Everything will be explained, the woman promises. But they have a long drive ahead of them, and if they could file into the bus quickly quickly quickly, so much to discuss, so much to prep, such a thrilling week ahead of them!
Water is gulped, food devoured, jokes exchanged. The bus toilet is gratefully and extensively taken advantage of. Seats are claimed, already sorting the contestants. LeGrand sits alone. Beautiful Ava no longer sees Mack, focused on those more on her level. Buzzed Ava follows Mack to the middle of the bus and sits next to her without asking. It’s a problem. Mack wants to be invisible, wants to be underestimated, wants to be unseen. It’s a hide-and-seek competition, after all.
Night arrives. The bus starts. Fourteen heat-exhausted and rehydrated heads bob in near unison.
No instructions are delivered. Everyone is already asleep.
* * *
—
While they sleep, a tour.
Buzzed Ava’s dog tags fall free of her tank top. One set her own. One set not. Her head falls onto Mack’s shoulder. Mack’s head rests against the soft fuzz of Ava’s. It’s the most human contact either of them has had in years. They sleep through it.
Beautiful Ava, aspiring Instagram model, has found beautiful Jaden, aspiring CrossFit gym owner. She has no sponsors and he has no gym, but they are lovely with hope and promise. Beautiful Ava’s head rests against the window. She snores. She would be mortified to know she did it in public, but no one except the driver and their hostess is awake to hear. The driver keeps his eyes on the road with aggressive determination. He wields the steering wheel like a shield. The hostess wanders the aisle, touching each forehead with feather-soft fingers, like a blessing or a benediction.
The benediction misses LeGrand, tucked in the back, lost and alone even surrounded by people. This is not his world, and he doesn’t know how to exist in it. Nothing, nothing makes sense. He dreams of digging for vegetables, his fingers hurting, digging deeper and deeper and finding nothing, knowing he should find something, should be looking for something, but all he can do is keep digging in the dark and the dirt. He’s not looking for vegetables. He’s digging a grave, and it hurts, and he hurts, and he’s terrified he knows whose grave it is.
Ian has a notebook on his lap. His pen, the most expensive thing he owns, has fallen on the floor. He won’t realize it until they’re off the bus and he’s already lost it. How can he write without it? He doesn’t manage to write anything with it, either, but he’ll be convinced it’s the lack of pen holding him back. He came for inspiration. Also for money. A little bit of money, a little bit of security, and he could write the great American novel.
Brandon looks pleasant even in his sleep. There’s something wholesome and helpful in the way he slumbers completely upright, as though ready to dive into service should someone need help. Regardless of what else happens, he’s already had a great time and will be happy with the results. Honestly, he doesn’t even know what he’d do with the money if he won. He can’t quite imagine beating everyone else. It feels petty to want to win, almost mean. Because him winning would mean thirteen people lose. This is an adventure. A vacation. He hasn’t taken a day off since he started working at the gas station at fourteen. But Grammy isn’t waiting for him anymore. He’s been a little lost since she died. An adventure is all he can ask for.
His seatmate slumps, head lolling for hours. There’s still paint on his hands from where he tagged the last bus station. He’s ready to leave his mark on the competition. Hopeful that he can create something here that will follow him back out into the world. He’ll be the next Banksy. No. He’ll be the first Atrius. (His real name is Kyle, and he hates it and everything Kyle was and could be. But he made the mistake of spelling Atreus wrong, so any chance he has of being googleable is taken by a health insurance company. A branding failure by someone determined to exist outside of brands.)
Christian fell asleep with a smile but secretly despairing. No one here seems like a good contact. His idea to do this for potential business opportunities seems as unlikely as actually winning the stupid thing. Maybe he’ll meet someone from Ox Extreme Sports. Everyone needs a good salesman. If he has to knock on one more door and smile while asking about solar panels…
YouTuber Sydney and app developer Logan connected in the forest in the way Christian wished he had managed to with someone. They’re going to make a new app together based on Sydney’s fledgling YouTube prank show. A national prank competition. It’s gonna be huge. They’re glowing even in sleep, secure in their imagined brilliant future. Dinners with Musk, charity summits with Gates, partnerships with Frye Technologies, and so many terrible pranks to get there.
Rebecca has priced out exactly how much it would cost to go from an A to a C. She thinks C is big enough. The agent she met with told her she had potential, but she’d need a little more up top for him to be interested. She’s never been able to settle on whether he meant professionally interested, or casting couch interested. C is the letter that will get her her dreams, and $50,000 is the number that will get her to the letter she needs. She sleeps with her EpiPen-filled purse clutched against her chest like a security blanket.
Rosiee just wants to sell some fucking jewelry. Just once. Just to prove she’s not the loser her mother always predicted she’d be. But silversmithing requires silver, and silver requires money. She’s been hiding from her ex for four years. She can hide for a week, no sweat. Her ear is so heavy with jewelry, it clinks against the window where her head rests. The hostess’s eye lingers over the snake twined around Rosiee’s wrist. So pretty. She actually has talent.
In the front of the bus is Isabella, the eternal intern. She’s interned at more places than she can remember. She wants face time with Ox executives, too. She needs a salary. God, she needs dental benefits. Fifty thousand dollars won’t even cover her student loans for the education she borrowed herself into the ground for. The incredibly expensive degree that has yet to land her a single income-producing job. She grinds her teeth in her sleep.
The bus bumps along the deep tunnel of night, sealing in fourteen desperate dreamers against the world.
Fourteen pairs of bleary eyes open. They assume the bus stopping is what woke them.