Read Lives Of The Unknown Book 1: The Legend of Andrew Lockeford for Free Online Page A

Andrew
packed together his clothes for a road trip. His first year at the
university was over, and a trip seemed like the best way to
celebrate it using the money he saved up from work. The
twenty-one-year-old told his boss that he would be taking two weeks
off for vacation, both for the trip and for simply relaxing at
home. He had been yearning to take a trip for years, anyway. He had
already planned out where he would go on the trip and where he
would stay for nights. The first stop would be Searles; although he
stopped liking that town in general a couple years ago, Andrew
still loved the familiar bushes and mountains that shaped many of
his childhood memories, such as riding his bicycle up to the ridge
of a tall hill, seeing the valley below. It was spring at the time,
and the wildflowers made the entire hill look golden in comparison
to the barren, salty lakebed laying at the valley floor. Perhaps he
would have one more chance to see that again, he thought.
    Andrew packed a week’s worth of
clothes, expecting to drive into Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Oregon, and
back down into California. He took his toothbrush and toothpaste—he
hated those single-use toothbrushes they had in hotels, and some of
the hotels he was staying at didn’t offer them at all. He also
packed some swimming trunks and his own towel in case he decided to
stop by the beach in Oregon or California.
    He would find his parents’ place in
Idaho, who moved there after they wanted to leave Searles and
especially California—too many gun laws were being passed in
California for their comfort. He would stop by there as well as his
grandparents’ house in Nevada.
    Andrew notified his parents, his
grandparents, and his friend Troy that he was on his way. His gas
tank was full, his clothes were in the trunk, his wallet and phone
were in his pockets, and the granola bars for snacks were in the
back seat, so he was all set. As he filled up the gas tank the
night before, he thought about gas prices: “Sheesh, the Iraq war
has been over for more than four years and gas is still over four
dollars a gallon. Either we can’t get our shit together in the
Middle East or America decided to be a bit more like Europe.” As
far as food went, he was afraid of gaining weight on the trip,
concerning how he would be sitting down all day long and eating out
several times during the week. The guy wasn’t fat—not too skinny
either—but he wanted to make sure he never became overweight at
all. So each morning, he would go on a run before taking a shower
and heading off onto the road once more. It was half health-issue
and half self-image that Andrew had in mind. Hypocritical,
considering how he says to his peers that he doesn’t care about how
he looks.
    Andrew was primarily focused with
getting out of the Los Angeles vicinity. Traffic was heavy, making
Andrew move at ten minutes per mile, but once he could get onto
Interstate 15 and through Cajon Pass, everything would be smooth
sailing. It actually got boring about half an hour past
Hesperia—partly because it was flat open desert for the next fifty
miles. Plus, he had been along that stretch of road many times
before. Next, there would be some mountains to drive through that
would change the scenery.
    After three and a half hours of driving, he made it
to Searles. It still looked the same as it had always been: there
was the factory, the desert heat, the salt pit, and of course the
hundreds of people living there that wanted to be elsewhere. No
wildflowers at all this time around—not enough rain during the
winter.
    Andrew drove around town to find the
house of his old friend, Troy. There were still dogs running loose
in the neighborhoods, kids hanging around by the liquor store, and
tough-looking guys smoking cigarettes standing nearby. It’s not
really that bad when you get used to the sight.
    Troy was still living here in Searles,
but he was in the military reserves and could be called up on any
day. Many teenagers