“If we end up leaving, we could head for my parents’ place,” Amy suggested.
Nate wasn’t sure. “To be honest, we aren’t there yet. We should get ready in case we need to bug out, but I want to hear from Evan first. If anyone can get things at the plant under control it’s him.”
“And what if he’s stuck there and can’t get through to us?”
Nate could see Amy’s mind was also reeling with frightening possibilities.
“I mean, Nate, this is beyond the worst-case scenario.”
“Not yet it isn’t,” he said, calmly, doing his very best to reassure her. The reminder that he was dealing with a pregnant wife carrying his unborn daughter was never far from his mind. He would never let anything happen to them, even if that meant laying down his own life.
“So what now then?” she asked, approaching the fire and holding out her hands in search of warmth.
“We need to grab Lauren and the twins. She’s at home alone and there’s no telling when Evan will be back. I can only imagine how freaked out they’ll be once they figure out what’s going on. You and I will swing by, fill up both trucks with as many supplies as we can and escort them back here.”
“You want her to drive back here in her own truck in this weather? The cab in the Dodge has enough room for all five of us.”
“Hey, I know Lauren,” Nate said, frowning. “She and Hunter don’t pack light. Besides, we’ll need room for the rest of the food. With four extra mouths to feed, the supplies I put aside won’t last long. If we go slow, we should be fine. The alternative is I leave my pregnant wife at home alone and I’m simply not prepared to do that.”
Amy nodded, staring at the fire with a mix of fear and dread for what lay ahead.
Shortly after, Nate was outside by the pickup, bundled against the elements and furiously shoveling snow from the driveway. The accumulation was somewhere past his knees with no end in sight. He paused for a moment to catch his breath and relieve the pinch building in his lower back. The sky was diffuse, as though they were under a dome of old, weather-beaten glass. A bright spot above the nearby tree line marked the rising sun. It was still early, no later than seven am, but he also knew it would be dark somewhere around four pm.
As soon as he’d cleared a rough path from the house to the truck, he went to the garage. A gas can he kept for the lawnmower was about a quarter full and he dumped that into the pickup. Needless to say, the idea of cutting grass months from now felt incredibly remote.
While he was busy outside, Amy was in the house getting ready and, more importantly, reaching out to Lauren. The two women spoke frequently over the phone. Nate had learned from experience that if he told his high-strung sister-in-law to move her tush, it would only magnify any anxiety she was already feeling. He seemed to have that effect on people. Nate wasn’t sure if it was the combination of his goatee and shaved head—a thought he pondered as he pulled the wool cap down over his frozen ears—or the timbre of his voice that could just as quickly lower to a growl in moments of danger. His wife thought of him as a teddy bear, but she also knew it didn’t take much for that teddy to become a grizzly.
Amy appeared, dressed in a long winter jacket and boots with matching hat and gloves.
“Did you manage to get a hold of her?” he asked as they headed for the truck.
She nodded. “Cell phones still aren’t working. But I got her on the landline, thank God. She’d just seen a text from Evan and was freaking out.”
“I’m not surprised,” Nate said.
“Well, you can’t blame her.”
That was true, he admitted to himself as they climbed into the truck. He started the engine, the dashboard lights flickering on as the beast roared to life. His eyes found the gas gauge at once, willing that little needle to move just a little bit higher. It sat somewhere around a fifth of a tank. Enough for the trip they were about to take. His brother’s place wasn’t more than a few minutes away by car. Unfortunately, without power, the pumps at the gas station had stopped working as well, which meant all that precious fuel was as good as useless.
Nate backed the truck up, rolling her hefty thirty-three-inch tires over the peaks of blowing snow layering the street like waves on the ocean. Nate grunted. “I sure hope they aren’t packing for a trip to Cozumel.”
“Be patient,” she admonished him. “I know you wanna keep everyone safe. Lauren understands how serious the situation is.” She reached out to rub the back of his neck when she spotted the pistol in the center console. “Is that really necessary?”
Nate grit his teeth as the truck fishtailed through the heavy snow. “I hope not.”
Chapter 8
Nate and Amy drove through the blinding snow. The wipers flicked back and forth at full speed and even that wasn’t enough to keep the windshield free from the incessant accumulation. If a grown man were to fall over out there, chances were good he’d be covered over in a matter of minutes.
Adding to the mayhem was the sorry state of the roads. They hadn’t been plowed, which wasn’t much of a surprise. Neither was the ghostly absence of vehicles. It was early enough that some folks were still in bed. The rest, the ones already up, could no doubt see that the power was out. But a simple glance through their windows would offer a perfectly reasonable explanation why that was so. Had the sequence of events played out differently, had Evan not texted him about the cyber-attack and the problems they were having at the plant, Nate too might have joined them in their blissful ignorance.
Part of him was sad, but a larger part of him was thankful. The panic that was surely on its way would likely manifest in two distinct ways. The first group would choose to shelter in place. Given the weather, it was a response that made sense, assuming, that was, one had the supplies to outlast whatever this was. The second would be to flee. Not because of the reactor. Oh, no, Nate had full confidence Evan and his men would soon get the core safely shut down. After rushing out for additional supplies and finding the shops closed, and after suppressing the urge to break in and simply take what they needed—the rules of civility enjoying a somewhat longer life out here in the country—they would speed home and probably end up in a snow-covered ditch where they would soon freeze to death. On the other hand, were the dice to fall in their favor, they would likely pack up and head to a remote family cabin or a distant relative’s place. Either way they’d be charting a path for a place well beyond the range of their vehicle’s finite gas tank. Once again, they would likely freeze to death.
It didn’t matter how many ways Nate played out the scenario in his mind. Up in this part of the country, the lack of power was nothing but an accomplice. The weather, that was the real killer.
After braving the deteriorating conditions another mile or so, they arrived at his brother’s place. Nate cut the engine and watched his own gas gauge with no small amount of concern. The needle appeared to be a little lower. Was that possible? Yes, she was a thirsty girl, but they hadn’t gone all that far.
“Fighting the snow and all that wind’ll do it,” Amy said, seeming to read his thoughts. He’d never understood the eerie way she was able to peer into his mind. He might have called it hogwash if, over the years, she hadn’t demonstrated her ability beyond any doubt.
Nate slid the Sig into the concealed-carry holster at his side. The Colt Defender was in the center console. That one he hadn’t mentioned to her. They got out, locked the truck and headed up what they assumed were the steps and stopped before Lauren’s front entrance. Amy rang the bell and struggled with the screen door, wedged shut by a snow drift.