Project Dandelion

by Heather Carson

  Nanny’s voice came over the intercom announcing the end of the movie and lights out. Katrina dropped her chin and James took a step back.

  Opening the door, he whispered, “We should probably get out of here before Ethan and Willow come in.” Katrina tiptoed past him and climbed into her bunk.

  Chapter 11

  The lights slowly brightened the room and Nanny welcomed everyone to day 6. Dreya groaned while rubbing her eyes. She stood up to stretch and noticed that Mia was still asleep. Gently, Dreya began to nudge her little sister’s shoulder. When Mia grunted and rolled away, Dreya laughed and ripped her blanket off. Mia bolted upright grasping for her blanket with her eyes shut tight. Dreya laughed out loud as Mia started pounding her hands into the mattress while pouting.

  “Leave me alone Dreya!” Mia threw herself back on the bed in a huff. “I’m still tired. Tell mom that I’ll come down in a few more minutes.” Dreya was in full blown laughter as Mia finally opened her eyes and remembered where she was. She sat up looking around the room and offered a sheepish smile as everyone stared at her. The room exploded in hysterics and Katrina’s side hurt from laughing so hard. The food arrived in the cabinet and they waited for Jayden to get back before sitting on the floor to eat breakfast together.

  *

  Walking to the morning lecture, Katrina tried to keep some distance between her and James. She felt foolish for allowing herself to get so close to him last night and acting like some ditzy chic. This wasn’t summer camp, she reminded herself, this place was only a means to an end. James noticed what she was doing and as soon as she sat down he came to sit right beside her.

  “What’s up with you this morning?” he asked while gently nudging her leg with his. Katrina shook her head and stared at the projection screen, willing it to start. James persisted. “Are you getting cold feet because I said you were just okay and that I kind of liked you?” His smile spread from ear to ear. “Don’t get a big head now. It’s not like I said you were great or anything.”

  Katrina’s eyes widened, and her jaw dropped. She turned to face him, her sarcastic reply getting stuck in her throat when she saw how playful his face was. She rolled her eyes instead. “I’m fine. I’m just thinking a lot this morning.” James seem placated by her response and turned his attention to the screen. Katrina glanced around the room and noticed that there were only about twenty people that showed up for the lesson. A little over half of the kids there. Lark and the guy from Anna’s room, Rubio or something, were the only people from Room 6. Anna, Laura, and two other girls from Room 5 weren’t there. Almost all of Room 1 came but hardly none of Room 2.

  The class started, and Katrina became distracted by the lesson as Nanny explained the various shelters they could make from different materials. A documentary came on next. Katrina laughed to herself at how elaborately the guy on the video constructed a lean-to, knowing it could have been made more simply. After a while, she noticed that James kept glancing at her instead of paying attention to the lesson. She ignored it and focused on the screen until the class was over.

  James put his hand on Jayden’s shoulder as he was standing up to leave. “I’ll go get my food today.”

  “You sure man?” Jayden looked relieved.

  “Yeah. You shouldn’t have to be the one to go get it. Thanks for taking care of it though. I don’t know what would have happened yesterday if I hadn’t cooled down.” James headed down Tunnel 6.

  Katrina felt the worry form a pit in her stomach as she watched him walk away and mentally kicked herself for caring so much. She had the overwhelming urge to go with him but forced herself to walk back to her own room. When he returned with his food, she let out a deep breath that she didn’t realize she had been holding.

  “There’s my smile.” James looked at her somewhat confused as he sat on the floor next to her and began to open his lunch. Embarrassed, she quickly focused her attention on the pasta in the package and stuffed a forkful of the solidified noodles covered with mystery meat sauce into her mouth.

  *

  The girls from Room 5 were sitting on the bleachers during the physical exercise session. Willow went to join them. Lark and Becca had separated two groups into teams for a relay race type game making it nearly impossible to hear Nanny’s instructions over their cheering and laughing.

  Feeling frustrated, Dreya finally gave up. She called out to Becca. “If you guys are going to take away our lesson today, can we at least join your game?”

  Becca laughed. “Of course, mom! I’ll take you and the knight in shining armor. Katrina and your lover boy can go with Lark.”

  Jayden flushed at being called lover boy but quickly regained his composure and mouthed a fake “ha ha” towards Becca as he ran to get into Lark’s line.

  Dreya turned to her little sister. Mia shrugged her shoulders and climbed onto the bleachers. “I don’t really feel like playing with them anyways,” Mia said sitting down and putting her feet up. Everyone else still on the floor gave up following Nanny’s directions and went to sit in the stands.

  The rules for the relay were to dash to the half way mark that was outlined on the floor and back. Each player took a turn and then tapped the next player in line when they got done running. Whatever team rotated through all the players and finished first would win. They started over from the beginning once Dreya, James, and Katrina got in line.

  Dreya ended up being first on her side and she ran against Lark. They were evenly matched for the most part but Dreya’s face was red and Lark was smiling the whole time, mostly at her. Katrina watched as Becca crossed her arms and moved to the back of the line. Lark beat Dreya by a few inches because he was able to reach his arm out further than hers to tap Brett’s outstretched hand. The rest of the team and the kids sitting on the bleachers began to cheer.

