Although the vehicles were severely damaged, there were no signs they had been looted. One van still had plenty of things inside, and several particularly large bundles were tied to its roof.
"Did no one fleeing the disasters pass through here? Or were they afraid to touch what was in the cars? That doesn't make sense. This is the apocalypse; who would still be following a moral code?"
Everyone was puzzled.
"Could they have frozen to death? The flash freeze hit so suddenly. Maybe they planned to spend the night by the lake and died in their sleep."
"Or maybe they were poisoned. After all, many of the plants on the prairie are highly toxic. They might have picked some poisonous berries, eaten them, and died."
"It could also be that they died from acid rain corrosion. Look at how damaged the cars are—even the tires have rotted away. It must have been the acid rain."
Everyone chattered, voicing their theories, but Evelyn Ford was staring blankly at the surface of the lake.
