Adam thought about that. This was the stuff his mom had trained him for. “As long as we stay away from cities, I think we’ll be okay. Those people are going to be crazy. The ones who aren’t dead are gonna be burned and panicked.”

“Jesus, Adam.”

“I don’t know if I told you, but my mother’s a prepper. I spent most of my childhood preparing for the end of times.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

“So it is safer to stay out here.”

Adam took her hand and guided them both to the ground. He folded his feet under his thighs. “A shit ton of people were just killed.”

Emma buried her face in her hands and gave herself up to sobs that exploded from her core. Adam pulled her close and stroked her hair. He knew he should be feeling more than he did, but it wasn’t there. This was a lot to comprehend in a few minutes. Maybe it would catch up with him later.

When Emma’s sobs had diminished to snuffles, he got back to what she needed to know. “All those sick, hurt people will all be wanting help. They’ll be wanting to run away into the forest because they’ll assume that this is the safer place to be. Problem is, they won’t know what the hell to do once they get out here. If you can’t find it in a grocery store and pay for it on your smartphone, they won’t have a clue.”

“So they’ll just starve?”

“Not willingly, they won’t,” Adam said. “What they’ll do is panic. They’re going to go back to being wild animals. If survival means killing others and taking their stuff, that’s what they’ll do. We need to go back to the school because we need friendly company.”

“You don’t have a lot of faith in people, do you?”

“People just dropped bombs on us. When people are cornered, they turn mean. They’ll do what it takes to survive, and if that means killing you and me, that’s what they’ll do. Fights are coming at us where there’ll only be winners or losers. My mom calls it the zero-sum game.”

“Your family actually talked about this stuff?”

“We practiced for it. I always thought it was crazy. Now look where we are.”

“So, should we be walking toward the car now?”

“Let’s give it a few minutes,” Adam said. “We know we’re safe here now, and it seems pretty clear that there aren’t any targets to hit. Maybe there’ll be a second wave.”

Emma’s grip tightened on his hand. “We should pray.”

“I imagine God’s pretty busy right now.” That came out more harshly than he’d wanted. He bowed his head.

They sat in silence for a good thirty seconds. Finally Emma confessed, “I–I don’t know what to say.”