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by Kyle Danvers

  “Austin?” Nate asked, speaking up for the first time. For a moment, Cass had almost forgotten her brother was there with her, had nearly forgotten about Scott tattling on her. What would Nate make of all this? She had to talk to him, and she had to do it fast, but when would she have the opportunity?

  Austin ran to Cass, tossed his gun down on the ground, and threw his arms around her. Cass hugged him back, happy to see him alive, but confused nonetheless. Even during the time they’d dated, they’d never really connected, had never truly loved each other, so why was he acting like this? Was he pleased to see her, or was it all an act?

  Whatever the case, Cass had to play along. The world had changed, the rules had changed, and if she and Nate were to have any hope of surviving, of fitting into whatever the hell this place was, they would have to follow the script.

  Cass hoped she could do it convincingly.

  25

  The sun sizzled in Ashley’s eyes.

  Still, she didn’t shield them, didn’t bother trying to push it away. She needed the pain, the sting, to remind her that she was still alive. It was small, almost impossible to believe given everything she had been through and seen together with Joel, but they’d lost everything—both of them.

  That thought, each time it occurred to her, threatened to send her careening off into a dark place she wanted to avoid. Ashley hadn’t had time to think about, much less process, the death of her father before more deaths confronted her—and it wouldn’t be the last time.

  Had the world ended? Was there any hope for her, for Joel, for anyone? It was hard to find something to cling to when everything was so dark.

  Ashley hadn’t slept, because she couldn’t. She was overcome by everything that happened in the last twenty-four hours, and she knew she and Joel couldn’t afford to be sloppy now. The gang, El Diablo, had almost certainly been through the neighborhood and expanded outward. Ashley didn’t know what their endgame was, but it couldn’t be good, and there was no guarantee they wouldn’t come back this way.

  But Joel needed time to process, to be alone and sort through his feelings, so Ashley had volunteered to take first watch. Joel needed the rest and time along far more than she did.

  She had no idea what time it was, nor did she care. She sat on the front porch in the swing hanging from the overhang and tried not to fall asleep as she watched the sun burning up in the sky, the shotgun resting in her lap.

  What was next? Where would they go, what would they do? Neither of them had a center, a home base, anything to keep them from spinning out into space. Neither of them had hope, and without hope, what was there? In a world where killing had become routine, where death was expected rather than a shock, what was the point of living?

  Though Joel hadn’t said anything, he had to have asked himself the same question. How couldn’t he? His wife was dead, and his two kids were missing. If she and Joel had barely survived out in the chaos, Ashley couldn’t fathom how two teenagers would manage it.

  Ashley didn’t believe they were dead. It just wasn’t possible; it didn’t add up. There was no denying Shelby was gone, God rest her soul, but there was next to no trace of the kids, and that made no sense.

  If the kids were dead, there would’ve been some indication of it. Maybe tracks of blood that led out into the forest behind the house, or maybe footprints in the grass, something. But there wasn’t anything, and that’s what kept Ashley awake even when she was most tired.

  She alternated between rocking herself in the swing and pacing the front yard, all while turning her thoughts over in her head. If the kids were alive, if they were out there somewhere, both she and Joel owed it to Shelby to find them. That was the kind of hope she was looking for, the thing to cling to, the reason to keep on going.

  And eventually, Ashley would have to break the truth to Joel. She’d have to tell him she knew his wife in ways that he never did, that Shelby had given her something she’d never been able to find with anyone else. Shelby was the best therapist Ashley had ever encountered, possibly one of the best therapists in the state, and without her guidance and assistance, Ashley doubted she'd be standing where she stood now. She wouldn’t have been able to survive this without the coping skills Shelby had given her.

  Which made it all the more imperative that Ashley help Joel find his kids.

  Though she knew next to nothing about them, if they were anything like their parents, Shelby and Joel both, the kids would be survivors. They’d be resilient; they’d fight and do whatever they had to do to stay alive. They wouldn’t have just given up, rolled over and let the end of the world as they knew it claim them.

