“Go on, get out of here!” Panther yelled.
But the big dog just sat there. Panther thought about rushing at him, trying to scare him, but decided that might not be the thing to do.
“Forget him,” he said, shrugging. “He’ll go back when he’s ready.”
They started walking again. Panther forced himself not to look back, to keep his eyes directed ahead. But then out of the corner of his eye he caught Cat smiling. “What?”
She pointed at Cheney, who was sauntering along right behind him. “Guess he’s not ready yet,” she said, arching one eyebrow.
Panther nodded and shrugged. “Who cares? Stump-head dog.”
In the distance, far out on the horizon, mountain peaks rose against the skyline, stark and jagged in relief. There was, to Panther’s way of thinking, fresh promise in a country you had never visited before. There were mysteries to be uncovered and wonders to be explored.
He was looking forward to doing both.
THIRTY-FOUR
F OR WEEKS, Hawk led the caravan eastward from the Columbia, pressing on toward the mountains. Children, their caregivers and protectors, Elves, Lizards, Spiders, and others trailed behind him in an exodus that would for years afterward be recounted by the descendants of those who survived it. They crossed first through flatlands and gently rolling hills ravaged by drought and dust storms, the landscape barren and empty of everything but scrub and clusters of farm buildings long since abandoned and collapsing back into the earth until that, in turn, gave way to pine forests, whole stretches of which were dead or dying, but some of which still thrived on water and nutrients somehow left free of the poisons that had infected the rest. Finally, they found themselves approaching what a battered green sign announced to have once been the city of Spokane.
They were more than two weeks into their journey by then, their food and water almost gone and their strength failing. They had been following a freeway they had come across on the second day of their march. Without vehicles for transport and reduced to walking, the ribbon of concrete offered the path of least resistance. Logan, Angel, and Helen Rice all agreed that following the highway was the best option for making their way and probably the safest. They also hoped that one or more of the small towns that normally bracketed major roadways like this one would yield the supplies they needed. But while the former proved out, the latter did not, and by the time of their arrival in Spokane the situation was desperate.
Then things turned around.
First Logan and a handful of others, searching through an industrial complex on the outskirts of the city, discovered a warehouse filled with haulers and tractors. They were all meant for farm use and not for the purpose of carrying people, but there was nothing to say that they couldn’t be adapted to the uses the caravan required. Their solar engines were in working order, and once they were pulled out into the sunlight, their cells began to charge immediately. The tractors would be slow—not much faster than walking, once the wagons were attached—but they would allow most of the children to ride.
Later that same day, prowling deeper into buildings in the same complex, they found a handful of working AVs. The AVs were not on the same order as the Lightning or the Ventra; they were not armed or armored or meant for fighting use of any sort. Even so, they would provide the caravan with swift, mobile vehicles for scouting and foraging. Five were still working.
The following day, while the caravan was passing down the freeway through the city itself, another foraging party found an outlet filled with bottled water and dried foods that could still be eaten. Helen had one of the tractors and a slat-sided wagon taken off the road and brought down to be loaded with the supplies. They might still have some distance to go, but at least they would have something to eat and drink along the way.
While all this was going on, Hawk stayed with the main body of the caravan, knowing that his job was to keep its members moving toward their destination. He still didn’t know where that was or how far they had to go, and he could sense the restlessness growing in those he led. At times, he could sense hostility, as well. But when he spoke of it to Logan, the Knight of the Word told him to ignore it. Those who traveled with him did so of their own volition. They did so at his sufferance. If they didn’t want to go with him, they could leave at any time. Hawk refrained from pointing out how many of these were children who didn’t really have a choice because he knew Logan meant well.