Evergreen (Book 4): Nuclear Summer

by Cox, Matthew S.

  Madison had become something of her best friend. She’d been ruined by the loss of her parents, but had stopped being so weird and moody. Becca and Eva knew her from before, which sometimes left Mila feeling like an outsider whenever they talked about stuff that happened in the past. But, the girls all welcomed her into their circle, more so now that she’d given up the creepy act.

  Lorelei, Mila thought of as a spastic kitten that kept trying to bite electrical wires or eat dangerous things. She had a hyperactivity and loud cheerfulness to her that routinely caused Mila to daydream about applying a little duct tape to her mouth or stuffing her in a bag, but the ‘damaged kitten’ part always made her feel too guilty to actually follow through. Like that annoying but lovable stray cat, she tolerated the little one tagging along. Also, despite finding the girl irritatingly loud and extroverted, she had a soft spot for her. If anyone messed with Lorelei, they’d regret it. Only Mila could stuff Lorelei in closets to keep her quiet. Or idly daydream about stuffing her in closets. She hadn’t actually done that yet. While it would keep the girl safe from trying to pet a bear again, it wasn’t nice.

  Having actually been stuffed in a cell with tape over her mouth, hands and feet tied, Mila didn’t want to do it to anyone else. That had sucked, big time.

  “We can go swimming after we check this place out.” Jonathan pointed ahead. “It’s so far away from town, maybe the people who collected all the stuff missed it.”

  The last few hundred feet of road went up a relatively steep hill to a nice house at the top. They had to be at least a mile away from the center of town, at the very limit of Evergreen. Mila stopped at the loop in the road where it curved back on itself into a driveway, standing at the edge of the paving, her toes in dirt. She gazed down a hill dotted with trees at a road running past the bottom. To the right, it headed back toward Evergreen, but the other direction curved eastward past another really small town nestled beside it.

  More than the little town, the wreckage of a passenger jet nearly slumped in a creek ditch beside the highway caught her eye, its nose pointing at her. The plane appeared to have mostly survived a crash landing, though most of its right wing had broken away. Two big yellow drapes stuck out of that side like giant hazard yellow curtains, one near the front and one at the back. Blackening covered the road behind it, suggesting a fire had burned big, but somehow, the plane itself had escaped the inferno.

  “Whoa,” said Jonathan, from her left.

  “That’s a plane.” Christopher pointed. “It didn’t explode. The pilot must have been trying to land.”

  “I think they missed the airport,” deadpanned Mila.

  “Why is a plane on the road?” asked Lorelei. “Planes aren’t s’posed ta fly on roads.”

  “It crashed.” Becca made a ‘plane going down’ gesture. “Sometimes they land on roads in emergencies.”

  “Oh.” Lorelei twisted side to side, her dress flaring out. “They have a ’mergency?”

  Obviously. Mila rolled her eyes, but didn’t say anything.

  “Yeah.” Jonathan folded his arms, tapping his foot. “There might be neat stuff to check out. Better than a house.”

  “That’s going outside town.” Madison looked at him. “We’re not supposed to leave town. Even this house is kinda far away.”

  “It’s quiet. Nothing’s moving down there.” Jonathan pointed.

  “If anything bad was down there, we’d know about it already. I think that’s Kittredge.” Christopher scrunched up his nose in thought. “Anyone down there would already have discovered Evergreen and moved in.”

  Eva squatted at the edge of the road, fussing at a dandelion. “Let’s go to the pool instead of planes or houses.”

  “It’s a plane,” said Jonathan. “How can you not wanna check out a plane? We can see all the stuff they’d never let people see before. C’mon.”

  He darted off the road down the hill.

  Madison looked at Mila with a ‘we’re gonna get in a ton of trouble’ expression.

  “Don’t split up,” shouted Christopher. When Jonathan didn’t slow down, he emitted a nervous whine, then ran after him.

  “Ugh.” Becca grumbled and followed.

  “Fine, whatever. But this is not gonna be my fault.” Madison took Eva’s hand and walked with her down the hill.

  “Yay!” cheered Lorelei, before running after them.

