The sky was still bruised with the last colors of dawn when we got back on the road.
The three of us settled into the car the way people settle in after a hard night, quiet but functional, the specific morning energy of people who had decided to keep going.
Mercury was driving with her smile back, which surprised me. Jenn was in the back, alone, her hand resting on her bag the way some people rest their hands on prayer beads.
"You good?" I asked her, turning slightly in my seat.
"Yes," Jenn answered softly. She didn't elaborate. I didn't push.
Mercury glanced at her in the rearview mirror. "You must be an introvert."
"Not exactly," Jenn said. "Just quiet."
"Okay." Mercury looked back at the road and then at me. "Their tire tracks are visible. We can follow them."
The plain stretched ahead with no road to speak of. The sand carried the impression of two armored vehicles that had passed through hours ago. Easy to follow if you knew what you were looking at.
Then I saw it.
