Page 68 of Stand

“There,” said Sam. “If you got a flat map of the US and put it on a pin at exactly this spot, the paper would balance.”

Their destination was so whimsical, so random and unnecessary yet so perfect for their journey, Ty laughed out loud as he turned onto the road and drove until Sam told him to turn left.

“For real?” Matt said. “That’s what we came to see? More land?”

“There’s a plaque, too,” Sam said seriously. “And a chapel. And a jail. Down that road.”

They stepped out and joined a ragtag band of intrepid tourists to look at the small stone monument. Cairo found it the most interesting but thankfully chose not to mark the moment. Matt rolled his eyes at the obligatory selfie photo but stood quietly anyway. And when they got back to the car, temporarily isolated from the crowd, they all turned and looked at the sight.

“We’re in the middle of the country,” Alyssa said. Ty thought he heard awe in her voice.

“Yep,” he said.

“This country isbig,” she said.

“Yep,” he agreed. And from where they were standing, it looked as though the land was there just to prove the point of how huge it was and how small they were. They stood in silence for a moment more, then Cairo whined at a passing bird and Sam announced she was going to give him a walk. Since they’d looked at absolutely everything there was to see at the monument, they went with her.

“It’s so quiet,” Alyssa whispered as they followed a dirt road between the flat fields. “I’ve never heard it so quiet.”

“The colors are different,” Matt said. “That gray sky and the green fields. It’s weird.”

“That sky is pretty gray,” Sam said, squinting at it. “We might want to get on the road.”

As if it had heard her, a gust of wind whipped up the dirt at their feet and swirled it into their eyes. Since Cairo had made his deposit already, they hustled back to the car.

♦

Sam drove, and as they went south to join up to their original itinerary, the sky got darker and the wind pulled at the SUV. Ty looked at his phone, but there was no signal this far into the countryside. He glanced over at Sam, clenching and unclenching her jaw, and turned on the radio to an AM station that crackled and went in and out but did give accounts of high winds and tornado watches throughout Western Kansas.

“Hopefully, we’ll stay east of it,” Sam said, but Ty knew she didn’t believe her own words. He cursed the lack of rural funding that stopped him from seeing a map on his phone. Even the car’s GPS stopped working. “I know where we’re going,” Sam assured him. “The roads are just grids around here. We keep going south, we’ll get to our motel.”

But the weather wasn’t going to give Sam her carefully thought-out plan. They began to see lightning in the distance, and the sky turned so dark they had to put their lights on. Rain spattered the windshield, making them jump.

“Dad?” Alyssa said.

“We’ll be okay,” he said automatically. And then the sirens went off.

He hadn’t seen the speakers attached to the poles along the highway, but at once it was as though the sound were coming from in the car, in his head, reverberating with a chilling certainty that they were in danger, and right now.

Cars in front of them slowed and stopped, pulling to the side of the road and putting their flashers on. Sam pulled over just as two figures came out of a farm building to their left. “What the hell are they doing?” Ty muttered. Surely, they had a bunker or something to hide in?

The figures ran over a small area of grass, waving their hands. Sam opened her door. “Wait!” Ty said, as though he had any way to stop Sam from doing whatever she wanted to do. But with the door open, under the howling wind, he could hear what the people were saying.

“Bunker!” they yelled, waving their arms back toward the building. “Come on!”

Sam whipped around to the back and got Cairo out. The kids didn’t move until Ty said, “Okay,” and then they were out with the other people who’d been driving along this stretch, maybe five or seven cars total, now scattered like leaves along the road while their inhabitants fled into the field. Sam let Cai run without a leash, and he got there faster than any of them before turning back to bark at her.

Ty’s heart was bursting through his chest, not from the run but from fear. His children. His perfect, precious children. He’d dragged them all the way across the country and put them in mortal danger, just because he didn’t want to deal with his ex-wife and whatever she wanted to do to him. He wanted to pick Alyssa up and carry her to the building, as though she were tiny again, but her leg stride almost matched his, and he had to admit his helplessness as they all arrived at the steel doors that leaned into the ground.

“There’s room,” the person who’d called them over said, and Ty didn’t ask for proof. They pelted down the stairs, almost pushed down by the wind, and the next thing he knew, he was in a spacious basement with light, fans, chairs, shelves of food, drink, flashlights, and soft pallets piled up in one corner. About fifteen people of all ages came in behind them. A woman and two small children were already there, handing out blankets. The woman was medium-sized and red-cheeked with short, mousy hair, and she was smiling.

“Hi,” she said as everyone came in. “Welcome. Don’t worry. You’re safe in here. Have a seat.”

Her calm hospitality threw Ty, who swore he could feel leaves in his hair from their abrupt dash across the field. “Thank you,” he said and directed Matt and Alyssa to seats in a corner.

“Sounds like this happens a lot,” Sam said. She hadn’t sat down but was crouched near Cairo. “I forgot his leash. He’s very well-behaved.”

“Not a problem.” The woman smiled at Cairo. “You’re all welcome.”

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