Page 23 of The End of the World As We Know It

“I wrote, ‘Not without a tetanus shot’ underneath it.”

Or maybe he was born sarcastic.

They waited until nightfall. Leaving the motel, Dani paused to gaze into the star-freckled darkness of the western sky. She had clung to the fiction that her family and friends were alive in Seattle. That the cavalry would come—the literal 1st Cavalry, helicopters thrumming.

Mollie changed that. And now Jesse. Two kids, anchoring her in reality.

“Let’s go,” she said.

They rode side by side under gaudy moonlight. After several miles, Dani murmured, “It’s like being guided by Elvis’s jumpsuit.”

“The King is our copilot. Don’t hate on him…”

Jesse trailed off. They were coasting down a rise toward the edge of the city. He held up a hand and they all braked. Dani’s hair rose.

Ahead, visible under the chalky light, was a roadblock. Two pickups blockaded the blacktop. Mollie raised binoculars to her eyes. Her little mouth tightened.

Dani took the binocs. Trucks, men. Guns. And, half-hidden in the brush, more men, waiting to ambush anyone who tried to slip past off-road.

Behind them rose the guttering rumble of a diesel engine.

“Get out of sight,” she said.

They hid in an abandoned filling station as a Land Rover rolled by. A man sat on the roof, feet propped against the luggage rack, cradling a shotgun. A cigarette dangled from his lips, glowing red. Inside the SUV, rifle barrels glinted under the dashboard lights. Flashlights searched the roadside.

They ducked as the beams swept the gas station windows.

Then, with a smooth German purr, the BMW arrived. They heard a door open. Footsteps scuffed on the asphalt.

From the SUV, a man called, “Nothing yet.”

“They cleared out of the motel,” Amber said. “They’re running. Catch them.”

Even her voice hissed and sizzled like radio static. Christ, did she sound aggrieved.

“The girl’s smaller, weaker. Separate her from the woman like cutting a calf from the herd. Bring her to me.”

Mollie curled into herself. Dani slipped an arm around her shoulders.

“And the stewardess?”

“Dealer’s choice. Now get on the walkie-talkie to the other posts,” she said. “They do not slither past. Sneaky fucks.”

Jesse cut a glance at Dani, his blue eyes chilly in the moonlight.

They were trapped.

Car doors slammed. The vehicles peeled out.

Dani breathed. After ten minutes, she peeked her head up. Clear. They retreated.

They woke in a casino parking garage. They’d slept in cars left at valet parking. The sky outside blazed blue. While Mollie sat on the tailgate of a Bronco eating a granola bar, Dani pulled Jesse aside.

“I don’t know why Amber wants Mollie so bad. Why she…covetsher. But—”

“She doesn’t get hold of her. Or you. Period,” Jesse said. “And she’s a psychopath.”

Yeah. Maybe the radioactive static was actually Amber’s internal monologue, broadcasting through the radio. Dani nodded crisply, grateful to Jesse. Terrified.