  But if they hadn’t, then where the hell had they gone?

  Ashley couldn’t take it anymore, so she shoved off the swing, still carrying the shotgun, and stepped into the living room of the house. Glass littered the floor and Ashley could only assume it was because someone tried to break into the house. A giant window like that might’ve made for beautiful lighting before the EMP, but afterward, it would’ve made for an open invitation.

  There weren’t any footprints, nothing to suggest a struggle had occurred once the intruders had come in, but given they’d found Shelby in the basement, Ashley assumed that was where the confrontation had occurred—if in fact there’d been one.

  Ashley crossed the kitchen and climbed the stairs into the basement, the fresh air blasting her in the face. She tried to ignore the bloodstain on the concrete, illuminated by the sun pouring in from outside, but couldn't take her eyes off it.

  The window! It hit Ashley like a ton of bricks, nearly knocking her over. Why was it open? Had the kids escaped through that window, run from the intruders, and gone somewhere for help? Was that why Shelby had fallen, because she’d stayed behind to protect the kids, given them a chance to run?

  Ashley jogged to the window, examined it as best she could. There were no markings, no torn clothes left behind, nothing to suggest the kids passed through it, but they must’ve. There’d apparently been a struggle, evident by the gun they’d found in the basement and the bullet casings lining the floor, but what happened when the fight finished?

  Realizing that the basement wasn’t turning up the answers she sought, Ashley decided to peruse the rest of the house. She went back upstairs, into the living room, and froze when she saw a family photo staring back at her from the mantle above the fireplace. Several others surrounded it, some picturing the kids together, others featuring them alone, but as Ashley picked up the family photo and held in front of her face, there was no doubt in her mind that Shelby was the same wife and therapist she thought she was.

  Ashley nearly dropped the photo, almost sent it crashing to the ground, but caught it just as it slipped out of her hands to keep it from waking Joel. She had no idea if he was asleep, but if he was, he needed it, and she didn’t want to wake him.

  But more than that, she didn’t know how she’d tell him Shelby had once sat across from her for hours at a time, counseled her on what to do, shared veiled details of her own family and relationships with them. Without ever having met Shelby and Joel's kids, Ashley felt like she knew them.

  When she felt steady again, Ashley brought the photo back to her face, examining Cass, the daughter. She looked like a perfect mixture of her mother and father, with Joel’s harsh facial features and Shelby’s rosy complexion. Even if Ashley had passed Cass on the street, she couldn't have mistaken the girl for anyone other than a child of Shelby and Joel.

  And she looked strong, despite her young age, the kind of girl who wasn’t afraid to swing at a boy who said something to her the wrong way. She had the resilient spirit Ashley would’ve sworn any child of Joel and Shelby would have, the kind of fire that would’ve kept her pressing even when her mother had fallen.

  So where the hell had she gone?

  Ashley set the photo back on the mantle, tried to put it exactly as it’d been, though she realized how silly it was, and again walked to the staircase. Her hand gripp
ed the railing, and her foot rose, but she hesitated. Was she intruding? It wasn’t her house, it wasn’t her family, and it wasn’t her business.

  But for Joel’s sake, Ashley had to know. She had to figure out the puzzle of where the kids had gone. Joel would never leave the house, would never be able to move forward if they didn’t figure it out.

  After drawing a deep breath, Ashley continued up the staircase, taking them one at a time and as quietly as possible. The last thing she needed was for Joel to wake up and find her hiding out in his kids’ bedrooms, picking through their private details. But Ashley was convinced if there were answers to be found, they’d be in the kids’ rooms.

  Ashley was a teenager once; she knew how much of a haven a bedroom could be, the kind of little secrets that managed to hide away even unintentionally. There had to be something one of them left behind to point her in the right direction.

