“I think so.”

He pointed across the street. “We’re going to cross to that house on the corner. Don’t think about anything else.”

“Okay.”

“You’re going to see some bodies in the street. Just want to warn you. Ignore them. Don’t even look at them.”

“Danger areas.” She tried to smile.

“You got it. Now stay close.”

Ethan picked up his shotgun.

Butterflies in his stomach.

That old, familiar fear.

Five steps out from the side of the house, the bodies in the street were in full view. And you couldn’t not look at them. He counted seven people, two of them children, literally ripped apart.

Maggie was keeping up.

He could hear her footsteps a few feet behind his.

They hit the street, nothing but the sound of their footfalls on the pavement.

Their panting.

Up and down First Avenue—nothing.

It was so quiet.

They crossed into the yard and accelerated the last few steps to the two-story Victorian.

Crouched down under a window.

Ethan glanced around the corner.

Made another scan up and down First.

All clear.

He looked back at Kate and Hecter and raised his right arm.

They came to their feet and started jogging, Kate out in front and moving with confidence, like she knew what she was doing, Hecter a few uncomfortable paces back. Ethan could tell the moment they saw the bodies. Hecter’s face fell and Kate’s jaw set and they couldn’t tear their eyes away.

Ethan looked at Maggie, and said, “You did great.”

Then all four of them were together again.

Ethan said, “Street’s empty. I don’t know why it’s so quiet, but let’s take advantage. All four of us this time. We’ll head out into the street and go right down the middle of it.”

“Why?” Hecter asked. “Isn’t it safer to stay near the houses, not so out in the open?”

“Corners are not our friends,” Ethan said.

He gave Hecter and Kate a minute to catch their breath.

Then he stood.

“What’s the next destination?” Kate asked.

“There’s a green Victorian two blocks down on the other side of the street. A row of juniper shrubs along the front. We’ll get behind those. Everyone ready?”

“Want me last in line?” Kate asked.

“Yes. Cover everything on our right and glance back every so often to make sure we aren’t getting flanked.”

It was a deceptively peaceful morning on Eighth Street.

They jogged down the middle of the road, quaint Victorians on either side and all those white picket fences bright and perfect in the early sun. Ethan’s stomach ached with hunger. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d eaten.

He switched between studying the houses on their left and the road ahead.

The side yards unnerved him more than anything. Those narrow canyons between houses that led into backyards he couldn’t see.