"Get up."  Anaya said abruptly as she nudged the girls with her foot.  "Let's go, we're moving."  Once the girls had awakened and picked up their packs again, Anaya began a brisk pace northwest.  She opened an energy bar as she walked and gestured for the others to do the same.  She ate quickly and without stopping.<br/><br/>"Where are we<span style="font-style: italic">going</span>?"  Christina complained.<br/><br/>"Into the city.  We'll have the best chance of shelter and provisions there.  And we can find someone to ask what the hell is going on."<br/><br/>"Phoenix!"  Josie snapped.  "That's got to be thirty miles from here!  At least!"<br/><br/>Anaya turned sharply, her eyes cold.  "You have a better suggestion?"<br/><br/>"Yeah!"  Josie retorted right back.  "We go back to the detention center and wait."<br/><br/>"Wait for what?!"  Anaya said.  "For someone to think to come and check on us in the middle of the desert?  For our parents to come and save us?"  Anaya's voice was mocking and bitter at the same time.  "If they cared about us, they wouldn't have sent us to that place to begin with.   You really think they're going to go out of their way to find us now?"<br/><br/>To this, Josie had no reply.  Anaya had known she wouldn't.  She had heard enough about Josie's family to know that they cared nothing for her.  Josie's sentence to go to Whitefield had more to do with her parents trying to save themselves the bother of dealing with her than any attempt to rehabilitate her.  Anaya's mother and step-father, well.... her mother was probably still recovering from the beating she'd given her, and Martin...  She forced her mind away from that thought and began walking again.  They stopped once when midday approached and rested for a few minutes.  Anaya allowed them to drink and eat a little trail-mix and fruit, then she pushed them onward again at a quick pace.  The sun beat down on them mercilessly, but Anaya knew the best thing to do was to keep moving and get as far as they possibly could that day.  Sweat beaded on her brow and her shoulders were aching from the straps of her pack.  Josie was sweating profusely and Anaya knew that they would have to stop again at sundown.  Until then, she pushed them forward like a drill sergeant ignoring the mumbled complaints and the tears.<br/><br/>Finally, as the sun was beginning to set once more, they moved off of the road and Anaya made a small fire again.  The other girls collapsed as she retrieved some cans of soup and a small sauce-pan from one of the packs and began warming it for them.  As it cooked, she looked up at the desert sky and its multi-hued beauty.  The clouds were a mix of midnight blue, sienna, and lavender and they melted together on the horizon.  She heard a coyote cry in the distance... and far-off, some weird, keening cry that she could not identify.  It sent shivers up her spine.  She glanced about at the others, but they seemed not to have noticed anything.  Suddenly cold though the air had not yet chilled, she wrapped her arms around herself and moved closer to the fire.