Nico looked on in poisonous fury. Archie caught his glare and tucked Tot closer, hitching his shoulder to block Nico’s view. “Not going to let my bitty girl get a case of the heartburn, having that nasty mug looking at her.”
Kit checked the break room one last time while Archie shimmied a clean diaper onto Tot.
A wave of wind-born soot puffed along the ground when she joined the men. The sky was a wall of thick, gray steel.It hit her that they were actually going to take an infant out into the massive roiling darkness, away from walls and any shred of protection.
A fool’s errand. She felt the edges of panic nibbling at her stomach until Cullen caught her attention with a wink. The cheeky move made her smile, and he did in spite of the eye that was swollen nearly shut with an angry welt forming below it. Cullen believed God would help them make it. What if he was right? Maybe his belief could at least prop up her own.
“God’s gonna watch over you, Tottie girl,” Archie said.
But had he saved her mother, Annette? She thought of the young woman’s newspaper photo. What had she risked to escape?
Everything.The magnitude of that thought urged her on.
Kit accepted Tot from Archie. Cullen shoved the paper map in his pocket before he and Archie hauled Nico to his feet and exited the library.
Kit followed and climbed into the rear seat with the crying Tot, whom she quieted with the bottle. Even with her borrowed clothing and trusty knit cap, the air inside felt frigid, and she had to stop her teeth from chattering.
Archie quickly unzipped one of the sleeping bags and fed it over the seat to Kit. “Bundle up. It’ll help if we crash too. Extra padding.”
Cullen deposited Nico in the seat next to her and buckled him in. “Can’t be too safe, now can we?”
Nico was still bound at the wrists and ankles, and his mouth was taped. Cullen leaned forward until his face was inches from Nico’s. “If you cause one lick of trouble, wetoss you out into the ash and drive away without a backward glance.” Then he gave Kit a friendly nod, closed the door, climbed behind the wheel, and cranked the engine.
“Keep the lights off till we get over the ridge,” Archie said. “Don’t want to alert Brother Simon.”
“Easy for you to say.”
Kit could understand Cullen’s trepidation. The landscape was a palette of black, less black, and gray, and he could not exceed a slow creep without risking damage to the vehicle or its occupants. Even at that slug pace, he still seemed to hit every buried branch and sunken spot. Tot cried out at a particularly bad lurch and screamed so robustly Kit lost her grip on the bottle. It fell to the floor and rolled under the front seat.
Archie scrambled and retrieved it, wiping the nipple carefully on the hem of his shirt before handing it back. She pulled Tot closer and offered the milk again. The seat felt too small, forcing her and Tot to breathe in Nico’s anger. He was a toxin, adding his own pollutants to the air.
It was bizarre. The man responsible for their current predicament was mere inches away from her, breathing in short bursts through his nose, brows drawn in a line. Though she did not stare at him directly, she kept him in her peripheral vision because the hatred on his face indicated he was far from done destroying lives if given the opportunity. She recoiled as far as she could, gathering up the corners of their sleeping bag so not even the fabric would touch him.
The pungent scent of smoke and ash pried its way into the vehicle. She smoothed Tot’s hair. Those tiny, inexperienced lungs ... a wilderness full of foul air. She thoughtsuddenly of the picture in theYour Baby,Month by Monthbook of the developing fetal lungs in chapter 2 that were no bigger than moth wings, fragile as gossamer. Tot’s were stronger, surely. She tried to make a sort of hood around the baby’s face with the sleeping bag, though it wouldn’t actually help much. She’d grabbed medical masks at the convenience store, but she didn’t want to rummage around to snag them.
The vehicle plunged into a dip, and she slid against Nico. He shoved a shoulder at her, and she braced and got away from him, scalded by his touch.
“Sorry.” Cullen found her in the rearview. His eyes were pained before they slid suspiciously to Nico. “Is he causing a problem?”
She shook her head.
Archie turned to glare at Nico. “Watchin’ you. Give me a reason to chuck you out, buddy boy. It’d be a pleasure and a half.”
Nico retorted something, but the tape over his mouth contained the vitriol.
Kit watched fixedly out the window where she could track Nico in the reflection. Through the film of soot, she tried to pick out landscape features. It was as if they were caught in a darkened snow globe, shaken and tumbled. It left them dizzy, no footing, no bearings.
She tried to discern which direction her rig lay buried. Heart squeezed, she pressed her forehead to the glass. Though she tried to convince herself otherwise, the tractor part was a total loss, even if the trailer was salvageable. Why hadn’t she gone for the premium insurance package instead of partial?
Because you needed to have enough for the website,fuel,rent,and basic necessities like secondhand raincoats and food.
The last loan payment had been tantalizingly close. When she pictured her ruined truck, it felt like a death, this stabbing sensation in her chest.You can still fix things.It’s not too late.
A plan started scrolling through her thoughts. The insurance payment would help her restart. She’d take out a new loan. Or there could be pieces to salvage. Maybe the engine, or the tires, or ... All the custom modifications, though. The luxuries she’d scraped and saved for to make her rig a rolling home. The cupboards designed and built to her specifications, the expensive blackout curtains. The alarm system that would alert her if anyone was breaking into her rig while she slept. A memory from long ago shot to the surface, her father’s voice gravelly from years of smoking.
“Kitten,you alwayswant the same story. How about a new one?”
“No,Daddy. The one about the man and the wagon.”
