Chapter 8
Hearing his voice made me realize how tense I'd become.
"Hey."
"What's going on there?"
"I don't know."
"That's not what your mother tells me."
I sat on the couch, hammer still in my hand.
"What did she tell you?"
"That you heard something downstairs."
"I texted her."
"She showed me."
"There's been some kind of attack in the building."
"Are you safe?"
"Right now."
"What floor?"
"Third."
"One stairwell?"
"Two."
"Exterior fire escape?"
"No."
He went quiet.
My father thought like me, only faster and with fewer words.
"Do you have to leave?"
"No."
"Then don't."
"That's my thinking."
"If the building becomes unsafe, leave early."
"That's also my thinking."
"Car close?"
"Yes."
"Gas?"
"Three quarters."
"Good."
"The city sent an alert telling everyone to stay inside."
"Then stay inside."
"Yep."
Another pause.
"You armed?"
I looked at the hammer. "If you count home improvement."
He gave a short laugh. "Better than nothing. Don't use a knife if you can avoid it."
"I feel like you're preparing me to fight a raccoon."
"Same principle."
Despite everything, I smiled.
"Mom okay?"
"Worried."
"You?"
"Worried."
"Great."
"But we're fine."
I stood and walked to the window.
There were fewer moving cars now.
More stopped ones.
At the intersection beyond the complex, a sedan sat crooked across one lane with its hazard lights blinking.
Nobody stood near it.
"I think I'm staying until daylight unless something changes."
"Good."
"You think I should come out there?"
"Not if the roads are bad. If they're worse in the morning, you stay."
Simple.
I liked simple.
"Okay."
"Keep your phone on."
"I will."
"And Gabe?"
"Yeah."
"Don't go helping somebody just because they bang on the door."
I stared at my entrance.
"Already figured that out."
He heard something in my voice.
"What happened?"
"Someone came up hurt."
"You let them in?"
"No."
"Good."
"I don't feel good about it."
"Feeling good isn't the goal tonight."
That stayed with me.
We hung up.
I checked the traffic map.
The highway north was red in several places—two crashes and a closure. County roads still looked mostly clear.
If I had to leave, I'd avoid the highway.
That became another decision.
Stay now.
If leaving becomes necessary, take county roads northwest.
I opened a map and traced a route.
Then saved screenshots in case data service failed.
Operations analyst.
Apparently I could turn the end of civilization into a routing problem.
This time I did laugh.
Quietly.
The sound died almost immediately.