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  Inside, there was a needle and a vial of something or another. Joel stared down at it in amazement, not sure what he was seeing. Was it drugs? Or maybe it was just insulin for a diabetic. It wasn’t unusual for people to carry around extra needles in their cars just in case they got lost without supplies.

  Joel shuddered at the thought. He couldn’t imagine being stranded like this, with no power and without any resources, while also struggling with a life-threatening illness. He wondered how many people in town, across the dozens of hospitals in the city and the surrounding areas, had found themselves in that exact position.

  He pried the needle out of the box, and once more his heart jumped when something golden glimmered in the rising sun. It was a key. Joel couldn’t believe his luck and wasn’t sure if it was a key for the truck, but he dug it out fast and threw the box on the floor of the passenger side.

  The key slipped into the ignition without a hitch and a grin split Joel’s face, stretching the stitched up skin on the back of his head and making him wince. Finding a vehicle would be a step in the right direction, and it would get him one inch closer to getting out of Woodacre.

  There was just over a half tank of gas left in the truck. It wasn’t much, and given that the vehicle was both old and large, it probably wouldn’t get Joel far, but it would at least get him on the road—assuming it started.

  Joel took a series of deep breaths, his heart pounding in his chest, and prayed that it would work. If it didn’t, he was back to square one, and he couldn’t bear that. When he thought he could handle it, he turned the key in the ignition—and nothing happened.

  Refusing to believe it, he turned the key back to the neutral position and once more tried to turn the engine, but still, nothing happened. He smashed his fists against the dashboard in rage, cursing and screaming despite the pain in his left arm as a result.

  “Leaving already?”

  Joel jolted, smacking his head against the top of the truck. Through the stars in his eyes, he turned to find Ashley standing with her arms crossed over her chest, her septum piercing gleaming in the sunlight, the tattoos lining both of her arms exposed. She wore a cocky grin on her face.

  “Evidently not,” Joel said.

  “I could’ve told you that. Do you think anyone here would’ve left a working car behind?” Ashley asked.

  “People do crazy things when they’re panicked. I wouldn’t put it past any of them to just hop into the first working car to get back to town,” Joel said. “Honestly, you should’ve done the same thing.”

  “And if I had, you wouldn’t be sitting here now telling me I’d made a bad decision, so maybe you’re right,” Ashley said.

  “If you just came out here to tease me, you can go back inside. I don’t need to hear it right now,” Joel said as he climbed out of the truck and slammed the door shut behind him with his good hand.

  “You know, a little bit of thanks would be appreciated. I mean, it’s not like I saved your life or anything,” Ashley said.

  “You didn’t save my life; you were just in the right place at the right time. I wasn’t dead when you found me. I would’ve gotten out of there eventually,” Joel said.

  “Right, sure, whatever you say,” Ashley said, rolling her eyes. “I can’t believe you’re up and moving around after what you’ve been through. Don’t you feel at least a little bit, I don’t know, out of it?”

  “You don’t get it, do you? Do you have any idea what’s going on?” Joel snapped.

  “No, but I know it’s not good,” she answered.

  “Not good?” Joel scoffed. “It’s much worse than that. There’s been an EMP, the power isn’t coming back on, and you’re acting like you have nothing to worry about. We’re fucked, all of us.”

  “You think I haven’t figured that out yet? I’m not stupid, Joel, and that’s exactly why I didn’t go running off to face the masses,” Ashley said. “I want to play this smart because I don’t know what’s waiting for us on the other side.”

  “That’s fine, but I have a family to worry about, a family I need to get back to as soon as possible, and you aren’t exactly helping with that. So, if you’re not going to help, get out of my way,” Joel said and brushed past her toward the center.

  “Stop. I’m coming with you,” Ashley said, and Joel froze. He looked her in the eye, and she glared right back at him, daring him to say no. Why had she decided to come with him all of a sudden? Had he finally gotten through to her?

  “I guess I don’t have another choice, do I?” Joel asked, nodding over his shoulder at the useless truck.

  “You’re right; you don’t. I’ve got the car, I’ve got the keys, and I make the rules. So, here they are: we’re going to head into town, and as long as you don’t try anything crazy, everything’s gonna be gravy. Got it?” Ashley asked.

  “What changed your mind?” Joel asked.

  “Like I said, you’re not the only one who has a family to worry about,” Ashley answered. “We’re heading in the same direction, and you seem like you know what you’re doing. Two birds with one stone. So, do we have a deal?” she asked and offered him a hand to shake on it.

  Joel stared down at Ashley's hand. She was still more or less a total stranger, but they could help each other. Joel couldn’t make it to Los Angeles alone, as much as he hated to admit it, but neither could she.

  If things were already as bad as Joel thought they were, he and Ashley needed each other. They weren’t likely to meet anyone else along the way who’d be trustworthy.

  “Deal,” Joel agreed and thrust his hand into hers.

  “Good. Then let’s go raid the center for whatever we can find before we start this road trip from hell,” Ashley said. With a smile, she pulled herself free and walked back to the center. Joel followed, determined.

  He would get himself home, come hell or high water.

