Ezra spoke up. “I’m afraid we can’t go up or down. We’re running on fumes. We need at least five gallons to get us to Glasgow. More if we can find it.”
“I’m not sure…” she started to say.
“We’re being chased by assholes with guns,” Haley said dramatically. “We expect they’ll come through here looking for us in the next thirty minutes or so. That’s why we’re in such a hurry.”
“Oh, you poor dear. Why didn’t you say? How could I refuse helping such needy people? And your puggle is just so darned cute.” She waved them to the gate, which was near the back of her small but tidy brick home. “Can your dog meet my boy? He’d love some company while I help you out.”
Haley exuded excitement, which seemed to make Liam bounce on his tiny legs. “Oh yes, he needs some puppy time. Thank you so much!”
Once inside the gate, Haley unclipped his leash and he took off after the black lab, which had also gone crazy with excitement. Some dogs became aggressive when interacting with others—he’d seen it back at the lake—but Liam didn’t seem to have a mean bone in him. The lab had a similar temperament.
While the dogs circled each other in the yard, the woman pointed to the crate. “Whatchya got in there?”
“My tabby cat. She’s petrified right now. So much shooting…” Haley’s words faded.
The woman looked inside for a moment, then popped up with a concerned look. “I’ve got a pair of calicos inside. Probably sleeping, of course. I know what you’re going through, being on the road.”
“Thanks,” Haley replied. “I love your hair, by the by. The white streaks make you look like royalty.”
The woman’s smile lit up the yard. “Aren’t you the nicest young thing? I really appreciate the pick-me-up. It’s been a long time since I’ve bothered to fix myself up, with the lockdown and all.”
“Lockdown?” Ezra interjected.
“Sure. Governor has everyone confined to their homes until the situation in Kansas City clears up. They’re saying the whole city is ash after being struck by an unidentified object from above. Of course, they aren’t telling us what it was. News has been no help, either.”
“You don’t know? It was a chunk of asteroid. Pieces of it came down around the country. One of them blew up our town” —he motioned to Butch—“of Paducah.”
“Seriously? It was one of the rumors we heard, but we couldn’t be sure. The Missouri governor didn’t say much, neither.” She said the state’s name as if it ended with an ah, rather than an ee. “In the absence of news, my neighbors and I have been trying to figure it all out on the internet, but even that’s been cut off out here. We’re the last to know everything.”
The homeowner waved them to follow her to a tiny shed directly behind her place. “I’m Josephine, by the way.”
They all rattled off their names.
“Nice to meet y’all,” she continued. “My husband is driving a truck OTR, so I do most of the chores ’round here. He’s why I know about this.” She opened the sliding door of the tin structure, revealing a riding mower and several familiar red containers.
“Whoa!” Ezra blurted. It was a gold mine, but he couldn’t ignore what she’d said. “Hey, where is your husband right now?”
She shrugged. “He don’t tell me. Sometimes he calls from Maine. Other times, he’s in Oregon. That man has seen more of the country than I ever will. We’ve talked about riding together once in a while, but we never got around to it. I guess I do enjoy time to myself…”
He didn’t want to ruin it for her. Truckers were probably sitting on the highways, like those he’d seen around the ruins of Paducah, waiting for cities to be opened and traffic to clear. If she hadn’t heard from the guy in a week, he also had to wonder if he’d survived at all. None of those were ideas he wanted to share with her.
The woman went on. “Why don’t you leave yours? Take one of mine. We’ll call it even.”
“No, we shouldn’t,” Ezra said in a wistful voice. He wanted to say yes. Her cans were the old style, without all the useless emissions garbage attached to the spout. They were a lot easier to use when in a hurry.
“Pshaw!” Josephine replied. “You think I’ll need all this gasoline for any other purpose? My lawn isn’t even very big. It’ll last me all summer. You’re doing me a favor by taking some of it.”
Haley cheerfully pulled out her phone. “Give me your number. When we get back to civilization, I want to send you a little token, okay?”
Josephine stepped closer to her, speaking quietly. “Haley, you do have a little token I might take as a temporary payment.”
Haley looked confused. “What? I’ll do whatever I can.”
The woman brushed back her hair, then pointed to the cat crate. “Let me help you take care of your little precious. Leave her here with me. When you come back through, she’ll be waiting for you.”
The pretty girl’s face folded up in horror. “I can’t!”
Denver, CO
Petteri was hip-deep in status reports and updates from Mr. Aarons and his counterparts at all the other dig sites. Each phone call brought him a mixture of good and bad news about how his workers had gained control and continued extraction of his precious ores, but the bad news seemed to edge out the good.
The situation in Denver had been going downhill for days.
