Gone

own sort of wall. The thought had never occurred to Sam soforcefully before that Perdido Beach was already bounded by barriers, by mountains on the north and east, by ocean to the south and west. This road, this silent, empty road, was just about the only way in or out.
    Ahead was the Chevron station. Sam thought he saw movement there.
    “What do you guys think?” he asked.
    “Maybe they have food. It’s a mini-mart, right?” Quinn said. “I’m hungry.”
    “We should keep going,” Astrid said.
    “Edilio?” Sam pressed.
    He shrugged. “I don’t want to be paranoid. But, man, who knows?”
    Sam said, “I guess I vote for keeping going.”
    Edilio nodded and eased the golf cart to the left side of the road.
    “If there are kids there, we smile and wave and say we’re in a hurry,” Sam said.
    “Yes, sir,” Quinn said.
    “Don’t pull that, brah. We took a vote,” Sam said.
    “Yeah. Right.”
    There were clearly people at the Chevron station. A slight breeze carried a torn Doritos bag down the highway toward them, a red and gold tumbleweed.
    As the golf cart approached, one kid, then another, stepped out into the road. Cookie was the first. The second kid Sam didn’t recognize.
    “T’sup, Cookie,” Sam called out as they drew within twenty yards.
    “T’sup, Sam?” Cookie replied.
    “Looking for Astrid’s little brother, man.”
    “Hold up,” Cookie said. He was carrying a metal baseball bat. The other kid beside him had a croquet mallet with green stripes.
    “Nah, man, we’re on a mission, we’ll catch you later,” Sam said. He waved, and Edilio kept his foot on the pedal. They were within a couple of feet and would soon be past.
    “Stop them,” a voice yelled from the Chevron station. Howard was running and behind him, Orc. Cookie stepped in front of the cart.
    “Don’t stop,” Sam hissed.
    “Man, look out,” Edilio warned Cookie.
    Cookie jumped aside at the last second. The other kid swung his mallet hard. The wood shaft hit the steel pole that supported the cart’s awning. The mallet head snapped off and narrowly missed Quinn’s head.
    Then they were past and Quinn yelled back, “Hey, you almost knocked my head in, jerkwad.”
    They were maybe thirty feet on and pulling away when Orc yelled, “Catch them, you morons.”
    Cookie was a big kid, not fast. But the other kid, the one holding the broken mallet, was smaller and quicker. He broke into a sprint. Howard and Orc were farther back, running full out, but Orc was heavy and slow and Howard pulled away from him.
    The kid with the mallet caught up to them. “You better stop,” he said, panting, running alongside.
    “I don’t think so,” Sam said.
    “Dude, I’ll stab you with this stick,” the kid threatened, but he was panting harder. He made a weak stab with the shattered end of the mallet.
    Sam caught it and twisted it out of his hands. The kid tripped and sprawled. Sam tossed the stick aside contemptuously.
    Howard was almost in range, coming up directly behind the cart. Astrid and Quinn watched calmly as Howard pumped hard, skinny arms windmilling. He threw a glance back and realized Orc wasn’t going to catch up.
    “Howard, what do you think you’re doing, man?” Quinn asked in a perfectly reasonable voice. “You’re like a dog chasing a truck. What are you going to do if you catch us?”
    Howard got the point and slowed down.
    Edilio said, “It’s a low-speed chase, man. Maybe we’ll be on the news.”
    That got a nervous laugh.
    Five minutes later, no one was laughing. “There’s a truck coming up fast,” Astrid said. “We need to pull over.”
    “They won’t run us down,” Quinn said. “Even Orc’s not that crazy.”
    “They may or may not want to run us down,” Astrid said, “but that’s a fourteen-year-old driving a Hummer. You really want to be on the road?”
    Quinn nodded. “We’re in for a pounding.”

TEN
    274 HOURS , 27 MINUTES
    THE HUMMER WEAVED back and forth across the road, but there was no way to pretend it wasn’t going to catch them.
    “Keep going or pull off?” Edilio asked. His hands were white-knuckled on the wheel.
    “They’re going to kick our butts now,” Quinn yelled. “We should have just stopped. I told you we should have just stopped, but no.”
    The Hummer closed the distance with shocking speed.
    “They’re going to hit us,” Astrid yelled.
    Quinn jumped off the cart and ran. The Hummer shuddered to a stop. Cookie and the Mallet Kid piled out