Mickey has been clean off the crystal for three months now and if he can make it to Nevada his brother can give him a job washing dishes at Sam's Town. Their first night at a truck stop Mickey starts talking to some hookers and it sure doesn't seem to be about business. Too thin, all of them, with those edges to their eyes that immediately tell Dean Mickey won't be making it to four months.

Not everyone can do what Laura did.

Laura was clean for fifteen months and three months pregnant. She had a reason to stay clean - one that her boyfriend didn't like. So she'd hopped in her old Kia and driven it till a head gasket blew. Dean took her to her sister’s house in Colorado and told her to let him know when the baby came.

Two hours ago she sent him a photo message. Stretched on his lower bunk, Dean finally opens it.

Baby Leon’s mouth is wide open and covering nearly all of the photo. Just behind him he can see Laura's nose crinkle in a smile. Baby weight and sobriety have left her healthy and chubby. Her girlfriend in Boulder must’ve taken the photo; she seems sweet enough on Facebook. They're getting married sometime end of the year. All Laura has to do is give Dean a date and he’s gonna send them five hundred bucks via the Facebook messenger app. It’s handy for that sort of thing.

He watches Mickey disappear beyond the harsh lights at the diesel pumps.

All Dean does is give them a ride. The rest is on them.

Three days later, he finds some acidhead trying to head out to a festival in Washington State. They’re cheerful enough, but in Nebraska they have some friends to pick them up. The kid wants to give Dean some drugs and he waves them off, grinning. He’s messed around before, but Dean gets drug tested.

Dean has seen every backwater-ass alley in every decaying rural town in the States. There’s a damn good reason why he sticks to the booze.

He spends the night just outside of Longview, headphones turned out against the constant hum of engines.