The Surfer Boy Pizza van rattled down an endless desert road, a trail of dust billowing behind it. The sun blazed overhead, casting a shimmering heat haze across the barren landscape. Inside, the group teetered between exhaustion and simmering frustration.

Mike squinted at the map he held, furrowing his brow. "Should be up on your right," he muttered, though the vast emptiness surrounding them suggested otherwise.

Jonathan leaned forward, gripping the steering wheel tightly as his eyes scanned the horizon. "There's nothing out here," he said flatly. The van jolted over uneven ground, rattling its passengers.

"Mmm. We there already?" Argyle asked groggily from the passenger seat, his head lolling to the side as he stretched.

"Already?" Eden scoffed, sitting up straighter and fixing him with an incredulous look. "It's been nine hours!"

Mike flipped the map around, holding it closer to his face as though that might conjure the destination. "It's gotta be around here somewhere," he said, his voice carrying more hope than certainty.

"What are we looking for, my dudes?" Argyle asked, leaning lazily to glance out the window.

"Some sort of facility," Will chimed in from the back.

"A fence. A building. Something," Mike clarified, though his own doubt was starting to creep into his tone.

Jonathan let out a frustrated sigh, his eyes darting across the endless expanse of desert. "Any signs of life would be nice," he muttered.

Argyle grinned, his trademark calm cutting through the rising tension. "Since when did we decide Nina was a building and not a small woman? Sounds like a small woman to me."

Mike threw him an exasperated look, shaking his head. "It's not a small woman," he said firmly.

"Nina is most assuredly the name of the project, Argyle," Eden interjected with a dramatic sigh. She turned to him, her expression a mix of irritation and amusement. "You know, like Montauk or Fire Island. Try to keep up. Are you slow, or do you just enjoy wasting oxygen?"

Argyle gestured lazily out the window, unfazed by her jab. "Small woman out in this desert would be hard to see," he said, squinting at the horizon.

Will groaned, leaning his head back. "How is he still high?"

Jonathan glanced into the rearview mirror, his patience clearly wearing thin. "Suzie, are you sure you got your measurements right?"

Suzie sat cross-armed, her brow furrowed in irritation. "Yes, they're right!" she snapped, bristling under the doubt.

Jonathan wasn't convinced. "You're 100%, right?"

"One hundred and ten percent," Suzie huffed.

Eden smirked from the backseat, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Isn't that mathematically impossible?"

Suzie shot her a glare, her voice firm. "Not if you know what you're doing, Eden."

Jonathan sighed heavily, still skeptical. "Maybe the latitude and longitude are wrong?"

Mike turned to him, his tone defensive. "Are you seriously questioning Suzie?"

"She's a genius, Jonathan," Will added, jumping in to defend her.

Jonathan muttered under his breath, "Even geniuses make mistakes."

"Well, I didn't," Suzie snapped, her voice rising.

Argyle leaned forward, squinting out the windshield. "If that small woman is small enough, she could fit behind a small tree."

"Stop! Just…" Jonathan cut him off, throwing a hand up in exasperation as he tried to keep his focus on the desolate road ahead.

His foot slammed on the brake, and the van lurched to a halt with a screech, sending everyone jostling forward in their seats. Will braced himself against the dash, Suzie clutched her glasses before they could slip off her nose, and Eden let out an exaggerated sigh, shaking her head.

"What the hell, Jonathan?" Eden snapped, her irritation cutting through the tense silence.

Jonathan ignored her, shoving the van into park and stepping out, muttering about stopping before they got more lost.

The group piled out after him, some grumbling, some silent. The midday sun beat down on the dusty expanse as Jonathan spread out the large map across the hood of the van. He leaned over it, brow furrowed, tracing their route with his finger.

"Give me the coordinates again," he demanded, glancing at Suzie.

Suzie pointed to the map, her confidence unwavering despite the mounting tension. "Longitude is 116 degrees, five minutes, and seventeen seconds—"

"Slow down," Jonathan snapped. "Slow down!"

A sharp caw broke through the oppressive silence, a bird circling overhead. Eden exhaled slowly, pulling a clove cigarette from her pocket. She lit it with practiced ease, the sharp scent mingling with the dry desert air as she stepped away from the group.

Her sharp gaze swept across the shimmering landscape, scanning the horizon for any sign of life. The heat haze distorted everything, but Eden crouched low, squinting against the glare as if something just out of reach was coming into focus.

Behind her, Argyle stretched, yawning loudly. "Nina!" he called out suddenly, his voice cheerful and utterly out of place.

Eden turned sharply, cigarette dangling from her lips. "What the hell are you doing?"

Argyle grinned as he wandered closer to her. "Calling Nina! Maybe she's hiding in the shade or something. Nina! You out here, little lady?"

Eden rolled her eyes, exhaling a stream of smoke. "Nina is not a person, you idiot."

But then, a bark echoed across the desert. Eden's head snapped toward the sound, her cigarette forgotten as it dangled between her fingers. Her sharp demeanor softened slightly as the barking grew louder, closer.

From the dusty expanse, a dog burst into view, sprinting toward them with wild energy.

"Nina?" Argyle said again, this time his tone one of genuine surprise.

Eden's lips curved into an uncharacteristic smile as she crouched down, opening her arms. "Nina!"

The dog barreled into her, its tail wagging furiously. Eden laughed, a genuine sound that seemed almost foreign, as the dog licked her face with enthusiastic abandon, sending her sprawling onto her back.

