Understanding jolted through Mercury. “The bombs caused an EMP. That’s why none of those cars are running.”
“Oh shit.” Jenny stiffened beside her. “Then that is going to be nuclear fallout.” She jerked her chin up at the unnaturally dark sky.
“Nuclear weapons?” Stella’s voice went up several octaves. “That’s so, so bad. What’s an EMP?”
“Electromagnetic pulse,” Mercury said.
“Oh Lord Jesus! Then we’re all going to die!” Karen wrapped her arms around her torso and rocked back and forth.
Stella met Mercury’s gaze. “Was that what the green fog stuff was—nuclear fallout?”
Mercury shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know. I’ve never read or seen anything about fallout, or even bombs, that are green. Jenny, you just got out of college. Have you?”
The young teacher shook her head. “Nope. Never.”
“It’s nuclear. That’s what causes an EMP,” insisted Mrs. Gay.
“Not necessarily,” said Mercury. “Other bombs can cause an electromagnetic pulse.” She looked up at the sky and her stomach tightened. “But let’s hurry and get to cover.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Stella shifted into third. She held onto the wheel with both hands and didn’t take her gaze off the road. “Why is this truck still running when all the rest aren’t?”
“One reason is that it’s pre-electric and pre-computerized,” Mercury explained. “I would think the pulse would’ve still fried the battery, but my guess is it didn’t because it was off when the blast hit. All these cars and trucks we’ve been passing—none look like they’re old enough to be pre-electric, and they were all running when the blast hit, so they’re fried. My guess is if the Escalade hadn’t been wrecked, we could’ve driven it out of there because it wasn’t running when the bomb hit.”
“Hey, are those people?” Jenny squinted at a clump of cars and trucks in the distance, easily visible because they were situated on a rise in the highway.
“I think so,” said Stella. “We can put some of them back there in the bed of the truck. They can hunker down under the tarp. It’ll be windy and cold, but better than walking, especially if they’re injured.”
“We’re not stopping, are we?” Mrs. Gay’s voice had lost its trembling fearfulness and returned to its familiar sharpness.
Mercury looked around Jenny and at her. “Of course we’re stopping. We’re not driving by people who need help.”
“But you can’t know what kind of people they are,” Karen said. “They could be dangerous.”
“What just happened is dangerous.” Mercury frowned at her.
“We’re going to help anybody we can,” said Stella.
“We can’t just leave people out here to die,” added Jenny.
Mercury cleared her throat and finished with, “It’s the Christian thing to do.”
Karen’s gaze snapped to hers. “You’re not a Christian.”
“Correct.” Mercury’s answer was immediate. “But you are.” She held the history teacher’s gaze until Karen looked away.