“OK,” Alice said in an annoyingly perky voice. “What do we have here?”

They took inventory. They had four good flashlights between them, and
Helena’s emergency kit. Tina hauled out her keychain and dangled it:
she had one of those all-purpose Swiss Army knivesthe kind you could
practically make camp, hunt, kill and cook your own food with.

“When did you get that?” Bette asked, a look of genuine perplexity knitting her brow.

“After Angelica was born,” Tina shrugged. “I just wanted to be prepared for anything.”

“Well, that’ll just about cover it,” Marina laughed. “You’ve got one of every kind of tool we might need.”

“And a toothpick,” Tina laughed, pulling it out and sticking it back into its slot.

Shane was tapping the tire iron against her leg, eyes shifting side to
side. Carmen recognized her stanceshe was in street kid character now,
alert for threat from any danger.

Alice noticed the tire iron. “Oh yeah,” she said. “Weapons.”

“What?” Dana’s eyes practically bugged out. “What do we need.”

“Think about it, Dane. Looters, gun nutswho knows who’s out there. We
need to be able to take care of ourselves.” She darted across the lot,
opened the door and reached behind the driver’s seat and hauled out a
small canvas bag.

Dana’s eyes widened. That was Alice’s traveling toy kit. What the *****?

Alice fished into the bag and hauled out something white and rattling.

“What the ***** is that?” Dana asked, afraid to hear the answer.

“A sock,” Alice said proudly. “And some marbles.”

Dana closed her eyes and shook her head. She did not even WANT to know
what kind of kink Alice might have had in mind for that little item.

“Oh Christ!” Bette yelled. “What? You’re gonna stop for a game of
onesies?” Alice slapped the sock against her hand. Shane tapped the
tire iron against her leg. Heads swiveled and they all gave Bette the
same kind of look they’d give a clueless child. She shrugged them off.
“Fine, so if somebody attacks us, you can beat them over the head with
a sock full of marbles.”

“Yeah, well it’s better than trying to bully them with harsh language,”
Alice snapped, “which is about the only thing you seem to have with
you.”

Tina shot Alice an urgent pleading look, begging with her eyes not to
egg Bette on any further. Her girlfriend was terrified, even she could
see that. And Bette had always been one to mask fear with belligerence;
she had more than enough of that for the rest of them. It occurred to
her that Bette might actually be a genuine liability if they
encountered trouble along the way. The strategy now had to be to keep
her quiet, even if it meant encouraging her to be even more sulky than
she was now.