Consensus makes it easier to get things done,
but how much is it worth?
I
The truck slowed to a stop. Sign or light, it didn’t matter. Lucinda
crept to the back gate and peered out. She didn’t see any pedestrians
or other vehicles. This was her chance.
She clambered out of the truck bed and onto the road. With only a
fast precautionary glance for side traffic, she crouched down and
half ran, half crawled to the roadside ditch. She kept down until the
truck drove away, peeked, then hunkered back down as a few cars passed.
Lucinda climbed out of the ditch, trying to brush mud spots off her
legs. She looked back at the compound, a couple thousand feet down
the road. There was no obvious activity, no sign of alert or of a
search party forming. She was lucky things were still in such flux
there, security still not locked back down.
She found herself at a four-way intersection. The compound was south;
the truck had driven off north. The country looked empty west, while
east showed habitation, the outskirts of the large town a couple
miles off.
It’s easier to hide in a multitude, Lucinda told herself, and started
walking east in the gathering twilight.
A car came driving toward her. She felt exposed before its driver.
Her clothes were, if anything, a little too good for walking the
shoulder of a road. She ignored the twisting in her stomach, acting
inconspicuous until the car was well past her.
Then she picked up her pace...
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