Before long, the open area of the upper mall was clear of people—at least those who were still alive. Corpses were scattered everywhere. But luckier ones had made it to the bottom level, and while they might have felt momentarily relieved, no one was feeling particularly secure. Most were looking up, gazing into the open atrium, watching the Arrivals zipping around above them beyond a decorative glass and metal railing.

Thank God the escalators were too narrow for them to use.

Several of the adults around Nick were on their phones, calling for help, warning family members to be careful, and letting those same folks know they were okay. A girl about seven years old was crying, her mother kneeling down, trying to comfort her.

“The police aren’t picking up,” said one.

“Where the hell are they?” asked another. “They’ve got to stop them!”

“Look,” said another very slowly, pointing to the top of the two escalators. “They’re trying to figure it out.”

Indeed, they were.

A red Arrival had nosed up to the down escalator. The constantly moving rubber grip rails skimmed by the nose of the car. The Arrival, with its eye-like headlights, seemed to be studying how the escalator worked, the way a raccoon might look at the latest, supposedly tamperproof garbage can.

There has to be a way.

Nick shouted, “Ha! Fuck you, asshole!”

The woman with the little girl shot him a look that said even though they were all at great personal risk, there was no call for that kind of language.

“Yeah, dumbass! I’m talking to you!” Nick slapped his thighs and laughed. “Not so smart, after all!”

Nick leapt onto the down escalator and started climbing. He put enough speed into it that he was able to gain two steps for every one that the escalator dropped. He got to within five steps of the top, able to look the car right in the headlight, and held his position by running in place.

He didn’t have to be an engineering major to figure out that the car was stumped. Its sloping hood was a good two feet below the top of the elevator railing. If the Arrival had had a ramp and could mount the escalator, its wheels would straddle the rubber railing and sit on the metal structure that encased the moving stairway.

But there was no ramp.

“What are ya gonna do now, huh?” Nick taunted.

At one point, he stuck two index fingers into his mouth, pulled, and waggled his tongue at the machine.

The car stared at Nick.

Several other Arrivals were gathered behind the red one, sitting there. But then they started to move back, creating a gap behind the red Arrival.

“Giving up?” Nick said. “Going home? Heading back to the tin can factory?”

With space behind it to maneuver, the red Arrival backed up, turned around, and gently backed its rear bumper up to the top of the escalator.