“Guys,” Cami said, “They’re stealing stuff from the store. We’re too close…”
“But, Mitch—” Amber started.
“He can tell us in the car—I’ll move us to the other side of the parking lot while he texts, but we need to get away from the building. There’s too many people right here, and I don’t want to be a target.”
Cami weaved the car through people pushing overloaded shopping carts, and almost ran into a Walmart worker who carried a TV. He snarled something at her and moved on.
"Where's your father, Mitch?" Cami asked, eyes forward, looking for trouble. She kept her hands on the wheel and the car in gear. She’d backed them into a spot in the far corner of the parking lot. The lot was by no means empty, but they occupied the least busy corner. It was also in the opposite direction of where they'd have to go in order to exit the parking lot and head home.
Cami watched cars pile up at the main exit, calculating the route she'd take to get around the people leaving Walmart. Even with the windows up and the air on, she clearly heard a second gunshot in the distance. "Come on, Mitch, what's the deal? Things are escalating."
"Oh..." Mitch said from the backseat, looking at her in the rearview mirror. "He's a little north of us. Looks like he got across the river just before the wave hit. He's okay, and he says mom is okay. He wants me to get someplace safe, but we don't know where to meet. He doesn't have a car!"
Cami nodded to herself. "Tell him he's welcome to come to our place. Does he still have the address?"
"Hang on—I’ll let him know."
"You still have our address?" Amber asked, tucking a lock of hair over one ear.
Mitch cleared his throat. "Well, yeah…I mean it's just in my phone.”
"You're more than welcome to come with us too, Mitchell. I think the key thing to remember here is we need to get out of town—right away. If your father’s safe for the moment, and your mother’s…?”
“Oh, she’s at home.”
Cami nodded. “If she’s at home, then I think it’s best you come with us. I know if it were Amber, I’d want to know she was safe, above all else.“
"Okay,” Mitch said, “I just let him know the plan.“
“Dad hasn’t replied…why hasn’t he replied?” asked Amber.
“Maybe he’s busy,” Cami suggested, distracted. “We can’t worry about him right now, sweetie.” She shifted into gear. “We’re outta here. Amber, I need your eyes. Help me keep a lookout—we need to avoid these crowds and get back on the road. I’ve never seen so many people in this parking lot before!”
“Got it,” Amber replied, sitting up. “Let’s roll!”
Cami carefully threaded her way through the cars, ignoring honks and gestures as she tried making her way across the parking lot, going against the flow of traffic and pedestrians. It took almost ten minutes, but they finally managed to weave their way through and make it to the side exit. Only three other cars had attempted the same route.
"What does everybody know that we don't? Why aren't more people trying to go this way?" Amber asked.
Cami grunted, her hands gripping the wheel with white knuckles. "Beats me—far as I know, it's just a neighborhood over there.”
“You’re right,” Mitch said from the back seat. “According to my phone, the neighborhood doesn't have easy access to the main road.”
A soft ding emanated from the backseat. "Dad got my message," Mitch said, reading from his phone. "He says to say thank you, Cami, and that he doesn't know if he can ever pay you back."
Cami scoffed at the sentiment. "Oh, Reese and your father go way back—there's no need for payback. Just make sure he knows to come to our place and pick you up."
"He says he can’t get to his car, but he'll do his best to get to your place when he can. It may be a few days." Mitch looked up. "How is it possible for it to take a few days to get to your place?”
“We’re only 30 minutes from here," Amber said, wrinkling her nose in concern. “Is he gonna walk?”
"I don't know," she said, keeping one eye on her phone mounted in the little cradle on the dashboard. Cami turned onto one of the maze of residential streets next to the Walmart and pulled away from the other cars. The neighborhood appeared deserted, but as they turned another corner, she noticed a man in front of his house, loading overstuffed suitcases into a minivan.
The maps app depicted a blue line weaving through the neighborhood, eventually emerging on the southwest side of the subdivision. It might take them an extra 15 minutes to get home, but the route she picked avoided the biggest population clusters and hopefully provided clear roads back to their place.
“At least we’re not dealing with wall-to-wall traffic anymore,” Mitch offered.
"I know you're worried about your father, Mitchell,” Cami said, in a soft, comforting voice. "We'll do whatever we can to help, you know that, right?"
"Thanks, Cami-san,” Mitch said from the backseat, sounding more like the 10-year-old Cami remembered than the 20-year-old man she saw in the mirror.
"Look,” Cami continued, “when we get home and unloaded, I want to make sure the house is ready for whatever's coming." Cami closed her eyes at a stop sign, took a deep breath, and opened them.
It was time to go home.
Chapter 9
Summit Station
Cadillac Mountain
Mount Desert Island, Maine
Reese carefully helped Ben out of the back seat of the Prius after they'd stopped in the ranger station parking lot. There were only four other vehicles and a small clump of people at the little scenic overlook on the east side of the gravel parking area. A family
