It was Nick. He was standing there without his coat on, bawling.
I started sobbing even before I opened the door and gathered him into my arms. I rocked him and told him how sorry I was. Snot ran from my nose while static poured out of the tinny speakers.
After a few moments, we both stopped crying. He snuggled down into my arms. “What are you doing?” he asked.
“I’m listening to music.”
I reached out and hit the scan button, looking for something to distract him, but we only caught snatches of news, mostly from the Christian stations in small towns still unaffected by the plague.
“…the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven fallen unto the earth: and there was given to him the key of the pit of the abyss…”
“…and the rest of mankind, who were not killed with these plagues, repented not of the works of their hands…”
“…hallelujah! Salva—”
I punched it off. Then I turned off the car, to save the battery and the gas. I started to sing to him, “Bye, bye, Miss American Pie, drove my Chevy to the Levee—”
“Dad, that’s an old song. It’s so lame.”
“I’m glad you’re here,” I said, tousling his hair.
“Why couldn’t we bring Schrody?”
“Schrody’s a smart cat. He can look out for himself.”
“But who’s going to change his litter box?”
I hugged him close, looking through the window as the dashboard light faded. The trees formed a black wall around us, like the sides of a pit, and the darkness of the sky made the stars seem to twitch like maggots. “We get to camp out and pretend we’re Indians. Won’t that be fun?”
“Where’s Mom? Is Mom safe?”
I checked my cellphone to see if my ex had called, but the battery was dead and I had forgotten to pack the dashboard charger. Their mother and I had gone through a bitter divorce, which we tried to keep from the boys, even though we split custody. Tomorrow was the usual day I turned them back to her. She would be frantic with worry when she didn’t hear from us, but I convinced myself it was better to have no contact until the plague passed. The government had censored pictures of what happened to women infected by the rapeworm, but we heard rumors.
“Yeah, she’s safe,” I promised. “She wants me to tell you that she misses you.”
His eyes brightened for a second, then he sank back down into my arms. “You don’t really know.”
I held him until he fell back to sleep. He started to wake up every time I tried to put him down or move him, so I leaned the seat back and fell asleep myself.
When I woke up in the morning, the windows were frosted over with ice, and the sun coming through them was bright and harsh. Josh was in the car too, in the passenger seat, curled up with his head against my arm.
They both looked untroubled in their sleep, the way they always had until just a few months before. I knew I would do whatever I had to do to keep them safe.
After we woke up, I checked our supplies. We had our fishing gear, and I had my grandfather’s old single barrel shotgun in the trunk, with a couple boxes of shells. There was also his old .38 Special revolver, the one he bought to protect his store and then never needed. I had just the rounds inside that, and no extras. I didn’t like guns, and wouldn’t have owned these if I hadn’t inherited them.
I checked out our supply of canned foods. If we were careful, we could get through the next few weeks until things settled down.
“Dad, you know what we forgot to pack?” Josh said while we ate canned pears for breakfast.
I picked up the can opener where he’d left it on the ground, and put it back in my kit. “No, what?”
“Twinkies. They’re the perfect food. They never go stale. They survive anything.”
I grinned, and he flashed a smile back. For a moment, I thought everything would be okay. “I think it’s better if we have healthier food,” I said.
“I thought you said we were going to have fun,” he said.
The way he said it threw the lie back in my face. But I grinned anyway.