In fact I went on and on about him and Madison joked that she was certain he’d get a whole page in my notebook.
Major Graham wished us luck, bid us farewell and had to go about his day. He told us to wait by the tan Humvee for Stone and Callister.
It didn’t look like a normal Humvee. It had a plow on it, and an extended back like a pickup truck. The back was filled with supplies and gas cans.
“You our new recruits?” I felt a smack to my back and watched the man toss a duffle in the back of the Humvee. “I’m Sergeant Stone.”
Sergeant Stone reminded me of a gruffer, slightly older version of Major Graham.
“As soon as Callie gets here, we’ll head out.” He paused. “First Sergeant Callister.”
I nodded that I understood.
“I’m getting her started, you might as well jump in.” He opened a back door then got in the driver’s seat.
I slid in first, then Madison. I wondered if she was as nervous as I was. Then no sooner were we in, Sergeant Callister opened the passenger side and peered back at us. It was none other than the same woman who scolded us the night before.
Madison exhaled so loudly I heard it. “Oh, boy,’ she said.
If I thought Sergeant Callister looked threatening in her underwear, it was nothing compared to how intimidating she looked in full uniform, holding an assault rifle.
She got in and slammed the door.
“Hey, Callie,” Stone said. “Did you meet…?”
“We met,” she said. “Drive.”
“Okay.” He started the engine.
I looked at Madison. Not only was it going to be an interesting journey, it was probably going to be a quiet one as well.
TWENTY-TWO – Veer
The plan was to head east toward Laredo, then north. There was supposed to be an expedient camp just a few miles west of the city. Stone informed us that we had to check out smaller towns, encourage people to move south, and look for displaced citizens.
A huge problem was the amount of daylight. It couldn’t even be considered daylight. It loomed overhead, the temperatures still hadn’t plummeted in Arizona, although they hovered around fifty.
Stone didn’t run or need to run the heat in the Humvee. We stopped after two hours to add more gas, then kept going until we stopped for the night. If we drove straight, we would have made a lot of distance, but we stopped frequently. Each town and area resembling the previous one. Gray and abandoned.
Just before arriving at the Arizona and New Mexico border, we ran into our first obstacle, and it was a big one.
Stone stopped the vehicle just in time. The highway dropped off. The overpass section that extended over a small canyon had fallen. There was no way around, or through.
All of us stepped out.
Immediately, Callie, the woman without words, whipped out a map and spread it on the hood.
“What do you got?” Stone asked, looking over her shoulder.
“Just looking.”
So was I. Not at the map but at everything around us. The ash was lighter and that was a hopeful thing for me.
“You okay?” Madison asked.
“Yeah, just looking out. Thinking. Wondering if those who are trying to go south get stuck because of things like this.” I pointed to the road, then turned to listen to what Callie and Stone were discussing.
“We could…” Stone said. “Back track this length of the highway, looks like twenty miles, head south then east and trek north. Or go north and head east…”
“We were on a direct path. Back peddling, going north then south, it’s a waste of time and fuel. Are we picking up anything at that camp?”
Stone shook his head. “No. We’re just the scouting party for any survivors.”
“Then they’re on their own.” Callie rolled up the map. “Let scrap it and head to Kansas. We have about four small towns to check. We aren’t reaching them before nightfall.”
“Want to check out a place on the map. Make a stopping point?” Stone asked.
“We can set a destination stop but… if dark hits first, we’ll just bunk in the truck.”
“Deal,” he said and stepped back to the driver’s door.
Callie walked from the hood and looked at us. It seemed like she almost forgot we were there. Maybe because every time one of us talked, she cleared her throat and made it feel uncomfortable. I wasn’t complaining though, we had a ride a good bit of the way. That was more than we could have hoped or even planned for when we decided not to go south with the bus.
The biggest mistake we made, once we backtracked the twenty miles was opting to stay north instead of veering east when we saw the exit thirty miles into the northern route.
Madison suggested it. The roads were only lightly covered with a dusting of ash when we sat at a sign for an east bound highway. “Maybe we should get off and go east,” Madison said. “Kansas is north and east of here. It may not be a good idea to keep going north.”
Neither Stone or Callie responded. Her words fell on deaf ears.
“Major Graham said you volunteered to take us. Why?” I asked. “I mean if you aren’t gonna talk to us or listen, why did you agree to take us.”
Callie looked over her shoulder at me. “You’re bodies that will help us look through towns. No more. No less. We don’t need to include you. We’re taking you… remember. We’re doing you a favor.”
With a quiet whispering, “Wow,” I sat back.
“What is your name?” Madison asked.
“Which one of us?” Callie replied.
“You. What’s your first name?”
“Mine’s Bill if you care,” Stone said.
“Why does it matter?” Callie asked.
“I’m curious,” Madison said.
With a huff, Callie answered. “Mary.”
“Mary, huh? Why are you so angry?” Madison asked. “I mean aside from us talking, why are you so angry?”
“Really? You have to ask that?” Callie snapped. “Have you looked outside?’
“That’s out of our control. We can be upset, sad, depressed, just anger isn’t…”
“I can be whatever I want, Madison. Who are you to tell me how I can or cannot feel? I can be mad, bitter,” Callie nearly growled and faced the front of the car, not looking back at us and she went off. “Wait. No ‘can be’ about it, I am mad that this is happening. Surprise my ass. They say, ‘oh we only had twelve hours.’ Yeah, well maybe if I had that twelve hours warning I could have left town. Maybe if I had twelve hours, I wouldn’t have been in our house when it folded under that quake. When our roof collapsed right on us. When it missed me and hit my husband who was holding our son.”
“Callie…” Stone tried to cut her off.
“No, she asked,” Callie said. “She can talk to me about anger when she holds her dying child in her arms and there’s nothing she can do about it.”
“Callie.’ Stone was firm.
Softly, Madison peeped out. “I have.” Then she grabbed and cradled that locket and lowered her head.
In that immediate tense silence, I reached out and grabbed Madison’s hand.
Callie cleared her throat and spoke the words as if she struggled to say them. “I’m sorry for that. For your loss.”
“I’m sorry for yours, too. I am,” Madison said.
Then the quiet resumed.
It wasn’t for long, though, within another twenty miles, the ash was so deep, Stone lowered the plow.
“Stop,” Callie instructed. “Just stop.”
“No… we’ll just… go,” Stone said.
“It’s getting worse. Stop,” Callie said. “Turn around and find that last exit east.”
“We’re wasting daylight.”
“Then we waste daylight!” Callie yelled. “It’s better than wasting our lives because we get trapped and buried. Turn it around.”