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We hit our first detour five hours later. There had been several ambushes reported along the Michigan/Indiana border, so we drove around that section, going north into Michigan via Route 127 then catching Highway 12 west and back down Interstate 94 to link up with I-80 again. After another five hours of driving, we took a break near the Illinois border to stretch. We found a secluded spot near a bank of trees to sit under and eat our lunch. I kept my binoculars nearby and frequently checked the landscape as we ate. Zeke ran around for a few minutes until I gave him his last Happy Hips chew to gnaw on. We poured the rest of the gas cans into the tank. It was three-quarters full and should take us through the day, but we would need to find another gas station before we set out again the next day.
Back in the car, I kept checking my phone, but I wasn’t getting more than one bar. I tried making a call when that solitary bar showed up, but it failed. At one point, two bars appeared, and I quickly called my mom. The phone rang once, then the call dropped. I swore and slapped my hand on the seat in frustration.
We were four miles away from Highway 55, which would take us down to our second detour, when I spotted something in the distance through the binoculars. The landscape was flat, so I could see quite a ways ahead of me. Something sparkled slightly, but it was just one flicker. How seriously should I take this? “There’s something up ahead. You should pull over.”
He looked over at me. “Are you sure?”
“No, I’m not, so we should check it out,” I said pointedly.
“You’re right,” he conceded as he pulled over.
We got out, climbed onto the roof of the car, and lay on our stomachs. I looked through the binoculars for a few seconds, but I didn’t see anything. Maybe it was just a hubcap, or maybe I was hallucinating again. Then I saw the same flicker I saw before, a sharp, bright reflection off of something metal. I navigated the binoculars to that section and focused them. It was hard to see, and I couldn’t tell how far away it was, but there was definitely something there, lying across the roadway. I handed the binoculars to Ollie.
“You see that big bank of shrubs on the right? Look slightly to the left of those.”
After a few seconds, he made a deep noise in his throat. “I see it. It looks like it may be one of those spike strips police use to stop cars during a high-speed chase. Good catch.” We climbed down and got back into the car. Ollie pulled out the map and studied it. “Okay, here’s something. A mile or two back, there’s a route we can take that will link up with 55 about twenty miles down. I think that’s our only option without going completely out of our way.” He pointed at the route on the map.
I nodded. “Let’s do it.”
Ollie turned the car around, and we circled back until we found the route marker we hadn’t seen when we passed it the first time. It was covered in dried mud, and I got out to scrape it away—whoever was setting up that trap probably covered the sign too. We made a right and headed down into Illinois with me checking the binoculars more diligently than before. Looking through them while moving was making me queasy, but it was important, so I continued, taking gulps of water intermittently. The sky was overcast, and it looked like it might rain. I had the binoculars focused on the upcoming roadway when the first drops hit the roof of the car. It was light at first, but the wind quickly picked up, and the rain pounded the hood of the car so loudly that I couldn’t hear Ollie when he yelled to me.
“What?” I hollered over the roar.
“I think we should pull over. The wind is blowing us all over the road.”
He was right. I felt the car being pulled around. Then it started hailing like I’d never seen before. I almost expected the windshield to crack. It only lasted a minute before it stopped, and we were left with nothing but a gale force wind. I looked all over to find somewhere we could take shelter, but all I saw were fields. Finally, through the binoculars, I saw an overpass in the distance.
I pointed. “Up ahead, maybe we can take cover in that overpass.”
He nodded and pushed the gas pedal to the floor. We approached the overpass, and Ollie pulled the car up right next to the giant cement block in the middle of the road. He turned the car off, and we listened to the disturbing sounds of wind and debris flying around.
“Jesus, what is this?” Ollie said, reaching for my hand.
I could feel him shaking next to me. I was about to reply when a low siren sounded in the distance. “That sounds like a tornado warning. This is tornado country. My mom warned us about this.” My heart pounded, and I gripped the door handle so tightly that my fingers ached.
“Are we safe here?” he asked nervously.
“I don’t know. I’ve never been in a tornado. But this seems like our safest option.”
A tricycle came barreling along, crashed into the overpass, then cartwheeled past our car. Our front window was covered in leaves and grass, making it harder to see what was going on outside. Ollie turned on the wipers to clear the window. A small car flipped down the road up ahead and then was dragged into a field. Zeke was cowering and whining so I pulled him onto my lap and whispered that we were okay. Our car shook violently a few times, and I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping we weren’t about to be lifted from our hiding spot and thrown into the tornado.
