Lett shook his head. “Too far off. Soon it’ll be like being in a cave, but outside.”

Their pursuers could even be using the new night vision glasses. Lett didn’t tell Kanani that. He didn’t have to.

“We gonna cross that damn road,” she said, “and we’re going soon.”

***

It was pushing seven o’clock; darkness was falling. The wind had calmed, bringing an eerie void of sound, like in a tunnel. The temperature was sinking faster, causing their sweat to cool clammy on their skin. They waited behind the mound, going over the plan, letting their eyes adjust. The sole good news was that the moon was out, only half a sphere, yet it would help light the terrain.

“It’s shorter distance than a football field,” Lett told Kanani. They would stay close, holding hands, and would have no choice but to take their time or they might trip. Lett would lead and Kanani would step where he stepped, like in a minefield.

They took deep breaths. They grasped hands and squeezed.

They scrambled out from the mound, crouching. The moonlight did help. Lett stepped here and there, bounding forward, and Kanani followed, lunging and wobbling, in what must have looked like two winos doing the bunny dance.

“Wait. What’s that?”

Shouting sounded, from west of them. They lowered onto all fours, the lava poking at their stomachs. Lett fumbled for the binoculars.

More sights, sounds. Lights were flashing, then came what sounded like someone on a bullhorn. But this was from farther off.

Kanani planted the binoculars on Lett’s eye sockets. “Some kind of alert,” Lett said.

Beams of light shot into the sky.

They pushed on, scrambling along like spooked lizards. Lett banged his shin. Kanani tore her overalls.

Headlights glared along Saddle Road, coming their way. The black panel truck. Flashlights flickered on then off, from the lava just west of them.

“That’s Lansdale’s crew, getting on top of us. Keep going.”

Lett stumbled. Kanani landed on him, but they rose as one and kept moving.

More headlights were coming up the road, pursuing the panel truck’s headlights. A spotlight arced around.

“That’s louder than a truck,” Lett shouted. “A big scout car maybe.”

They hit a stretch of flat ground and sprinted.

It was a big military scout car, armored, six wheels, mounted machine gun. The scout car gained on the panel truck.

“Look, look!” Kanani panted.

More headlights, a spotlight. A military jeep was coming from the other direction—from the east. It crossed Kanani and Lett’s path and soon halted sideways, filling the narrow road.

Cutting off the panel truck.

Lett and Kanani were less than fifty yards from Saddle Road. Dust from the churned gravel made a fog, but Lett could see the flat and brown opposite side, where the lava ended, glowing blue in moonlight.