Chapter 26 - Gage #2
Kara unfolds her arms. "I hate agreeing with him, but he's not wrong about that. We don't know a single thing about these people except what they told us."
"We didn't know a single thing about Anders's neighbors an hour ago either," Luna says quietly.
She looks around the circle. "At some point we're going to have to trust somebody we didn't grow up with, or it's going to be the handful of us grinding ourselves down under the workload forever."
Elenor nods. "She’s right. We need more people to get everything done and to thrive…not just survive the future."
"And there's the other part," Gramps says. "They lost everything. Their homes, their families. If we've got room, and we do, then leaving them in a parking lot to die in the ash cloud isn't something I'm willing to do. Not if I want to look at myself after."
Nobody argues with that.
I turn to Torrin. "You've been frowning at them since they got off the bus. What's your read?"
He's quiet for a second, and then he shakes his head.
"I don't have one. That's the problem. I couldn't get a feel for them at all.
One of the things that came with this mind stuff was being able to tell when someone is lying.
" He glances toward the bus. "I’m not picking up anything from them so I’m hoping that means everything they said is true and they have good intentions. "
Mars hasn't said a word, but when I look at him, he only shrugs. "I'll keep an eye on them."
"Reid?"
"Penny likes them." He finally opens his eyes. "She likes everybody, so take that for what it's worth. But she went and sniffed the whole road crew and nobody kicked her."
"That's the bar now?" Jules asks. "They didn't kick the dog?"
"It's a pretty good bar, actually," Kara says.
I count heads. Gramps, Luna, Elenor, Torrin, Reid, and me. Kara is a maybe that leans toward yes. Mars is a shrug. Jules is a no.
"Majority says we ask them."
Jules exhales through his nose and pulls his sunglasses out of the neck of his shirt to slide them back on. "Fine. I want it on the record that I said this was a bad idea. The possible side effects may include reaping, raping, and cannibalism."
"Reaping?" Luna asks.
"Grim Reaper. It means death, Cin."
"That's not..." She gives up. "That's not even how side effects work."
"Everything is a side effect now since the moon broke."
Gigi pats his cheek. "Duly noted, darling. When they eat you first, we'll all say you called it."
"Thank you."
"It's the least we can do."
Gramps and I walk back across the lot while the rest of them break up behind us. Sorensen sees us coming and steps away from the bus. Tanner pinches out his cigarette and follows. Marlene comes too, a half step behind her brother, hands still wrapped around her bible.
"Here's the thing," Anders says, and he tells them about where we’re going and what we plan to do.
"It's going to be a lot of work," I say when he finishes.
"For the first few days, or at least for as long as we can, everybody who can stand is going to be scavenging flat out, because once that cloud fully gets here nobody is going out in it.
We need to make that place livable and stocked before then.
If your people are up for that, we'd be glad to have you. "
Sorensen looks at his sister. Marlene closes her eyes for a second, lips moving, and then nods once.
Tanner spits to one side and puts out his hand. "We've been working our whole lives. Beats driving around waiting to die."
I shake it. His grip is hard and dry, and he looks me straight in the eye the whole time. I can't tell whether that makes me feel better or not.
Sorensen shakes Anders's hand, then mine, and for the first time since he stepped off that bus his face has relief and a little hope on it. "Thank you. I mean that. I didn't think there was going to be a next thing."
"There's always a next thing," Anders says. "Mostly it's work."
That gets a real laugh out of Clayton, and the sound of it carries. Behind him, a few of the bus people straighten up as it reaches them, and something shifts in the group that I can't name but can see. They have a direction now. They're getting back on the bus with a place to go.
We split back toward our own vehicles and Anders walks the line explaining the convoy order to Tanner, who nods and goes to tell his crew. The kid in the baseball cap climbs into the back of the second work truck and pulls the brim down over his eyes.
Luna falls into step beside me on the way to the motorhome. She doesn't say anything, just walks close enough that the back of her hand brushes mine twice. The second time, I let my fingers catch hers for a step before she pulls away toward Anders's truck.
I watch her go, and the thing I haven't let myself think about since Jules opened his mouth about satisfying her surges back up anyway. Fuck, all of that is to deal with later but it feels like everything with Luna is constantly being pushed to later. I’m starting to worry that later might be too late for me.
I climb up into the motorhome and start the engine.
Gramp’s voice crackles over the walkie. "Everybody ready? We've got company on the tail. Keep it tight."
I key the mic. "Ready."
The convoy rolls out of the rest stop and back onto the empty highway with the dirty smear on the western horizon a little darker than it was an hour ago.
I hope Sorensen's people are what they look like, that Tanner's crew works as hard as he says, and that Torrin's gut is only tired.
With any luck, Jules is only being Jules, and the reason Mars let his shadows go is that he saw something in those people worth trusting.
Mostly, I hope this isn't a mistake.