Chapter 63
Somehow the blackout had seemed less strange during the gunfight. Peter had been on a lot of night missions as a Marine and seeing the darkened landscape through the green of the goggles had felt familiar.
But now, driving through town, it felt truly eerie.
There were no streetlights or stoplights.
No businesses lit up. No porch lights or yard lights.
The only light came from the Tahoe. And when they passed, the darkness behind them was complete.
Just the stars shining down through that cold infinity.
With Peter behind the wheel, June in the passenger seat, and Lewis in the back in case of a prisoner insurrection, they retraced their path, rolling through Electric City and Coulee City and Ephrata.
Each town in its utter darkness feeling like something empty and dead.
June kept checking her phone but there was no signal. They saw no other cars.
They crossed the flat plain of Quincy Valley, whose irrigated orchards fed millions. A hundred thousand fruit trees would die without pumps to raise the water from the ground. They stopped by the side of the road to fill the tank from the fuel cans on the roof, then kept going.
By the time they got to the interstate, it was almost five a.m. Peter put the hammer down, not worried about speed traps, knowing the troopers would have plenty of other things to do tonight.
The Tahoe ate up the miles. Even on I-90, they saw no other vehicles.
He figured most night drivers had either made it home or run out of gas by now, and the early risers were sleeping in until the power came back on.
His adrenaline had long since leached away. They had all sucked down the energy bars, water, and cans of Coke that June had brought, but that was before the fight and now they were all yawning. He’d turned the heat down to help them stay awake.
They crossed the Columbia in utter blackness, rose into the badlands for a while, then dropped down into the next valley.
Lewis put on his night-vision goggles to peer out the side window.
“First real town up ahead,” he said. “Might have to do a little B he couldn’t get the words out.
Finally he took a deep breath and cleared his throat.
“We’re coming up on North Bend. Where do you want to meet? ”