“What on earth is it?” she whispered.

“Fascinating,” Emanuel said. Sophie couldn’t see it, but she knew that behind his visor was a large smile. A discovery like this was what he lived for.

Before she had time to study the orb, he was walking toward it, the door slamming behind him.

“Wait up,” Saafi yelled, following him.

They wound their way between a pair of sedans and stopped a few feet from the floating ball.

“Shit,” Sophie said, putting the truck in park. She went to twist the key but opted to leave it running. If things got dicey, she wanted to make a fast escape. She opened the door and stepped out onto the street. Besides the idling diesel engine, there was nothing but silence. Nothing moved. The normal sounds of everyday life were gone: honking horns, chirping insects, sirens. The lack of noise was unsettling. “Keep sharp,” she whispered into her com.

The bright beam from the Humvee’s headlights helped her navigate the graveyard of abandoned vehicles. She peeked into a sedan’s windows. An open magazine, granola bar wrappers balled up on the floorboard, and an empty Pepsi bottle. There was nothing out of the ordinary—nothing to indicate a struggle or evacuation. The street was empty, too. Not even a single suitcase left behind, or a shoe lost in a hurried escape.

Nothing.

Sophie continued to the next car, finding the front windows down. She came up to the driver side window and stuck her helmet inside. There was more trash, a purse, and a pair of sunglasses.

“Come look at this, Sophie,” Emanuel said over the com. The words startled her, and she went to pull her head from the car. Then she saw it—the keys were still in the ignition. Her eyes darted over to the fuel gauge.

“Empty? What the hell . . .”

“Didn’t catch that, please repeat,” Emanuel said.

“Hold on.” Sophie hurried to the next vehicle. Through the window she could see the keys were still in the ignition and the fuel gauge was also on zero. The next two cars revealed the same thing.

What’s going on here?

An evacuation where people didn’t even have time to shut off their cars? She’d never heard of anything like it. During the solar storms of 2055, there were entire stretches of highway where people had been cooked in their vehicles, trapped during the CME. But this was different. There was no sign of a solar event—there were no bodies, no burned out cars.

Sophie ignored the eerie view and rushed over to Emanuel and Saafi. She placed her armored hand on Emanuel’s shoulder. Even through the armor, it made her feel safer. Over years of scientific research, she had seen some terrifying things, but this was unlike anything she had experienced. This was just . . . weird.

The sphere hovered two feet above Saafi’s head, putting it at about eight and a half feet high. Sophie studied it in awe. She had never seen anything that could float like that. The craft from her dreams crept into her thoughts, but she quickly pushed it away. Holly was right, they were just dreams, and this was nothing more than a coincidence.