“Would you just shut up and drive!” Adam snapped. He stopped himself, dragging in a ragged breath. “I’m sorry, Sally. I don’t feel good. I feel cold. Could you please turn on the heater?”

“I have it all the way up. It’s roasting in here. Has the numbing sensation spread?”

Adam smiled bitterly. “Yeah. It’s spreading.”

Spreading right into his brain.

He knew he didn’t have much time left.

The four-wheel-drive truck was a wonderful machine. It allowed them not only to plow into the hills, but to keep going even when the road ran out. They blew past the reservoir at high speed. Just up ahead Adam could see the oil wells, bobbing up and down like giant insects. In the orange evening light, they looked ready to burn.

Soon the sun would set.

“Faster,” Adam whispered.

Finally they reached the oil wells. There were six of them, clustered around a series of eight storage tanks. Adam realized the lines from the wells fed the tanks, and that it was the tanks they had to crack. The suckers were huge. If they could drain them dry, there would be enough oil to fill the reservoir. The oil would just pour down into the water. He explained his thoughts to Sally.

But he didn’t tell her he couldn’t stop thinking about how unfair it was that she was warm while he was shivering. He hoped the growing insanity did not show in his eyes.

“But we don’t want to dynamite the tanks,” Sally said. “They might catch fire. It’s better that the oil goes into the reservoir.”

Adam sucked in another breath and tried to steady his shivering body. “Take eight sticks of dynamite and cut off three-quarters of each. Keep the fuses intact.” Adam had to struggle to get the words out. “Plant a partial stick beneath each line that leads into each tank. If we blow all the lines, the oil will gush out.”

Sally watched him, worried. “You sound weird. Your voice—you don’t sound like Adam.”

He shook his head. “I am still Adam. Just do it. Do it fast. We don’t have much time.”

Sally reached out and touched his arm. But she withdrew her hand when she felt how cold he was. Her eyes were red; she was close to tears.

“Isn’t there something I can do for you?” she begged.

Adam forced a smile. “Save the world, Sally. That’s all you can do.”

Sally took several dynamite sticks and walked to the storage tank lines. She carried a knife. Adam watched as she cut eight of the sticks down to a small size. Sally kept the flamethrower nearby.

She was planting them beneath the lines when Watch began to stir.

“Oh no,” Adam groaned. “Just what we don’t need.”

Watch sat up in the back and peered in at Adam through the window that separated them.