Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

Emma barely found the strength to open her eyes when she came to. Her body felt heavy, as if her insides had been replaced with lead. It took several long minutes before the movement of the car and the texture of the upholstery penetrated the fog in her head. So did the sharp hiss of her father’s breath as he made a hard turn on the road.

I . . . wh-where . . . ?

Her father took a quick look at her over his shoulder. Some of the intensity in his eyes had faded. But not nearly enough.

“Try to lay still. It’s going to be a little while before that sedative finishes working its way out of your system.”

Emma tried to sit up, but a wave of nausea and lightheadedness overpowered her before she’d gone up an inch. A grimace twisted her expression.

Her father sighed. “Why don’t you ever listen to me?”

He shifted in his seat. “Then again, I suppose you don’t have much choice right now.”

He cleared his throat, and Emma didn’t have to see him wet his lips to know what was coming.

A . . . speech? Now?

“You said you wanted to know what was going on, right? Well, I’ll tell you. It’s the end. Of everything.” The hairs of his moustache rustled under his fingers. “The network I’m plugged into has seen it coming for months now. Years, really. All the indicators are lit up like Christmas lights.” Her father lifted a hand and ticked each point off on his digits. “Volcanic activity, seismic activity, socio-economic factors: they’re all there.” He stabbed the wheel with his index finger, as if adding ending punctuation to his argument.

The car buckled back and forth as it hit rough road. Emma’s body pushed deeper into the back of her seat while the vehicle climbed.

“The end of civilization is going to be a messy business. Very messy. Some people will step on anyone to get what they want. Certain . . . people have even been waiting for it. When the guillotine falls, there’s going to be chaos. And it’s only going to spread.”

Emma twitched her fingers, her nerves coming back to her control. She could almost lift herself by the time the car stopped. Her father exited and opened her car door, reaching out to her. A log cabin stood behind him half the size of their modest home. His lips spread in a pinched smile.

“Fortunately for us, we’ll be nowhere near it.”