Kelly saw the sign approaching on her right.
No Exit, 15 Miles.
If she didn't turn off here to look for a gas station, she would be stuck on the next stretch of Route 412 for at least that long. She glanced down at her gas gauge. The car had a quarter tank left. At highway speeds, that would surely get her to the next exit and probably some form of civilization before she ran out.
Thus, Kelly stayed the course, let the exit pass her on the right, and continued to watch as the beautiful scenery of the prairies of northeast New Mexico pass by her windscreen.
The deep blue sky was streaked with cirrus clouds, probably being swept away by wind to somewhere else to keep this area's rainfall at less than ten inches per year. To one side, striped mountains faded into the hazy distance. Closer to her were the few miniature pines, patches of stubborn grasses and evergreen bushes that dotted the sandy tan earth like freckles. All the plants were a dull olive with streaks of dead yellow leaves. Power lines were always present, though they seemed to connect to nothing. At first, the poles were to her right, until they crossed above the street and continued on her left side for no obvious reason.
Unlike what she was used to in the city... there were no nails at all in any of the poles. Anyone stapling a sign looking for a lost cat out here was quite lost themselves.
The sight of a beautiful tree with iridescently yellow foliage at the edge of a mostly dry riverbed was so distinctive, Kelly almost stopped to take a picture. When she got closer and saw how far off the road she'd have to drive or walk to get close enough for a decent picture... she thought better of it.
It's not that Kelly expected any harm to come to her out here. She just didn't want to step out of her air-conditioned car right now. Who could blame her? She hadn't seen any sign of non-plant life in miles. Not a car coming in the other direction of this two-lane highway, not a Mexican gray wolf who had gotten lost, not even a crow to pick the eyeball out of a lone cow skull. Those must have all been eaten long ago.
Kelly continued driving the mostly straight highway when something caught her attention in the distance. At first, she thought it might be a road sign posted to a tree, because the top appeared to be black and the bottom was sort of a faint tan. As she rapidly approached it, she noticed that it was moving. Closer still, she recognized the familiar gait of a person walking.
She was unprepared for what she would see next, at first dismissing it as a mirage. From a short distance, it appeared to be a woman wearing a backpack walking down the edge of the road. Where this woman had started this long walk, Kelly couldn't fathom. She hadn't noticed a building of any kind for miles. Maybe she had zoned out and missed it.
That wasn't the most surprising thing about this woman's sudden appearance. It wasn't entirely accurate to say that she was wearing a backpack. She also wore a watch, blue-and-white running shoes, white socks with two red stripes pulled up to the thigh... and seemingly nothing else. Her backpack was a dark purple, with a water bottle in the pouch on the side. Her blonde hair was tied back into a thin braid that hung over the backpack, a golden line down the middle that wagged in time with two plushies affixed to the zippers, bouncing merrily as she walked.
Kelly was now close enough to determine that this woman was, in fact, strolling casually through the uninhabited New Mexico desert... naked. She pulled up her car alongside the woman and gently honked her horn.
Until then, it was as if the woman hadn't even noticed she was there. She didn't have earbuds in or anything. How didn't she hear the car approaching? The woman turned towards the passenger window, everything below her waist hidden below by the car door.
Kelly used her power window controls to roll down the passenger window. "What are you doing out here?" She asked, resisting her instincts to ask the question as if this woman was crazy.
"I'm just trying to get somewhere." The woman put her fingers on the edge of the window, almost leaning her large breasts into the car.
Kelly stared at her in disbelief. "Naked?"
"It's hot out here."
Kelly nodded in stunned agreement. "Get in here. I'll give you a ride."
"If you insist, stranger." The woman slipped her backpack off and placed it in the backseat.
"I think I have to. I can't let you die out here." Kelly said as the nude woman sat down in the passenger's seat. Kelly looked away, forcing herself not to stare. "What's your name?"
"Julie." She pressed a button on her smartwatch and took in a breath of wonderful refrigerated air. "Ohhh... this air conditioning feels so good." Julie fanned the air towards herself with her hands, rubbing the sweat from her breasts. "I'm sorry about the sweat."
Kelly continued driving, glancing at her nude passenger. She really was absolutely covered in sweat, her body dotted with thousands of water drops, like she'd just stepped out of a sauna. She was soaked from head to...
When looking down at Julie's legs, there was something that she hadn't noticed before, hidden by the door when they first talked. Julie had a penis. A huge one that hung over her thigh like a lazy seal.
Kelly quickly turned her eyes to the road. "You're... a futa."
Julie looked down to her groin, as if to confirm it herself. "I am, yes."
"I guess I didn't..." Kelly swallowed. "see it until you sat down."
"That's not a problem, is it?"
"No." Kelly shook her head tensely. "But... you don't have any clothing in your backpack?"
"Afraid I don't." She answered simply. "I only pack the essentials."
"What about those two little plushies hanging from the zippers?"
"Those are my navigators." Julie blew out a sigh. "Do you have any... napkins or anything I could wipe myself down with?"
"Check the glove box." Kelly pointed. A stack of fast-food napkins tumbled out from within, because apparently Jersey Mike thought Kelly was unable to eat a BLT without making a mess worthy of half a roll of paper towels.
"This is perfect. Thanks." Julie folded a few and ran them across her chest, along her arms, into her underarms. "I'm sweating all over your car. I'm so embarrassed."
"That's what you're embarrassed about?" Kelly kept glancing over to her passenger. The air conditioning had left Julie's nipples erect like pencil erasers. "I mean... I guess I wouldn't be embarrassed about a... thing that big."
Julie grinned and let out a single chuckle. "You're so nice." She released her seat belt and leaned forward to wipe some sweat from her legs, where the air conditioning was having trouble reaching. Kelly looked at Julie's back. There was a huge area previously covered by her backpack that looked nearly white compared to the rest of her beautifully tanned skin.
"Is that tan line from your backpack?"
Julie couldn't quite contort herself to see her own back. "I guess."
"How long were you out there?"
"Maybe an hour or so, but... I do this all the time." Julie shrugged. "It's hard to reapply sunscreen to my back, so it's actually nice to have it protected by the bag."
"You didn't tan like that in an hour." Kelly disputed that explanation.
"I've done all this before, yes. That means I know the first rule of hitchhiking."
