Chance whispered into Calliope’s ear, “Why didn’t you leave me? I told you to go.”

“I couldn’t leave my guide.”

“You never listen to anything I say.”

“You’re my guide, not my husband.”

“Do you listen to your husband?”

“No.” She did not listen to Andres. She pictured his body lifeless as Buick’s, that stranger-friend who’d said all the cities from Las Vegas to Silver City had disappeared, the world reverting to precivilization, the time of the Ancients. It wasn’t possible, but there it was. She turned toward Mara in the back seat, who lay under a blanket Calliope had spread across her body, her head on Chance’s lap. The arrow jutted from the woman’s chest. Anything was possible in this world. This world. The thought hadn’t crossed her mind until now.

Chance had torn a piece of his shirt and packed it around Mara’s entry wound.

“Where are we taking her?” Calliope asked.

“Yeah, I was wondering the same thing. I’m driving away, but I’m gonna need actual directions,” Amy said. “Just like old times, right? The family back together.”

Calliope half smiled. Amy was right; Calliope couldn’t have left them any more than she could have left her own family. Crisis brought people together that way.

“The rez,” Chance said. “It’s the only place.”

“What do you mean, the only place?” Calliope asked. “The only place left?”

“The only place I know there will be healers.” He paused, added, “For Mara and for you.”

Calliope wanted to ask how he was so sure there’d be anyone on the Zuni reservation. But she didn’t.

Amy said, “How do we get there?”

“Drive north. We can’t take the 180 if the roads are gone like Buick warned, so we’ll have to rely on the compass to get us there.” He pulled a compass from his pocket.

Calliope said, “Your whole world in there.”

He smiled. “Zuni’s northeast of here. If we just continue north through the Gila Forest, through the pass at Mogollon Mountains, I can get us there …” He paused, studying the compass then peering outside. Dawn was approaching through the pinkish gray haze staining the lower half of the sky to their right. They were on the right track. “I’ll know how far east to go by the Zuni Salt Lake, Ma:k’yayanne.” He lowered his voice, close to Calliope’s ear, whispering, “Old Lady Salt lives there, mujer. It’s a sacred lake.”

“Can we make it there today? We didn’t bring any food or supplies,” Amy said.

“I should’ve planned better,” Chance said. “I knew it wasn’t safe there. We should never have stayed so long. I should’ve taken you to the rez in the first place.”