And So It Begins… (Patreon)

James walked from the back of the Off-road Vehicle and looked at Ailana. “The gauge is wrong… as far as I can tell. No gas.”

Ailana sat down in the sand. “I… got distracted. I’m so sorry.”

Ailana had met James earlier. He was an investment banker who retired young to focus on his family, philanthropy, and traveling. He lived in NYC until his early 30’s and moved to south Florida (near Ft Lauderdale) a few years ago to be closer to his parents and younger sister, Katherine.

Ailana had enlisted him to take her out into the desert to see some unique rock formations out in the Mojave National Preserve. She had remembered to charge her iPhone, put fresh batteries in her DSLR, and even stocked a cooler with ice and water.

She had looked at the gas gauge, and it indicated that the tank was full. She’d thought that was odd, because it had been full the day before, but she hadn’t driven that much, so she figured it just hadn’t gone down.

Driving out into the desert, she had been caught up in the conversation with James as he explained what she was going to see that she hadn’t noticed the unmoving fuel indicator. By the time she realized what was going on, they were fifty miles into the desert past the last gas station.

James shrugged. “Well, at least we have cell service. This should make for some good content for your web pages!”

Ailana smiled, very grateful he was being a good sport about it.

{{ Fin }}}

• Throughout the "Running With The King!" storyline the part of James King is depicted by the Instagramer king_james_ai. The James King's creator has contributed plot ideas to this story.

• Whereas this storyline is fictional and includes NSFW content, the agencies and teams in this story are also fictional, though they might remind readers of real organizations.

• Ailana Geven is a fictional AI character