  At the top of the staircase, to her left, she found an open bedroom door. Inside, there were dirty clothes strewn all over the floor and posters of rock bands whose names Ashley had never heard. Only a teenaged boy could leave their room in such a state, make it look like it’d been through the end of the world before it had. If there were any clues inside, she’d never find them in the mess.

  Ashley continued down the hallway, as carefully and quietly as possible, and her breath caught in her throat when she saw Joel lying face down on the bare mattress in the next room. Her heart went out to him, and she almost started crying. He’d been through so much, had been so determined to get back here, and found nothing good. It wasn’t fair, but none of what they’d seen since the blast was.

  Ashley couldn’t imagine how that must feel, the kind of damage it must’ve done to Joel’s psyche. It was no surprise he’d slept for most of the day, and she didn’t blame him. He’d been pressing so hard for so long that Ashley was amazed he’d managed to make it as far as he had without collapsing.

  Saddened, Ashley continued past Joel and Shelby’s room. At the end of the hall, she found Cass’s. Pushing the door aside quietly, she stepped inside and froze as she took in the details. The walls were white, dull, except for the dozens of posters of pop stars and chiseled male supermodels that covered them.

  Remorse bowled over Ashley for the innocence kids across the country had undoubtedly lost. There could be no more innocence like this, no more bedrooms decorated absentmindedly because there would be no more time for that kind of luxury in the constant pursuit of survival.

  Directly across from the door, there was a small white desk with a built-in mirror. A notebook laid open on its surface, a journal of some sort, its pages blowing in the wind from the open window beside the desk. Ashley froze, staring at it.

  Ashley crossed the room in a hurry, her arm already extended to grab the notebook. As soon as it touched her fingers, however, she thought twice. Did she dare read it? Was it appropriate to read the journal entries of a missing teenage girl? What would Joel say if she found the answer she was looking for inside it? Did privacy matter anymore or was it far too late to care about something like that?

  But if there were answers in the journal, it would be worth the hurt feelings that might arise.

  Ashley turned to the first page. It was a short entry, just a few sentences, and she skimmed it. There were embarrassing details about an encounter with a boy named Austin inside, something about making out with him in the back of a Camaro, and Ashley skipped ahead.

  There was another entry dated March 6, the day of the EMP, and all it said was “Fuck it.” A chill ran down Ashley’s spine. What did that mean? Had Cass decided it wasn’t worth going forward? Had she done something extreme that she couldn’t take back—like Ashley’s father?

  Another gust blasted through the window and carried the journal off the desk to the floor. Ashley reached down for it, still curious enough to know what further entries might hold if there were any, and found a balled up wad of paper lying underneath the desk.

  She reached for it, curious, and stood to smooth it out. Ashley’s blood froze in her veins as the title at the top of the paper came into crystal-clear focus. It was a brochure, a data sheet, for the Los Alamitos Joint Forces base.

  Everything clicked into place in Ashley’s mind. It made perfect sense. If she were a scared kid looking for some security after her mother had died, the Joint Forces base would’ve been the most logical place for her to go. Ashley couldn’t prove it, but where else might the kids have gone? She hoped that they’d made it there, that they were safe and waiting for Joel to find them.

  Without thinking twice, Ashley dashed out of the room and down the hall toward the sound of Joel’s snores, the wrinkled brochure gripped in her hands like her life depended on it.

  She shook Joel awake, and he bolted upright, his fist cocked back and ready to swing until he realized who’d woken him. Wordlessly, Ashley held out the brochure in front of him. Joel pored over it, reading it as fast as his eyes would allow him through the brain fog he no doubt felt, and his mouth fell open.

  “Do you think…?” Joel asked.

  “Absolutely,” Ashley answered, and Joel scrambled out of bed.

  “Then we have to go, now,” he said and bounded down the stairs toward the truck.

  Ashley followed him with a smile.

  26

  The base threatened to swallow Nate whole.

