Broken World by Kate L. Mary

stomach tightens. Now what?
    “Should we keep goin’?” Angus glances
over his shoulder at Axl, who leans forward. His head sticks between the seats.
    “No. You gotta stop.”
    “What if they’re lookin’ for us?”
    “They ain’t lookin’ for us. Not in
Oklahoma. Not with the virus. We ain’t important right now.”
    I was right. They are on the run.
    “What do they want then?” I’ve never
heard Angus sound so tense. I guess only the cops scare him.
    “Guess we’ll find out,” Axl says.
    Angus pulls over and plasters a fake
smile on his face as the cop approaches the car. He rolls the window down, and
we wait.
    The cop draws his gun and pastes a tense
smile on his face. He’s trying to stay casual. It doesn’t work. “Hey there,
folks. Sorry for bothering you.”
    “Not a problem, officer,” Angus says cheerfully.
    “Listen, we’ve got a couple over here
having some car trouble, and my partner and I were wondering if you would be
willing to give them a ride to the next checkpoint. It’s only about twenty
miles up the road, but we can’t leave our post.” His eyes dart toward the
couple, then back.
    His partner stands by the police car
with a shotgun slung casually over his shoulder. Watching us.
    “Once you get to the checkpoint you can
drop them off and someone will help them.”
    Angus frowns and looks over his shoulder,
and I follow his gaze. Axl and Joshua are just as rigid as Angus. There’s
something wrong here.
    “Sure, officer…” Angus lets the word
hang in the air for a brief second. “We can give them a lift. It’s only twenty
miles.”
    The cop nods. His face is tight.
“Thanks.”
    He doesn’t move, and he doesn’t take his
eyes off us. He just waves to his partner and stays where he is. Tension fills
my body as his partner walks toward us. The two people trail behind him. They
each carry a few bags. Axl hops out of the car and goes around the back of the
Nissan so he can open the door.
    When they walk by me I get a better look
at them. They’re young. Eighteen, nineteen. College students probably. A guy
and a girl. He’s big like a linebacker. Dark black skin, hair cut short, serious
face. She’s tiny like a child, probably only five feet tall. Indian. Long hair
and big, round eyes that flash with terror.
    Angus makes a grunting sound, and I
glance his way. His face is even harder than before. Is their skin color is
going to be a problem? He seems like that type.
    “Yo, Doc!” Angus yells back to Joshua.
“Climb on up to the second row so these new folks can have that there third
row.”
    “Thanks for your cooperation.” The cop
finally walks away. He barely glances at us before going to the back of our car
where his partner is. He never asked for our travel papers.
    Angus looks back at his brother and
murmurs a few racial slurs under his breath. I knew it. This should make for an
interesting trip.
    The couple climbs in the back, and Axl
hops in after them. “Let’s get the hell outta here.”
    The cop never comes back. He and his
partner stand in the road behind us, talking.
    I turn around in my seat and smile at
the new arrivals. I’m on edge, but I don’t want them to think it has anything
to do with them. “Hi. I’m Vivian. This is Angus, Joshua, and Axl.”
    The guy nods, but muscles in his neck
are so tight his head barely moves. “Trey. This is Parvarti.”
    “Where y’all comin’ from?” Angus calls
back.
    “Cornell University,” Trey says.
    Joshua spins around. “New York?”
    They both nod, but don’t speak. Neither
do we. My heart pounds and a million questions go through my head. I can’t
force them past my lips. I want to know. So bad. But I don’t.
    “Where you headed?” Axl’s voice is
strained.
    “New Mexico,” Parvarti says, speaking up
for the first time. Her voice is soft and small, just like she is.
    “Berkley,” Trey says.
    Joshua finally finds his voice. “New
York isn’t on lockdown anymore?”
    Trey swallows a few