The mayor nodded thoughtfully, as though unsure whether that was a veiled insult, before finally responding, "Smart woman. Please take a seat then?" He motioned to an empty seat at the far end of the dining table. Carla hesitantly approached it and sat down.

  The mayor took his place in his chair and pulled it a bit too close to her own. He leaned in to speak, "I wanted to apologize for my earlier... crassness. It was never my desire to dishonor your history. And I truly apologize for that. This job can get the best of me at times. And I vent my rage on other individuals. It's not a quality I'm especially proud of, but it's one I'm working on."

  Carla wondered how long he had spent practicing those words, each syllable meticulously chosen. He was now in sales mode, employing the same demeanor that had worked him well in his prior political career.

  "But hopefully, you can look past your first impressions of me, and then hopefully, we can help each other," he continued.

  Carla didn't reveal anything since she didn't want to let her guard down for this man.

  "I did a fair bit of research on you, Carla Garcia." Carla blinked as her entire name was mentioned. "Don't appear surprised. If you delve deep enough, you can find material. I also had my men dig." She noticed him leafing through a file that was kept together with paper clips. "Given your background, you've certainly come a long way from teaching history." He raised his eyes to her. "You are now in the enviable position of being able to make it."

  "How did you come by that information?" Carla asked, curious whether someone she knew had revealed more about her to anyone, especially this creepy guy. Did he know that she’d killed a girl or that her family was a bit insane? Did he know about her encounters with Carson? Thoughts raced through her head like fireworks.

  "My methods are my own," the mayor stated flatly, and Carla had the feeling she wouldn't get any more from him.

  The mayor went on. "There is nothing in this town that's beyond my grasp. I can have anything I want within a few hours. But when I'm feeling generous, I see no reason why other individuals in my orbit shouldn't be able to also reap the advantages."

  Carla saw where this was going and hoped the mayor didn't notice her wriggling nervously in her chair.

  "I understand that San Antonio is running low on food supplies, so in exchange for your assistance, I will be willing to set up a more robust distribution route. Let’s say, hmmm once a week, ensuring that everyone in your neighborhood is healthy and fed."

  Carla disliked asking the question, but she knew it had to be answered, if only for her own peace of mind. "And what kind of services do you anticipate from me?"

  To her surprise, he didn't respond right away, instead shifting his copious weight in his seat. "Well, I can't give you any specifics, because this isn't your typical job description. However, I will make every effort to identify positions that match your 'unique' qualifications. Because I understand you were a teacher, there is a charter school where you can work some shifts.

  "Of course, given that you will be spending a significant amount of time in Lehigh, it only makes sense that you have appropriate lodging; I will be provide you an apartment in exchange for your services."

  The man's eyes kept roaming over her body; it gave her the creeps, but she was here to see what he had to say. Though the man's words should have comforted Carla, she had to consider who was making the offer and that she would have to leave her family behind to accept it.

  "I recognize that this is a big decision to make," the mayor added, sensing her discomfort. But I guarantee you that working for me will provide you with all you need to satisfy both my requirements and the needs of the town of Lehigh."

  Carla reasoned that the demands of the community and the mayor were likely the same thing in the self-serving man's head.

  "And if you're still worried about your family," the mayor continued, his sales pitch unwavering, "there is a fully-stocked clinic equipped to treat your sister and grandmother's ailments."

  Carla remained silent despite the benefits given. The mayor was using her own family as a bargaining chip.

  "And I'll say that, while we've had our fair share of problems in Lehigh, we've never had to worry about looting. For us, going hungry is not an option."

  Carla could not disagree; she’d seen the abundance this place offered.

  The mayor reclined back in his chair, having said what he wanted and now waiting for Carla to do the mental math that told her this was the best option. "You are not required to respond immediately. Take some time for yourself to reflect on it. But I can tell you that this is the best offer you are going to get. I'll do my best to make sure the resources will be waiting for you when you say yes."

  Carla somehow made it out of the mayor's office feeling as if she was going to be sick. Her head was spinning, her palms were sweating and everything seemed to have shifted ninety degrees from normal. Outside, she sank onto the stairs, overwhelmed by the possibilities of what she was offered.

  "Hey, are you all right?" a familiar voice asked. Carla's ears perked.

  “Carson?”

  He stood there looking disheveled, with large bags under his eyes and a scruffy beard. She could see sweat stains on his shirt.

  "What exactly are you doing here?" she asked, not getting the usual vibe from the man.

  "I'm doing a few extra shifts for the mayor," Carson confessed, before hastily adding, "My kids need the food. And it isn't all that horrible."

  Carla, on the other hand, knew Carson well enough to know when he was being dishonest.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  "How is your love life going?"

  The suddenness of the question surprised Carla. She'd been home attempting housework, dusting the bookcases while Maria slept in her chair. The oppressive heat of the day was finally beginning to ease.

  She'd almost leapt out of her skin when the older woman spoke. Carla turned back and answered. "I don't have time to think about a love life, Grandma."