  10

  Eyes followed Ashley from every angle.

  It hadn’t taken her and Joel long, all things considered, to drive from Woodacre to the outskirts of San Rafael. Despite the people walking with their backs loaded, some of them pushing stolen shopping carts for more comfortable transport of their belongings, and despite the numerous abandoned cars they’d passed along the way, they’d made good time.

  But as they rolled along 2nd Street through the cramped quarters of downtown San Rafael, no matter where she looked, there seemed to be someone staring her down. They were no doubt envious of Ashley’s working vehicle—and its backseat so filled with supplies Ashley could barely see over them in the rearview mirror.

  When they crossed into the downtown area proper on their way to the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, Ashley let out a gasp. She’d never seen anything like it before. There were abandoned cars everywhere, clogging the roads, and she had to drive carefully to make sure she didn’t run into any of them or the countless number of people zigzagging between them.

  They passed a small gas station on the left, no doubt once an average American mom and pop kind of place, and found it swarming with people. A line wrapped around from the front door out to the street and down it, but most people seemed to be calm.

  “Can you believe this?” Ashley asked. As bad as it’d been when the EMP hit in Woodacre, she couldn’t imagine having been in town when it struck. Joel watched out the window, cautiously glancing out of every one of them just to be safe, and though Ashley appreciated it on the one hand, on the other, it made her more anxious. She didn’t want to believe that anyone would try anything, but given the circumstances, she couldn’t afford to be cavalier.

  “No, it’s insane,” Joel said. “Though I will say, I’m surprised at how neat things are, especially since it’s already been twenty-four hours. I would’ve expected people to be totally out of control by now.”

  “That’s terrifying,” Ashley said.

  “Maybe so, but it’s true,” Joel said. “Give it a few more days, maybe even less, and you’ll see just how awful people can get.” Ashley didn�
�t need to see it to believe it.

  There was a charge in the air, even inside the car. At any second, it could ignite, and she and Joel might find themselves in an unfortunate position. Though there were other cars on the road, even a motorcycle here and there, the fact they were in a working vehicle made them targets.

  The closer they got to bigger cities, the worse things would get. At some point, as much Ashley didn’t want to think about it, the car would stop being an asset and become a liability instead—and maybe it already had.

  “Why aren’t there any police or military out here?” Ashley asked. A catastrophic situation like the one they’d found themselves in should’ve prompted the government to roll out as many people as they could to maintain order. So far, they hadn’t seen a single officer, and that didn’t sit well with Ashley.

  “That’s a damn good question. Maybe they just don’t have an effective way to organize,” Joel said. “How could they? Not even the military is immune from something like an EMP.”

  “I guess, but I mean, it’s the US government. If they weren't smart enough to prepare for something like this, then maybe we shouldn’t have ever trusted them in the first place,” Ashley said.

  “Probably not,” Joel said. Chills ran down Ashley’s spine. Could the government have been caught off-guard by something as significant as this? There hadn’t been any official statements to the contrary, but then again, how would they have gotten the message out to the country? Even if a few phones, TVs, or radios had survived the blast, the damaged broadcast infrastructure would’ve made them useless.

  As they approached the on-ramp for the highway, the cars clumped so close together that there was barely room for a person to walk between them, much less to maneuver Ashley’s Topaz through them.

  “Look,” Joel said, pointing at the overpass through the windshield. Ashley couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw the sheer number of people walking along it in both directions. It was pure chaos, but it seemed to be the only way out of town.

  “Turn right here; I bet it runs parallel to the highway. We can try and join it further down,” Joel said. Ashley backed the car up and maneuvered around vehicles, driving on the sidewalk where necessary, to get to Lincoln Avenue. Though there were numerous cars parked on the street, it was easier going than where they’d previously been driving.

  Ashley drove along, slowly just to be safe, as the road turned into Du Bois Street and eventually Andersen Drive. Despite Joel’s hopes, the intersection leading to I-580 wasn’t any better. Cars both active and inactive backed so far up the street Ashley could barely see the freeway overpass, but even from that distance, she saw the hundreds of people on the freeway.

  She put the car in park but decided to leave it idling as pedestrians passed her, staring in through the windows, just in case they needed to move quickly.

  “What do we do now?” she asked. The idea of getting out of the car and joining the rest the people on the freeway seemed like lunacy. Putting that many people in a small area like that, panicked people no less, was a recipe for disaster, and they couldn’t just leave the car full of supplies behind.

  “What everyone else is doing,” Joel said and opened the door to step out.

  “Are you crazy?” Ashley asked as she got out along with him. “We’re at least a few miles away from the bridge, and the bridge itself is close to five miles long. We need this car and the stuff inside it.”

  “Like I said, we’ll do what everyone else is doing. We’ll steal a car if we have to when we get across the bridge. It’s not like we can take the car anyway, there are too many people, and there’s no other way from here to there,” Joel said. She didn’t want to believe him, much less agree with him, but he was right. The people were packed so tightly on the overpass that Ashley was amazed it hadn’t collapsed already.

