Page 38 (1/2)

As Hunter steered the Corvette slowly down the next to the last hill to the Coast Highway, the eht enough to shohat looked like at least a e of a calrinned around at the others, his nerves untouched by the eeriness of their green-lit faces He had a childish impulse to shout to Hixon in the truck just behind: "What&039;d I tell you? Dead low or near it! - I hit it on the nose!"

"Look, Mo across the road1"

It couldn&039;t be that, Hunter knew, but it was soetable debris, perhaps a branch torn down and blown there by yesterday&039;s rainstor sound as the tires rolled across it The car skidded a little, and he straightened it and decreased speed He did this quite automatically since like the others his attention was preoccupied by the degree to which the sea had receded A ross underestimate He was at first a downhill h the ocean was so far away, its reek was strong and fishy There was no wind, and save for the chug of the twothe Coast Highway, he remarked to himself - and only then realized that the stupid part of histheain the car skidded a fraction, and this tihtened

"I don&039;t rehtfully

"And I don&039;t reo chi "Look at those white birds pecking on the hillside," Wanda observed shrilly "Why, I do believe they&039;re gulls"

"Here comes another vine," Ann informed theripped Hunter and the scene around hih for the moment he didn&039;t quite knohy - there was so dreadfully obvious hisbehind him Did the fool want to pass? One - two - three - four Four honks , but he couldn&039;t remember what, because now he realized that the horror was the illusion that they were traveling under the sea - the silence, the gloorees to a feather-smooth slope of silty slime, the fishy reek ("and a fish!"), the seaweed bladders popping as they drifted across the two "vines"

Four erly, Hunter put on the brakes At first the car hardly slowed at all Then gradually it ca - caes of silt fro an inch orthe road, si alreen in the last of the sunlight, stopped, unslewed, fifty feet or so behind His hands were shaking on the wheel, and his heart was pounding

It was Rama Joan who put the dreadfully obvious into words She said, rather casually: "We hwaterhishis heart, Hunter realized - and as he realized it, his body began to quiet - siht of the salt water that had been everywhere here and dozens of feet overhead, only six hours ago, leaving behind its sea-life and its sea-earth and its wreckage, the salt water that would be here again six hours froht of the tides of a few feet now sinking at low beneath the continental shelves and rushing back at high over the foothills ofit with an incoht It would have see

Hixon and Doddsy and Wojtowicz and McHeath were co oddly - stiff-legged and with elbows out But, of course - the mud-coated road would be very slippery

Hixon and Doddsy stepped beside hi out to sea: "It&039;s" and then words evidently failed hireen sun went under, but the whole sky stayed green - pale as a transparent wave to the west, dark as a forest to the east

There was a rhythine of the Corvette was still turning over He twisted the ignition key

Only then did he realize that everyone else must be as stunned as he was

A couple ofout of their shock Most of theerly in theback uphill The latter&039;s pants were covered withblobs of it "You can&039;t take a car that way, Mr Hunter," he said cheerfully "It gets feet deep on the highway"

Wojtowicz nodded emphatically "The kid went further than I did," he averred "Just look at hih tides," the Little Man said, shaking his head "A else for it - we&039;re going to have to go back and take that other road with the sign saying it led to Vandenberg" He looked at Hixon "You were right"

Hixon nodded He surveyed the Corvette&039;s uess I can pull you out of this," he said "I got a towline, and where I&039;m stopped the ood enough traction And I got chains if I need &039;em"

"I don&039;t want to be a bird of ill oo back there&039;s the danger of running into those young goons froed "That&039;s one of the chances we got to take There&039;s no other road We&039;ll hope Ross&039;s roadblock held &039;eet the towline"

Margo said to Hunter, "It&039;s only fourCouldn&039;t alk it? Even with the mud it shouldn&039;t take more than a few hours"

Hunter said to her in a harsh whisper: "Use your head In less than a few hours the coast road will be under water Even this spot&039;ll be fifty or hed wearily "I wish" She didn&039;t say what

He inquired, rather bitterly: "Isn&039;t living by yourself in the new reality so much fun any more?"

She looked up at him "No, Ross," she said, "it&039;s not"

The Little Man interrupted: "And when it coot Ray Hanks to carry I don&039;t like his condition, Ross I&039;ve given him all the barbiturates I think I should He fell asleep as soon as the truck stopped, but he&039;ll probably hen it starts again He&039;s in a lot of pain"

Just then Pop ca up "Mr Hunter," he said, "I can&039;t stand riding the back of that truck any ive him a hot anshen Ida said: "You can have my place in the cab You men don&039;t kno to care for Mr Hanks, and it&039;s my job anyway"

Hixon tossed down the end of the towline "Hitch it on your front end," he directed Hunter "Think you can?"

"I&039;ll do it," said Wojtowicz, grabbing hold of it first

"I ias," the Little Man said to Hunter

"It is, Mr Dodd," Ann called fro the needle and it said eet one of the reserve cans," the Little Man said

Hunter nodded He felt sie for hi humorous to say at this point, but he wasn&039;t Doc He looked at Margo, as looking at the distant sea, and he felt a sullen hunger

Sally Harris and Jake Lesher, blanket-wrapped, hooked their elbows for extra safety over the low ridge of the penthouse roof Two feet below the eaves, the wavelets glittered richly with the beams from the Wanderer&039;s needle-eye face, which Jake alternately called the Clutching Hand - for the coiled Serpent - and Pie in the Sky - for the Broken Egg

"And we thought we could make a play of this," Sally said softly

"Yeah," Jake echoed "We thought we could - a supercolossal spectacle But ere still thinking indoors"

Sally looked around at the black waters over Manhattan and at the fe, lonesoine, soines in their attics," Jake explained "Or maybe batteries"

"What&039;s that one way down there?" Sally wondered The Singer Building or Irving Trust?"

"What&039;s the difference?"

"But I want to be able to reoing to be able to reht a flask of Napoleon How about a snort?"

"You&039;re sweet," she said, touching his cold hand lightly with her own, no war very softly, as if not to disturb thewavelets: