It knocked her off her balance for a second, but I think it annoyed her more than anything.
“Damn it. Ow.” She grabbed her jaw then looked at the blood on her fingertips. “You were supposed to knock me out so I didn’t feel this shit.”
“I’m sorry. I tried,” Del said. “Want me to swing again.”
“No!” She snapped.
“What me to try?” Madison suggested.
“No. Just… just go.”
“Are you alright?” I asked.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine. I’ll fall to the ground here in a bit. Go.” She pointed.
We took a few steps, I stopped and looked back.
“Good luck. See you soon.” Callie lifted her hand in a wave.
We left.
Our leaving the Kansas camp brought a lot of anxiety. Constantly looking back to see if anyone followed. They didn’t. We were on our toes about it for the first three hours.
Three hours of continuous movement, consistent light to the day.
It seemed like the levee of all that held us back finally broke. Set free, a new side of the country, a different view. So many obstacles had been removed. The roads, which only had a light dusting, were clear
Life existed and we started to see signs of that as soon as we hit the midway point of Missouri. Not a lot, but a steady flow of cars moved along the highways. No one was going west to east, they were all going south. We could see them when we crossed an overpass. Our highway was barren.
We saw only one military vehicle.
Then all of a sudden, as if in a snap of fingers, we saw why there was the sudden move for the south.
As soon as we hit the interchange at St. Louis, everything changed. I’m sure there was a gradual switch before hand, but it was frighteningly upon us before we were ready.
“My God,” Del said. “It was cold and snowy when I passed through here last week. But nothing like this. Nothing… like this.”
The sky darkened again, and a lightning storm brewed fiercely above. Everything went from gray to a bluish white. Buildings in the distance appeared frozen and desolate. They looked old, as if abandoned for years when it had only been days. A fine snow, more like ice crystals swirled and danced in the air. Trees that were in full bloom looked as if they were dipped in liquid nitrogen, leaves frozen where they were until the wind shook the trees causing them to fly and shatter wherever they landed. The roads were slick and we didn’t realize how much until a gust of wind sent us sliding across the road. I was the one behind the wheel, my heart sunk but I regained control as my instincts for winter driving kicked in. I braced for treacherous spots, slowing down, but I wasn’t ready for that wind. Each time it blew we felt it in the Humvee, the heater struggled to keep us warm and it was so cold, every so often it would instantly frost the windshield.
Whatever front rolled in, did so fast, and with a vengeance.
It was completely clear why Callie’s orders were changed.
It was change, or die in the weather. That scared me.
Driving was dangerous, it worked in our favor that there were no other cars on the road.
I thought about stopping. In fact we discussed it. However, we weighed our options. While I feared driving in the storm, I feared stopping more. We stood a chance of not only pulling over, but freezing over.
We pushed on.
It was still early, we made good time up to that point and only had a hundred and fifty miles to go until we reached Madison’s home. Even at a much slower pace, barring any problems, we would get there before dark.
The drive was silent and slow. My hands hurt from squeezing the wheel and my back ached from being tense and leaning forward the whole ride.
But we arrived.
We passed the abandoned camp just before we hit town. It had been abandoned so fast the tents still remained. Most of them had blown over and were frozen. They didn’t even move with the wind. Tables, chairs and cots were scattered everywhere.
“They just pulled out this morning,” I said. “Didn’t they? Isn’t that what Callie said? They were pulling out this morning?”
Del shook his head. “I don’t know. Kansas was pulling out. Maybe they left yesterday. It had to be. This didn’t hit that fast, did it?”
It was at that moment I saw the look on Madison’s face.
She looked worried.
“They left,” Madison said. “They had to have left. I’ll kill him if they didn’t.”
I looked once more before we drove beyond the camp. “I’m willing to bet they did. We’ll go in the house, look for a note or something, and then move on.”
Madison nodded.
Something was different when we drew nearer to her neighborhood. There were cars parked. While there was no sign of people, there also was no sign of any rush to leave. Could they all have walked to the camp? Was that possible?
Madison’s street was no different. After following her directions of, ‘turn here, no turn up there’ we arrived on her street. It looked as if everyone was just settled in for a cold winter’s night.
“Last house on the end,” she said. “Oh, God, they haven’t left yet.”
Sure enough, there was a SUV in the driveway.
“Maybe they took the military bus,” Del said. “I know Bruce is good with cars, but if the cold got his, he probably took the boys to the camp.”
I parked in front of her house.
“He boarded up the living room windows,” Del said. “Probably sealed off a room. They weren’t like that when I was here.”
Madison grabbed the door handle. “Then they’re still in there.”
“Madison, wait…” I tried to stop her.
When she opened the door, a gust of cold blasted in and she wheezed loudly, closing the door quickly.
“Cover your mouth and face,” Del instructed. “Lacey, leave this running. We can’t take a chance of it not starting.”
Madison zippered her coat as far as she could, took a deep breath and opened the door.
She was filled with enthusiasm to run to the house, convinced that Bruce and the boys were there.
I hoped they weren’t. If they were, they needed heat, and I didn’t see any smoke to indicate there was warmth in the house.
I stepped out last, just about the time Madison made it up her walk and to the front door. Del was right behind her. It was hard to focus. My eyes watered immediately and the cold was biting against my skin.
Keeping my hand over my mouth to filter the air, I walked up the path.
The front door of the modular style home was locked.
“I’ll go around back. See if I can break a window and get in,” Del suggested and walked away.
Madison bounced from heel to toe, from the cold and nerves.
I looked at the house. It felt still. That was when I saw the front window, although boarded up was open. A circle was cut into the board, the size of a dryer vent hose.
“What is taking so long?” Madison asked.
“It’s only been a minute.” My eyes stayed focused on the hole.
“What are you looking at?” she asked.
“Nothing.”
She looked at the window. “Oh, he made a vent. Bruce is so inventive.”
“There’s no steam, smoke or heat coming out,” I said.
“The room is small. To conserve, he probably just doesn’t have it on now. Good call.” She walked over closer to the window.
“Good call on what?” I asked. “What are you talking about?”
Madison leaned closer to the circle. “Bruce!” She screamed into the hole. “Bad Bruce. Caleb! Mommy’s here. Open the door.”
While she called into the hole, the front door opened.
I thought, when I heard it, that everything was all right.
Until I spun around and saw it was Del.
He looked at me and shook his head.