  "Certainly not with a married man, that's for sure," Maria grumbled.

  Carla felt herself becoming numb. "What exactly did you just say?"

  "I know about you and Carson. I'm old, dear, not blind," Maria remarked when Carla was too stunned to answer. “I can see his expression when he stares at you. And the way you've regarded him."

  "Why didn't you say anything?" Carla asked, lowering herself to her grandmother’s eye level. Maria, she would have assumed, would chew her out at the first opportunity.

  "Because he brought you joy. And you needed that in your life. Don’t tell anyone, I used to fool around a lot when I was your age," Maria reflected, before adding matter-of-factly, "but child…he's already taken. He has his own family. If you continue, in the end, everyone suffers."

  Carla felt a sour pit of embarrassment form in her gut. She would have loved Maria to just yell and scream at her, but her grandmother's silent acceptance inflicted far more hurt and shame.

  "You should be with Joshua," Maria replied cheerfully.

  “Joshua?”

  "He's a far better fit for you. A good man is not only there when everything is fine. He's also there for you through thick and thin. And, despite everything that has happened with the world...and your sister, Joshua has always been there for you. He's persisted. That is the type of man you want in your life."

  Carla was glad for this brief moment of clarity but quickly dismissed Maria's attempt to play matchmaker. "Abuela, we're just friends. We have a great friendship, in fact, and I don't want to ruin it." That was the truth, despite her occasional thoughts about something more.

  "You will want to be quick," Maria responded, refusing to let go of the situation. "A man like that will be snapped up eventually. But if he is as good as he seems, you should make sure that the lucky girl is you."

  Her grandmother was old-school. She didn't think a woman's life was complete without a man. Carla had a very different opinion of them. "We are good friends," Carla said again. "But I don't see us being anything more."

  "Who is your good friend?" Maria asked, her face clouding over and her mind again blank.

  "Josh and I..." Carla began before she saw Maria's incomprehension, the last few minutes robbed from them, never to be recovered.

  Carla's heart sank, knowing she should be accustomed to these ‘blank moments,’ as she referred to the woman's spells of forgetfulness. But it still gave her the same gut-wrenching feeling it did when Maria was first diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

  She patted the older woman's shoulder and made her way out of the room. The personal torment she felt at having no one to share this with was terrible. In the grand scheme of things, though, Maria’s not remembering right now might just be a blessing. Still, this new world was no place for someone in her condition. Maybe it was unfair to even hope she would make it, but Maria was half of all the family she had left.

  Carla couldn't do it alone for much longer. She required help from the one other person who had a responsibility for Maria but so far had been unable or unwilling to own it.

  She didn't bother to knock on Meredith's door. She simply entered. Meredith sat in bed. Carla had come to the conclusion that there was no easy way out, so she might as well say it. "Meredith, we need to talk," she stated severely, her tone reminiscent of her days as a teacher.

  "What exactly do you want to talk about?"

  Carla was still trying to frame the conversation in her own head. "It's all about Grandma,” she began. "She's getting worse. I'm doing everything I can to help, but it's killing me. And...and it looks like I'll be spending more time away from home. So, I need to know you'll be able to step up and take care of her while I'm away."

  "Right," Meredith stated flatly before returning to her collection of colored stones spread out atop the bed.

  "Did you not hear what I just said?" Carla asked. Her sister's apparent indifference was getting on her last nerve.

  "I did," Meredith said, without looking up. "And she won't last long anyway."

  "Excuse me?"

  "This new world is putting us to the test,” Meredith began. "Separating the wheat from the chaff, attempting to determine who can survive in the new world and who will perish. Grandma, on the other hand, is not built for the world out there."

  The room was stiflingly hot, sweat rolled down Carla’s face and back. "How can you say something like that?" she yelled.

  "It's not a judgment, it's just a fact of life," Meredith said. "People like Grandma will die out if they haven't already, and they will only drag the rest of us down along the way."

  "Meredith...we're talking about our grandmother!"

  "I'm not thinking about preferences. I'm thinking realistically. And if we wanted to get into preferences," she said softly, "it's clear that she loves you more than she does me."

  Carla was appalled at what she was hearing. She'd always known Meredith operated on a different mental level than her, but she'd hoped she'd have a place in her heart for others, especially the woman who had taken them in and cared for them since their parents died.

  She wanted to lash out at Meredith and condemn her sister's vicious comments. But she couldn't come up with anything that would pierce through Meredith's twisted logic. Honestly, it wasn't so distant from what she herself had been thinking minutes earlier. She had just not been so cruel as to speak it.

  Instead, Carla stood up and left the room, puzzled as to how she was meant to manage her sister when everything around them was going insane. It seemed like a losing battle. Still, she had some tough decisions to make.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  To the untrained eye, nothing much seemed to have changed. The buildings were all in the same places, and the streets were all laid out the same way. There was, nevertheless, an implicit sense of danger. Carla felt as if the early evening darkness was reaching out to grasp her. She was getting spooky vibes, like something Meredith might dream up.

