Page 67 of Into the Mist

“Yeah, but nice and warm back there in the bed.” Imani yawned magnificently as she joined Mercury. “What’s up?”

“Karen has to pee, Stella’s siphoning gas, and I’m getting the chains on those tires.” Mercury tilted the bench seat forward and opened the dark duffle that was filled with random tools, duct tape, zip ties, and—thankfully—a new set of tire chains.

“I’ll help.” Imani squinted against the unending snow. “It’ll wake me up.” She held out her arms. “Just load me up and tell me what to do.”

“’Kay, these are the kind of chains that are really easy to install. Here, check it out.” Mercury moved to the front driver-side tire and held up one chain. “All you have to do is unhook the clasps here—and here.” Mercury demonstrated. “Then you just position them on the tire and reclasp the chains together.” She did so, grunting as she kneeled in the snow. “Ugh, the knees of my jeans are gonna be wet.”

“Better than sliding off the road, though,” said Imani as she peered over her shoulder. “What’re the weird-looking red plastic things for?”

“They’re how you finish. They kinda rest over the hubcaps. You use the straps to attach them to the chains to hold them into place. Like that.” Mercury stood and wiped off her jeans. “Got it?”

“Sure. Looks easy.” Imani held up a jumble of thick metal-wrapped wires. “But these don’t look anything like chains.”

“Be grateful for that. These are, as my dad would say, newfangled, fancy tire chains. Putting actual old chains on tires was a pain in the ass and really hard on tires.” Mercury headed around the truck. “I’ll get the front if you get the rear.”

“Will do!” Imani disappeared around the rear of the truck as Mercury knelt by the next tire.

“Fuck! That’s vile!” Stella spat into the snow twice after she stuck the end of the hose that went from the gas tank of the Exhibition into their truck’s half-empty gas tank. “I shoulda known better and grabbed a bottle of water to rinse with.” She spat again and shuddered.

Karen appeared from around the far side of the Exhibition. “I’ll get you a bottle of water. I put several in my backpack, and it’s just inside the tailgate.” She tromped past them to the back of the truck.

“How’re your spidey senses?” Mercury asked Stella as she snapped the front tire chain into place.

“Telling me we need to be quick,” said Stella.

“Yeah, well, the front tires are done. I’ll help Imani with the rear ones, and we can—”

“Hey there, missus!” a deep voice boomed from the rear of the truck.

“Shit!” Stella hissed the word. She ducked behind the side of their truck as she pulled the hose from the gas tank and quickly screwed the cap on. She met Mercury’s gaze and whispered, “Get the gun.”

Mercury nodded and slowly, quietly, opened the passenger door, popped the glove box, and took the .38 out of its holster. She released the safety and pulled the sleeve of her sweatshirt down so that it covered her hand and the pistol.

“Ladies, we have a visitor.” Karen came back into view through the snow. Her face was chalk pale. She walked slowly along the driver side of the pickup. Following her was a barrel-chested man who could’ve been anywhere between forty and sixty. His beard was unkempt salt and pepper. He wore a red cap, a thick down coat, and jeans tucked into wading boots. Resting in the crook of his arm was a long hunting rifle with a scope Mercury recognized as a Winchester 70—the same weapon her dad used to hunt deer the few times he didn’t use a bow.

“Well! This is a nice surprise. I didn’t expect to find anyone out here in this storm, let alone aworkingtruck full of women.” The man smiled, showing tobacco-yellowed teeth below a bulbous red nose. “Name’s Mack Stanley. I imagine you girls will be glad to hear that several of us have a settlement just up 216.” He pointed through the snow at the turnoff behind him. “I have a snowmobile parked by the exit. You can follow me to what we’re turning into a pretty nice shelter.”

Mercury spoke up. “Nice to meet you, Mack. That’s a lovely offer, but my friends and I are just passing through. We only stopped here for a quick sec. We’ll be on our way now.”

Imani’s head popped up from the rear passenger side of the truck. She walked toward Stella and Mercury, her dark eyes trained on the man, who caught sight of her and frowned. “I see you have a colored woman with you.” He shrugged. “Guess that’s okay. Anyone else? Nomenfolk?” He tried to squint into the camper shell, but the fogged-up window obscured his view—though while he was looking away, Karen had continued walking so that she was now just on the other side of the open passenger door from Mercury

Imani halted like she’d walked into a wall. Stella moved to stand between Mercury and the open door to the truck. “Like my friend said—we’re just passing through.” Stella slid quickly into the cab and scooted behind the wheel.

“Well, now, why would you want to keep driving in this mess?”

Imani skewered Mack with her narrowed gaze. “Because this isn’t where we planned to stop.”

Mack barely glanced at her. “I didn’t ask you, missy.” He took a step closer to the driver door as Stella released the parking break with a creaky snap. “Hey there,” he called to Stella. “What’s your rush? Come on up to our place and get yourselves warm.”

Mercury faced Mack as she motioned for Karen to get into the cab of the truck. “We’re in a rush because of the weather. Like you already mentioned—it’s a mess,” Mercury said. “We plan on getting out of this snow before dark so we don’t have time to stop and get warm, but we do appreciate the offer.”

Karen got into the cab, which left only Imani and Mercury outside the safety of the truck. Mercury was trying to decide whether she should shout at Imani to get back into the bed, or squish her into the cab with them when Mack raised his rifle and pointed it at Mercury.

“Well, now, ladies. I’m gonna have toinsistyou come with me. The boss man who’s in charge of our camp is pretty clear about being sure we take care of any females we find out here. It’s for your own good, really. It’s too dangerous now for women to be on your own. You, there”—the rifle bobbled as he gestured at Mercury—“go with the colored girl and get into the bed.” He took another step closer to the cab. “Your friend is going to need to slide over so’s I can drive.”

Mercury put her thumb on the hammer of the .38 so she could cock, lift, and fire the revolver, when a figure materialized out of the snow behind Mack. Gemma lifted a tire iron and swung it at Mack’s kneecap as she shouted, “Fuck you!”

Mack screamed in pain, clutched his knee and dropped to the snow. His rifle skidded across the snow-slick asphalt and came to rest against the front tire of the truck. Stella opened the door, reached down to retrieve the rifle, and yelled, “Let’s go!”