It turned out one of the locals manning the gate was a passing acquaintance of Laura's, so they spent a few minutes in conversation before moving on. Epstein's efforts were particularly appreciated once they were more exposed on the hillside switchbacks — the wipers kept up well enough for a slow trundle in light rain, but Rebecca wouldn't want to rely on them during a proper downpour, or on the freeway. Not that exceeding forty or fifty miles an hour was likely anytime soon.

They soon cruised by the abandoned gas station, heading south. Laura gazed thoughtfully out the window, while Rebecca nodded periodically to approve Sam's playlist suggestions as mom-safe. Unfortunately, she didn't think to warn her mother about the burn scar. Sue couldn't have cared less, and was merely perturbed she wasn't petting him anymore, but Laura was appalled when she spotted it, looking out at the ashen sprawl with her eyes wide and hand over her mouth.

Rebecca glanced in the mirror. "Y'okay, Mom?"

"I- yeah. It's just quite different up close. I'd seen clips on the news, after those big fires out in California right before, well, you know... but jeez."

Sam caught Rebecca's eye. "You should warn her about town."

Laura's eyes met Rebecca's in the mirror again. "What about it?"

Trying to figure out how to describe the whole mess, Rebecca looked back at the road and leaned against the cushy center console. "There's... a lot of ghosts. Abandoned cars clogging roads, overgrown buildings, looted places." She glanced at the mirror sheepishly, then back to the roads. "Some by us."

"Don't worry, sweetheart. I'm not judging, and I'm sure you're not taking food out of other people's mouths."

Rebecca lifted one corner of her mouth in a brief acknowledgment. "Thanks. There's some creepy sights too. Barbed wire, lots of guns—"

Laura pointedly looked behind Rebecca's seat. "I've noticed."

Rebecca glanced at her mother with an expression that conceded the point, and continued. "I've seen two mass graves, personally, freaked out both times. There's trash everywhere, and it's not safe to just go walking around outside a settlement. People are doing stupid desperate things."

"I hear you. But you and your friends are working to change things, to make things less desperate, right?"

Rebecca nodded, moving her hand back onto the wheel for a turn, then resettled. "Yeah, I guess. That's what everyone says. For now—" She glanced at Sam and Laura. "I'm just happy with keeping you two and the rest of my friends safe."

Sam patted her on the forearm, and Laura smiled at her in the mirror. "Which is a good place to start. Thank you both for warning me, I guess I'll try to be as prepared as anyone really could."

Just as they were passing the big barn, Rebecca pointed at it without lifting her hands from the wheel. "See Mom, that's where we stopped for lunch before coming up the hill. Great view, but it was all self-serve."

The other women shook their heads, either sighing or rolling their eyes at her cheesy joke, but both chuckled too. Lighting on that one specific idyllic stretch of tree-framed countryside road was just right, so Rebecca stopped briefly to take a picture. This was apparently quite amusing to Christine, Rebecca could see her laughing through the other SUV's windshield when she leaned out to snap the photo, and waved.

She kept a careful eye on the trailer park as they zipped by, but it was as still as the first time they passed. As they wound through foothills, the rain picked up, but the old wipers were able to mostly hold their own. As they neared the unknown local faction's territory, they rolled to a stop at the bridge marking the boundary and Sam reached for the radio.

Rebecca glanced at Laura's puzzled face. "Just asking the neighbors if we can mosey on through."

Sam made contact, awkwardly identifying them as "those black SUVs again", explaining they were on their way home.

"Heading back the way you came?" A male voice answered, and Rebecca wasn't sure if it was the same guy or not.

Sam glanced at Rebecca, then answered into the mic. "Pretty much."

"Alright, head on through, same drill as last time. What should we call you, anyway?"

She looked Rebecca again and they exchanged shrugs and vague "heck if I know" sounds. "Echo's as good as anything, I guess. You?"

"Let's go with Rivenoak. Hope you found that family, safe drivin'."

"Thanks, Rivenoak. Echo clear."

The rain had lightened a little, but was still steady. Rebecca shifted in her seat and glanced at the mirror. "Hey Mom, would you believe there's actually a 'Swamp Poodle Lane' coming up, and a 'Potato Run' creek? Sam saw them on the map the first time through."

"That's pretty silly sounding, but that is a name for a real dog breed, like a big Spaniel."

Rebecca chuckled. "Then why not call it a Grand Spaniel or something?"

Conversation lapsed for a few minutes after the rhetorical question as they drove, and Rebecca finally let her guard ease as they passed the same general area they'd been hailed by "Rivenoak" the first time through. She looked in the mirror again.

"So Mom, what kind of bed do you want? Do you still like your mattresses inhumanly har—"

"Remy, brake!"

Rebecca's foot was already moving from the accelerator to the brake at Sam's command while she snapped her eyes back to the road ahead. The next swipe of the wipers showed her what Sam had spotted — a trio of cables strung across the road around chest and windshield height. By that point she was practically standing on the pedal, unconsciously pulling against the steering wheel just to get more force going down her leg.

A memory of Ronnie telling her about blades troops improvised onto turret fronts to protect gunners from just this kind of thing flashed by. ABS feedback shuddered violently under her foot as the tires scrabbled to halt the overweight SUV's mass before impact, and would probably succeed...

... if something hadn't abruptly popped both front tires and completely fouled them with a violent slam. The SUV slewed towards the right as the locked tires screeched, and Rebecca gently countersteered, thoroughly lectured by Laura years ago against overreacting in easily rolled vehicles.

She managed to keep them reasonably straight until they slammed into the lines across the road.