“I’m just sorry we couldn’t do more to save him,” I said in a somber tone.
Cindy smiled through the pain she battled. She touched my forearm. “You did more than I could’ve asked for. Both of you. I’m fortunate that you were close by. Speaking of, how did you come across the house?”
“That’s another story,” Anna answered.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
SCARFACE
It was the end of the world as we knew it, or so it seemed.
A blanket of silver covered the road and the surrounding land—a harsh landscape of nothingness that spanned for miles with no human touch to guide our way.
The headlights of the jeep ripped through the soot and waning darkness that hung over us like a shroud. The windshield wipers moved at full tilt, batting away the ash that fell without pause. White lightning crackled within the dark, swollen clouds. Thunder rumbled.
Jackal ran his hand over his head and face. He glanced at his palm, noticing the black streaks. “Man. This is like some biblical end of the world type of shit,” he said, rubbing his palm across his thigh. “Like brimstone and hellfire raining down from the heavens. I wonder if the big man upstairs has grown tired of us punching everyone’s clock and sending them his way.”
“I doubt we’ve sent that many his way,” I said, my nose buried in Lawson’s black book, studying every page for any sort of hint of where his wife and son could be. So far, I had come up empty with any leads, but I continued through his notes. “I’d venture to say that the majority of people we’ve set free from this life have headed down, not up. I imagine the red guy below is gathering quite the mass of souls.”
Jackal squinted, then rubbed his eyes again. “Whatever’s in the air is killing my eyes.”
A car materialized through the ash—idle in the middle of the road.
“Whoa!” I pointed out the windshield.
Jackal flinched, then yanked his hand from his face. “Oh, shit.” He jerked the steering wheel clockwise, then slammed the brakes. The jeep skidded over the pavement at an angle, missing the rear of the dark-gray sedan by mere inches. The abrupt stop threw me at the windshield.
I dropped the black book.
My hands pressed against the dash. The seat belt snapped taut. The front end of the jeep ran off the road and down into a low lying ditch. The engine rattled, then died.
“Jesus Christ.” Jackal panted. His fingers were wrapped around the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles turned a milky white. He glanced over his shoulder at the sedan. “That damn thing came out of nowhere. Why the hell is a car sitting in the middle of the road?”
My heart punched my chest, and my head swelled with adrenaline. I took a deep breath, then exhaled through pursed lips. “No clue.” I glanced in the side-view mirror, then craned my neck over my shoulder.
The gray sedan sat parked at an angle in the middle of the road. Both the front and back driver’s side doors hung open. A splatter of blood painted the inside of the windshield.
Jackal turned the key in the ignition, then pumped the gas. The engine grumbled, rattled, but wouldn’t start. He slapped the steering wheel. “Damn it.”
“Give it a minute before trying again,” I said, studying the sedan. “Ash might have gotten into the air filter.”
I turned in my seat, looking to the back of the jeep.
“What are you looking for?” Jackal asked.
“Seeing if they have an extra mask, face covering, or something else I can use to keep the ash away,” I answered. The low light and slight burn in my eyes made it challenging to see. “Hit the interior lights, will ya?”
Jackal searched the dash, hands running over the knobs on both sides of the steering wheel. “Got it.”
The interior light above us came on, casting the cab in a dim, yellow hue. I rifled through the odds and ends dumped in the seat. It looked like an array of engine parts and other junk I couldn’t quite make–Hold on.
I reached toward the far corner of the seat behind Jackal, spotting what looked to be a pair of goggles. They hung from a bungy cord that clipped over a hook mounted to the side of the jeep.
“Find something?” Jackal asked.
“Yeah. Some goggles were hanging up back there. I didn’t see another pair, though.”
I flipped them around and looked at the rubber lens. The fronts had dirt and grime caked on them. I ran my thumb over each, trying to wipe them clean.
“You sure you want to put those on?” Jackal scrunched his face, watching me as I adjusted the strap.
“It’s better than nothing. My eyes still sting. These will at least keep the soot and anything else in the air out of them until we can find something more suitable.” I rubbed the lenses across my thighs, slipped them over my head, then covered my eyes. I pulled the hood of the coat up and over my head, then grabbed the door handle. “I’ll be right back. I’m going to check the sedan out. See if you can get the jeep going again.”
Jackal looked at the dash, then back to me with a raised brow. “I’ll do what I can.”
I pushed open the door, then stepped out of the jeep. The cool wind punched my face.
“Here. Take the heater with you, just in case.” Jackal held out the pistol. I took it from his hand, turned away, and slammed the door shut. I shuffled toward the sedan and cycled a round.
The smudges on
