Page 15 of Into the Mist

The young teacher shook her head. “Nope. Never.”

“It’s nuclear. That’s what causes an EMP,” insisted Mrs. Gay.

“Not necessarily,” said Mercury. “Other bombs can cause an electromagnetic pulse.” She looked up at the sky and her stomach tightened. “But let’s hurry and get to cover.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Stella shifted into third. She held onto the wheel with both hands and didn’t take her gaze off the road. “Why is this truck still running when all the rest aren’t?”

“One reason is that it’s pre-electric and pre-computerized,” Mercury explained. “I would think the pulse would’ve still fried the battery, but my guess is it didn’t because it was off when the blast hit. All these cars and trucks we’ve been passing—none look like they’re old enough to be pre-electric, and they were all running when the blast hit, so they’re fried. My guess is if the Escalade hadn’t been wrecked, we could’ve driven it out of there because it wasn’t running when the bomb hit.”

“Hey, are those people?” Jenny squinted at a clump of cars and trucks in the distance, easily visible because they were situated on a rise in the highway.

“I think so,” said Stella. “We can put some of them back there in the bed of the truck. They can hunker down under the tarp. It’ll be windy and cold, but better than walking, especially if they’re injured.”

“We’re not stopping, are we?” Mrs. Gay’s voice had lost its trembling fearfulness and returned to its familiar sharpness.

Mercury looked around Jenny and at her. “Of course we’re stopping. We’re not driving by people who need help.”

“But you can’t know what kind of people they are,” Karen said. “They could be dangerous.”

“What just happened isdangerous.” Mercury frowned at her.

“We’re going to help anybody we can,” said Stella.

“We can’t just leave people out here to die,” added Jenny.

Mercury cleared her throat and finished with, “It’s the Christian thing to do.”

Karen’s gaze snapped to hers. “You’re not a Christian.”

“Correct.” Mercury’s answer was immediate. “But you are.” She held the history teacher’s gaze until Karen looked away.

CHAPTER

5

“SHIT. SOME OFthem look like they’re hurt,” Stella said as the old truck slowed, and they reached the first of the vehicles.

From a distance it had appeared as if the cluster of cars and trucks had been a massive pileup, but as they got closer, it became clear that only one car had rear-ended a huge Winnebago. A few of the other vehicles had skidded around the accident and were partially on the side of the road before the EMP brought them all to a standstill. There were several people lying on the mountain side of the westbound lanes, as far as was possible away from the easement of broken and bent pine trees and the nonexistent west lane. Two people stood over them. A mile or so farther down the highway, Mercury could just make out what looked like a small group of people walking down the middle of the road, away from them.

“I’m going to stop, but I’m not getting out,” said Stella.

“No one is. Or at least we aren’t at first,” Mercury said quickly. “Just roll down your window and let’s see how we can help.”

Stella nodded, pulled the truck beside the group, and rolled down her window.

“Hey there,” she said. “Do y’all need help?” Stella sounded completely normal, but her Okie accent had thickened, a sure sign that she was stressed.

The two people who were standing were women—one was middle aged and the other, considerably younger. Their resemblance made it seem as though they could be mother and daughter. Theolder of the two wiped her sleeve across her dirty face wearily and nodded as she motioned for the girl to stay where she was. She walked to the truck.

“Hi. Thanks for stopping. It’s, uh, crazy that your truck works. All these other vehicles quit when the explosions started.” The woman’s eyes darted around like she expected someone to leap at her from out of the back of the truck.

Mercury leaned forward and smiled. “I’m Mercury. This is Stella—and Jenny and Karen.” She ignored the woman’s comment about the truck and nodded at the people lying on the ground behind her. “We’re heading back toward Timberline. Do you folks need a ride?”

“Oh yes! I’m Sadie Jenkins and this is my daughter, Gemma. We were on our way home from brunch at Glacier Pub when all hell broke loose. We’re okay, but the others—well, they’re dead.” She finished in a rush and wiped her sleeve across her face again. “Gemma and I helped these people. We don’t know them, but they can’t walk, and when that group left,” she jerked her chin at the people in the distance, “we just didn’t feel right abandoning them.”

Stella asked. “Do you know those other people?”

Sadie nodded. “Yeah, there’s a guy in charge named Alvin Rutland. He’s a hops farmer with a big place east of Government Camp. The men with him are his workers, and there are a few women with them I didn’t recognize. Al said he’d send back help once they get to town.”