Argyle jogged over, laughing as he offered Eden a hand to pull her to her feet. For a moment, their eyes locked, something quiet and unexpected passing between them.

But Argyle's gaze shifted down, his expression suddenly serious. "Holy macaroni," he muttered, gesturing toward the ground.

Eden followed his line of sight to a set of tire tracks, the deep tread marks unmistakable in the dirt. She arched a brow, a slow smirk curving her lips. "Good eye, Argyle."

He grinned, pride evident in his expression as he motioned toward the tracks. "Looks like Nina isn't a small woman after all."

Jonathan hunched over the map spread across the van's hood, his brows furrowed as he muttered to himself. "All right. You just go straight down. Like, straight… straight…"

Mike leaned against the van with an infuriatingly smug grin. "Right on the money, just like Susie said."

Jonathan shook his head, gesturing vaguely at the map. "It just doesn't make sense."

From a few yards away, Argyle's unmistakable voice rang out, slicing through the desert's heavy quiet. "Yo, dudes! My dudes!"

Will groaned audibly as he leaned against the van, squinting toward the source of the shout. "Jesus Christ. What now?"

Susie, balancing precariously on her toes, peered over the roof of the van. "Oh no. What is it this time?"

Jonathan squinted into the distance, his finger pausing mid-map point. "Is that the dog from the diner?"

Sure enough, Nina the dog was bounding wildly around Argyle, her tail whipping back and forth like a blur as she barked joyously.

Argyle, arms flailing with childlike enthusiasm, bellowed again, "Come check this shit out!"

Mike groaned, dragging his hands down his face in exasperation. "We don't have time to scre—"

Eden's calm, cutting voice interrupted him. Flicking the ash off her clove cigarette, she spoke with an air of authority that demanded attention. "No, guys. You should really come here. It's not just the dog."

Mike sighed, his shoulders slumping. "What is it this time?"

Argyle crouched beside a patch of disturbed earth, grinning from ear to ear like a kid on Christmas morning. "Gotta see it to believe it, my dudes!" he called, his voice brimming with excitement. "Come on! Hurry! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Pronto!"

Jonathan exchanged a weary glance with Will, muttering under his breath, "I swear, if it's another dead end…"

The group exchanged a mix of frustration and curiosity before jogging over to where Argyle and Eden waited by the tracks.

"Okay, so no small woman named Nina," Argyle said, gesturing wildly toward the dog, his grin stretching ear to ear. "But you said to look for signs of life, right? And look! We got tire tracks and a furry little desert survivor. Two-for-one deal, brochachos."

Jonathan crossed his arms, still skeptical. "Right."

Eden stepped forward, her clove cigarette perched between her fingers. As she knelt beside Argyle, her fingers wiggling hovered just above the dirt, tracing the outlines of the heavy treads with a practiced eye. Something about her movements carried a subtle energy, a connection—too slight for anyone to notice.

"These tracks…" she said in her low, calm tone. "They're big. Heavy."

Argyle nodded rapidly. "Yeah, these are no regular tire tracks, brochachos."

Standing, Eden brushed sand off her hands and locked eyes with Argyle. For a moment, a flicker of something passed between them—a shared thrill, an unspoken understanding. She looked back at the tracks.

"I mean," Argyle continued, pointing, "look at the tread on these monsters. They're fatties. And you know what that means."

"Military," Mike said, leaning closer, his brow furrowed.

Jonathan shot upright, his gaze darting nervously around the barren landscape. "We gotta go," he said sharply.

The group huddled near the tracks, staring down at the impressions in the dirt like they might suddenly give up their secrets.

"Do you think these lead to Eleven?" Mike asked, his voice tight with urgency.

At the sound of Eleven's name, the dog—still circling near Eden and Argyle—perked up sharply. Her one standing ear twitched, and she sniffed the air before turning toward the tracks.

"Uh…" Will blinked, pointing. "Did the dog just react to Eleven's name?"

Mike crouched beside the dog, his expression shifting to one of astonished hope. "Wait, do you know Eleven?"

The dog tilted her head, her floppy ear bouncing slightly as if considering. She let out a soft bark, ran a quick circle, then sat again, looking expectantly at Mike.

"Can you find Eleven, good girl?" Susie knelt next to Nina, her voice gentle and coaxing.

Nina barked again, louder this time. Without warning, she bolted forward, tail wagging furiously, her energy brimming with purpose.

"Well, that's not ominous at all," Argyle muttered, brushing dirt off his knees.

"She's like a four-legged divining rod," Eden said with a teasing grin, straightening and gesturing toward Nina's retreating form. She glanced over her shoulder at Argyle, her expression playful. "Let's roll, brochachos."

Argyle stumbled back, clutching his chest dramatically. "Oh… my… God." He thumped his hand over his heart, his stoner charm giving way to something far too smitten.

Susie made an exaggerated retching sound, rolling her eyes.

Eden smirked, already sauntering toward the van. "Don't die on me now, big guy," she said, tossing the comment over her shoulder.

Mike pinched the bridge of his nose, exhaling sharply as he watched the chaos unfold. "Can we focus here? The dog's got a head start."

"Let's go, people!" Jonathan leaned out the driver's window, his voice sharp. "We're losing her!"

The group scrambled back to the van as Nina barked in the distance, her ears flicking again at the sound of Eleven's name. With a sudden surge of speed, she raced along the tire tracks, the desert swallowing her form into the shifting haze. Jonathan slammed on the gas, and the van roared to life, chasing Nina's determined lead into the unknown.