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[center][color=darkgray][b][sub]B O O K   I  -  G E N E S I S[/sub][/b][/color][b][color=FF4500][sup][h1]THESE BOOTS[/h1][/sup][/color][/b][/center]
[COLOR=800000][INDENT][B][SUP][SUB][H3]MISSISSIPPI RIVER NORTH[/H3][/SUB][/SUP][/B][/INDENT][hr][/COLOR][INDENT][sup][color=SILVER]November, 2017 | [i]A BAR, ALLEGEDLY[/i][/color][/sup][/INDENT]

The bar - if it could be referred to as such, though Dani suspected 'dive' or 'last stop before your Next Destination' would be more appropriate - was a little pungent, a little damp, and a little dingy. Low-hanging sunlight lazily filtered in through the dusty glass panes of the windows, and through the cracks between the wooden wall-boards that looked - and smelt - at [i]least[/i] a few decades old. Besides herself, and the heavy-set man behind the bar watching his patrons through beady eyes, with a wiry gray beard and a greasy flannel shirt, there were only two or three men quietly drinking warm, cheap beer out of water-spotted glasses. They had stirred briefly when Dani had stepped in, glaring at the new intruder before turning back to their booze and their muted, introspective monologues. She wasn't sure if they had glared because of her alien youth and gender relative to the rest of the apparent demographic, or because her arrival had brought an unwelcome burst of yellow-white light in through the open door.

Dani ignored the one lingering pair of eyes and made her way from the doorway past the stained stools and low tables and up to the bar. She was hot and dry and her voice cracked and croaked in her throat as she brought it up for the first time since she had left the burnt carcass of her home. Her hand went into her jacket pocket and came out clenching a fistful of crumpled notes, one of which she put down on the counter in front of her as she took a seat across from the barman.
[COLOR=800000]"Water."[/color] She said, more commanding than requesting. The barman obliged with a tall glass, and Dani gulped it down quickly and greedily before putting another note on top of the first. [COLOR=800000]"Another,"[/color] and so it was. A third note. [COLOR=800000]"Beer."[/color] She said, and the barman hesitated.

"You ain't look old enough for that, girl." He replied, his voice as gruff and stern as his exterior. Dani could respect that kind of consistency, but she didn't respect being told no. Not right now.
[COLOR=800000]"You ain't look dumb enough to ask those kinds of questions, mister. Beer?"[/color] She slapped another note down to emphasize herself, hoping to lay on equal layers of sugar and salt. The barman took a long look, and then sighed and fished out another glass from below the counter, filling it from the tap with a cloudy, copper, lukewarm-at-best liquid. Dani drank it as quickly as she had done the water, though she grimaced far more severely upon finishing.
[COLOR=800000]"Goddamn, that was disgusting."[/color] She remarked, putting down her fifth and final note and pushing the empty glass back across the bar toward the taps.
"You keep payin', an' they'll keep bein' awful." He replied, and Dani gave a dry chuckle in turn.
[COLOR=800000]"Now [i]that[/i] sounds like the shrewd businessman you surely must be."[/color]

Dani let a silence fall, and then stretched that silence out, letting the slow whir of the ceiling fan play on and on as she sipped what would be her last drink for a day or two at least. 
[COLOR=800000]"You know the area?"[/color] She asked, and the barman simply looked on. Naturally. [COLOR=800000]"You know the railroads?"[/color] He grunted in response and Dani took it as positive. [COLOR=800000]"There are reliable line to Maryland? East coast?"[/color] The barman sniffed, and then sighed, leaning down on the counter.
"I done seen a whole lotta kids like you, girl. All comin' through, on way to somethin', or from somethin'. Don't ever see 'em come back, and most days I ain't in the habit'a thinkin' 'bout it. Which one'a you, eh? Runnin' to? Runnin' from?"
[COLOR=800000]"I can take care of myself.[/color]
"Yeah, s'what I figured. They all say that, y'know. Every damn one'a them. Most'a 'em got some bravado on. Some got fear. Some jus' in over their heads. Some don't know better. You, though...you [i]know[/i]. You gotta belief."

Dani said nothing. The man in the corner by the door continued to watch her, and she had surpassed feeling merely nervous about it.
[COLOR=800000]"So is that a no, or a yes and you're just not going to tell me? Because, if in the case of the latter, I need to get back on the trail. I'm wasting daylight."[/color]
He took what appeared to be a final summation of her, head to toe, and then nodded, equally in acknowledgement and dismissal. 
"That tin-can tool, Stark, usually gotta few shippin' crates on a regular run headed up the North-East line. I'd wager that were your best luck lie if'n your lookin' to train-hop up to the coast. Track's 'bout, I'd say, 2 miles due West."

Dani nodded in thanks, and finished her beer. She was still thirsty, but she suspected that had more to do with the lingering feelings of her skull and spine being aflame than it did with a lack of hydration. She left the bills - slightly crisp at their edges - on the bar and got up from her stool, turning on the spot and retracing her steps back towards the door. She thought to hazard a quick glance at the man who had been watching her - dust and dirt baked into the lines and wrinkles on his face and in his long, sweat-slicked hair. For a second, she thought his eyes were a striking yellow, but then they were a muddied gray and she had never doubted that they were ever anything but. He gave the slightest smirk as their gazes met and locked for an instant, and then he went back to his drink and silent contemplation of his navel and everything else besides, and Dani pushed the door open and found herself outside in the sun again. She got her bearings, and turned West, making her way towards the alleged train tracks. 

She only had a few more days left in her; she hoped it was only her days that would be needed. Inside her jacket pocket, her knuckles whitened as she gripped a small wooden crucifix.