  She increasingly felt the loss of Carson's company ever since she began patrolling alone, knowing that individuals would be less inclined to assault a group of people, or even a pair. A lone person, on the other hand, especially a girl, was an easy target.

  The mayor had imposed the curfew, and Carla diligently patrolled the streets to make sure everyone was where they needed to be. The sound of breaking glass set her mind racing. She moved quietly but quickly in the direction of the sound, despite the fact that her survival instincts told her to run the opposite way.

  The source of the noise was an old convenience store that had formerly been owned by a family she remembered fondly but had long since been abandoned.

  Except for tonight's visitors.

  Carla dashed up to the charging stations, her fingers resting lightly on her service weapon.

  She counted three people coming out of the building, each holding baseball bats, evidently having been unsuccessful in their search.

  Carla could make out the youthful features even in the darkness, and her heart sank at the realization they were just kids, maybe early teens. She stood and held the gun up for them to see.

  "You can't be out here. We have a curfew."

  The kids barely seemed to notice her or just no longer cared.

  "Get out of here and don't come back," she said, attempting to sound braver than she really was.

  "Or what?" asked the teen in the middle as he moved closer. Carla surprised herself by standing firm.

  "I'll do what I have to do to keep the law. I'll put you in the ground if I have to," Carla declared. "It certainly wouldn't be the first time." She found herself remembering Jenny Harris and wondering if she had it in her to kill another child.

  She slowly lowered her gun toward the boys. "This is your final chance. Move on before it gets ugly."

  "You were Ms. Garcia, weren't you? You taught my sister."

  Was she Ms. Garcia? That was an apt statement. She wasn't that person anymore.

  "I'm not that person, and I am not here to make friends. Final chance, boys.” Her steely tone seemed to finally convince the trio that she meant business. They weren't going to take that chance. They moved off quickly, no doubt in search of less risky pursuits.

  Carla lowered the pistol as soon as they were out of sight, gasping for air as if she were being kept underwater. She had no doubt that if the occasion had called for it, she would have pulled the trigger. But that was not what frightened her. What worried her was the thought of becoming accustomed to it. The recurring sense of regret and shame over Jenny's death had to fade over time. She had to replace it with a stone-cold necessity to accomplish whatever needed doing. Her sister's survival of the fittest mentality was bearing fruit. Now she knew she no longer knew who the woman in the mirror was.

  She wished Carlson, or heck, even Joshua, were here to help keep her company, to tell her everything would be fine, and to give her something positive to focus on. The world was a sad place. San Antonio was nothing but ruins, and the future seemed just as dismal.

  Carla reflected on her grandmother's comments about how she and Joshua may be a nice fit under the appropriate conditions. He had been the one constant in both her old and new lives, the one person she could rely on to be there for her. He rarely told her what she wanted to hear, but he always told her what she needed to hear.

  Maria might have been correct. They'd be a good match for each other. But they already had a wonderful friendship, and she didn't want to jeopardize it. She simply didn't think of him romantically or sexually. He was just Josh. Why on earth was she even dwelling on this? The world was coming apart at the seams. Food was scarce, fresh water disappearing fast. Thieves and rioters everywhere, and in the last few days, rumors of even more dangerous things out in the countryside. Her love life was the least of her concerns—or should have been.

  Carla’s thoughts were interrupted as she neared a long-abandoned church. She had been religious as a child, but after a string of losses, including the death of her parents, her grandmother’s mental acuity, her sister's mental decline, and now the end of the world, Carla found it difficult to believe in the existence of a just and forgiving God.

  The flickering glow of candlelight drew her toward the ornate building, and she was shocked to see the church was apparently once again in use. This was Texas, and many called it the last stronghold of Christianity, but something here didn't feel right. Her hand was again on her holstered weapon as she approached the church, entering quietly through the open doors.

  Nothing Carla could have imagined could have prepared her for what she saw. A mass of devotees sat in the pews, listening with rapt attention to the lone speaker down front. She could read the expressions; these people were in awe of the person. It was her sister, Meredith, who stood at the altar. Carla initially assumed Meredith was making a scene and having another of her episodes. But as she listened, she realized her sister was giving a bizarre sermon. A talk that she'd herself heard bits of over the last few weeks.

  "God is selecting those who will see us through the end times," Meredith explained. "And this isn't the first time he's done it. Consider the enormous flood that swept away everything for forty days and forty nights. Those who were left behind were then granted a second chance, just as we were.

  "God's plan included that attack. He's gazing down on us right now, judging who among us deserves to live and—who deserves to die."

  Carla felt as if she were watching mass hypnosis at work as the audience gasped.

  "Monsters will be coming from the East! This is the stuff of nightmares! But I've had even worse nightmares than that. We must be ready!"

  Carla couldn't decide which was scarier, Meredith's maniacal sermon, or the fact that the gatherers seemed to be hanging on every word of it.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Carla’s first thought was to run down to the altar, pull Meredith out of the church, and take her home. She knew she'd have to deal with the crowd after seeing how they were affected by Meredith's words.