  When the next pair took off, Katrina realized that she had been pushed to the back of the line and would compete against Becca. Thankfully, her team was coming even further into the lead during the next two matches. Katrina glanced over to see a very frustrated Becca yelling out encouragement to her teammates.

  The next match Lark’s team won again but the gap was starting to close. When Rubio and Anthony ran they both got back at the same time. The spectators in the stands kept getting louder with their cheers. The next group to go was James and Jayden. Katrina watched as James came running back. She noticed how powerful he looked as his muscles rippled every time his feet hit the ground. He had barely beaten Jayden, but Katrina only knew that because she felt Jayden touch her outstretched fingers a few seconds after she saw James touch Becca’s hand.

  She took off running. It felt good to put all her frustration and confusion into each pounding step. Her lungs were already burning by the time she reached the halfway point. She looked over briefly and locked eyes with Becca as they both leaned down at the same time to touch the half way mark on the floor. Katrina vaguely registered that this meant that they were tied, and she could hear the droning roars from the crowd on the bleachers. Inhaling deeply, she blocked everything out. Katrina put more force into pumping her legs and arms than she ever had in her life. She focused on the ground in front of her and kept moving as fast as she could. In her peripheral vision, she saw a hand stretched out to her and she reached out to grab it.

  The crowd went wild. Katrina didn’t realize that she had won until she heard the screams from her teammates around her, cutting through her surreal daze. The group she was in rushed toward her, clapping her on the back, and she noticed her hand was still in Lark’s right before he let out a loud “whoop” and threw her over his shoulder. He began jumping around with his friends. Katrina felt the air rush out from her lungs and from upside down she saw James’ face change from a congratulatory smile to one of disgust as he quickly made his way toward her. The concern on his face brought her out of her trance and she bent her hips while shoving her knees hard into Lark’s chest. He staggered backwards as she repelled herself out of his arms and back to her
feet.

  “Whoa. Calm down firecracker,” Lark said still smiling. “I wasn’t going to hurt you.” Katrina shook her head as she and Jayden walked away from the victory cheers. Dreya and James followed them as Becca shouted that she wanted a rematch. Nanny announced that it was time for hygiene.

  Chapter 12

  Willow didn’t come back into the room until after the dinner packets had arrived. She jumped into the shower without speaking. Everyone was already eating when she came back into the room drying her hair. She separated the crackers from the packet to put into her emergency sack and clutched the bag holding the rest of her food to her chest. “What do you guys plan to do when the doors open?” she asked while looking at Dreya.

  Dreya swallowed a mouthful of food and quickly glanced around the room before making eye contact with Mia. She broke their stare and turned back to Willow. “We haven’t really discussed it,” she said. “I kind of assumed that we would all go our own ways to find our parents or whatever is left of our homes.” Mia and Katrina nodded in agreement while everyone else looked at the floor. Dreya saw the division in the room. “Did anyone else have another plan?” she asked. “I’m open to suggestions.” Katrina also looked around the room in confusion to find James staring at her.

  Willow clung to her packet tighter as if she were hugging a teddy bear. Her voice was almost a whisper. “What if no one survived? Or at least not our families? Wouldn’t it make more sense to stick together? Or to even just stay here?”

  Ethan perked up. “That makes perfect sense. Plus, they know where we are, so we should just stay put.”

  “I feel like we need to think on this some more,” Dreya said smiling at Ethan. “Both individually and as a group. What do the girls in Room 5 think, Willow?”

  “They want to stay. We figured it would be best to dig our way out and then stay close to the shelter for as long as we keep getting food and water,” Willow’s voice grew more animated. “We can even build structures or start farming on the surface depending on what it looks like up there.”

  “That does sound like a good idea. You girls have really thought this out.” Dreya looked back at Mia who quickly shook her head no. She bit her lip before continuing. “Why don’t we tell everyone that we can have a group discussion about this during the physical exercise session tomorrow?”

  Willow smiled enthusiastically. “I’ll go tell the rest of the girls now.” She skipped out the door. Mia put her head in her hands and groaned.

  “What’s that moaning about?” Dreya asked her sister.

  “You are going to get everyone all worked up and try to become president of the new world. I just know it,” Mia spoke through her fingers.

  Dreya laughed. “Or I am just going to facilitate a conversation for the whole group. I need to think some more on this.”

  “What’s there to think about? We are going to find mom and dad.” Mia crossed her arms over her chest. Jayden looked down at his feet. She turned to him. “Well you can come with us though, of course. We can find your family too…” Mia looked over to Ethan. James was looking at Katrina, but she was lost in thought.

  Dreya raised her eyebrows as Mia’s voice trailed off. “What do you think, Katrina?”

  Katrina froze for a split second as all eyes turned toward her. “I was planning on leaving to find my dad. It kind of all depends on what happens on the surface once they let us out. All of our families might be there waiting.”

  “Yeah but if they aren’t then it is stupid to go looking alone,” James said without taking his eyes off Katrina. “You could get hurt and no one would know it.”