About ten minutes later, the commotion died down, and the sirens stopped. We decided to venture outside, and once we opened the door, we were amazed at the scene. The sky was bright blue with hazy red filtering in. There was debris littering the ground everywhere. We cleaned the windows off before hopping in and continuing.
We hit the exchange over to 55 shortly after. We found a few gas stations, but they were all empty. After another two hours of driving, our tank was getting low, and I was starting to worry that we wouldn’t find one. All of a sudden, I felt the car slow down.
“Jesus, look at that,” Ollie said.
I looked out the front window. A tractor trailer had slammed into an electrical pole, taking it down across the road in both directions and leaving electrical wires dangling all around. The truck’s contents had spilled out all over the road. Boxes and packing peanuts were blowing around in the breeze. “Do you think the tornado did that?”
“Probably.” I hit the door with my fist. “Dammit! This is just what we need.”
“We’re gonna have to find another way.” He put the car into reverse.
“Can’t we just go around it?”
“With those wires, I don’t think it’s a good idea. Plus, the road drops down into a ditch on the other side of the shoulder. We can’t risk the car getting stuck.”
We’d had a long day of driving and were exhausted by the past two drama-filled days. I was reluctant to find another detour, especially since the sun was going down, but he was right. While Ollie turned the car around, I checked the map. “If we can find our way to Route 9, we might be able to go around and link back up with I-74.”
I instructed Ollie to get off on the next exit and turn left. I followed our progress on the map. It had seemed simple enough. But my map was at least ten years old and didn’t show half of the side streets. The street we were on was the only one I could find, but I couldn’t tell if we were going north or south. I tried Google Maps on my phone but still didn’t have a signal. The tornado could have damaged the cell towers. My phone battery was also dwindling. I told Ollie to turn a few times, but after another half hour, we were completely lost. The sun had set, and I couldn’t find us on the map—the surrounding streets were nowhere to be found.
I threw the map down. “Ollie, what are we going to do? We could be in Indiana for all I know.”
“Yeah, this isn’t good. I don’t like that we’re driving with the headlights on. Maybe we should find a place to hide and sleep in the car tonight.”
I chewed on my lip, not liking that idea, but not disagreeing either. We kept driving slowly, trying to find somewhere to hide. Eventually, we saw a cluster of trees and thought that was the best we were going to find in the dark. Ollie pulled off the road and drove through the rocky field until we were shielded from view. By the time he turned off the car, the dashboard clock said it was eight o’clock. We ate some snacks, fed Zeke, and decided to take shifts so one of us was awake at all times. I took the first shift, too wired with anxiety about sleeping in the car to fall asleep. Ollie climbed into the back seat and huddled under a blanket we’d been wise enough to bring. He balled his coat up for a pillow. Zeke nudged the edge of the quilt I’d draped around my body, and I lifted it, allowing him to climb onto my lap under the blanket.
The wind whistling just outside made sitting in pitch darkness even more creepy. The moon only illuminated vague shapes. At one point, I became convinced that a black blob in the distance was a person coming for us. I watched the shape for a long time before I was able to talk myself into believing it was a bush. Every noise outside made me jump. My cuticles were shredded by the time Ollie took over several hours later. What was left of winter came on full force at night. I shivered under the blanket with Zeke.
In the morning, Ollie woke me up early, just as the sun was rising. After letting Zeke out to go to the bathroom, I hopped into the driver’s seat and strapped in. I turned the key, and the engine chugged heavily, struggling to turn over. But it wouldn’t start. My heart sank. The gas gauge was past the red line. I kept trying to turn the engine over, but it was no use. There wasn’t enough gas, and we’d already used our cans. I slammed my hands against the steering wheel, cursing as tears of frustration slid down my cheeks. Ollie’s hands were over his face, and he grunted his own irritation.
“I guess we’ve got to go on foot and find some gas,” he said, looking at our barren surroundings.
“What are the chances we’ll find a gas station out here?”
“Not very good. But maybe we can find a car and siphon its gas.”
We took the gun, the crowbar, and the tube along with the larger of the two gas cans. I leashed Zeke, and he jumped out of the car. Since I still couldn’t find us on the map, we chose a direction to walk after Ollie looked through the binoculars and saw buildings off in the distance.
We alternated between jogging and walking to conserve our energy. We’d both only had bites of a granola bar as breakfast, and I could feel my temples start to throb. I wasn’t sure how long we had walked, but I guessed by the sun that it had been around an hour. We came across an industrial building and passed countless silos. We found no cars and, luckily, no other people.
