“The kids need some warm clothes, too,” Daphne says. She’s winded from chasing around Henri-Two and one of the other kids. The rest are playing with the Nomad kids—except for the Kid, who’s by himself with his stuffed hippo.
“The next town over might have a department store,” Cara says. She’s by one of the tents set up under an overhang. We stopped for the night in an amusement park parking lot because there are large, flatmetal awnings over some of the parking spots at the back of the lot. There’s also a picnic area.
Cara gets out her road atlas to find our location and start mapping a route. Andrew is next to her, lying on the ground with his eyes closed.
“We can go check it out,” I say. “There might be some stuff we can use. Maybe they’ll let us take the other truck.”
Behind me I hear a snort. “Definitely not.”
Niki joins us. She and Jamar have been hanging with us a lot.
“They’re a little worried about gas,” she continues. “There’s no way they’re going to let you borrow a truck when they aren’t sure if there’s any gas around.”
“Cara, how far is it?” I ask.
She stares at the road atlas a little longer, then glances up at me. “Maybe five miles?”
The sky is overcast, but it’s still early afternoon. If we leave now, we can probably get into town, find a clothing store, and still get back a little after sunset. “Not too bad. Niki, you want to come along?”
She turns, looking at the groups of kids playing in the parking lot, probably trying to find her brother, who absolutely ran off with Taylor again. It was especially hard to tell the kids to stay away from the amusement park—Palmetto Park and Splash World Resort—so they made sure to station a few people in front of the park gates to keep them from trying to find a way in.
“I don’t know,” she says. “Do y’all know where Jamar and Taylor are?”
“They’re out by the road,” Andrew says without opening his eyes.I thought he was sleeping. “I saw them walk that way about twenty minutes ago.”
“Thanks. I’ll walk that way with you all, but I think I’ll pass on the trip to town.”
I grab our bags and dump the contents into my sleeping bag. Andrew sits up. His arm is still wrapped in gauze, and he keeps it in the sling despite claiming his shoulder doesn’t hurt anymore. He holds out his good arm for the backpack.
“Stay here and rest,” I say.
“I’m rested,” he says. “I’d rather get in some walking. This driving in the apocalypse shit is for the birds.”
“The birds are dead, sweetie. Resting, like you ought to be.”
“Then resting is for the birds, too. Tell him to let me come with you, Cara.”
“Talking to either of you is for the birds,” she says.
“Birds don’t talk,” Andrew says, snatching the backpack from me with a little too much gusto. He flinches and I can tell it hurt his arm.
“Parrots do,” Niki says.
Cara puts away the atlas and joins us. “Parrots are smarter, too.” She pushes past me and heads toward the parking lot entrance. Niki and I laugh as Andrew acts indignant.
“You know, I am injured. You should be nicer to me.”
“I didn’t tell you to stick your hand in an alligator’s mouth,” Cara calls back. “Even parrots know not to do that.”
I wrap my arm around Andrew and kiss his temple as he humphs.
We find Taylor and Jamar sitting on a metal guardrail next to the road.
“Hey, guys,” Niki calls out. “Can you come back up to camp where we can see you?”
Taylor stands, but Jamar turns to look at his sister. “Why?”
“Because I asked you to.”
