Nobody said anything about Jamey. She had helped me into the truck and climbed on in after me, backpack on her shoulders, Starla clinging to her like the sash on a beauty queen. I saw a pacifier in the mesh side pocket of the backpack. Jamey had packed for herself and Starla. She had been ready for a long time.

But other women had helped me, too.

“What about Kaylee?” I asked. “And the girl in the meat house?”

“The meat house?” Grayson said.

“We can’t just leave them there.”

Dance met my eyes in the mirror. “We can’t save everyone.”

Jamey didn’t say anything, didn’t look at me. I think she thought if she spoke up, we would notice her and what a burden she was; we would make her and the baby get out.

I fell silent. I finally glanced back at my house. It seemed fine, a little dented. A few shingles were missing from the roof, but the windows weren’t broken, and I didn’t see any other damage.

A few of the men were giving chase on foot down the road behind us. One threw a flashlight. It struck a tree and shattered. I turned back around.

The two spray-painted junk cars that had blocked the rural highway, blocked our passage, and forced us to turn into Skate State in the first place had been towed to the sides of the road. But they were on fire. We drove between them, flaming sphinxes.

“The world’s gone crazy,” Grayson said.

“No,” Jamey said, looking out the window. “It was always this way.”

10

We kept going, as quickly as we could. On the narrow, icy road, the tires gritted, desperate for traction. We skidded, swerved around ruts. We were driving too fast. Dance gripped the steering wheel tightly and we held our breath, tensing at every spin, every rasp of the brakes. I kept expecting men to leap out of the trees. I kept looking behind us for headlights.

They came, as I knew they would: yellow eyes, burning through the snow. Coming up fast. The headlights were small. “I think it’s bikes,” I said.

Jamey didn’t look. “Jake has motorbikes. They used to race them.”

Dance met my eyes in the mirror. He hadn’t known about that, hadn’t broken those engines.

“We can’t slow down,” Grayson said. “If they catch us...”

He didn’t finish his sentence, didn’t have to. I glanced over at Jamey, but she had turned to the window, her forehead resting against the glass. She closed her eyes, willing it all away. But it wouldn’t go away.