The plain opened up around us like a vast, indifferent sea.
The heat pressed down on the car like a heavy, suffocating blanket. The air inside was warm and dry, thick with the dust that found its way through the windows.
The cracked tarmac road stretched ahead, a thin black ribbon cutting through endless golden sand and sparse scrub. Heat shimmered off the surface in visible waves, making the horizon waver like a mirage.
No infected visible in any direction, just flat emptiness under a merciless blue sky. After everything we had survived, the quiet felt almost suspicious, like the plain was holding its breath.
Richard was in the front passenger seat, holding court with Mercury. He gestured animatedly as he spoke about some old army story involving a city called Schwaz.
Mercury drove with one hand on the wheel, listening and responding at the same time, her usual easy confidence returned. The wind through the cracked windows tugged at her hair.
