(August 26, 2009)

Cheery warbling shook Aiden to consciousness. Confused, he quickly sat up, cracking his head on the low branches.

"Ouch! What the...?" His gaze landed on the sleeping bag, tarps and twigs sticking up every which way. Slowly the evens from the night- well morning- before came back to him. "Oh, right."

Flopping back on the ground Aiden glanced at his watch and grimaced. 'Only noon.' That left almost eight hours left until sunset. Aiden rolled over onto his side putting an arm over his eyes. 'Too early to be up.'

Too early it might be, but between the light filtering through his arm and the daytime sounds of people and animals Aiden couldn't fall back asleep. He sighed and turned so he was looking at the tarp above him. 'I actually did it. Oh I can't believe this. I'm in the woods, I'm hours- by bike- away from home. Aaaaand I have no idea where I'm going.' Aiden shook slightly despite the warm afternoon air. 'What was I thinking? I can't do this!'

Aiden sat up, pulling his knees to his chest. "I have no clue how I'm going to do this."

Moisture pooled in his eyes, and in the quiet isolation of the woods he let the tears fall silently. After a few minutes he swiped at his cheeks.

"I still have no idea what I'm doing, but I did it and there's no going back. Not if I'm going to keep my promise to dad." He felt like a wrung-out washcloth but his promise to Dane echoed in his mind. He sat up straight and took a deep breath. "This is what it is now. Might as well accept that and move on."

As he went about the rest of the afternoon breaking camp and anxiously waiting for the sun to move faster, he made another promise. This time to himself. 'No more tears. It's time to grow up. You are going to make dad proud.'

Six days, or nights rather, later Aiden couldn't avoid the city any longer. Not if he wanted to avoid going hungry. He leaned against the cool storm drain, his glance catching his ominously flat food backpack. While late night garden hoses worked to refill his water bottles, only a couple cans and granola bars remained of his food stores. Careful rationing could last him another day or two, but he had to figure something else out before then.

The decreased weight was a relief during the long hours biking, yet the decreased intake of what remained led to quickened fatigued during the long nights. Aiden grimaced and looked away.

Exhaustion tugged at not only his eyelids, but his very bones. Yet the thoughts plaguing his mind wouldn't allow him sleep. Instead he watched as the sky slowly turned from navy to gray. It was easier to pretend everything was okay, if even for a few minutes. That he was just enjoying another early morning sunrise. Twinkling lights of the cityscape danced in the distance, gradually dimming with the red light of dawn. Gray, black and brown buildings shot high into the air filling the horizon. It was an impressive sight.

'But dangerous.' An unfortunate necessity to his complaining stomach. 'Bigger city means more people. At any time of night.' Aiden frowned. Until now there hadn't been a high risk of being spotted on the back roads. Any vehicle that happened to come along at three or whatever in the morning gave ample warning of its presence by its headlights, allowing Aiden enough time to get well out of sight. But the city was different; lots of people still went about their business at night. More police patrolled.

A kid biking at midnight was definitely not a normal sight, even here, and would invite too many questions. That required a change of strategy. 'And my backpacks would scream runaway. Though I probably get away with the regular backpack if it didn't look stuffed.' Aiden's eyelids began lowering on their own accord. 'I'll probably think better after I sleep.' Thoughts and worries spent Aiden allowed sleep to carry him away.

The sun was high in the sky when Aiden awoke from a dream with a start. Groggily, Aiden rolled over glaring at the light reflecting into his eyes. 'It's too early -late?- to be up yet.' Snippets of his dream played at the corners of his mind. He didn't remember everything, but monsters had been attacking again. Even though he wanted to fall back asleep his adrenaline wouldn't let him. This was becoming his standard wake up call.

Groaning Aiden surrendered, forcing himself upright. 'I might as well get up. It would be a safer time to scope out the city now anyway.' He glanced at his watch, it was just past one.

Fishing out a granola bar Aiden started breaking camp while he ate. 'I need a place to hide all my stuff until I find somewhere better to sleep. The last thing I need is someone finding and taking what little I have.'

Aiden glanced down at his clothes, already worn down from a week in the elements. There hadn't been much point in changing when he had nowhere to wash his clothes, but now he had to admit his rumpled and dirt streaked outfit would only hinder his progress. And though he didn't normally care for showers, after a week he couldn't deny noticing his own aroma.

