She was soon stalled in the middle of a two-lane, a big ole tanker truck blowing past her before she got out and saw steam and smelled the antifreeze coming out from the engine. The Land Cruiser kept on moving north across that flat, desolate gray landscape. Not another vehicle or building around them, just acres of yellowed weeds and water. The Land Cruiser moved slow and easy as if they were on an Easter parade.

Lillie left her driver’s door open and walked around to the trunk. She grabbed her scoped Winchester inside and found a solid place along the doorframe to steady her shot. She took in a deep breath and just as easy let it out, just like when she’d been on the Ole Miss Rifle Team, finding the rear tire of the Land Cruiser square in her sights. She made a quick adjustment for the wind and the distance and squeezed the trigger. Blam. The crack final and precise.

After the shot, the car skidded onto the shoulder and then back onto the road, the right side riding low and uneasy, the Land Cruiser finally slowing down. Tired and slap-ass worn out from these kids, Lillie walked forward down the highway, holding her rifle in her left hand and waving into TJ’s rearview with her right. She tried her best to look friendly.

But damn, it was hard.

*   *   *

“What do I do?”

“Keep driving,” TJ said. “Don’t stop for nothing.”

“Back tire’s blown,” John Wesley said. “I’m all over the place, Momma. I can’t control nothing.”

“What’d you call me?”

TJ gritted her teeth and pushed herself up in the backseat. When she turned around, John Wesley not driving but ten miles an hour, she saw that gray Dodge stalled and Lillie Virgil jogging up toward them waving her hand.

“Don’t stop.”

“Don’t have no choice.”

TJ looked forward through the windshield and saw a mess of flashing blue lights coming from up north. Highway patrol parking crooked and blocking the highway, men crawling out of their vehicles with guns drawn.

“I’m sorry, Momma.”

“I ain’t your damn momma,” TJ said, leaning back into the backseat. “I’m your sister, John Wesley. That’s a hell of a lot more important.”

“You gonna die, too?”

TJ didn’t answer. She looked down to see the blood had started flowing again from her leg, soaking through the ripped towel tied about her thigh. The engine was still running as John Wesley lowered the driver’s window, TJ seeing Lillie Virgil’s face up close and personal.

“End of the road, kids,” Lillie said. “Let me see your hands, TJ.”

“I can’t,” she said. “Holding down the bleeding.”

Lillie Virgil looked deeper into the car before knowing she was telling the damn truth. Lillie yelled over to those folks in the highway patrol to call up an ambulance right fucking now.