The first time it happened, Claire thought she was just tired.
She was sitting at her kitchen table, staring at the untouched stack of her mother’s belongings that the hospice had sent over, when she noticed the coffee in her mug was hot again. Not warm, hot. Steam rising in delicate spirals, exactly as it had been twenty minutes ago when she’d first poured it.
The fireworks were just beginning when the wind arrived.
Mayor Sandra stood on the main stage in Pine Ridge Town Square, her hand raised to light the ceremonial sparkler that would officially usher in the new year. Around her, three thousand people, nearly the entire population of their small mountain town, waited in anticipation, bundled in winter coats, their breath forming clouds in the cold January air.
The checkpoint guard barely looked at Ellie’s papers before waving her through.
“Welcome back to Seattle, ma’am. Quarantine Zone 7 is two miles north. You’ll need to register within twenty-four hours.”
Ellie nodded, throat too tight to speak. She shouldered her pack and walked past the barricade, into the city she’d sworn she’d never see again.