I was just about to give up and suggest we head back when Ollie yelped, “I think I see a parking lot with some cars!” He lowered the binoculars and grinned.
“Let me see!” I grabbed the binoculars from his hands.
After focusing them, I saw a car lot next to a row of buildings. I lowered the binoculars, and we smiled at each other. Bolstered by the possibility, we broke into a run. It was farther than we had thought, and by the time we reached it, we were both out of breath. But our workouts had done their job. My muscles were tingling and energized. There were about twelve cars in the lot, and some of their gas tank doors were already popped open. We tried a few of those first, but they seemed to be empty. Someone else must have had the same idea. We moved on to the other cars, popping the gas tank doors open with the crowbar. After working our way through the remaining cars, we had about two-thirds of the can full.
Ollie leaned over and pulled me into a hug. We resumed our jog back to the car, going a bit slower than before. Zeke was panting heavily, and I didn’t want to overwork him. It took longer than expected. The sun was directly overhead when I spotted the car. I escalated into a sprint. Ollie jogged up behind us and began pouring the gas into the tank. I hoped it would be enough.
Back on the road, I checked the map every time we passed a road with a marker. I still couldn’t figure out where we were, so I began widening my search on the map. I finally found us when we passed a sign that said we were in a town called Ellsworth. We’d gone in the wrong direction and somehow passed Route 9 in the dark without realizing it. I-74 wasn’t far, so we headed in that direction. By the time we hit the junction that would reconnect us to the main highway, the sun had dipped in the sky. It was already four o’clock—we’d lost half a day of driving. We kept going, stopping along the way when we saw an ancient gas station. There was a small amount of gas in the solitary pump. Every little bit would help.
We were almost back up to I-80 and around our last detour when dusk started to creep in. It was straight-up farmland, and the houses were few and far between, so we took a chance and drove up the next long driveway we came to. The house at the end was out in the open with no coverage from the main road, but we didn’t know how far it would be to the next one. The house had a garage, and the windows were clear, so we hoped it was empty. I let Zeke come with us as we walked around the house, peering into the windows. The back ones had curtains closed over them.
As we walked back to the front, Ollie said, “What do you think? Should we try it?”
“Sure. Do you have the gun?”
He pulled it out of the back of his pants and clicked off the safety as we came upon a side door. We pulled on our masks and gloves before he put his hand on the knob and looked at me. “On the count of three.”
He counted to three and turned the knob. The door opened slowly, and we walked into a small laundry room. There was an odd smell, but Ollie went to the next door and opened it anyway. The minute the door opened, we were assailed by a strong rancid odor. My hands flew up to my face, dropping Zeke’s leash as I gagged.
“Oh god,” I said. “Close it. We can’t go in there.”
Ollie started pulling the door shut, but Zeke barked and dashed into the house. “Zeke! Come!” I yelled.
He kept going and didn’t acknowledge my command. I rushed past Ollie, but he grabbed my arm. “Karis, you can’t go in there!”
“I have to get Zeke! Let me go!” I wrenched my arm free and ran into the house.
“Damn it,” Ollie muttered as he followed me.
I called to Zeke, but he didn’t come. We walked down a hallway and found four rooms. Two were small bedrooms with the doors open. We peered in and found them empty. The third was an empty bathroom. The fourth door was closed. Ollie pulled out the gun and placed his finger on the trigger.
He turned the knob, and the door creaked open. We moved into the room in tandem and stopped abruptly. My body tensed, and I held my breath. On the king-sized bed were three bodies, a man, a woman, and a teenage boy, lying next to one another. They must have been there for a long time because their skin was gray and sunken, revealing their skeletons. Flies buzzed around them, and the stench was so strong I almost threw up. I ran out of the room, trying to breathe. Ollie followed me, closing the door tightly behind him. I put my hands on my knees and took several deep breaths, trying to slow my heartbeat and not vomit on the floor. Ollie rubbed my back, but I heard him gag too. Once I felt steadier, I walked into the hallway, calling for Zeke. We finally found him in a den on the other side of the living room. He had a small orange tabby cornered behind a desk. The poor thing was scrawny, its ribs fully visible. Zeke whined and pawed at it, making it hiss. I found the end of Zeke’s leash and pulled him away while Ollie bent down and picked up the cat.
“Hey there, little fella. You must be hungry,” he said, scratching the cat between the ears. It was so starved for attention that it pushed its head farther into Ollie’s hand. He squinted at the tag on its collar, which also carried a small bell. “It says ‘Lily.’ Must be a girl.”
“We have to take her with us. We can’t leave her here.”
