The Last Handful of Clover - Book 3: The Stone in the Stream

3.49 Whatever is Necessary

June 16, 4:57 pm

Richard remembered the exhilaration he had felt, the day after he returned from the dead, when he discovered he could run like a cheetah, and never get tired. But now, as he and Billy darted around the stalled cars and leapt over the bodies and other obstacles that littered the roads, he felt nothing but anxiety.

Even with their abilities, getting out of Salt Lake City was slow, and dangerous.

After first trying to hitch some rides on bumpers of cars, Richard and Billy had discovered that the post-apocalyptic roads of Salt Lake City slowed down traffic and diverted it so badly that they could make better time on foot. In fact, the roads within the city were such a mess that Richard was surprised Mattie had found her way through in a vehicle at all.

Several times Billy had to beg Richard not to be reckless. Even though they could run close to forty or forty-five miles per hour at top speed, going that fast could be their undoing.

"If we stumble, or trip, or run into a stalled car, one or both of us is going to be reset, and we'll have to start all over again," Billy kept reminding him. "Let's be fast, but let's be smart!"

Richard had reluctantly agreed. Keeping a rein on their speed certainly didn't eliminate their risk, but it reduced it.

Things became a bit safer after the airport.

Only the most dedicated refugees had made it that far, and the road looked relatively open to the west. They took advantage of the improved traffic flow to hop into the back of a pickup truck, piled high with belongings, and covered with a tarp. Finally, as the truck sped west, they assessed their situation.

"How far ahead is she?" Richard asked, leaning close to Billy so the boy could hear him over the wind. It was probably the fifth time since they left the Avenues that he'd asked some variation on that same question.

"I don't know," Billy replied, as he had the previous five times. "I wish I could tell. She's definitely making good time. And I'm afraid the open roads are going to work against us. She can go faster than us in that squad car, even if we hitch a ride the whole way."

"And I don't think we're going to," Richard said with a sigh. "This ride isn't going to take us much farther,"

"What makes you think that? You sound pretty certain."

"I am," Richard said, pointing across the divided highway. "Have you looked at the east-bound lanes? There are as many cars heading back to Salt Lake now as there are heading west. And a lot of them look like this truck. Full of somebody's life possessions."

"They're being turned back?" Billy asked.

"I'm sure of it. And my guess is that we're going to hit a roadblock, long before the Flying J. Probably somewhere past Saltair."

Richard wasn't sure that Billy would be familiar with either the truck stop he mentioned, or Saltair, the abandoned resort most famous for its appearance in the 1962 film Carnival of Souls. But Billy just nodded, and didn't ask any questions.

"Do you think Mattie will get through the blockade?" Richard asked.

"I hope not," Billy said, squinting into the sun to see the road ahead. "But I can't imagine she'd have gone to the trouble to bring Pil and Keith all this way if the Wanderer didn't have a plan."

The sound of Keith's name stole all the air from Richard's lungs, and for the longest time he couldn't speak—thinking of Keith in that car, trapped with the insane girl ghost, and the agony of his burned arms. All he could hope was that Pil was still alive, still with him, and would honor his promise to protect the man he loved.