“I told you they’d be safe,” repeated Stella. “Though I do agree with science-checking things. I may be an art teacher, and now some kind of weird seer or whatever, but only the willfully ignorant ignore science.”
“Preaching to the choir, sis,” said Imani.
Karen cleared her throat as they reached the truck. “Ladies, how are five of us fitting in that cab? It was already crowded on the way here, and there were only four of us.”
“Well, I thought y’all could take turns riding back here. I made a fairly comfy nest-like area in the middle of the truck bed.” Stella put down the tailgate and lifted the hatchback of the camper shell they’d managed to attach to the old pickup. The inside was carefully packed with supplies—everything from food to clothes, to camping equipment the housekeepers had found in one of the suites—and, of course, a more than decent supply of wine. In the center of the strapped-in piles of supplies was a mound of blankets and pillows.
“Ooh, I’ll go first!” said Gemma. “This is seriously too early for me. I’ll be out like a light as soon as you start driving.”
“Sounds good,” Stella said.
“Gemma, would you mind if I took a turn with you?” Imani asked. “Long car rides makes me sleepy. Always have. And you’re right about it being too early.”
“Don’t mind at all!” Gemma grinned over her shoulder at Imani as she crawled into the bed of the truck.
“If you need anything—like you have to stop to pee,” Mercury said, “just rap on the window.”
“Okay,” Imani said as she followed Gemma into the truck bed.
Stella closed the hatch behind Imani and headed to the driver side of the cab. As she carefully steered the truck around the obstacles that still littered the broken parking lot, Mercury swiveled and peered out the back window, through the camper shell, and out its cloudy rear window at the sleepy lodge.
“It’s harder to leave than I thought it would be.” She kept the lodge in view as long as possible before turning around.
“It made me feel safe.” Karen spoke softly. She’d taken her place on the bench seat near the door.
“I think that’s it,” agreed Mercury. “Reasonable or not—the lodge seemed a sanctuary.”
“It is for the people who remain there,” said Stella. “Just not permanently, and not for us.”
Carefully, slowly, Stella followed the one-way exit from the lodge that wound around and eventually joined the two-lane Timberline Highway that they’d driven up just two days before. The truck’s headlights pierced through the dawn gloom, but it was still slow going.
“At least I don’t recognize any new cars—or see any more dead people than I did driving up,” Stella said.
“The road’s still crappy,” said Mercury. “I hope there are no more earthquakes.” She gave Stella a side glance. “Will there be?”
Keeping both hands on the wheel, Stella shrugged. “No clue, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there were.”
It seemed that it took less time to make their way down Timberline Highway than it had to go up it, which Mercury realized was because Stella could drive a little faster without having to worry about jostling wounded people in the bed. The headlights illuminated the stop sign that signaled where the road to Timberline emptied into highway 26—east and west. Stella had begun to slow when she suddenly stomped on the brakes, narrowly missing a heavily pregnant doe who dashed across the broken two-lane. She put the truck into neutral and let it idle while she wiped the sweat from her palms on her jeans.
“Shit!” Stella sounded shaky. “That was close. I have to remember that with hardly any traffic, wildlife will be more likely to cross the highway.”
“Is there a rush to get to Madras?” asked Mercury.
Stella opened her mouth to answer, paused, and then blew out a long breath before she answered. “Actually, no. I can calm down. The rush was to get off the mountain before the snowstorm hit, and we’re on our way, so we should be good.”
“So, just relax and take it slow.” Mercury bumped her friend’s shoulder with hers. “Plus, our truck bed passengers aren’t injured, but I grew up riding in the bed of my dad’s ranch trucks, and I promise you that going fast is going to jostle them like crazy.”
Karen pressed her thin lips into a thinner line. “Children riding in the beds of trucks is so dangerous. It’s one of the few things I ever spoke against Michael about.”
Mercury and Stella turned to Karen, brows raised.
“Do tell,” said Stella.
“Yeah, spill the tea, girl,” added Mercury.
“The tea?” Karen’s brow wrinkled.
“It means to give us all the gory details about—” Mercury jumped and yipped at three sharp knocks on the glass behind her. She turned to see Imani looking at her.