Daughter of Babylon, Book 1: California by Jamie Lee Grey

Author:Jamie Lee Grey [Grey, Jamie Lee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-04-27T22:00:00+00:00

***

Eventually, traffic began to inch forward again. Katie’s stomach rumbled. Dinner time had come and gone, and now the sun was sinking fast into the western horizon.

But at least they were moving now. Creeping, creeping, ever so slowwwwwly, toward mountains and the great state of Nevada.

A spectacular sunset began to glow, casting the world in its wild pink-orange light. It was beautiful, even if it was the result of all the smoke in the air.

The sun itself blazed florescent pink. Katie tried not to stare at it, knowing it would damage her retinas – but it was stunning and breathtaking, and hard not to look at.

Turning her gaze toward the eastern mountains, she saw it – the smoke plume Zach had mentioned. Then she saw another, and possibly a third, although it was hard to say for sure, with all the hazy smoke everywhere.

A breeze had picked up, too, coming in from the east. It’d be fanning those flames and blowing them straight toward the population centers – and the freeway she and her family were on.

Her stomach turned over, and not from hunger this time.

Who could have done such an evil thing? The coastal fires were bad enough – but then to light a second set of fires?

Whoever did this was trying not just to incite terror in the population, but to burn them all to death! And what a terrible way to go! She couldn’t even imagine.

Shuddering, she turned her eyes toward the colorful sky.

Lord Jesus, please get us out of here!

Something like sirens caught her attention. She rolled down her window.

Yep. Definitely sirens.

She gagged. And smoke!

Rolling up the window, she checked her mirrors. Was the emergency vehicle behind her, going her direction, or was it traveling the opposite direction on the other side of the freeway?

It didn’t seem to be getting much louder, so obviously it wasn’t moving very fast. Stuck in traffic like everyone else. Great.

Ahead of her, the motorhome brake lights illuminated, then the RV came to a stop. A moment later, the lane beside her stopped also.

What now?

She radioed her husband. “What’s going on?”

“There’s a wreck,” he said.

“In our lane?”

“No, the right lane. But drivers there are trying to merge in with our lane, so it’s all snarled up.”

“How far ahead?”

“I’d say half a mile or so.”

Katie groaned. Really? It could take an hour to get around it, the way traffic wasn’t moving.

“How are you doing for gas?” Zach asked.

“I don’t even want to look.”

“You can turn off the truck. I’ll let you know when it looks like we’ll be moving again.”

“Seriously? It’s that bad?”

“Afraid so.” He sighed. “I’m gonna put this beast in park and shut it down, too.”

Katie’s bladder had been making hints for a while. “I’m coming up with you for a minute.”

“What?”

“Yeah, I really need to.”

“Oh. Yikes.”

“Out.”

Katie turned off the engine, grabbed her purse and keys, and scrambled out of the pickup. She caught a weird glance from a driver in the next lane, but ignored it, rushing up to the motorhome and letting herself inside.

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