He dug out a fresh pair of jeans and a t-shirt, followed by the wet wipes. Doing his best to conserve the wipes Aiden opted to wash only his head and arms. Still with the dirt that accumulated it took four before no more dust streaks showed on the wipes.

Feeling a little fresher he turned his attention back to breaking camp. With his food backpack emptier he decided to take advantage of the increased space, shift some of the supplies into it from the camping backpack. In the middle of stuffing his jacket into it he suddenly froze looking hard at his backpack. 'When does school start again?'

Between hiding from aliens and sleeping in the woods, Aiden lost track of the date. 'It has to be soon. Great, another problem.' That would greatly restrict the time Aiden could be in the open. But not a priority problem at the moment, his grumbling stomach reminded. 'Right, food first.' A single granola bar only went so far.

With his belongings snugly packed, Aiden walked the bike outside. The storm drain sat at the bottom of a shallow ravine 100 yards from the road. Dry grass covered the sloping hills, offset by the occasional shrub or tree. Not enough to provide much cover. 'I need a better place to hide my stuff. I can't just leave it here if someone comes across the tube.'

Aiden frowned and walked the bike up the slope. 'Come on, come on.' Mounting the bike Aiden began to peda toward the city. Several minutes later another depression appeared in the field to his left. With few options Aiden mentally shrugged and turned his bike off the road.

Another small slope lay below him. Something cement had been there at one point but all that was left now were large rock chunks. 'I can work with that.' Bike left atop the hill, Aiden carefully made his way down.

Tripping his way to the rocks, Aiden began to puzzle where he could put the large camping backpack and sleeping bag. Most of the rocks were smaller than a concrete block, but there were the occasional larger ones ranging up to about the size of his backpack. A small hollow had been cut into the hill, whether by the rocks falling or some other process, Aiden couldn't tell. Yet it looked like it would just fit his bag.

Setting it there, he lugged several rocks over to hide it from view. Aiden walked back a pace to see if it was at all visible, but to his shoulders relief the bag lay completely concealed. Almost as an afterthought Aiden scuffed a line in the dirt before filling it in with a line of white rocks to mark where exactly his bag hid.

'Now all I have to do is make sure I can find my way back here. To lose 2/3 of his already meager supplies would not be good. 'Alright let's do this.' With renewed resolve, Aiden pedaled in a straight shot toward the cityscape. An hour later he reached the outskirts of the city, taking special care to note the street name and what direction he was coming from. In addition to that, Aiden looked around for a point of reference.

A large white steeple rose above many of the buildings, open on two sides with an old bell in the middle. 'The sun's sort of starting to go down so that means to my right is west and I'm coming from the north. I came in on one side showing the bell. When I come back this way it should at least point me in the right direction-ish.' With no other course of plan Aiden made his way into the buzzing streets.

After spending a week practically alone, the moderate amount of people going about their business overwhelmed Aiden's senses. 'Don't make eye contact, just keep going.' He urged them mentally. 'Nothing to see here.' Though probably not from his thoughts, pedestrians passed him by with hardly a glance, too absorbed in their own business. 'Good.'

Keeping his features calm Aiden made his way further into the city. Several store shops passed him by, but all appeared to be specialty stores. 'There's gotta be a grocery here somewhere.'

Ten minutes later a supermarket cut its way into the buildings. 'Thank goodness.' His aching stomach agreed. Aiden spotted a bike rack near the entrance. Riding up to it Aiden dismounted and dug out the bike lock from his backpack. He stared at the nearly empty backpack debating whether to take it inside with him or lock it around the bike. 'Either way it's going to attract attention. Inside it might look like I'm trying to steal, but out here it could be stolen.' He frowned but eventually tightened his grip on the straps. 'I don't have much anymore. I don't want to risk someone taking what little I have.' Slinging it over his shoulder Aiden locked the bike and headed inside.

Doing his best to ignore the tantalizing colors and smells of junk foods Aiden made his way to the canned food aisle. 'Dad always said meat and beans go the farthest.' A few cans of both and a box of granola bars later Aiden walked quickly toward the entrance. 'These probably aren't the normal purchases of a 9-year-old.' He frowned down at his selections. 'I could say my dad forgot them or something.'

