It didn’t matter the station—WNOE, B-97, WKBU—it was everywhere on a continuous loop: Hurricane imminent, evacuate the city.
And yet, with the gray skies looking down at them in disapproval, the Jeep Cherokee, with 210,000 miles and drained of windshield fluid, resulting in an army of slain mosquitoes blurring the view, continued its solo journey towards New Orleans.
The girl at the store had happily agreed to Steven’s offer to trade the boat for the car, especially when he’d thrown in an additional hundred dollars. She’d pointed out that the Jeep needed new tires, but that she’d driven it just last week, and it got her back and forth to the beach.
So far, it chugged along. William had rightly feared they’d be pulled over almost immediately, spotted by a state trooper as the only vehicle on the road headed in a dangerous direction. Thus, whenever he saw a vehicle approaching in the distance on the parallel interstate, he would swerve over to the shoulder and come to a stop, telling Steven and Lily to duck. Only when the car had passed, perhaps thinking theirs was an abandoned vehicle, did they once again rise from hiding.
They could only assume that most law enforcement was assisting the Louisiana National Guard within the city battered over the last few months by the repeated hurricanes that had drained most of its residents. Steven feared that the highway, which crossed over Lake Pontchartrain at several stretches, would be flooded. But it was a safer bet than Interstate 10, which was certainly blocked off.
While the water was frighteningly close to the edges of the bridges, it was, for the time being, passable, although they sprayed through puddles so deep they had to drive at practically a crawl.
Before the phone lost Wi-Fi an hour or so prior, as they crossed from Alabama into Louisiana, William read how meteorologists were baffled by the war the weather was waging on the beleaguered city. The latest, a tropical storm that appeared out of nowhere yesterday, had climatologists scrambling to understand the errors in their predictions. They joined colleagues all across the world struggling to understand how it was also happening on coasts outside most developed countries.
William knew he’d had the dream yesterday in the boat, and had seen the storm begin to surge. Now New Orleans was bracing for another assault.
He shifted his shoulder to lean against the window. How was it happening? In the dreams, he was always so horrified when the disasters unfolded that he never gave thought to what was igniting them.
You are the conduit.
He looked back to where Lily lay sleeping in the backseat, under a blanket they’d swiped from the motel. She’d cried herself to sleep after Quincy’s security team swept in. She’d kept asking, though, when Quincy was coming back. When William admitted he wasn’t, she’d just clutched the dress he’d bought her.
Perhaps she’d picked up on the panic they all felt, realizing that, with Quincy suddenly ripped away, they’d lost their only chance to financially navigate the days to come. Steven knew it as well, rushing to make the bad deal on the car, even spending a bit of their remaining cash just to get them on their way at first light.
It was irresponsible what they were doing, bringing a child into this severe of a storm.
But if I can stop you…
How in the world was he going to even find the others like her? If what he saw in the dreams was true—the disasters unfolding around the world—it would be impossible to get to them all.
They were down to four hundred dollars, with no way to get any more cash, heading into a city that was, in essence, under siege.
The Jeep began to swerve, and William gripped the steering wheel tighter. He could see the wind blowing across the water, forcing waves over the bridge.
“If we can just make it over this, we should be clear of Lake Catherine. No more waters to cross,” Steven said. “If we’re lucky, we’ll make it to Little Woods, find a place to hunker down before it hits. Hopefully the houses are abandoned.”
William nodded. “You know a lot about New Orleans?”
“Spent a lot of time there over the last decade. There are quite a few Researchers there—or at least, were there, until the storms started. It’s actually where I met Neve years ago….”
“I’m sorry. I don’t even know how to express how sorry I am.”
“Nothing to say. It wasn’t your fault. She, Kevin… they knew the risks. Especially in the hysteria that followed your return all those years ago. We all wore scarlet letters if we outed ourselves publically. Everybody went underground, even deeper than we had before. Your great-grandparents got the true first taste of what the SSA can do. To think, all those years ago, I sent their daughter on the same dangerous path to find you…”
“You sent her?”
“She never told you? Any of it?”
William turned on the wipers. “She insisted that I have as normal a life as possible. I don’t think I could have comprehended what she went through… what Blue went through… until I read it, and saw it for myself. But she deserves to know. All of it.”
“I wanted her to know. I still do. It’s why I’m now determined to stay alive to make sure I at least deliver on that. It is the least I can do for Lynn.”
William shifted in his seat.
“Sorry. Probably makes you uncomfortable to think of someone else in love with your grandmother.”
William tapped the steering wheel. “She certainly loved my grandfather.”
“That she did. It’s important you know that, in the end, she chose a life with him over one with me.”
“You never married?”
Steven smiled sadly. “If you had known your grandmother in those days you would understand that once you met Lynn Roseworth, no one would ever compare. Then to see her, all those years later, be so brave, risk so much for our grandson, and still be so beautiful—”
“OK, I get it.”
“I wanted her to have her father’s letters. And when I learned her mother was alive, I was determined to deliver both to her. I don’t have much time left, after all.”
William looked over quickly. “What?”
“I’m dying, son. Congestive heart failure. Pretty advanced. Didn’t think I’d even make it down that tunnel. I’m at the end of my days, but I’ve got to see this through. I intended to go with Lynn to find you in Colorado, but the Suits got to me first. I’ve never forgiven myself for putting her in such harm’s way. And now I feel I’m doing the same with you. You must understand why I have to see this through. We have to determine how it is you can stop Lily. Because whatever is in your grandmother, if you trigger her…”
She’ll die.
Steven continued. “She hasn’t been activated yet. But I fear it’s coming. But if you can control what’s within her, maybe even prevent it from awakening, then there’s a fighting chance she’ll survive.”
“But I don’t know how. I can only assume I trigger all of them in the dreams. I can stop Lily, but I can’t even communicate with the rest. I don’t have the slightest idea how to figure that out.”
Steven looked in the rearview mirror. “We’re a good distance off the lake now. We need to get off this main road. Cops could be around, making sure no one’s still here.”
The rain started to heavily pelt the car as they turned down a neighborhood street, where yards were already flooded.
“We better start squatting somewhere quick,” Steven added.
William spotted a shotgun home built on a slightly higher elevation and pulled in. He ran up to the front door, knocking loudly. When no one answered, he went around to the back. Finding it unlocked, he entered, calling out if anyone was home. He was greeted with silence.
He ran back out to the car, finding Lily still passed out as he lifted her, covering her head with the blanket to shield her from the rain. He carried her in, finding a bedroom. Gently laying her down, he sat on the edge of the bed.