  It was massive, greater than anything he’d ever seen in his life. Of course, he’d driven by it in the past, but he could only see so much from the street. That was almost certainly by design, and now Nate understood why.

  As they walked along the base, he, Cass, Scott, and Austin, he couldn’t believe what he saw. It seemed to stretch on forever, disappearing out into the horizon, interrupted only by several different buildings that cropped up along the way. There were vehicles everywhere, though he had no idea if any of them worked, and there were armed guards stationed every few feet along the fence that surrounded it all.

  It all should’ve made him feel safe, but instead, it turned his stomach into a queasy mess.

  Why would they need to guard this? Though it was difficult for him to admit, even to himself, Nate knew it was because anything worth having was worth protecting, and he didn’t doubt for a second that whatever was the base was valuable.

  Nate almost laughed when they passed a giant swimming pool. It seemed decadent, given the situation and the rest of the world around them, and Nate realized for the first time he wasn’t sure how many other people had been affected. Was it statewide? Nationwide? Worldwide? If anyone knew, it would be the military. He hoped to find answers while they were there, however long that might be.

  “Impressive, isn’t it?” Scott asked, smirking. Nate had never met him before, but if he was anything like his son, he already knew he didn’t like Scott. He was smug, just like Austin, and the way he talked grated on Nate’s nerves. Still, he’ brought them to the base and allowed them inside, so Nate tried to swallow his preconceptions. Maybe Scott wasn’t a bad guy after all.

  “Yeah, it’s amazing,” Nate said. What else could he say? What he didn’t understand was why they were so holed up like this in the first place. Why weren’t they out helping people, like the ones lined up in front of the gate desperate to get inside?

  “As soon as the shit hit the fan, I knew this base was where we had to come,” Scott said. “There’s no safer place in the entire area.” Nate agreed. Who in their right mind would try to attack a place like this, even if they had the resources?

  “Not a bad idea,” Nate admitted. He still hadn’t figured out how or why his sister knew about this place. It had to have been Austin, that was the common thread. Maybe Cass had talked to him before they left, gotten some information. How else would she have known about coming here—and why hadn’t she shared it sooner, before they’d lost their mother?

  It was one of many things Nate would have to talk about with his sister at some point but now wasn’t the time.

  “Where
are we going?” Nate asked.

  “Well, after the grand tour, I thought I’d take you to meet the Big Boss,” Scott said. “And by taking you to meet him, I mean it’s mandatory.” Nate didn’t like the sound of that, but he understood. Whoever was running the place would want to know who was coming in and out and why.

  “Who’s that?” Nate asked, playing stupid.

  “Colonel Robert Morgan,” Scott answered. “A standup guy. You’re gonna love him, I promise.” Nate wasn’t sure about that, but he had to hope for the best. If they were lucky, this Colonel Morgan would let them stay—Nate didn’t want to think about what would happen if he didn’t.

  They walked the rest the way in silence, toward a nondescript building with reflective windows. It must’ve been a command center, or something like that, where they ran the operation. Scott opened the door and flashed a badge at the armed guard. It was an absurd security check, given that he and Scott would never have gotten into the base without someone approving them first, but Nate assumed it was for redundancy and let it go as he stepped inside.

  There was power inside, lights, and lots of commotion. Nate wasn’t sure what the personnel was working on, but he knew they were working on something, which gave him hope. Maybe they were coming up with some solution to this, some way to put things back together for them all. It was a long shot, but Nate had to believe it was still possible. The world outside the base had gone to hell fast, but anyone in their right mind would’ve preferred the world to go back to the way it was and would gladly have worked with the military to make that a reality—right?

  “This way,” Scott said, leading them forward. They wound through a labyrinth of desks, folders, papers, and people, all the way to the back of the building where an office with an open door waited. Inside, a hulking man sat behind a desk, his clothing decorated with military medals Nate didn’t recognize.