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“I don’t know why that Jensen guy wants you to come to Atlanta, but I ain’t helping dad with that. I just came to warn you that if he sees you or Wes, he made the deal, and he’ll follow through.”

She nodded. “Thanks for the warning. We’re heading out of town for a while, anyway. Maybe your dad will grow a brain while we’re gone and change his mind before we get back.”

Austin scowled and turned back to his truck. “There ain’t no hope of that. Just stay clear of him.”

Once Austin and his two friends drove off, the four of us piled back into my Nissan. This time, Iggy forced her way into the front passenger’s seat. She turned to me and snapped, “Why did you grab me like that, Cael? I can say whatever the hell I wanna say, when I wanna say it.”

“You didn’t even give him a chance to explain,” I defended. “You were just going to tear off after him, which would have made Wesley shoot him, and we’d all be in trouble. And for what? He came here to help you.”

“Don’t treat me like I’m a little kid! You don’t know how it is around here.”

“I know how
you
are around here: impulsive and hotheaded! Try not to say the first thing that pops into your mind every time you meet up with someone you don’t like.” I glanced back at Cody. He was trying not to laugh, and Wesley was back to imitating Mount Rushmore.

Iggy pressed her lips together, faced front, and folded her arms across her chest. Her bottom lip stuck out, and it was clear that she was pouting. She snapped, “Are you going to drive, or are we going to sit here all day?”

The windows had completely fogged up. I started the engine and hit the defog button. “Are you going to explain this Jensen thing?”

“I already did.”

“So studying side effects of a vaccination you and Wesley took years ago is worth five thousand dollars, criminal charges, and a law suit? I’m not buying it.”

Cody asked, “That’s what the CDC guy’s visit was about the other day? A vaccination study? That’s lame.”

I stared expectantly at Iggy. She stared out the front windshield. No one said a word. Finally, I shifted into drive and sighed. “All this excitement, and we haven’t even left town yet.”

Chapter 7

Cael

On a normal day, we would have been in Tennessee already. But a trip that usually took about an hour took twice as long because of all the accidents and emergencies. We came across a gas station with a long line of cars and a sign that read ‘$20/gallon, 8 gallon limit, cash only’. We figured that we’d better buy gas while we could, so we steered into the line, which blocked one lane of Highway 41 for a quarter of a mile. So far, we had avoided the interstate, but now that we were well outside of Atlanta, we agreed it would be the best way to travel.

This city was much bigger than Villa Rica, but I was still surprised to find so many people on the roads and in the stores. The parking lots of all the banks, grocery stores, and even the department stores were flooded with people and cars. And despite the perpetual gray drizzle, people were gathered outside in small groups to talk and, according to the body language I witnessed, argue.

“I need to go to the bank,” Cody said, rolling down his window. “I want to get my money out while I can.”

I looked over my shoulder at him. “I thought you were going to do that two weeks ago when I told you it was a good idea.”

“I didn’t actually believe this was going to happen, Cael. But look at them.” He gestured at the bank in the parking lot next to us. “Everyone is taking out their money, and there either won’t be any left, or the banks will stop letting people withdraw. I just know it.” He started rubbing his scruffy jaw. “I’m worried I won’t have access to my money. It’s
my
money. I want it.”

“I get it, Cody.”

He said, “I’ll just jump out here and wait in line for the ATM.”

“I’ll watch your back,” Iggy volunteered.

Cody guffawed. "Watch
my
back? You're a little girl."

Iggy smacked him on the arm. "I'll show you little! Let me tell you exactly — ."

Wesley grabbed her arm. “I’ll go. You stay in the car.”

Cody gave Wesley a ‘hell, no’ look and said, “I’m a big boy. I can go by myself. I sure as hell don’t want
you
hanging out with me.”

Iggy said, "Come on, guys. Bygones. We need to forgive and forget.”

“He
punched
me in the face,” Cody protested.

Iggy opened her door with a jerk. “
I’m
going with Cody, and that’s final.”

Cody got out and Iggy took his hand, leading him across the grass and through the parking lot like a mother would her child. I chuckled at the sight of Cody towering over her as she looked around with suspicion. Once they were in line, Iggy’s wariness vanished and she struck up a conversation with the people around her while Cody chewed his nails.

I heard Wesley give a long, loud exhale. I asked, “Don’t you think you’re a little overprotective sometimes?”

“No.”

“Isn’t Iggy almost nineteen years old? She’s an adult. She can take care of herself.”

Wesley’s gray eyes met mine in the rear view mirror. “You wouldn’t understand.”

“I get that Iggy can sometimes be defensive, and her mouth gets her in trouble. But she seems pretty tough. I mean, I’ve known girls like her –”

“No you haven’t,” he snapped. “
No
one out there is
anything
like Iggy.”

His vehemence took me by surprise. I wondered if Iggy had any idea just how much this guy liked her. Maybe even loved her. Iggy wasn’t kidding when she’d said she trusted Wesley with her life.

“Does she know how you feel about her?” I asked him a few minutes later.

Wesley’s brows drew together . “I owe Iggy my life.”

My eyebrows raised, and I took a deep breath. I’d never before met someone who felt so intensely about someone else. Maybe it wasn’t love, but it was uniquely fierce. I really wanted to know the history between them, but I knew Wesley would be offended if I asked. Still, I was too curious not to ask any questions at all. “How old are you, Wesley?”

“Nineteen.”

A year younger than me. Yet he seemed older. Maybe life had made him that way. I wondered if losing his parents was what had made him so stony and cold. “Where and when did you meet Iggy?”

At first, I didn’t think he was going to answer. But then he said, “I met her at a summer camp when we were eleven.”

