“It’s only a slight detour.”

   “It’s a six mile detour along more populated roads.”

   I looked helplessly at Bret and Jenna. Bret was thoughtful, his hands clasped behind his back as he rocked on his heels. Jenna looked about ready to cry, but there was a growing air of fury around her. “I’ll go by myself.”

   “No one is going anywhere by themselves!” I told her. “Lloyd…”

   “This is not a democracy.”

   “We are notin the military!” I snapped at him.

   Lloyd’s jaw locked. “I am, and I have my orders.”

   “Enough!” Bret finally inserted. “We are not separating; we are not deviating from the mission. Part of our goal was to try and find survivors. Jenna has a lead on where we could find some. It i spart of the mission Lloyd, it may take us a little longer, but it is still part of the mission.”

   I couldn’t stop the admiration and relief that filled me as I turned to Bret. I would have sat here and butted heads with Lloyd for hours until one of us just gave up or I completely lost my temper. Leave it to Bret to find reason and logic to use against the stubborn soldier, instead of anger and hostility.

   “We cannot leave here knowing that we chance leaving survivors behind,” Bret continued, his tone level and encouraging.

   Lloyd was silent for a few moments, thinking over Bret’s reasoning. “You’re right,” he finally relented. “We cannot leave the area without first seeking out the possible survivors.”

   I breathed a sigh of relief, Jenna let out a small cry of delight as she threw her arms impulsively around Bret. I bit back a smile at Bret’s look of shock and disbelief as he awkwardly managed to hug her back. “Address?” Lloyd barked out.

   Jenna was beet red and grinning brightly as she pulled away from Bret and rattled off the address.

***

   I was regretting our decision, regretting the fact that we were now standing on the edge of the main street in Plymouth staring down the tree lined roads. There were trees but they weren’t much coverage, and the two and three story buildings offered no protection from anything above. A few of the buildings had been destroyed. I didn’t have to ponder what had been capable of doing that, I’d been unfortunate enough to watch one of the larger octopus/tick/jellyfish things level the antique store our mother had been in the basement of.

   Apparently some of these buildings had stood in the way of one of the monsters, and some poor victim. I had no idea how we were going to make it down that street without being spotted. Lloyd was consulting the GPS looking for an alternate route, but everything seemed to be miles out of the way and we had already lost a day just getting this far.

   “Maybe if we wait till night,” Jenna said softly.

   “There is no cover,” Lloyd retorted.

   I studied the street, taking in the awnings, debris, and open doorways. I had made it down a street even more open than this once, and nearly been caught. Cade had saved me…

   I shut the thought forcefully down. My hands fisted as I continued to take everything in. There was no Cade anymore; I would have to save myself this time, and every time after this. We would have to save each other. No matter what, I wasn’t going to give up the hope of possibly finding Jenna’s parents. “We can do it,” I insisted. “Under cover of darkness, and using the buildings, we can do this.”

   “Bethany…”

   “Look,” I pointed to the street, to the piles of rubble, to the vast amount of stores and restaurants with their doors thrust open. “In daylight there doesn’t appear to be a lot of hiding places, but at night, under darkness, and hiding behind the debris, we can move swiftly through the town.”

   “Bethany,” Bret said again.

   Even Jenna was hesitant, fear shone in her eyes. “We can go back, go to the hospital first, and then try my aunts,” she suggested.

   “That will easily take another day or more,” Lloyd muttered, frowning at the GPS. “Damn thing is acting up.”

   “What’s it doing?” I demanded, the sharp edge of fear stabbing me in the chest.

   He shook it, slapping it lightly against the palm of his hand. I glanced nervously toward the sky, but the large ship that had settled over Boston over as year ago was not visible right now, and the smaller ones didn’t seem to be about. It was hard to tell though; they were silent, and as fast as any racecar. I searched the woods, but birds still chirruped within the trees and thee was a chipmunk searching for an acorn as he dug at the base of a tree. There didn’t appear to be any imminent danger, but my skin crawled as Lloyd slapped the GPS again, shook his head and clipped it to his belt.

   “It won’t register any other route. We either double back or go through.”

   “Why?” Jenna inquired nervously.

   “Could just be a bad spot.”

   “Or it could be something blocking the signal or satellite.”

   “Yes,” Lloyd admitted.

   “Why do I feel as if we’re being herded?” Bret muttered.

   “The animals are still out, I think we’re relatively safe until nightfall,” I pointed out.

   “And then all bets are off,” Lloyd said softly.

   The day passed slowly, the movement of the sun seemed excruciatingly slow as it shifted position in the sky. I tried to rest, tried to sleep, but my mind would not shut off. I kept opening my eyes to stare down the street. I had sounded confident when I’d said we could make it down there. I wasn’t so sure anymore. The more I studied it now, the less hiding places there seemed to be.

   I stood up, suddenly unable to take sitting still anymore. Bret’s eyes followed me as I paced anxiously toward a scraggly looking pine tree and leaned against it. I didn’t want to look at the street anymore, but my eyes were inexorably drawn back to it. I felt as if I were missing something, as if there was something I wasn’t seeing.

   I frowned, trying hard to take everything in. I may have grown up nearby, but I didn’t know Plymouth all that well. For one thing it was huge, and for another I had hated to ride in cars after surviving the accident that had killed my father. I had not done the school fieldtrips to Plimoth Plantation, or the Mayflower II, so I probably knew even less about the town than most of the kids I had gone to school with.

   “Has the town always looked like this?” I asked Bret. “Minus the damage of course.”

   Bret studied the street for a long moment before shrugging absently. “More or less, I mean there were always more people and tourists moving about, but I’m sure it hasn’t been busy like that for awhile.”

   I continued to study the street; slowly it began to dawn on me what exactly was wrong with this picture. “There’s nothing left,” I breathed.

   Bret rose slowly to his feet, his forehead furrowed in confusion. I had thought that Jenna was sleeping, but one of her eyes popped open to stare at the two of us. Lloyd had been standing guard fifty feet away, but he came closer as he heard our words. “What do you mean?” Bret inquired.

   Horror flowed through me as I stared at the empty street. “There’s nothing there. Every other street we’ve come across, in everyother town, has had something left behind. Bicycles, shoes, hell we’ve even come across shirts and pants, socks and underwear. There have been wallets, money, and change. There have been toupees and wigs; there’s even been a set of dentures.” That had been exceptionally gross and unnerving. “But there is nothing out there. There isn’t one damn thing on those streets except for debris from the buildings.”

   They were silent beside me, and then Lloyd let out a hissing breath. “You’re right.”

   “But what does that mean?” Jenna asked tremulously.

   I shook my head; I had no answer for that question. “They’re cleaning it up.”