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enough.
    She drove as fast as she dared, topping one hundred miles an hour. She was wide awake with a rush of adrenaline at the bad news. It didn’t take her long to shoot into the gas station parking lot, tires screeching and dust billowing.
    “You alright?” the guy said as he ran outside. “You scared me.”
    Darlene jumped out of her car. “Have you been listening to the radio?”
    “Nah. Nothing I want to hear comes in this far out. Why?”
    “We’re under attack,” Darlene said.
    “Who’s ‘we’?”
    Darlene threw up her hands. “The country. America. The U.S. of A. The damn Koreans or Russians or someone has attacked Yellowstone National Park.”
    He turned and looked into the distance. “That’s really far from this spot.” He turned back to Darlene. “Any secondary strikes or did it just happen?”
    “I think it’s been a few hours. I don’t know. They are telling people to stay away from major cities like San Francisco,” Darlene said.
    “Yes, very good idea. I need to call my wife, Pheebz, and tell her to monitor the news. I’m going to close up, too. Will you help me? I’m Herbert Brinker, by the way.”
    “Darlene Bobich. Pleased to meet you again, I guess. I’m not sure what help I’m going to be closing up, though.”
    “If what you’re saying is true, we don’t have much time. I need you to bag up all the food and drink you can and fill your car with it. Pack it in, and anything else you think we’ll need,” Herbert said.
    “What are you going to do?”
    “I have the old gas truck in the garage out back. I’m going to fill it. Then I’ll lock up and you can follow me back to my property. The couple that returned from San Francisco should be coming back this way in the middle of the night, unless they got wind of what’s happening. We told them about a cute hidden spot near the lake to the north. They were going to get away for a few hours.”
    “Is all this necessary? Do you think the neighbors will rob you?” Darlene asked, looking around. There wasn’t another person in sight.
    “I think once panic sets in, and especially if the news is telling people to get out of the cities, eventually we’ll have our main roads filled with desperate people with nowhere to go. And they won’t have the money, or won’t want to part with their money, and they’ll loot. I’ve seen it before. I go by the worst-case scenario, which says I can kiss my gas station goodbye. In any case, we’ll need these supplies for ourselves. We can talk more about this at the house. You look exhausted, anyway. I doubt you would’ve made it a few more miles,” Herbert said. “Go fill the bags. I need to call my wife and tell her to set another plate for dinner.”

Chapter Six
Day 1 - NYC - 8:25 am
    “ Y ou all right ?” Tynes had propped Mike up against a wall, clapping one hand on his shoulder to keep him from falling over.
    “You fucking tased me, man.” Mike looked accusingly at the cop.
    “Would you rather I shot you?”
    “Would have been able to escape; no way your sausage fingers fit through that trigger guard.”
    “Give me your hands so I can cuff you.” Tynes said nothing as he looked at the scarred hands Mike thrust out in front of him. When he was done, he yanked on Mike, who was unable to stand.
    “Give me a minute, man.”
    “Fine, let’s do this your way.” Tynes wrapped a meaty hand under Mike’s shoulder and pulled him up effortlessly. Mike’s legs dragged uselessly behind him. He was, as of yet, unable to control them with any great degree of success.
    “Come on, you’re going to drag me all the way back to your cruiser like this? Just put me down and get the car. I promise I’ll wait.”
    “Yeah, like I believe you.”
    “I’m cuffed, and my legs feel like they’re asleep. How far do you think I’m going to get?”
    “I leave you alone in this condition, how long do you think it’ll take the jackals, especially in this neighborhood, to roll