Zeke whined and looked at me. He agreed—he’d always wanted a cat.
“Let’s see if there’s any food,” Ollie said, walking back toward the kitchen.
The cat was weak and didn’t fight in Ollie’s arms. It almost seemed to be in a trance. In the kitchen, we found an empty bag of cat food lying on its side. Lily must have pulled it out of the open cabinet. There were several other empty bags of chips and crackers lying around. We opened the cupboards and eventually found a full bag up high in a cabinet above the microwave. I found Lily’s cat dish and empty water bowl next to the side door and took them with us back outside. Ollie set Lily down while I rinsed the dishes out, poured food, then turned on the faucet and filled the water bowl. Lily ate ravenously. I sat on the ground next to her, stroking her bony back until she finished her meal. Ollie went to the garage and brought back a cat carrier he found on a shelf. I picked Lily up and cuddled her next to my chest while she purred. Zeke licked her ears, and she didn’t seem to mind that time. Ollie opened the carrier, and we placed Lily inside. She lay down willingly. Zeke jumped into the back seat and lay down next to her.
“Well, Zeke, I think you have a cat.”
Over my shoulder, Ollie said, “I think you’re right.”
We smiled at each other. The little creature had survived months in that house, and even though the three bodies on the bed were horrifying, rescuing Lily was worth it. It also reassured me that I’d made the right decision with Zeke—that could have been him. We hopped back into the car, neither of us discussing what we’d seen. It was too gruesome. We took off our gloves and rubbed hand sanitizer over our arms and faces. We drove back to the main road. The sun was starting to set, and I was anxious to get inside.
We saw several paths up to potential houses but kept going because they were too exposed. We found one farther along that was surrounded by a bank of trees. We parked the car and repeated our routine, peeking into windows and casing the place. It was two stories so we could only check the bottom floor, but it seemed empty. After a thorough check, we decided it was a good place to rest, and Ollie pulled the car into the barn to hide it. After searching the place and finding it empty, we brought Zeke and Lily inside. I set Lily up in a bedroom on the ground floor with food, water, and a makeshift litter box, which I made by shredding some newspaper in a baking dish from the kitchen.
When the sun went down, I flicked the switch for the kitchen light, but nothing happened. I walked around flipping switches until I noticed the clock on the cable box was not lit up.
“Ollie, there’s no power.”
“Damn. Maybe the tornado took down the nearby power poles.”
I was glad that we’d taken extra food from the house in Ohio. We ate a dinner of day-old French fries and pizza rolls then cut the night short and turned in so we could get an early start. We were both quiet that night. The combination of our journey to find gas, the dead bodies, and the tornado was taking a toll on us. After checking on Lily, we went upstairs. The stairwell was filled with family photos spanning many years with one photo at the top of an older couple surrounded by generations of kids. It must have been their home. The minute we lay down on the squeaky old bed, Ollie reached for me, and we made love, taking comfort in each other. It almost erased what we’d been through and the potential danger that lay ahead.
A few hours later, we were awakened by Zeke’s low growl.
I sat up, immediately alert. “What is it, buddy?”
He stared at me, then at Ollie, then back at me. His eyes darted outside, and his eyebrows came together pointedly, telling me he’d heard something suspicious.
I looked at Ollie. “We should look outside and see if anything’s there.” We both got out of bed and crept over to the windows, peering out. I didn’t see anything. Maybe it was the wind? I looked back at Zeke, who was staring at me intently, and it almost looked as though he was shaking his head. He thought I was wrong—it wasn’t the wind. I believed him but didn’t know what to do. We went around the house, peeking out all the windows, surveying our surroundings, and checking all the doors and windows. We found nothing.
I glanced back at Zeke. “Sorry, buddy. I’m sure you’re right, but we don’t see anything out there.”
He looked at me for a second longer then turned in a huff and walked back to the room, where he cuddled up on a rug. We all went back to sleep, but my uneasiness didn’t go away.
In the morning, I awoke to find myself alone. Maybe Ollie was putting together some kind of breakfast for me, I thought happily. I slowly rose and went to the bathroom before heading downstairs. The weather was nice—it looked like a good day for driving, and I hoped we would make it to the checkpoint before nightfall. Halfway down the stairs, the dining room came into view, and fear slid up my spine. I froze on the bottom step, not sure what I was seeing. Ollie was tied to a chair, his mouth taped shut. His eyes bored into mine, frantically trying to warn me. I could faintly hear Zeke barking somewhere in the distance. He must have been in one of the back rooms. I hoped he was okay. I must have been in shock because everything was moving in slow motion, and my limbs suddenly seemed confused and unsure.
