CHAPTER
30
“I DO NOT LIKE a town with no electricity. Right now in particular.” Karen spoke softly, rubbing her crucifix between her forefinger and thumb. They were walking down the center of the residential street Ford said would lead them back to highway 97 and the best way to enter Madras. “It may seem childish, but I have never been comfortable with the dark. I don’t mean to be ghoulish, but it makes the houses seem like tombs, especially as we know there are probably dead people within.”
Stella wiped at the rain slipping past the hood of the jacket she’d taken from Timberline’s boutique. She, too, spoke in hushed tones, as if not wanting to disturb the dead. “It reminds me of the Tulsa icepocalypse of 2007. Remember, Acorn?”
“I’ll never forget it. And I’ll always be glad we were having wine at my condo the night it hit. We were totally iced in for a week.”
“Your fireplace saved us,” said Stella.
Mercury laughed softly. “I still thank the Goddess that I’d just made a run to Columbia Liquor and was stocked up.” She glanced at Karen. “How long were you without electricity?”
“Ten days. It was miserable,” said Karen.
“I remember reading about that,” said Ford. “The pictures looked like a hurricane had hit Tulsa.”
“It was bad,” Mercury said. Then she grinned at Stella. “But those snow days were so, so good.”
“Fuckin’ A they were.” Stella returned her grin.
“All those snow days really messed up my lesson plans,” said Karen.
Even in the dark Mercury and Stella shared an eye roll.
“There’s the highway,” Ford said. “Good. My head’s starting to ache again.” He glanced at Stella as the four of them climbed the on ramp and walked down the middle of the deserted highway into Madras. “So, Gemma’s extra powers definitely have to do with healing.”
“About that,” Stella said. “We need to not say anything about our, uh, extra abilities. And I mean none of them. Agreed?”
“Yes, ma’am,” said Ford.
Karen nodded slowly. “I do not usually hold with lies, but these are desperate times, and strangers do not need to know our business.”
“Karen, it’s not just strangers who don’t need to know details about us,” said Stella. “Let me make this perfectly clear. Even if sometime tomorrow you get all comfortable and decide someone here is your friend—even if you realize you want to stay—don’t tell anyone shit about us. Not about Timberline. And most definitely not about our fucking blood.”
“Stella Carver, you do not have to be so vulgar, and you do not need to take that tone with me.” Karen glared at her through the spitting rain.
“Karen Gay, do you not understand that this is life and death, and your prudish, naive ideas of right and wrong take a backseat to what’s actually best for us?” responded Stella.
Mercury stepped between the two women. “Karen, we’ve been through this already. If you don’t like cuss words, then don’t use them, but it is not your business to tell anyone else what words or what tone they should or shouldn’t use. And it’s ridiculous that shit and fuck are what you’re focused on instead of what Stella is saying—that it isn’t safe to tell people secrets about us because divulging too much can get us dead. Do you understand that?”
Karen frowned. “Well, yes. Of course.”
“Good. End of discussion,” Mercury said.
They walked on in silence as the stalled vehicles increased. Mercury kept her gaze averted from the cars and trucks and SUVs—as well as the gelatinous looking mounds of clothing that used to be men, which littered the highway. Though the rain was cold and miserable, she was glad it and the darkness obscured her view of the nightmare around them, especially as they entered the town proper. Buildings had crumbled in the earthquake. Power lines were down across the road, which was one of the few good things about not having any electricity. Some businesses and homes smoldered. Everything was dark and eerily silent.
Ford’s voice sounded muffled by the rain, and Mercury strained to hear him. “Soon we should be passing a street named after a tree—can’t remember if it’s Maple or Oak… I remember because that’s where a hiking trail feeds into town. We might want to—”
Lights blazed so that the four of them stopped abruptly and lifted their hands to shield their eyes.
“Hello, folks!”
A woman’s voice called from behind the blinding light, which Mercury realized was coming from several side-by-side vehicles that blocked the road.
“Hello!” Mercury called back. “We heard there’s shelter in Madras.”
“Is that all there is? Just the four of you?” asked the woman.