CHAPTER
29
AS FORD HAD said, the dirt road emptied into highway 97 about a mile later. Stella turned left and immediately they saw a sign that read “Madras—1 mile.” She’d turned off the headlights as soon as they’d left the shadow of the canyon, and had to slow the truck so that she could steer around the mess of wrecks and stalled cars they’d avoided by cutting cross-country.
“Okay, Ford, what’s the plan?” Stella gripped the steering wheel tightly and kept her eyes on the dark, rainy highway.
“Mercury, look to the right side of the road for a little convenience store gas station combo called 97 Mart. We need to take a left there.”
“Is that it? Looks like a burnt-out gas station.” Mercury nodded to the right of the highway.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure it is. Stella, go left at that intersection.”
Stella turned left and had to leave the road and drive in the ditch to get around a truck that had smashed head-on into the front of an SUV.
“When did these people have time to run into each other?” Stella shook her head. “I just don’t get it.”
“The EMP pulse stopped their engines, but that doesn’t mean the vehicles stopped,” said Mercury. “And panic does crazy things to people.”
“Careful, there’s a tree down ahead,” Ford said.
“I see it. I’ll just stay in the ditch until we get past this mess,” said Stella.
“Okay, up that little incline on your right. See that cemetery?” Ford pointed.
“Yep,” said Stella.
“You can turn right directly after it.”
Mercury looked in the side mirror. “Oxford, it looks like we’re getting farther away from the center of town.”
“Yeah, we are, but not too far for us to walk—even if I’m not very steady on my feet. There—take this right,” said Ford, “and pretty soon we should come to a small, overpass-like bridge. Here’s hoping it’s still standing.”
“I see it! It’s just after that big clump of pines,” said Mercury. “Careful, looks like several of them have splintered.”
“Yeah, I see ’em,” said Stella. “I can take the ditch to get around them.”
“The bridge is still standing! That’s a relief,” said Ford. “My idea is to have you pull off the road and park under the bridge. It goes over Willow Creek, which winds through Madras. The creek is pretty intermittent and dries out a lot, especially in the summer. It hasn’t been raining long, so I figured it wouldn’t be too swollen.”
“I think I can pull off on the right side. Doesn’t look too steep. Mercury, maybe you should get out and scout down there, though, and see if there’s anywhere for me to park under the bridge.”
“No problem.” Mercury left the truck and made her way down a gentle incline that led to a shallow creek. She felt a wave of relief as she studied the area under the bridge, and then returned quickly to the truck. “It’s perfect—just like underneath a highway overpass. There’s a cement section down there where you can park the truck. The creek has water in it, but it’s shallow—nothing like that river back on 26. And I didn’t see any sign of green fog, but if you back the truck in, you could park it so that it’d be positioned to get the hell out fast.”
“Good idea,” said Stella, who expertly guided the truck down the incline and then backed it under the bridge and parked it where it was securely out of the rain and poised to be driven away.
The kids were awake, but sleepy-eyed. They yawned and stretched as everyone climbed out of the truck, but unlike normal six-year-olds under normal circumstances, the boys didn’t need to be told to stay close. They remained in their sister’s shadow—and their sister stuck to Imani like a refrigerator magnet. But Mercury had no doubt which twin was Cayden. Wherever she was, she felt his intense gaze following her.
“Okay, let’s get our backpacks on and head to the heart of town,” said Mercury.
Stella spoke to the three kids. “It’s going to seem like a long way, but once we get there, we’ll be able to rest. And if we don’t like it in Madras, don’t worry. We’ll leave. That’s why we’re not taking the truck with us—so that no one can take our wheels and stop us from leaving.”
The twins huddled closer to their big sister, who draped her arms protectively around their shoulders. “But what if the people there won’t let us leave? What if they try to take us away from you?”
Cayden nodded his head emphatically and stared at Mercury as his eyes filled with tears.
“You know I’m superhero strong, right?” Mercury asked all three kids, but her gaze remained on the twin she thought of as her special boy.
The three children nodded.