In a matter of seconds, I was seized from the front by huge arms that pinned mine to my body. The force of the ambush threw me into the stairwell wall. The side of my face slammed into it, and my cheek exploded with pain. The man steadied me and pulled me up straight, laughing viciously at my pained face. He was about a foot taller than me, but I was still standing on the last step so I was almost nose-to-nose with him. He smelled of dirt and sweat. His face was filthy, and his rancid breath was making my stomach turn. Ollie was trying to scream through the tape and banging the chair around to get free. The man smiled at me. He was missing a few teeth, and the ones that remained were yellow. I was sure he could feel me shaking.
“Well, aren’t you a pretty one,” he said with a sneer. “I’m sorry to do this to you, darlin’, but I need a car. And it just so happens you two have one out there in that barn. I just need you to tell me where the keys are.”
“How did you know we were here?” I asked through clenched teeth.
“I didn’t at first. I was planning on sleeping in that barn for the night when I saw the car. So I staked out the place and saw you two. I wasn’t expecting a sexy little thing like you. Maybe we’ll have some fun of our own later. I don’t want to hurt you, but I will. Now don’t make me ask you again. Where are the keys, sweetheart?”
I looked over at Ollie, my eyes wide with fear. I didn’t know what to do.
“Don’t look at him. Look at me. I’m the one you need to deal with now.”
My eyes snapped back to the man, and I was face-to-face with his nose again. Instantly, I was assailed by a vivid memory. I heard the voice of my college soccer coach, a ruthless drill sergeant who didn’t believe in “can’t,” as though it was happening in that moment. When she’d learned of my fear of head balls, she was determined to fix it. Every day after practice, we sat across from one another with our legs bent, feet to feet.
“Karis, this part of your head is the thickest part of your skull,” she said, placing her fingers on my forehead about an inch above my eyebrows, running them up to my hairline then knocking the area with her knuckles. “See? You can hit many things as hard as you want with this area, and you’ll be fine. I’ve broken a man’s nose by headbutting him, and you’re scared of a little soccer ball?”
She’d made me feel so stupid about my fear that I was willing to try anything. She pulled the ball up and slammed it into my forehead. I had braced my neck, but my head still snapped back painfully.
She sighed. “You aren’t doing it right. You can’t just tense your neck—you have to tense your shoulders and arms too. You need to meet this ball with your entire upper body. Can you do that?”
“Yes,” I’d said resolutely, refusing to let her down. I tensed my entire body just in case. She slammed the ball into my forehead, and I barely moved. She looked at me with a big grin. My breathing quickened, and a huge smile lit up my face. It had worked—I’d hit a head ball.
“There you go! Now we just have to do that fifty more times.”
I was brought back to the present by the man yelling at me to tell him where the keys were, his spit spraying all over my face. I flinched and pulled my face back from his. Anger began slithering through my limbs. My body was poised for a fight, every muscle tightening and jumping to attention, my hands clenching into hard fists. But that was just half of me. The other half was still scared shitless. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the luxury of fear. I had no choice. I had to fight.
“You spit on all women like that?” I asked in a low, hard voice I didn’t recognize.
He sneered. “You got a smart mouth, you know that?”
“Yep. Wanna see what the rest of me can do?” I replied with a calmness I didn’t feel.
His eyebrows came together, and his eyes narrowed. He glanced down to check that my arms were still confined by his. I pulled my head back as far as it would go and slammed it into the man’s nose as hard as I could. I heard a crack, and his arms immediately released me. I saw stars and stumbled back a little before my vision cleared. He was screaming and grabbing at his nose, and then I saw his orange wristband. Oh, thank god! I looked over at Ollie, and he jerked his head toward the floor off to the side. I saw the edge of his bag lying behind another chair. Finding the gun inside, I pointed it at the man, who was still screaming in pain.
“Stay where you are. Don’t move!” I yelled, the gun shaking violently in my hand.
With my other trembling hand, I reached for a pair of scissors from a nearby utensil caddy then worked on the twine the man had used to tie Ollie up. After a few tries, I managed to break through the ties holding his hands together. He pulled the tape off his mouth, took the scissors from my hands, and cut himself completely free of the chair. He jumped up, and without a word, he yanked the man into the chair and tied him to it. The man was moaning about how much pain he was in and how we couldn’t leave him there tied up. His nose was already starting to swell and turn purple. Blood flowed out of his nostrils. I really got him good! Once he was tied up, I found Zeke in a laundry room near the back of the house. He darted out and ran up to the bound man, barking furiously. I guess he had a few words for the guy.
