Chapter Two - A Night Without Night

SUVs sat crooked across lanes with shattered windows. No drivers were visible. Just vents still breathing hot air from dead air conditioners. A convenience store had been looted and abandoned; the open freezers held only warped chocolate bars and melted plastic bottles. "Do you smell that?" Mara asked. Elliot did. Burned pine, dust, and something chemical under it. Far on the horizon, the sky glowed with an unnatural orange-red. A wildfire was pushing in from the foothills. Fire crews had been grounded by daylight conditions and wind limits. The line of flame was not rushing. It was simply coming, steady and patient, like a blade sliding across a map.