Carl had shaken his head. ‘We wouldn’t stay alive for twelve hours, not on our own. It’s wolf-pack time, out in the open. Come on, Season, I think I understand something of what you’re feeling. I understand how violated you feel. But there’s nobody around you now who wishes you anything but warmth and healing.’

Season had sat up, and scratched her blonde hair with both hands. ‘I guess the worse thing was that I had a revelation. I suddenly realised that all men who enter a woman’s body by force, or by blackmail, or by any means apart from love and consent, are rapists. Criminal intruders. Unfortunately, the law in California says that you’re only trespassing when seventy five per cent of your body is inside of someone’s premises, so I guess that lets rapists out.’

‘Season,’ Carl had warned her.

‘I know,’ Season had nodded. ‘This isn’t going to do me any good. But what the hell is?’

She had sniffed, and smelled smoke. ‘Is the canyon really burning?’

‘It’s burning. We’re all packed up, and ready to leave.’

‘Is Sally dressed?’

‘She’s all ready. Come on. Season, this is the only way.’ Season had stood up. ‘I guess,’ she agreed, clutching herself closely, as if a window had suddenly swung open, and chilled her in an unexpected breeze.

Now, here they were in the Hughes supermarket, along with 116 other people, all strangers; along with two toilets, two washbasins, 1440 cakes of shower soap, twenty-eight cases of assorted toothpaste, and more family-sized detergents than Season had seen together in one place in her life. Since Wednesday night, Mike Bull had been working out on his office calculator an optimum practical diet for his 120 charges – a diet which would give each of them as varied and healthful an intake of food as possible – and yet which would eke out the supplies in the supermarket’s stockroom for the longest time. The electricity supply was out, and so they had been forced to throw away all their chilled meat, frozen vegetables, and fish. And Mike Bull had spent an arduous two days sorting through every single container of canned foods, setting aside every one of them which had been packed in the last twenty-one days. Unlike Ed, however, he didn’t open them up and dump them. He labelled them clearly SUSPECT and shifted them out of sight. He reckoned that a time could well come when people were going to be hungry enough to take the risk of contracting botulism, especially if they were going to die of starvation anyway.