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"Hello!" April called Her voice echoed across the lot "Is anybody here? Hello!"

Danny had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach Soly feeling all over

"Hello!" April called again, her hands cupped around her gested

"The Army’s supposed to be here"

"Maybe they left already"

April removed her backpack, unzipped the top, and withdrew a haht

"Ti off"

The boy was standing at the base of the bus’s steps, pinching his nose "But it sross," he said in a nasal voice

April slid her arross You’ll just have to deal with it Now coirl was determined He followed the two of them as they made their way into the an to co The cars had been positioned around the tents as a defense Like in pioneer tions when the Indians attacked But these weren’t Indians, Danny knew, and whatever had happened here, it looked to be long over There were corpses, somewhere-the smell seemed to intensify the farther they went-but so far they’d seen no trace of them It was as if everyone had vanished

They ca the ha The space was a urneys and IV poles, debris strewn everywhere-bandages, basins, syringes But still there were no bodies

They looked in another tent, then a third Each was the sao?" April said

The only place left to look was the stadium Danny didn’t want to, but April wouldn’t take no for an answer If the Army said to come here, she insisted, there had to be a reason Theythe way, clutching Tim with one hand, the hammer with the other For the first ti over the stadiu to break the silence and to deepen it at the same time

Then, froo in there if I were you"

The Ferrari had died as Kittridge was pulling into the parking area By this ti like a half-broke horse, plue There was no e’s rocket ride out of the parking ra on the pavement-had cracked the oil pan As the oil had drained away, theuntil the pistons had seized in their cylinders

Sorry about your car, Warren It sure was good while it lasted

After what he’d seen in the stadiue needed some time to collect hi he couldn’t have predicted, but staring it in the face was so else It sickened hiht he s in his life, horrible things Bodies in pits lined up like cordwood; whole villages gassed, fa out in vain for the last touch of a loved one; the indecipherable remains of men and women and children, blasted to bits in a marketplace by some lunatic with a bo even re on the hood of the Ferrari, considering his options, when in the distance he’d heard a vehicle approaching Kittridge’s nerves snapped to attention A large diesel engine by the sound of it: an APC? But then, lu yellow school bus

How about that, Kittridge thought Holy son of a bitch A goddamned school bus, like a class trip to the end of the world

Kittridge watched as the bus cairl with a streak of pink in her hair, a knobby-kneed boy in a T-shirt and shorts, and a uessed was the driver Hello! the girl called out Is anybody here? A le of vehicles, the girl leading the way

Probably it was ti theations he’d vowed to avoid from the start Other people weren’t part of the plan; the plan was to get gone Travel light, stay alive as long as possible, take as many virals with hi his bright, e realized as about to happen The three of theht for the stadiue had done the same These were kids, for God’s sake; plan or no plan, no way could he let therabbed his rifle and hustled to head thee’s voice, the driver reacted so violently that Kittridge waswith a yelp, theover his feet while si his face in the crook of his elbow The other two scurried away, the girl yanking the little boy protectively to her waist, swiveling toward Kittridge with a hae said Pointing the rifle skyward, he raised his hands "I’irl was older than he’d first guessed, seventeen or so The pink hair was ridiculous, and both her ears had so many studs in them they looked like they’d been riveted to her head, but the way she regarded him, coolly and without a hint of panic, told him she was more than she appeared There was no doubt in his mind that she’d use the hammer on hiht black T-shirt, jeans worn to threads at the knees, a pair of Chuck Taylors, and bracelets of leather and silver up and down both ar from her shoulders The boy was obviously her brother, their faehtly too-sh, sudden planes of the cheekbones, eyes of the sa hie as distinctly parental

The third roup, the driver, was harder to quantify Souy He was dressed in khakis and a white oxford shirt buttoned to the collar; his hair, a reddish-blondfrom the sides of his peculiar cap, looked like it had been cut by pinking shears But the real difference wasn’t any of these things It was the way he held himself

The boy was the first to speak He had just about the worst cowlick Kittridge had ever laid eyes on "Is that a real AK?" he said, pointing

"Quiet, Tiirl lifted the hae’s hands were still raised For the moment, the notion that the ha to indulge "My na to the boy, "it’s a real AK Just don’t go thinking I’ll let you touch it, young man"

The boy’s face lit with excitee lifted his chin toward the driver, as now gazing intently at his shoes "Is he okay?"

"He doesn’t like to be touched is all" The girl was still studying Kittridge warily "The Army said to come here We heard it on the radio"

"I expect they did But it looks like they’ve flown the coop on us Now, I don’t believe I caught your nairl hesitated "I’m April This is my brother, Tim The other one is Danny"

"Pleased tosht with you if I putas we’ve all been properly introduced"

"Where’d you get that rifle?"

"Outdoor World I’ear, ive a nice discount So what do you say? We’re all on the saed "The hu hie reirl; she was a survivor Whatever else was true, she deserved to be taken seriously A few seconds passed, then she lowered the ha you want to see" Kittridge looked at the girl again She seemed like an April, he decided Funny how it soet by?"

"We were hiding in the wine cellar"

"What about your folks?"

"We don’t know They were in Telluride"

Jesus, Kittridge thought Telluride was ground zero, the place where everything had started