That was about the time we stopped coming down to the farm for vacations. My parents had never explained why we'd stopped visiting my aunt and uncle, and I planned on asking Mom some day. In fact, I had a lot of questions for her. When she finally got down here.

I edged the car forward and pulled out my cell, calling both of them. I got no answer at all. Not even the option to leave a voice mail. I hadn’t realized I was gripping the steering wheel so tightly until my hands began to ache and I looked down to see my knuckles were white. I let go of the wheel and watched blood flow bring color back into my fingers.

Thunder rumbled in the distance, and rain pelted the windshield. The passenger’s side window was rolled down, and I looked out to see Iggy plant her hands on her hips, look up at the sky, and shake her head. Her hair had just started to dry out, and now it was plastered against her skull again. She and Cody still had a long wait ahead of them.

I rolled up the window and grabbed some napkins from the glove box to wipe down the seat. Though the air was cool, it was humid, and the windows immediately began fogging up. My phone pinged, indicating I had received a text. Cody.

WTF is wrong w these people!
Slow line!

I typed,
Our line isn’t any faster
. I drummed my fingers on the steering wheel for a minute and then looked in the rear view mirror. “Mind if I turn on the radio?”

Wesley shrugged. Though I searched for a music station, the only thing on the radio was the news. Every broadcaster talked about fires, bombings, robberies, murders, businesses shutting down, and utilities going out. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought our country had been nuked and invaded by Russia or Iraq. And after fifteen minutes of reporters shouting, interviews of people screaming, and the sounds of car crashes and police sirens, I began to feel like this was the end of the world. Armageddon. Game over.

I shut off the noise and was relieved to finally begin turning into the gas station parking lot. I glanced back at Wesley who swiped at the window again and peered out. I had the defogger on full blast, but it wasn’t doing much good.

I jumped when I heard a loud boom and the crunch of metal, and I rolled down my window. In the median just up the road, three cars had crashed into each other, crumpled and contorted. The door of an SUV fell open and someone staggered out. Steam belched out around a pickup’s hood. Several witnesses had pulled over and were piling out of their cars to surround the victims of the crash. Soon, the crowd was so thick I couldn’t even see the cars involved in the accident. But still no sirens could be heard. No police cars or ambulances had shown up.

Wesley wiped at his window again, frowned, and then rolled it down. He whipped out his cell and tapped the screen. I rolled down the passenger’s window, staring through the rain to see that the line for the ATM machine had disappeared. I didn’t see Iggy or Cody.

Wesley cursed and disconnected the call.

I said, “Relax. I’m sure Iggy’s fine.” Finally, the crescendo of sirens filled the air. I added, “It’s daylight and people are everywhere. What do you think could possibly happen to her? She probably had to go to the bathroom.”

Wesley put the phone to his ear again and told me, “Iggy’s a trouble magnet. You can’t possibly understand.” His face registered relief and he growled into the cell, “Where are you?”

It was my turn at the pumps. I rolled down my window and a guy in uniform asked, “How much?”

“As much as you’ll give me.”

“One sixty. Cash.”

I pulled out my wallet and peeled off eight twenty dollar bills. Then I turned to look at Wesley. He snipped into his cell, “Next time, tell me that
before
you do it.” He disconnected the call and stared out the window. I waited for him to relay the news, but he remained silent.

“Well? Where are they?”

His cold, blue eyes met mine. “The ATM ran out of money. They went to another machine inside Target.”

“See? Told you she was fine.”

“Shut up.”

I’d meant to reassure Wesley, not piss him off. At this rate, I was definitely going to lose that fifty dollar bet.

The attendant pounded twice on the roof of my car, indicating we were done. I started the engine and headed for the Target parking lot, which was further back in the shopping center. “I swear there are about a half-dozen vehicles being broken into right now, and no one is doing anything about it.”

“Cops are busy with more important things,” Wesley said.

“It’s a free-for-all. The second we leave this car, we’ll lose everything in it.”

“Then we don’t leave it.”

Cody texted,
Just about my turn
.

I responded,
We r in pkg lot
. Then I pulled into a parking space and watched a young couple rush through the rain pushing two red carts loaded with diapers and powdered formula. I felt sorry for them and lucky not to have to deal with the issues they were facing.

After a few minutes of drumming my fingers against the steering wheel, the rain finally let up. “’Bout damn time,” I mumbled. My phone rang, and the possibility of receiving a call from my parents flashed through my mind before I saw Cody’s name on the screen. “You guys coming, or what?”

“Is Iggy with you?”

Trouble magnet
. I tensed. “No. Why?”

“I can’t find her. When we got here, she said she wanted to look for some supplies while I waited for the ATM. I haven’t seen her since.”

I looked at Wesley, and his eyes widened. Something in my face must have given away the gist of the conversation because he flung open the door and raced across the parking lot. I said, “Wesley’s on his way inside. I can’t leave the car.”

“Do you think something happened to her?”

“If not, then something
will
happen to her when she gets back here. I’m going to flog her for running off like an irresponsible child.”

"I told her not to wander off."

"Yeah, well, apparently she sucks at following directions."

“I see Wes. I’ll talk to you in a minute.”

I didn’t know if I was more angry or worried, but I got out and started pacing. I wouldn’t have even noticed the truck if I hadn’t heard its tires squeal. But when the sound drew my attention and I looked, I immediately thought the black pickup was Granger’s. Austin’s warning played in my head, and I jumped into the car to follow. If I was wrong, then no harm was done. If I was right, then I couldn’t spare a second wondering if I should or shouldn’t go after the truck.