We gathered our things as quickly as possible. I just wanted to get the hell out of there. We packed the car and grabbed some granola bars in lieu of breakfast.
Then I asked, “What do we do about him? We can’t leave him here like this. He’s right. He’ll die.”
“I honestly don’t care. He hurt you!” he replied, sounding angry.
“Ollie, come on. We aren’t killers. We can’t leave him tied up,” I said, imploring him to remember his humanity.
Ollie sighed, rubbed his forehead, then looked back at me. “We’ll untie his hands and keep the gun on him. That’s all we can do. Don’t ask me to let him go after what he did.”
“That’s fair. I’ll go get Zeke and Lily into the car and pull it around. When I honk, the car will be right outside, ready to go.”
“Okay, I’ll wait for the honk.” He leaned over and kissed me quickly, his left hand gently touching the place where my cheek had hit the wall. He seemed reluctant to let go. I gave him a smile and then pulled away.
I pointed the gun at the man while Ollie walked over and cut his hands free.
The man’s hands immediately went to his nose. “Ah god, you crazy bitch! I wasn’t going to hurt you! I just wanted your car! You’re gonna pay for this. I’ll break more than just your nose.”
He continued to curse me, but I handed the gun to Ollie. I opened the door to the room where Lily was and found her waiting for me expectantly. She seemed much more alert, meowing loudly before I picked her up. I set her up in her carrier on the back seat again, steered Zeke to the back, and jumped into the driver’s seat. I eased the car out of the barn and pulled up right outside the front door. I honked twice. A few seconds later, Ollie ran out of the house and jumped into the passenger side. I hit the gas and took off before he even had his door closed. My heart was pounding, and I was shaking with adrenaline.
“Are you all right?” he asked, obviously worried. “Your cheek is going to bruise. It’s already getting puffy.”
Quickly, I checked my face in the rearview mirror and saw the red swollen patch below and just to the right of my eye. I touched it gently, and it immediately stung.
“Yeah, I figured. I’m fine. I saw stars when I hit him, but my head feels okay, I think.” I rubbed my forehead to check. “It’s a little sore. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. He came at me from behind when I came out of the stairway. He pinned me down, but I almost had him. I was so close to the bag with the gun when he pulled a knife out and put it to my throat. He kept saying that if I didn’t keep quiet, he was going to go upstairs and cut you in two, so I did what he said.” He looked at me, a cloud darkening his features. “He’d just finished tying me up when we heard the bedroom door open upstairs.”
I felt nauseated at the thought of a knife on Ollie’s throat. I quickly pulled over, opened the door, and threw up all over the road. After a few more heaves, my stomach was empty. I didn’t even notice him rubbing my back. I shot him a glance over my shoulder and thanked him. He handed me a bottle of water, and I rinsed my mouth before taking a huge gulp.
Ollie’s eyebrows came together. “Are you sure you’re all right? You could have a concussion.”
“My head feels fine. Must be the adrenaline or something. I felt sick the minute he grabbed me. I almost threw up all over him. Maybe I should have,” I said with a short laugh.
The worry eased off his face. “That was a pretty badass headbutt.” He raised one eyebrow and gave me an impressed smirk.
I grinned back at him. “My soccer training came in handy.”
“It was probably him that Zeke heard last night,” he said, looking over at my dog. I could see Zeke in the rearview mirror. He looked at Ollie, and if ever a dog could say “I told you so” with a look, that dog could.
“Do you mind driving? I need to get my nerves under control,” I said.
“Sure, slide over. I’ll go around.”
After several minutes, I felt better. I resumed my binocular danger watch, inviting Zeke onto my lap. I leaned into his furry neck and whispered, “Good job, buddy.” He licked my face in return. I looked at the map to check our progress. I thought we were near a town called Wenona and should only have about five and a half hours of driving left at most. I glanced at the fuel level. We were close to empty again.
“We should keep an eye out for gas stations and cars. There’s not much left, but I think we’ll be near the checkpoint before sundown.” I looked at him and smiled at this happy thought.
We continued on until I spotted a store not too far away with a car parked in front. “What do you think? It’s just one car, and it could belong to someone still in the store.”
Ollie glanced at the fuel gauge. “I think we need to risk it. Everything is so spaced out here. Who knows when we’ll find a gas station or another car?”
“Okay, but we should go in from the side,” I replied, looking through the binoculars. “The front has huge windows, but the side of the building has none. Can’t see the back from here.”
