possible, please follow, favorite, or review. Thanks.