April 27, 6:50 AM

Take a Chance to Keep the Car (59%)

We’ll look for a rural gas station. There are lots of little pull-offs, right off the highway. We find one that isn’t too busy, pull up and buy some gas, and we’re out again before anyone gets involved. Preferably at night, when they wouldn’t even be looking our way. It’s worth the risk.

She floated the map lower in her magic, examining the route she had already selected for that purpose. “Take a left at the end of the driveway; we’ll leave town from the south. But stay in the neighborhood until I tell you to turn.”

So they set off, with Sam driving and the others watching. Their new forms made the limited space inside the interior go further. The entire legwell could’ve been stacked with more supplies, and they would still have plenty of room. There wasn’t anything Wayfinder felt like she would’ve needed, though. They had their communication equipment, what remained of their food, plenty of camping supplies, enough water to make the trip with lots to spare, the magical book and all the copies and notes she’d taken. A few laptops, and of course the originals from Zalenka’s notes.

From her old vacation home, Wayfinder had brought almost nothing with them. A single plush doll of a horse that used to be her sister’s because it felt good to have something to hold onto when she slept alone. Any photos of her family would mean bringing reminders of how she should’ve been, which she’d avoided. She still had her ID somewhere, and some old pictures on her phone, but that was all. She’d barely even touched the phone since service first went down.

She spent most of the first day focused on the route, considering and reconsidering their plan to resupply along the way. Sticking to the side roads made them safer, but it also chewed through their limited stockpile of fuel.

Neither option was particularly good—one would end with crossing days over open ground, like the caravan had already done. Only they didn’t have a magical expert like Sunburst to lead them.

He’d helped write the book that taught her how to really practice magic. How much more did he know that didn’t make it into the pages? Like: if magic could change them into strange creatures, could it change them back?

The mood in her old sedan was hardly optimistic, especially given the constant rocking on uneven dirt roads and the occasionally unpleasant sounds her cheap car made in protest.

She felt it just as much in the front, with belts that did little to hold her and seats that didn’t keep her still. Cars weren’t built for quadrupeds. It was so much easier to ignore when she slept through most of the trip. But now that she was expected to direct them, she had to sit up, watching the roads and the map and fighting to keep her breakfast where it belonged.

They pulled off the road to stop for a packed lunch somewhere—a fire road into a wooded area that probably belonged to the federal government somehow. So long as there was no one around who might accidentally find them…

“Wild that we’re going back on purpose,” Peter said from next to her. They had no table to eat from, but a simple blanket on a flat patch of forest worked just as well. It wasn’t like human furniture was built at the right height anyway. “Once we get inside, they won’t let us leave. We don’t get to choose another path. And if they decide to do something terrible—”

“They’re less likely to do that if there’s more of us,” Wayfinder said. She’d already finished her simple sandwich, something Ruby had packed for everyone the night before. Hopefully they would have an oven inside the exclusion zone, so they could keep cooking their own bread. “And if we know magic better, we’ll be harder to keep trapped. Think of all the spells in that book.”

“That’s not going to sell it to them,” Sam said. He sat with one wing resting around Ruby’s shoulder, lounging there as though being a naked mythical creature in the woods was the most natural thing in the world. “Not only are we carrying a contagious disease, we also have abilities you barely understand and can’t do anything about! They’ll feel so much better about us then.”

“We… wouldn’t do it that way,” Way looked down, ears folding. “We tell the ones trapped inside, help them learn like we have.” She demonstrated, lifting her pocketknife from the basket of camp supplies in front of them, selecting the longest knife, and floating it in front of herself, as though she were about to fight with it. “Suddenly I can protect myself. It doesn’t even matter if the one attacking me is taller or stronger. Can’t stop my knife if I’m not even holding it with hands.”

She folded it and tossed it into the basket, before the winged mythical creature decided she was actually challenging him for territory.

No point fighting that war right now, Wayfinder had already lost before it started.

“We belong in there,” Ruby said, staring at her mostly-uneaten sandwich. “Those magical powers you think we have, they’re the vectors of contagion. I’m positive now… that’s why PPE doesn’t stop this. That’s why burning the dead can’t stop it, or an airgap of 50 feet. Whatever magic really is, it’s the way this spreads. Which means the only way to protect the rest of the human race is to keep us all far away.”

Peter laughed. “From what I’ve seen online, they’ll have a hard time pulling that off. No one knows for sure, but it looks like we’re into the millions of cases here in the US. Crossed over into Toronto and Vancouver too, not sure about Mexico. At the rate it’s going, they’ll have to give us whole states. Until we can cure it.”

Wayfinder shrugged. “We’ll find out how it’s doing soon enough. We should have an easier time getting information once we get there. We’ll meet more like us, see what we can do to help. Maybe even cure it.”

There was a little less enthusiasm in that pronouncement than she would’ve said it a few days ago. Obviously she wanted her old life back—though being with Ruby had been a significant part of why. What if she stayed with Sam? And without a horn, she’d have a hard time learning magic.

They could’ve kept driving and reached Colorado before nightfall. Instead they remained where they were, pulled well off the road and using no lights to illuminate their presence there. There was little to do but chat. Sam pulled out a board game after a while, one of the nerdy ones with lots of little cubes and cards.

When it started getting dark again they got back onto the road, piling back into the rickety old car for the rest of the drive down. In addition to struggling to read the passing signs with their headlights, Way got to add the extra magical training of constant illumination from her horn alongside the frequent use of levitation.

There was no way she wouldn’t be ready to learn the basic spells the next time she sat down with the book to try. Assuming they survived the next few hours.

Eventually the gas got low enough that she started searching the route ahead for a station they could use. They still had about a quarter tank, enough that several possibilities could fall through before they got into real trouble.

