McCrea’s sigh vibrated with frustration.

Victoria continued, “We have a plan. We’ve always had a plan. It goes all the way to when Glenn was still alive. After nine/eleven, when we all learned how easy it is for families to get separated in times of emergencies, we established our reunion plan. At first, it was just for the two of us, but as the boys got older and more independent, we brought them into it, too.”

“How does a reunion plan work?”

“At noon, on the first Monday of every month, we’ve promised each other to gather at a giant rock outcropping on a place called Top Hat Mountain. It’s here in West Virginia, but down closer to coal country. We chose it because it’s the location of our favorite-ever camping trip.”

“The first Monday at noon.” McCrea had difficulty making that work in his head. “What happens if—”

“There are twelve first Mondays in every year,” Victoria said, answering his question before he could finish asking it. “We show up at noon and stay till two. If others show up, we’ll be reunited. If they don’t, then we come back in a month.”

McCrea cleared his throat. “Okay, that’s good for a few months, but after a while—”

“We do it for a year,” Victoria said. “We all obligated ourselves to twelve monthly attempts. After that, well, some assumptions have to be made.” She took a deep breath and lay back onto the pavement. “I just hope Adam remembers.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

ADAM EMERSON AWOKE TO THE SMELL OF FIRE. NEITHER OF THEM had intended to fall asleep. In fact, he’d have sworn that he hadn’t, but somewhere along the line, the sky had transformed to a new shade of red. He jerked upright to a sitting position, launching Emma off his shoulder.

“What!” she yelled.

“The whole world’s on fire,” Adam said.

Across the gorge, maybe half a mile away, the forest was ablaze. Entire trees were consumed whole, their flames climbing hundreds of feet into unnaturally dark morning sky. Now that he was awake, he couldn’t understand why he hadn’t heard the tornadic roar of the approaching firestorm.

“We need to get out of here,” he said.

Together, they ran back to the tent and threw everything out of it onto the ground.

“Stuff everything into my ruck and I’ll fold the tent,” he said.

“We don’t have time!”

“We have to,” Adam said. “This might be our only shelter for a long time.”

“We won’t need shelter if we get burned up.”

“I’ve got this. Pack the ruck.”