  That thought sent a whole new wave of chills running down her spine. What if, when they got on the bridge, something happened while they were crossing it? They would have nowhere to go; they would be stuck shoulder to shoulder with a group of strangers, people they didn’t know and couldn’t trust.

  Then again, Ashley was already in a situation like that, so what difference did it make? She didn’t know Joel at all; she’d only stuck with him because she had no one else, and he seemed like the type of guy who could hold his own, even though he had a bum arm and a determined attitude.

  “You’re injured. For fuck’s sake, your arm is as useful as sand in your fist, and you’re still recovering from whatever damage you did when you hit your head. This is a bad idea; I don’t like this,” Ashley said.

  “Doesn’t matter if you like it or not, we don’t have a choice. It’s either we walk, or we just give up now,” Joel said with a shrug. “I’m not giving up.” Without another word, he went to the back seat and started filling up the book bag he’d found left behind in the center by one of the other retreatants with anything he could fit inside it. Energy bars, fruit, bottles of water, everything went into the bag.

  When he was satisfied with his haul, he turned and left her standing there, the car still idling. She cursed under her breath as she reached into the car and killed the ignition, slipping the key into her pocket. It wouldn’t do her any good, but she couldn’t bear the thought of leaving it for some random, desperate person to take.

  Ashley hoisted her duffel bag, which she’d never even unpacked, out of the back seat and under her shoulders. She locked the car, knowing it wouldn’t do much good, and stared at it. She couldn’t tear herself away.

  “You just going to stand there or what?” Joel called from down the street. Ashley shook her head and tapped the hood of the car a few times to wish it good luck. Looters would break into and fight over their supplies it as soon as she walked away. She couldn’t think about that now, so she ran along after Joel and joined the throng of people walking up the ramp.

  She thought of her father, who would be no doubt all alone in the dark with no one to check on him, no one to keep him safe. She couldn’t say she was excited to see him again, especially not after the way they’d parted, but she couldn’t bear the thought of leaving him alone.

  Every few seconds, another body bumped into Ashley, jolting her back into reality. Things had been orderly for the most part, but Ashley knew it would only take a small flash in the pan for things to turn ugly. Once they’d gotten up the ramp and onto the freeway, Ashley searched the crowd, and her heart leaped at the sight of a navy uniform.

  “Joel, look! There are cops,” she said, pointing ahead. Joel shoved through people to get to the concrete divider and stood on it, shielding his eyes from the sun with his good hand.

  “Looks like there are several of them. That’s probably a good thing with all these people around,” Joel said. “They’re all pretty heavily armed too.”

  That piece of information made Ashley more anxious than anything. If the police were there in significant numbers and were armed, that meant they were prepared to do what they had to do to keep order.

  “Come on,” Joel said, climbing down off the divider. They set off at a slow pace, trying to conserve their energy for the long walk ahead of them. The sun reflected off the asphalt coupled with the hundreds of people all around them forced sweat down every inch of Ashley's skin.

  Some of the policemen were directing foot traffic, trying their best to keep the peace. Ashley couldn’t imagine being in their shoes, trying to solve situations that had no answers.

  As they walked in sidestep for what seemed like forever, anonymous faces in the massive crowd of lost people, Ashley couldn’t stop her mind from wandering. Would there ever be a normal again?

  There couldn’t be, at least if Joel were right. Or if there were, it wouldn’t be the kind of world they’d referred to as normal before the EMP. How could they come back from this? How could anyone rebuild society after it had fallen apart? It’d only been a little over twenty-four hours since the storm, and already people had started to panic. What would the w
orld look like in two or three days?

  Thinking about it passed the time, but it didn’t do anything to bring Ashley calm, so she shook her head to clear it. She had to stay crisp because as much as she depended on him to get through this, his well being depended on her too.

  She pulled her duffel bag around her shoulder and dug out one of the several bottles of water she’d stolen from the center. Though it was almost as hot as she was, it still felt like heaven against her parched throat.

  “You OK?” Joel asked as she passed him the bottle to share.

  “I’m hanging in there,” Ashley said.

  “We don’t have much further to go. I can see the bridge from here,” Joel said, pointing ahead.

  “Finally,” Ashley said.

  “I think the breeze off the water will help,” he said. Ashley hoped Joel was right because she didn’t know how much more of the heat she could take.

  “Do you need to stop for a few minutes?” Joel asked.

  “No, I’m fine,” Ashley said. The last thing she wanted was to spend more time than necessary with all these people, with all this risk. The sooner they got this over with, the better, so she took the lead, her eyes locked on the bridge peeking out of the mist from the water ahead.

  They had nearly crossed the seemingly never-ending Richmond-San Rafael bridge when they heard shouts. Ashley froze in her steps, grabbing Joel’s arm to stop him.

  “What is it?” he asked. Ashley strained her eyes to see and found a younger guy, all muscle, and aggression, shouting at a cop, their faces only inches away from each other. The crowd gave way around them, leaving them in a full circle.

  “Looks like we might have trouble,” Ashley said. She had no idea what might happen if things turned ugly, how the people around them would react, but she had to prepare for it just in case. They kept walking, slowly, and Ashley never took her eyes off the two men, who continued to scream at each other.