Camp Parks U.S. Army Reserve Center becomes an improvised refuge and escape route for Conrad Hensley after the earthquake. Its damaged barracks, disorderly evacuation, and unattended military vehicles give him a fleeting chance to disappear into the confusion and leave the camp in a Jeep.

Setting and Damage

The site first appears to Conrad as a dark, uproarious parking area: headlights sweep across the lot, engines roar, people shout, and the beams throw long shadows over rows of camouflage-painted Jeeps. Nearby, a barracks has keeled sideways and is close to collapse. Two barefoot young men, dressed only in underwear, try to retrieve their uniforms from it, but a man in camouflage orders them away because the building is unsafe and casualties have already occurred.

A low wooden sign identifies the place as Camp Parks U.S. Army Reserve Center. Beyond the parking area, long rows of flimsy wooden barracks stand at precarious angles after the earthquake. Reservists move through the disorder in a mixture of camouflage uniforms and sleepwear, while a bullhorn broadcasts instructions made unintelligible by feedback. Generator-lit buildings provide only some of the illumination; much of the camp is lit by moving vehicle headlights, whose shifting glare and shadows make the scene harder to navigate.

Conrad Among the Reservists

Conrad is mistaken for a soldier when the man in camouflage spots him behind a Jeep. He claims to have fallen in a ditch, then points toward the two young men as if directing attention away from himself. The man tells him to go over there and pull himself together, giving Conrad a chance to run out of the parking lot without being detained.

Following a beam of light, Conrad reaches building J-23, where young men are rummaging through boxes of camouflage clothing. Nobody challenges him at first. Although he cannot find socks or boots, he leaves wearing camouflage fatigues and a cap. The uniform does not establish who he is; it gives him a temporary way to pass amid the camp's hurried movement and poor visibility.

The Jeep and the Escape

Conrad next reaches another parking area, where two Jeeps sit idling with their headlights aimed toward the camp's center to provide illumination. No drivers are present. Looking inside one vehicle, he finds no keys, only a lever on the steering column, and reasons that the military uses this arrangement so keys cannot be lost or misplaced. He avoids taking the Jeep being used for light, judging that its removal would be noticed, and chooses another two rows back. The ignition lever starts it.

As Conrad pulls away between the rows of vehicles, he has not settled on a destination. Returning to Pittsburg would take him home, but he expects that to be the first place people look; he also believes Jill's mother would turn him in, and he does not know where his lawyer lives. Near the end of the Jeep row, another vehicle pulls out in front of him. It accelerates away rather than blocking his path, spraying up a cloud of dust so thick that Conrad's headlights reveal little beyond the swirling yellow haze. The camp's confusion has helped him acquire a disguise and transportation, but his escape remains uncertain as he drives into the obscured way ahead.