When we approached, we veered off into the field of grass next to the store and eased up to the side of the small structure. Ollie parked the car right up against the building. Tall corn fields bordered the rear of the store. We left Zeke and Lily in the car, got out, and made our way around to the back. Narrow floor-to-ceiling windows spanned every few feet. I stayed at the edge while Ollie sidled up to the first window and peeked inside. Over his shoulder, he gave me a thumbs-up. He rushed to the spot between the next two windows. As I was about to cross the first window, I saw a hand reaching to grab something off a shelf inside the store through the second window.
“Ollie!” I whispered as loudly as I could. He must have seen it, too, because he flattened his body against the wall between the two windows. The figure was moving closer to the window closest to me, but he had his back to me. I took the opportunity and dove to the ground in between two rows of corn. Wedging myself between the stalks, I pushed up to my elbows and looked at the windows. A man holding a shotgun was peering out of the window right next to Ollie. Oh my god, did he see me? If the window hadn’t been separating them, the gun would have been right next to Ollie’s temple. My heart raced.
The man scanned the area before moving on to the front of the store. I motioned to Ollie that the coast was clear. We both sprinted to the car and jumped in. We were on a slight incline, so Ollie released the parking brake and put the car in neutral. Slowly, it moved forward, and we silently made our way back the way we had come through the grass. When we made it to the road, Ollie started the car, and we took off.
“That was close,” I said.
Ollie grabbed my hand in his and kissed it to reassure me, but I could feel his hand shaking. We kept driving until we finally saw a gas station in a small town called Ogelsby. The gas needle was rapidly nearing the red line. We parked in back and crept around the front of the small convenience store. It had big windows in the front but none anywhere else. The store appeared to be empty.
“I’m gonna go see if there’s a restroom,” I whispered.
“Wait. I’ll come with you.”
Ollie tucked the gun into his waistband then walked the short distance to the store with me. The front door was shattered, and I walked through the open frame carefully. Glass crunched under my feet as I made my way to the back of the shop. At the last aisle as I was about to reach the open bathroom door, I glanced down the row and screamed. Ollie came running, the gun drawn. He followed my eyes and gasped. A man with a shotgun in his hands was lying on the floor, one leg propped up on a shelf at a sharp angle, the other splayed out before him. He wasn’t moving, but his dark eyes were open. We walked slowly toward him.
“He’s dead. Look at his forehead,” Ollie said.
There was a gaping hole in his forehead, and dark-red blood was dried around it and splattered on his face. His vacant eyes watched us, and I half expected him to say something. He had an orange wristband. I closed my eyes.
“I’m gonna go use the bathroom,” I said, turning away from the horrific scene.
I wandered over to the bathroom and tried closing the door. But the lock was busted, so I squatted and peed with the door open. The dirty mirror across from the toilet had a message in dark red—I really hoped it was lipstick—that read “Welcome to Hell.” I shuddered and finished as quickly as possible. Ollie was outside the bathroom, waiting for me, his eyes still scanning the area around the entrance.
“Keep an eye on the front,” he said before walking into the bathroom.
I waited until he was done. We walked around the store, searching for anything of value. I found two cans of cat food and slipped them in my pocket for Lily. The shelves were sparse, but I grabbed a box of Ritz crackers and a jar of peanut butter. The next aisle had some toys and dolls on the shelves. I took a stuffed cow for Zeke. As I walked to the refrigerators in the back, I spotted a pink rhinestone-encrusted plastic tiara. A jumble of emotions rushed up from my chest. It looks so much like Emma’s. I picked it up as tears ran down my face. I rubbed the tiny crystals with my thumbs, conjuring images of her dancing around in all her costumes. Ollie found me hunched over the shelf, trying to stop the flood of tears.
“Hey, are you okay? What is it?”
I held the tiara out to him. “Emma had one just like this.”
He drew me close and let me cry for a minute.
I pulled back and wiped my eyes. “I’m okay now.”
He put his arm around me and squeezed. We walked to the refrigerated case, and I grabbed a few warm bottles of water.
I heard Ollie say, “You’ve got to be kidding me!”
I pulled my head out of the refrigerator and looked at him. He was holding up a bottle of beer. “They have Boddingtons! I haven’t had it in months.”
He pulled a six-pack out, unable to keep the grin off his face. We went back to the car, and I opened a can of food for Lily. She gobbled it up quickly then spent several minutes cleaning her face and paws. We drove around and tried a few of the pumps, but the levers clicked up and down with no resistance. The fourth had some gas. We were both relieved to hear it flowing into our deprived tank, but it puttered out after only a minute. Ollie squeezed it over and over, trying to force out every last drop. We were able to get a bit more out of the last two, but that only yielded three-quarters of a tank.