  Katrina’s lip raised in a rebellious smile, but she dropped the expression when she saw how sad James’ face looked. “What is your ideal plan then?”

  “I think you are right that we can’t know how bad it is until the doors open,” James agreed with her. “But, if the plan is to go scouting or to take off then we need to be smart and go in teams.” He gave her a small smile before addressing the rest of the room. “Staying here and rebuilding wouldn’t be a bad idea. However, if the world above us is in chaos, or if people know about these shelters, it would be dumb to stick around and try to defend this place when we don’t have any weapons or large enough numbers of people who would be able to fight.”

  Ethan turned pale. “So, the really smart thing to do would be to not dig out at all.” He cleared his throat and continued, “Nanny said we have enough resources to last for a year. We would be okay down here if the world has gone crazy up there. We could let things settle on the surface for a while and come out when it is safer.”

  “Except we wouldn’t be able to know what it is like until we dig. What if it is fine and our families are right outside?” Jayden spoke reassuringly to Ethan. “I think the smart plan is to dig out and have some people stay here to lock the doors and open them if we need to come back.”

  Dreya was studying everyone’s faces throughout the conversation. “That’s the plan then,” she nodded. “Well at least for Room 3.”

  “What plan?” Mia asked confused while throwing her hands up into the air. “There were like five different plans. Which one do we agree with?” She leaned back against the bunk folding her arms across her chest again.

  “Exactly.” Dreya smiled at her sister. “Different plans for different people. Everyone has a different goal. To keep the peace, we need some people to volunteer to stay behind and keep the doors locked from the inside. Some will need to go on a scouting mission to see what is happening up there and bring back the information. Then some people will want to take off on their own.” Everyone in the room looked relieved, except for Mia.

  As they all started eating their dinner, Mia leaned toward her sister. “And we are going our own way, right?” she asked. “Please don’t say that we are going to come back here to help everyone.”

  “We will figure that out later.” Dreya was staring off into space. Mia groaned, stabbing her food with her spork. Katrina smiled feeling sympathetic towards her.

  *

  During the movie, James startled Katrina by whispering into her ear. “You know, we should go together,” he said gently nudging her shoulder with his. “Not that I think you need any help or anything. It would just make more sense to travel as a team.”

  Katrina looked up into his blue, playful eyes. “It doesn’t make much sense to me if you will just slow me down.” She laughed as he pretended to be shocked. “But I think we will figure it out once we see what the world is like above us.” She turned back to the movie but could feel his eyes still staring at her. A few seconds later she added, “Maybe.” He turned away smiling to watch the screen.

  After the movie, Dreya stood up in front of the room. She waved her arms and Jayden let out a loud whistle. Once everyone stopped moving and turned to face her, Dreya said, “So, we were talking earlier and thought it may be a good idea to come up with a plan for what to do when the doors open. If everyone wants to discuss this as a group I think that we should have a meeting tomorrow after the exercise here in the common room. Will that be okay?”

  They all agreed, and Becca called out, “It’s a date, mom. Not like we have anything better to do.” She laughed as she grabbed her mattress and headed toward Tunnel 6.

  Chapter 13

  “Welcome to day 7,” Nanny’s voice boomed over the loudspeaker through the blinding fluorescent lights.

  Willow groaned and put her pillow over her face. “Doesn’t she realize that every time she counts out the day it makes it seem like we have eternity to go?”

  “Look at the bright side,” Jayden laughed swinging his legs down from the bunk above her. “We are half way there.”

  “That is if the doors even open in seven more days,” James muttered while stretching his back after getting up from his mattress on the floor.

  “Come on man.” Jayden lightly punched James’ arm. “Don’t be a downer first thing in the morning.” James rubbed his arm and shook his head befor
e heading out to get his breakfast from Room 6.

  Willow sat up and groaned louder. “I miss good coffee.”

  *

  The morning lesson discussed setting traps for small animals and cleaning wild game. Katrina had a feeling that it was a good thing Willow had stayed in bed and that some of the other girls didn’t come to the class because she could imagine their outrage and disgust. This was one of the reasons that she wanted to leave alone, Katrina thought. It would be hard to try and feed people who didn’t know how to get and prepare their own food.

  Katrina watched the guy on the documentary show how to follow game trails. He walked the audience through on how to identify signs of holes and other areas animals would frequent while discussing footprints and animal scat. He pointed out where in the trails would be the best area for a noose snare to go based on the surrounding foliage. This was all stuff that she knew but she did let out a small chuckle when he listed off material that could be used for the trap which included the underwire of a bra.

  James smiled at her when she laughed and raised his hands up in confusion. Before the next video section, Nanny played a PowerPoint presentation on the potential risks of hunting or eating wild game in certain areas which had been exposed to radiation. This included not eating fish and not eating sick animals. They should clean the animal before carefully removing the skin, throw away the organ meat, and not eat the meat closest to the bone.

  “That doesn’t leave much of the rabbit left to eat,” James said. Katrina nodded. “Maybe this is a little overly cautious. I’d assume burrow animals would be just about as safe as we are now.”

  Katrina laughed. “I definitely feel like a ground hog,” she said. “Just waiting to poke my head out and check the weather.”