Sally did as he told her, even as Watch continued to stalk her. “I can’t hold him off much longer!”

“Listen,” Adam called. “As the sticks explode, make a dash down the hill. I’ll slip the truck into neutral. I’ll pick you up as I coast by.”

“But your leg is numb!” Sally shouted back. “You won’t be able to brake!”

“I’ll do the best I can,” Adam said.

Ten seconds later the sticks began to explode. They went in a tight series, one after the other. The explosions seemed to check Watch. He froze—of course he was already frozen—and Sally had a chance to run down the hill toward the reservoir. She just dropped the flamethrower and split.

She was not the only thing that raced toward the reservoir.

As the last dynamite stick went off, Adam saw a large wave of oil chasing Sally. The line to each tank had ruptured. It was a black tidal wave. No question about it—the reservoir would be flooded with fuel.

Adam dragged himself into the driver’s seat and released the parking brake. The truck began to coast down the hill, rapidly picking up speed. He was able to steer but by now both his legs were without feeling. Sally was right—he couldn’t brake. By the time he reached her he was doing thirty miles an hour. There was no way she could leap onto the truck.

“Adam!” she yelled.

“Sorry!” he shouted back as he flew past.

Adam was able to keep from plunging into the water by turning sharply to the right just as he reached the bottom of the hill. His wild steering sent up a huge dust cloud. The sharp turn also took him out of the way of the approaching oil wave. Unfortunately, he had also put more distance between himself and Sally. Distance he couldn’t make up by driving over and picking her up. His legs refused to work. He couldn’t put the car in gear to get it to move any farther.

He was stuck where he was.

He saw Sally reach the water just before Watch. But she had no flamethrower to ward him off. She didn’t even have a good stick. Desperately glancing in his direction, Adam could see the fear in her eyes—even from a hundred yards away.

“What should I do?” she screamed.

There was only one hope.

“Jump in the water!” Adam yelled. “Swim out to the middle of the reservoir!”

“But this water’s poisonous! It makes your hair all funny!”

“Don’t worry about that now! He’s coming right toward you!”