  Mila stood still for a moment, watching the distant wreck until the other kids disappeared into the forest. Reasonably confident that no one else would be down there, she pulled her necklace of leaf knives out from under her dress and let it fall against her chest. Harper either got permission to—or swiped—all the knives the Shadow Man and his friends carried for her. She had like forty of them back home, but carried five on the necklace she made. Hiding them under her clothes prevented adults from getting weird about a kid walking around with a bandolier of knives across their chest. She felt rather proud of herself for making the bunch of tiny sheaths from material she’d taken from old belts.

  About a quarter-mile hike downhill through the woods ended at pavement. By the time Mila set foot on blacktop, the other kids had already reached the crashed plane. Up close, it looked in worse shape than it had seemed from up on the hill. The body broke in multiple places, more than half the wings had sheared off. The smashed remains of two engines sat on the road a long distance back, right in the middle of the burned area. It appeared the landing gear collapsed or hadn’t come down all the way, causing the aircraft to bottom out and skid on its belly. The pilots had clearly attempted to land on a road far too narrow for a plane. They’d slid to a stop at the start of a curve in the road. The more-intact left wing stretched down into a burbling creek that followed a sunken channel alongside the highway. The right wing, only about a third the length it should have been, rested on a rocky hillside, atop a handful of trees it knocked down during the crash.

  Jonathan and Christopher stood near the yellow thing hanging from the door on the nose end. It appeared to be an inflatable escape chute that had lost its air.

  “C’mon.” Jonathan grabbed the flexible yellow plastic and monkey-climbed it up to the open door.

  “Be careful!” yelled Madison. “If you fall, you’re going to break your legs.”

  Christopher went up next, followed by Becca. Eva whined, seeming scared. When Becca reached the door, the boys grabbed her by the arms and pulled her inside. Lorelei struggled for a while until she figured out how to get a grip on the deflated ramp with both arms and legs, then scurried up. As soon as the boys pulled her into the plane, Eva finally found the nerve to attempt the climb. Mila waited for her to go inside before following. The only way to get a grip on the limp chute required koala hugging it and shimmying up as if climbing a tree trunk that kept changing size. Not the most difficult climb Mila had been forced to make, but not the easiest either.

  She grabbed the floor at the top and started to haul herself up, but, Jonathan and Christopher grabbed her wrists and pulled her in. Unsurprisingly, Jonathan didn’t let go right away. Smiling might send too much encouragement, so Mila responded with a calm ‘you may hold my hand’ expression.

  “Whoa, cool!” whispered Christopher.

  The interior smelled funky, likely the combination of spilled jet fuel, mildew, and burned plastic. Jonathan bee-lined for the cockpit, practically dragging Mila along. She didn’t much care about the plane or what they’d find as much as wanting everyone to get home unhurt. Exploring the inside of a crashed airplane didn’t seem like the safest thing in the world, but she couldn’t deny it had a strong sense of cool to it.

  Jonathan flopped in the pilot’s seat and played with the controls. To her absolute lack of shock, they didn’t do anything. Much of the console had blackened, one of the screens even cracked. Maybe EMP had fried the plane in midair? The boy supplied jet engine noises and pretended to radio a control tower. Mila checked a few storage compartments, but they didn’t contain anything more interesting
than a small fire extinguisher that made her laugh. Considering the huge fire a plane crash would cause, an extinguisher the size of a soda bottle wouldn’t be worth much.

  The other kids made their way down the aisle, checking overhead bins. Many had already been opened and didn’t contain much. Most likely, someone else had already raided the plane. Considering all the blackening on the road behind the aircraft, the original passengers would have been in far too much of a panic to get out before an explosion to care about their luggage.

  Eventually, Jonathan grew bored with the cockpit. He got up and walked out into the aisle, hurrying toward where the other kids had collected. Mila trailed behind him, surveying all the empty seats. It relieved her to see that all the passengers made it off the plane alive. That had the added benefit of not having to hear Lorelei or Eva scream in disgust at finding a dead person.

