Linda, still sitting in the stalled car, took a mental inventory for their journey looking toward the back to remember, "We've got a total of two six-packs of water, so we can each carry five, plus the one we've been drinking from. Mine isn't finished yet."

"Mine isn't either." Liz opened the door and expected to hear the beeping of the 'key-in-the-ignition' reminder.It didn't go off. Oh, that's right, the battery's dead. Oh, my gosh, it could have gone off when I was trying to be so quiet getting out of the car while Linda was sleeping. 

Wait, that didn't really happen. I was in the car the whole time. Or was I? I don't know. All right, I've got to stop the scrambling. Linda will think something is wrong. Well, it's not terribly wrong but it is pretty bizarre. 

Liz could not shake the memory of the nightmare she had after drinking the black drink the anachronistically dressed Native American woman, Kai Zita gave them.  

Sure, Linda dreamt of angels. Me, I had to get consumed by crows like some of my favorite characters in my Gear books. I don't know what would have been worse, crows or Winged Panther, a mythical creature from the underworld.

Looking for the red line on the locks to confirm the fact that no one had been outside, Liz saw there were none. Somebody had been outside of this car. The doors automatically locked when the car went 8 MPH. 

So they would have been locked when we stopped. Oh, wait a minute. I had to unlock it for Linda and Kai Zita. Stop it. Eckhart Tolle would not be pleased with how you are listening to your chattering mind.

By now, Linda was opening the back door to get her pack. Unzipping it, she began finding space for her water bottles. "You coming? I left the bottles there for you. I don't think there's anything else. We've eaten all the stale crumbs I could find.  I guess it's just the acorn bread Kai Zita gave us. "

Come on, you've got to get with it, Liz coaxed herself. She pulled herself up and looked at the roof of the car, all clear. Looking at the hood, then to the ground by her hubcap, where it all happened. It didn't, fighting with herself, it was just a very bad dream. But, why do I feel different?

"Finally,"  teased Linda. You might want to unload some of the unnecessary stuff in there," pointing to Liz's wide open pack. "I saw a pair of socks, a sweatband, an extra shirt, Dollar Store gloves, lots of papers."

Liz began grabbing the excess and putting it into a plastic bag. Linda couldn't help laugh when Liz announced, "I'll sort this stuff later." Holding up the pair of socks, "Having extras has always been handy when my feet got soaked running through puddles to get from my car to the door at work." 

"Ah, we probably won't be walking in any water on this journey." She stuffed the pair into the bag but kept her bandana sweatband and her MacGyver knife in there. She began placing the bottles into her roomier pack.

Picking it up, That's much better, much lighter. I can't remember when it was this light. Thank you, Linda.  She ducked into the front, leaned over, grabbed her portion of bread, and gently positioned it in the pack. Linda's already gotten hers.  

Zipping her pack as she stood, she put her arms through the backpack straps, looking for any sign of the coyote. Shaking her head in a dreamy state, Kai Zita was a Shape-shifter. Shaking her head again.

Liz scanned the roof, hood, and skies. Well, that tenuous situation appears to be safe. For now. It was presently a very suspiciously different scene.

"I guess we should just keep going in the direction the car is pointed. Good thing you could at least pull it a bit to the side. Although, with no traffic, it doesn't really matter." 

"Do you hear that?"

Linda paused, "Yuh, I think it sounds like a chainsaw." 

Liz clenched her jaws. "What do you suppose that means?"

"One thing it could mean is we're not the only people left on this earth. Linda said. This whole situation reminds me of what it will be like at the Armageddon or end of times."

Liz responded, "You do have a point, this has been such a strange couple of days. I wonder what more exciting adventures this place has in store for us." 

"That chain saw is a serious one, it can do a lot of damage, fast. It's a 2 stroke chainsaw from the sounds of it." Linda offered.

Liz knew it was her turn to tease Linda. "I didn't know you were a chainsaw connoisseur."

"You know I hate horror stories. My son was watching something about a massacre with a chainsaw. I couldn't watch it. Now, he is a connoisseur of chain saws, and he said it was a 2-stroke chainsaw the guys were using. Did I care? No. I just wanted to get away from the sound and now here we are walking toward it."

Liz held her breath as that old familiar sinking feeling began to form. I certainly hope it isn't a massacre like the one up in the woods near my home. Looking around, This is a perfect setting for something like that to happen.

They both were trying to get their bearings, but there were no points of reference. The only one they had, their car, was already lost in the fog. They'd never seen anything like this before. It must have had to do with where they were, now, compared with where they were a few days ago. Home.

"It certainly is a good thing this yellow line is here in the middle of this road."

"Yuh," Linda chuckled, We would walk right off the side of the road into a ditch, like when we have to be so careful when it's snowing so hard that you can't see."

"You're right.  It is a lot like being in a blizzard as far as the visibility goes. Thank goodness there's not the wind blowing this stuff around."

"Maybe it would blow some of this away. There's got to be an end to it somewhere."

Liz nodded. "I guess we just keep bumping along." They both laughed. That is a favorite saying for encouragement by their former boss, Bonnie.

The incessant screaming of that 2-stroke chainsaw grew louder. Linda placed her hands over her ears. "It's coming from down in those lumpy hills."  They both clenched jaws and grimaced. "Should we continue on our journey? Or investigate? " Linda hesitantly asked.