Ken went three days without alcohol. She simply couldn’t find any, and it wasn’t worth endangering the children. But it meant three nights without much sleep. Exhausted, she would have nodded off in the saddle if not for the cold, the lingering pain, and of course the voices.
On the fourth day of forced sobriety, she lucked out. In a small town near the border with Pennsylvania, they found a basement bar that had mostly been overlooked. It took both Yuuki and one of the teenagers to get the door open—since Ken was still too injured for strenuous activity. It’d been partially frozen shut and blocked by a snow drift.
Once inside, Ken tried not to jump for joy. They had everything. Vodka, rum, whiskey—you name it. She wouldn’t have to drink bottom shelf swill or gin anymore. As she set abou