  She thought about Emmy finding the man on the farm. It impressed her that the girl who still cried at nightmares over the ‘sky fire’ brushed off seeing a corpse and more or less went right back to picking vegetables. Everyone’s a little messed up in the head. Mila smiled at having company in the ‘weird room.’ No one had asked Mila about it, but she thought the guy on the farm had been attacked from behind. The look of the stab wounds made her picture someone grabbing him, giving him three quick inward jabs, then tossing the body down. Fast, clean, and quiet. The Shadow Man preferred going for the neck since ribs wouldn’t get in the way there. But, it took longer for a man to die from a slit throat than a stab to the heart, so tradeoffs.

  About midway down the length of the plane, the fuselage had snapped in half, broken into two separate pieces. They lay close enough together that even a child could step across the separation, climb down into the luggage compartment below the cabin, or even slip out a crack in the hull on the side nearer the creek. Going down there did not appear to be the safest thing in the world due to numerous jagged bits of metal sticking out at random spots plus exposed wires that might still have electricity… though Mila doubted that considering this thing crashed about a year ago. None of the other kids even hesitated in curiosity at the hole, stepping over it with barely a downward glance.

  She stepped over the gap, cringing as her bare foot squished into wet carpeting. Rain had made it into the cabin due to the crack continuing around the outer wall to the ceiling. That explained the mildew smell. A few steps later on dry carpet, she paused long enough to wipe her foot, then approached the others, who all crowded into a tiny alcove containing a pushcart and micro-refrigerators. Becca and Eva rummaged the cart, picking among long-spoiled food and tiny bottles.

  Christopher plucked a can out of one of the fridges and held it up. “Hey, this is beer.”

  Becca picked up a little bottle of brown liquid that looked like a toy version of real booze. “Tay-quell-something.”

  “Tequila,” said Christopher, laughing. “Don’t drink that. It’ll knock you straight out. My dad says skinny blonde girls can’t hold tequila. You should start off having a rum and coke.”

  Becca glanced at the bottle in her hand. “He’s stupid. I’m holding tequila right now.”

  Mila face-palmed.

  “Duh.” Becca prodded her in the arm. “I’m kidding. I’m not that blonde. I know what he meant.”

  “We shouldn’t drink any of this stuff.” Madison plucked the tequila from Becca’s hand and put it back on the cart. “We’re too little. It will make us sick.”

  A low groan of stressed metal came from the entire aircraft along with a faint shudder that vibrated the floor.

  “It’s breathing,” whispered Eva. Giant fearful brown eyes peered out from beneath a curtain of long, straight mouse-brown hair.

  “It can’t breathe. It’s a machine.” Jonathan looked up. “Gotta be the wind.”

  Mila grasped Jonathan’s hand. “We should get out of here before it falls down the hill into the creek.”

  “It’s not that far a fall. Like six feet. And there’s a wing.” Jonathan shrugged. “Don’t be scared.”

  Mila smiled. “I’m not scared. I’m being practical. The wings are on the other piece. If this part rolls down the hill, we’re going to get bounced around and hurt. It might even collapse and trap us under broken seats while it fills up with water and we drown.”

  Madison stared at her. “I thought you stopped saying creepy stuff.”

  Eva whimpered. “I wanna go back.”

  “I’m not trying to be creepy. That seriously might happen. I don’t want to get hurt. And I don’t want any of you guys to get hurt.”

  “Okay. Okay.” Jonathan looked around. “We’ll go. Umm. Where’s Lore?”

  “Crap,” muttered Madison before yelling, “Lore!”

  “I didn’t even see her go anywhere.” Becca flailed her arms. “Lorelei!?”

  A faint murmur made Mila hold up a hand. “Shh!”

  Everyone got quiet.

  The murmur, less faint, came from across the aisle in the other pantry alcove. Mila walked in and gazed around at various cabinets and storage compartments. Thumping drew her attention to the lowest one on the left side, a door about the size of a beer fridge, though it didn’t look like a fridge, just a storage cubby.

  “Lore?”

  “Yeah,” said Lorelei from behind the door. “I can’t get out.”