Toward the front Aiden looked around, letting out a sigh of relief upon seeing the store had a self-checkout. Keeping his pace steady, he put the items through as quickly as he could without it looking obvious that he was rushing. The cash from home and that had already been in Dane's wallet came to about $300. Not much, but Aiden would make it stretch the best he could. After paying, Aiden took his bags and placed them into his backpack.

Returning to his bike, Aiden resumed his exploration of the city. The clock tower disappeared quickly into the mass of buildings, but Aiden cemented other buildings in his mind to mark his progress. To make it easier for him Aiden did his best to travel in a straight-ish line. Skyscrapers gave way to work districts and store fronts, but the areas were too nice. There was nowhere suitable to become a hideout that wouldn't draw the attention of the well-to-do, and their cameras.

The sun was well to the west when Aiden decided he wasn't going to find what he needed. At least not today. Heaving a sigh Aiden swung his bike around toward the direction he'd come. 'Now to backtrack. Which won't take long at all.' He rolled his eyes. At the very least his return trip would take almost three hours, and that's if he didn't lose his way back to camp. 'That would be awesome, but super unlikely.'

The large buildings began to block the sun's light, casting long shadows on the roads. A gradual decrease in pedestrians became apparent. Aiden nervously glanced at his watch. It was just past 7. 'Not too late to be suspicious yet, but I just hope I can make it to the outskirts of the city before dark.' If his math was right, and he kept going the right way, he still had an hour and a half before making it back to camp. 'That's not an unusual time for kids to be outside still. I think.'

Time ticked by. Streetlights flickered on as the sun fell closer to the horizon, hiding behind the buildings. The sparkling lights reflected on the clock tower when Aiden finally caught sight of it. He was a few blocks east from where he'd started but that was easy enough to correct. 'Over halfway back. You can do it.'

The outlying roads looked different in the dusk. Streetlights cast oblong shadows on the road and the passing building lost many of their distinguishing features. 'It's a straight shot. That's all you have to do.' So focused on prodding himself forward Aiden almost missed the depression where he'd buried his supplies. As it was, he had to brake hard before veering off the road.

Leaving the bike at the top of the hill Aiden stumbled his way down to the rocks. The hollow holding his bags remained undisturbed. Though only a few rocks covered the opening each one felt heavier than the last as Aiden shifted them. When half his backpack was visible he grasped it in an attempt to pull it free. After a few seconds the remaining stones shifted releasing the backpack. Aiden stumbled back at the lack of resistance, barely managing to catch himself from falling.

'For the love.' Groaning Aiden dragged himself back to his bike. The bags had to be balanced again, but even with the newly added weight they still weren't as bulky as when Aiden's trip first started. Two minutes later he was back on his way. To Aiden, the return to the storm drain felt like a dream, the perception aided by his thoughts drifting down random tangents as his weary body began to lose touch with reality.

Jerking his nodding head upright Aiden forced his eyes wide open. A spill onto the asphalt was not currently on his to-do list. The concrete cylinder was a welcome sight when it finally appeared. Thoroughly exhausted Aiden walked his bike down the slope before flopping unceremoniously on the ground. Too tired even for food Aiden rolled the sleeping bag out and sprawled on top of it.

Though he'd only awoken a few hours before, he hadn't given his body a chance to recover from yesterday's miles before getting back on the bike today. It also didn't help he'd only slept for 6 hours. Pushing himself to find a place in the city wore him out. Aiden frowned, wondering if he was coming down with something. 'Probably not, hopefully. I'm just tired. If I'm going to make the city my... place to live I'll need to sleep at night again.' After a week of late travel his body had grown used to a night schedule.

'Maybe wearing myself out is good. I'll sleep. Then I can try to find somewhere tomorrow to live since this isn't going to cut it.' Aiden pulled out Dane's pocketknife. Rubbing the wood with his thumb he pictured Dane's and Brody's faces.

"I miss you guys. A lot." Aiden's voice cracked slightly. "Brody you'd probably call this an adventure. It might be, I guess. I just thought our adventures would be together as a family. Not me by myself. I went to town today Dad. Didn't see anywhere that would work to live. I'm still wondering if I'm crazy for doing this. But I don't want you to have to worry about the steel, or me. I can make do..."

Filling his 'family' in on the day's events Aiden shoved down the ache in his chest. He could make this work. He had to.