“We’ll cut this way—it’s only past a few farms, one street of the town, and we’ll be near the highway. There’s a pump there.”

Sam obeyed. The general tiredness in the cabin transformed to anxious energy. Ruby and Peter both stirred from where they’d been resting under blankets. Peter floated their single handgun out from its hiding place, inspected the magazine, loaded a round into the chamber, then flicked the safety back on.

There were other things they could do with magic that hooves wouldn’t permit.

“We’re not robbing the place,” Wayfinder snapped, before they’d even started slowing down. “We’re gonna pay like anyone else here. Don’t get out of the car with that thing.”

He tucked the weapon into the seat-cushions, a nervous grin on his face. “We’re not robbing the place; doesn’t mean we won’t need it. If someone wants to kill us because we look this way, I’m not gonna curl up and let them do it. I don’t care if I’m a freaky tiny horse thing, I want to live.”

But there was nothing to fight in the first place they tried to stop—just a boarded-up building with the lights off. Paper signs on the door told them to “Exit 118 for services.” Less than ten minutes down the highway.

They didn’t go back onto the highway, though. Instead, Wayfinder took them back to the hidden roads and dirt paths, checking a few more small towns along the route. There were a few stores that looked open—but always in the center of town, with too many people around to feel safe stopping. They sped right on through, watching the gas gauge drain with every passing second.

Finally the add-fuel light came on, and even Sam started to get agitated. “If we just stop here, how much of a walk into the city would it be?”

“A… week,” she admitted. “Maybe a little more.”

“I’m not doing that,” Sam said, his wings opening in agitation behind him. There was plenty of room, except that spread out made them block the view out the window, and smacked into Wayfinder’s side. “What did those signs say? Services on…”

“Exit 118,” she said. “I know where it is. One more mile this way. It’s a… bigger town than I would’ve liked. There is a good station off the highway there, far from anyone’s homes. Might be our only option.”

“We’re trying it,” Sam said, leaning into the pedal. “Hold onto your butts back there. Might get exciting where we’re going.”

There were still lights up ahead, shining from an enormous covered awning. At least some part of the ordinary world was still working, despite the pandemic. Flashing red and blue lights made Wayfinder instantly look up—but those weren’t inside the station. Instead, there were several police cars near the road leading into town from the highway.

As she expected, there wasn’t a single one leading from the backroad they’d used.

“Remember the plan,” she said, slinking lower in her seat. She peered out the window just above the door, squinting at the gas station. Mostly empty, except for a single car parked in front of the snack shop. No vehicles in any of the pumps, though maybe that was from the price.

It was listed well into the double digits per gallon on the light-up sign. Maybe that was why they’d picked this particular store to stay open: the signs had enough digits to show the price.

Sam picked the last pump in the lot, on the other side of the divider so it wouldn’t be visible from the shop, then glanced sharply back at Wayfinder. “Alright, Blue. Let’s see that magic in action. And don’t spring for the carwash, the dirty windows help cover us up.”

“I wasn’t going for the—”

Peter hopped out the side door before she could finish. She joined him a second later, emerging into the chilly night air. For all the strangeness of her last month, the pump still looked the same as any. The stupid screen with ads was blank, but otherwise…

When Peter floated her card up to the reader, it still lit up green, and prompted them to select a grade. They did, stuck the pump into the back of the car, and liquid began to flow.

We’re actually doing this.

She got to think that for about ten seconds, when a voice echoed from the pump. Not the whole lot—the one speaking had sent the words only to them. “I see you out there. Horses.” A young man’s voice. Teenager, by the sound of it. Terrified.

“We’re not supposed to sell to you.”

Finally, Peter replied. “Look away and pretend you didn’t,” he said. Not too loud, but talking to the pump. Assuming it had the hardware to hear him. “We’ll be gone in a sec.”

“No, I won’t do that,” he got more confident. “I’ve got a radio here. Can call the police at the roadblock to come and stop you. I could use it right now.”

The pump trickled full, agonizingly slow. Less than a gallon dispensed so far, much slower than she’d ever seen a pump fill. Not enough to get them to the city yet. She moved closer to Peter, keeping her body low to the ground. “You haven’t done it yet, kid. Do you want something? We don’t have a lot of cash left, if that’s what you want to do. Might as well just call them and get it over with.”

Pause. Peter looked harshly to the side, mouthing the words to something angry. He didn’t say it, instead peering out around the corner to check the flashing lights. A second later he leaned back, obviously relieved.

“You know what they do to the people they find? You’re supposed to be in the zone. Punishments are very harsh—for family too. No mercy, to keep us from getting sick.”

“You don’t sound thrilled about it,” Peter said. Maybe a little louder than Wayfinder would’ve, considering how quiet the town was. There weren’t exactly dozens of cars speeding down the highway to cover their conversation. “If you’re not gloating—”

“You’re going to the zone?” said the teenager. “Where the infected aren’t punished? Where they’re safe.”

“Yeah.” Wayfinder said. “Straight there. We aren’t trying to get people sick. Just want to live. It’s not our fault we got sick.”

“You want me not to report you, you have to do something for me,” he finally said. “One of you… the girl! Walk past the store a block, first house on the left. It looks abandoned, but it’s not locked. There’s another infected in there. Take her with you out of here… before anyone finds out she’s here. Tell her James sent you, she’ll come. You’re already headed that way.”

She could already see Peter wanted to refuse. She acted faster, shoving her leg into his mouth, and speaking first. The demand was for her, not Peter. Wayfinder had to decide:

1. Accept the demand. They had an extra seat anyway, might as well use it to guarantee a safe ride.
2. Refuse. Never trust a scared teenager, he’s probably plotting something.