Preparation would have seen the pair relaxing in coach seats, casually watching the land speed past them. This journey was not one which had any manner of preparation associated to it, though. The 22:50 overnight cargo train was late leaving LA Grande Station in Pasadena, which was fortunate for the two stow aways. Steam billowed from the undercarriage as the Streamliner made its own preparations to depart. 

​​​​The trucks stretched a fair distance down the line, dozens of shipping crates awaiting cargo or fully laden. It was from here that the pair made their move. Dashing across the open land under the cover of darkness, Anthony made sure to toss his package from Lily on the nearest carriage first. It didn't take much effort to hoist Lily up a step and then clamber up himself. 

They occupied a half full container, bags of grain assumed one side of it and some crates of unknown contents stacked up in the other. Under the clear night sky lit by the light of the moon, Anthony lay on his back and looked up and out of the open door. 

"Well Miss White, we're in this together now."

​​​​

With a happy grin, Lily laid on her stomach next to Anthony and rested her chin in her hands. Staring out at the bland train yard full of skeletal cars and switchbacks lit by ghostly gas laterns, she found she wasn't scared at all. 

"I'm not scared anymore." 

A strange thing to say out of context, but before she could amend her words, the yard attendant approached, footsteps crunching in the gravel as he did rounds before departure. Lily used her feet to push herself to the side of the open doorway, ploughing into Anthony in the process. The two crammed into a heap out of sight, and Lily found herself wondering if this had been a bad idea. Anthony's steady breathing behind her told her he wasn't worried, so she forced herself to calm down by closing her eyes and concentrating on the slow beat of his heart against her back. 

Fortunately the attendant was less than thorough in his departure checks. Regardless, Anthony held her tightly while a lantern was waved into the cart,  briefly illuminating the contents, then exiting again. The light faded completely as the metal hatch was slid closed, grinding and scraping. 

In the darkness, Anthony let out a little snigger and relaxed his grip. They stood for a moment before he looked down at her. 

"Scared of what?"

With the door slid closed, the smell of grain grew stronger, but it wasn't unpleasant. Stuffing her hands in the pockets of her sweater, she found the darkness easier to speak in. It hid shame.

"The ones who lurk in it. Were you ever scared, Anthony? Your letters sounded like you weren't but you were so far from us, in such a bad place, with so many bad things happening," she says, still seeking a broken piece that might match up with hers. There was a loud whistle and a lurch as the train set to motion and she quickly sat before she fell. Tugging on his pant leg, she encouraged him to do the same. 

Sitting carefully next to her, he rested his hands in his lap and looked into the slither of moonlight creeping through the door.

"I've spent most of my life scared. Afraid of pain, afraid of running away, afraid of staying. Afraid of opening my mouth."

He paused as the truck jolted to the side. The wheels began to turn as they pulled out of the station. The light flickered as it was interrupted by the trees. 

"I'm still afraid now, but not for myself anymore."

Lily bit her lip as she thought about sending Anthony the wrong page over in Detroit. He knew everything, all of it, and it didn't seem to change how he behaved around her, but if he had to worry and feel responsible for her safety...well she certainly didnt want that, either. Maybe on this big adventure she could prove that she could be tough and strong.

With a deep breath, she pulls two soda bottles out of the basket and tries to change the subject.

"So Las Vegas? Have you been there? Is there something you'd like to do? I've heard it's just a desert place with lots of lights and gambling and those, um. Those ladies that...do stuff." Her eyes bounce around the train car, looking for something to open the soda bottles with.

Black nodded, while staring off towards the darkness of the container. He briefly let his mind cast back a few years and remembered his time in Vegas. Shuffling around, he then stood and pulled a box down from the stack against the car wall. 

"I have, as a kid. Kathryn took me there when she found me in Detroit. I used to live at her place."

He gently takes the bottles from Lily and places the cap over the edge of the box. He cracks his hand across the top of it and it opens with a pop. 

"I'd like to visit her old place, but this trip is about us. Where do you want to go?"

The boy hands her a soda and knocks the top off the second, sitting back down close to her by the grain.

"Well we should do that, then. She sounds like she was important to you," she says, accepting the pop. It was warm, but it tasted divine.

"After that? Well I guess that depends on what we want out of this trip," she says, turning to face Anthony directly. "What direction would you like to see your life go? Do you want to be a regular-type person? Or do you want to be like Uncle Alex and the rest of the crew, a gangster? Because if you want to just travel and see things and have experiences, why, we'd certainly have ourselves a fun vacation, at least before we went home and Miss Gracie whopped us. But if you want to be criminals, we could do all sorts of crimes all over the place, you know, like that man and woman did...I can't remember their names but boy, they sure made some big news!" Lily says, an excited gleam in her eyes. Clearly she'd not heard how that story ended. Peering at Anthony in the gloom, she tries to read his thoughts.

Laying back against the grain bags, he smiled and stretched his arms out, then placing them behind his head. The train car rattled on, now in full flight towards sin city. He sipped from the bottle and savoured the taste. There were many little things that he had not yet tried since prison, and many that he had never tried at all. Working the streets, wrapping up his life in Detroit and jail had taken many opportunities from him that youth would normally bring. 

"I want excitement,... I want to feel the blood rushing through my body and I want to see everything America has to offer."

He sat up on his side and rested on one arm, looking into Lily's eyes through the darkness. 

"If that's what we did, what we become, are you in?"

They were crossing a dilapidated length of track at this point; the clacking of wheels on tracks was noticeably louder and the car was swinging rhythmically. When the car bumped over one of the more rotted cross ties, Lily lost her balance and her upper body swung across Anthony's lap. Pushing herself upright again, she murmured an apology before replying.

"I am in, Mister Black," she says, smiling at him. She was 'in' the moment he'd asked her to come along, back on Miss Gracie's porch. 

"You might need this, though," she said, offering his wallet back to him. 

After regaining his balance, he pats himself down. Figuring out what had happened, he smiled and placed it back into his pocket. 

"A classic, Miss White. Looks like we'll make quite the team."

The two share a brief moment where their eyes lock, until Anthony stands and walks towards the box car door. Unlocking it, he tugs it open and leans against the gaping wall, watching Nevada race towards them. His head rests on the metal and he smiles.