  Mila grabbed the latch and pulled, but couldn’t budge it. She planted one foot on the wall, took hold of the latch in both hands, and strained, but succeeded only in leaving a footprint on the steel. “Damn. I think it bent during the crash. How did you get in there?”

  “It was open before.”

  “Why did you close it?” Mila huffed.

  “I dunno,” said Lorelei.

  Jonathan also strained at the hatch, but couldn’t get it to open.

  The frame had a slant that pinned the door in place.

  “Look.” Mila pointed. “The whole thing bent. Maybe that noise we heard was the plane changing shape, not the wind.”

  “Please let me out,” said Lorelei.

  “We’re trying.” Jonathan kicked the door—which didn’t help at all since it opened outward.

  Lorelei pounded on the inside, rattling the steel.

  Madison paced around in a near panic muttering ‘crap’ over and over.

  Christopher took a shot at opening the door. He, too, failed to pop it. “Everyone, look around for something to pry it with.”

  The kids spent a few minutes hunting for anything they could use as a crowbar, but came up empty.

  “Okay, I don’t care if we get in trouble. We gotta go back and get help.” Madison patted the door. “Wait here, Lore. We’ll come back as fast as we can with Dad or someone who can get you out.”

  “No!” wailed Lorelei, kicking and pounding on the door. “Please don’t leave me alone.”

  “It’s gonna take longer arguing than just going and getting an adult.” Jonathan started walking down the aisle. “Just hide there. No one’s gonna find you.”

  Lorelei burst into tears and pounded on the door from inside, cry-begging them not to leave her behind.

  “Someone should stay here to keep an eye on her,” said Christopher.

  “We shouldn’t split up.” Madison looked back and forth between the departing Jonathan and the cabinet trapping her little sister. “She’s got a safe place to hide where no one can get her. It’s dangerous for someone to go alone back to town. We have to stay together.”

  “Maybe one of us could stay with her so she’s not lonely and we could hide in a cubby?” Eva pulled open a nearby chamber, but found it too full of boxes of plastic cutlery to get inside.

  “I’ll stay.” Mila patted her knives. “I’m the only one of us who has a chance if bad guys show up.”

  “Don’t go,” yelled Lorelei.

  “I’m right here.” Mila leaned on the door. “Relax.”

  Madison lingered as well.

  “Go on. Harp will freak if you stay here.” Mila nudged her. />
  “I don’t wanna leave Lore alone.”

  “You’re not leaving her alone. I’m here.”

  “Still. I wanna stay. That’s my sister. Jonathan, Chris, Becca, and Eva will be okay without me. Sec. Be right back.” Madison followed the others, helping them climb out the door onto the deflated slide.

  Mila folded her arms, leaning out of the pantry alcove to watch.

  “Well now,” said a man outside. “Look at that.”

  Eva screamed.

  Mila’s heart raced.

  “What have we got here?” asked a different man. “’Mon down from there, sweetie.”

  Madison started to back up, but stopped abruptly with a gasp as Becca and Eva screamed again.

  “You don’t listen too well, do ya,” yelled the man.

  “Please don’t shoot me.” Madison raised her hands.

  “What we gonna do with ’em, Melvin?” asked a third voice. “They’re kinda little.”

  “Big enough to work,” replied the man likely named Melvin. “C’mon, sweetie. Get on down here.”

  Madison turned to back out the door, sending a pleading stare down the aisle.

  Mila yanked one of her leaf knives out of its sheath and mouthed, “Stall them.”

  8

  Bad Guys

  Tears in her eyes, Madison lowered herself out the door.

  Mila ran down the aisle, keeping her weight on her toes to be as quiet as possible.

  “Come on, kid. Let go and drop down,” said a man.

  “I’m scared,” whined Madison. “It’s high up.”

  Grinning at the deception, Mila skidded to a stop at the crack in the floor. She peered back down the aisle at the tail door, but decided against that. The other escape chute also went to the road on the same side as the bad guys. If she went out that way, they would definitely see her before she could get close enough to do anything. Scaling the jagged metal of a broken airplane barefoot in a dress made for a dumb idea, too. But it beat letting her friends be kidnapped.