I checked the map. “I think we’re only about four hundred miles from Loveland. It’ll be close, but maybe we can make it.”
“We’ll keep looking for stations.”
After tossing the drinks into the back, we hopped in and drove for two more hours before passing a state park and approaching a bridge spanning a river. The scenery was beautiful and made me nostalgic for the camping trips my dad and I used to take. Zeke was sitting on my lap, the wind flowing through his fur. He looked at me, and I could tell he was happy.
Just as we exited the bridge, the car lurched, and Ollie had to struggle to maintain control. The tires squealed loudly. Zeke and I were thrown against the door. I used my body to shield him and ended up cracking my head on the window. Pain erupted from my temple. The car continued to swerve for several more seconds before it stopped in the dirt just off the road.
“Holy crap, what was that!” Ollie yelled.
I tried to catch my breath. “I have no idea, but it doesn’t seem good.”
We opened our doors and walked around the car. On the passenger front side, our tire was flat, and we found a large puncture. Ollie smacked the car and cursed. When he looked at me, he frowned and touched my forehead.
“Are you all right? Looks like you’re gonna have another knot there.”
“I’m okay. It’s just a bump.”
“We need to change the tire, but I don’t like the idea of doing that out in the open like this.”
“We’ll just have to work fast. There’s no other option.”
Ollie cranked the car up on the jack. A few of the nuts were practically stuck, and it took both of our strength and the better part of an hour to get the tire off. We took turns scouting the area. Luckily, the spare was in good shape. When we were done, we stood back and admired our work.
“I’ve never changed a tire before. I’m kind of proud of us,” I said.
“I never have either.” Ollie smirked and patted his own back.
We got back on the road and quickly approached the I-80 junction. We were back on track. I kept checking the binoculars, but nothing jumped out at me. We were anxious to get to the checkpoint before the sun went down, so we didn’t stop for lunch. Instead, I made peanut-butter sandwiches and fed Ollie bits of sandwich and Ritz crackers as he drove. At the last bite, he licked my fingers to get all the crumbs and peanut butter off, or so he said, but I felt it all the way to the tips of my toes. When he was done, he smiled at me mischievously. I smacked him on the arm in mock indignation.
About an hour later, we crossed another bridge that took us over the Mississippi River and into Iowa. We were in the home stretch, and I was actually enjoying the last leg of our journey. On every side were gorgeous landscapes and blue skies with fluffy white clouds. A half hour later, we saw a blue van driving in the opposite direction. We waited anxiously for them to turn around and chase us as the red Honda had, but they continued on, and we breathed a sigh of relief. We didn’t need more drama.
The interstate took us through a small suburban area, and we passed a long stretch of houses that were burned to the ground. I watched, my mouth agape, as row after row of singed ruins flew by my window. It went on for about a mile, the wreckage of people’s lives reduced to nothing but dust. The jagged, irregular forms of the houses reminded me of the erratic New York City skyline instead of a suburban housing development. The burned area finally ended, and we looked at each other, unable to put words to what we were feeling. A few miles past the skeletal graveyard of homes, we stopped at some more gas stations, but they were all empty. We weren’t far from the checkpoint, but the gas needle was rapidly approaching the red zone.
I checked the map. “We should start seeing something within the next half hour. Do you think we have enough gas?”
He glanced at the gauge. “I don’t know. We’re pushing it. I guess we just have to keep going and see what happens. We’ll walk the last few miles if we have to.”
My stomach was a mass of nerves and excitement. Zeke must have felt our eagerness because he sat up and was watching the scenery go by, shuffling his feet on my thighs. I pulled out the binoculars and searched north to south. I didn’t see anything, and it felt like we should’ve already been there. Did they take down the checkpoint? Could we not cross here anymore? I looked at the gauge—it was rooted heavily in red. We were running on fumes. I-80 turned into I-680, which would take us directly into Loveland and to the checkpoint, I hoped. As we rounded a corner on the route and approached the deserted town of Loveland, we saw it. It had been hidden by a line of low, tree-covered hills. A seemingly endless, heavily reinforced metal fence spanned up and down in both directions. As we got closer, military trucks and men with guns lining the checkpoint came into focus. The setting sun stretched their shadows along the ground ominously.
I pulled down the binoculars and looked at Ollie. “This is it.”
“This is it,” he repeated.