by Holly Hook
"Okay," David said at last. "Tomorrow, we will look for a way to get to the next town. I think we have supplies to last us the next few days. Who wants to volunteer to try the sink?"
"Ew," Christina's friend said.
"Tell me about it," Jerome said. "We might have to draw straws. I don't see a Hazmat suit around here anywhere. One of these would be great right now."
"Wait," the Goth girl said. "There's this emergency radio. It looks like our hosts put it under here a long time ago and forgot about it."
I had forgotten about it. My stomach turned and twisted into knots.
"Let me see," David said. He turned the flashlight right into her face and she grimaced. The girl was holding the old teal-colored radio that was covered in cobwebs. She flipped it open to an empty battery case and rummaged through the desk. At last, she produced a pair of double A's and popped them into the radio.
I wasn't expecting it to work, but a loud crackling sound filled the room.
"It works!" Alana said. "Thank you, um..."
"Gina," the girl said.
"Gina," Alana repeated. "That's a lifesaver. See if any stations still exist."
We all gathered around the desk again as she turned the dial. More static came out. Some stations had a more fuzzy static while others had gone to a more abrasive, high-pitched whine.
It was a void out there. The EMP had knocked out all the radio towers.
"Great," Mina said. She was close to tears. "Great. Everyone really is gone."
"Wait," Gina said. "Let's try the AM stations."
"There's nothing on those but talk radio," David said.
"Exactly," Gina said.
I liked her thinking. "Go slow," I said. "We don't want to miss anything that could still be broadcasting."
I wasn't expecting to hear any voices from out there, but at last, towards the end of the dial, one came.
"...outside."
"Yes!" David shouted. He high-fived Tony, almost hitting Jerome in the face. I wasn't sure if that was intentional or not.
"Listen," I said.
"...this event has devastated the western half of the country, along with the Pacific nations, Eastern Russia and Australia, and extreme Eastern Asia. Scientists are not certain of the cause, but a few theories have come forward. A nuclear strike has been ruled out. I repeat, a nuclear strike has been ruled out. This appears to have been a natural phenomenon that began outside of the solar system."
"I told you," Jerome said.
David said nothing. He leaned over the counter with this angry look on his face.
I leaned forward across the desk. I kept my eyes on the map, on the long road between here and the tiny little town. Everyone had gone silent while we watched.
"Scientists believe that the bright flash witnessed by some today may have been the result of an extremely large star exploding," the man continued. "They believe that this star might have been one named WR 104 and it is located about eight thousand light years from our planet. The scientific community is reporting that this star might have been massive enough to blow up in what they call a hypernova. Scientists have been watching this star for some time, and many have suspected it could end its life in this way. Apparently, WR 104 was large enough to produce what is called a gamma ray burst."
The man paused and we all stared at each other. Alana propped the flashlight up so the beam faced the ceiling. A dull light filled the Visitor Center.
"In one of these bursts," the man continued, sounding like he was reading off something, "a star collapses and sends two narrow beams of radiation in opposite directions. These are considered to be the most powerful explosions in the universe. One of these beams may have struck our planet earlier today, and the flash of light was the gamma rays reaching our atmosphere. A stream of dangerous particles followed about thirty minutes later. It is these that have caused mass deaths over half of the world."
My knees almost went out from under me.
Half the world.
A star across the galaxy had killed millions in a matter of minutes.
The whole Pacific Ocean and half the country had been bathed in lethal radiation.
"...the initial blast included very high level gamma rays which were mostly absorbed by the atmosphere." The man's voice turned to static for a second and I tensed. This was our only link to the outside world. "This is what caused the EMP which knocked out most unshielded electronics across two-thirds of the world. About one hour later, radiation detectors that were still working picked up an incredible amount of dangerous particles reaching the surface across the same side of the world. This has resulted in mass deaths that likely number in the millions. The government currently has no recovery plans in motion for anyone on the western side of the country, and are instead focusing on rescuing those on the border of the second blast and administering medical aid. If you are on the eastern side of the country, or east of the Great Plains, help will be on the way. Do not try to contact any friends or relatives on the western side of the country, because it is extremely unlikely that anyone has survived the levels of radiation detected. Lower levels of radiation did make it to the ground on the eastern side of the continent, but not everyone is expected to succumb to it. Scientists estimate that perhaps fifty percent of the population on the eastern half may survive the first weeks of this event."
"Fifty percent?" Alana yelled.
"Millions dead?" Jerome echoed.
David looked up from the map. For a second, he looked like the military guy he said his father was. "This hit the whole world," he said. "In one way or another."
"What about New York?" I asked, even though I had already gotten the answer. The radio guy hadn't mentioned anything about the EMP hitting there. Some radiation, yes, but they were way on the other side of the country. It wouldn't have been nearly as much as it was here. Dad might have survived if he wasn't in an airplane.
But what would New York be like? Were people rioting, looting and trying to salvage supplies? There were a lot of people there. I imagined fires.
The man kept speaking. His voice warbled out and in a few times. The signal wasn't very strong. Most of the radio towers around here would have been knocked out except for a few that were kept shielded due to emergencies like this one. I wondered how well they'd built the one in the back.
"If you have survived the initial event," he continued, "please do not call emergency services for those who have died. They are currently overwhelmed and disposal of the dead will need to be left to the citizens. If you are ill, drink plenty of water and stay as hydrated as you can." I heard a page flip on the other side of the static. "Scientists also say that the first part of the burst depleted the ozone layer. To what levels have yet to be determined. Do not go outside during the daytime. Detectors have picked up a large increase in ultraviolet radiation hitting the ground, which will be very dangerous for anyone unprotected from the sun. Do not be fooled by the smog in the air. Scientists say this may be nitrous oxide and it will cool the weather down, but the radiation from the Sun is still reaching the ground in much higher levels than is safe. Cover your windows during the day."
"We did that," I said, rubbing my arms again. "Well, the whole world's screwed. That's great."
No one said anything to that. What was there to say?
The man continued. "If you are able bodied, now is the time to stock up on supplies. Please be orderly and avoid panic and violence. Due to the depletion of ozone, there is a possible food shortage in the future. Do not worry about paying for your groceries. Owners of many chains who are still alive have opened their stores to anyone who needs supplies."
I swallowed.
The ultraviolet rays were going to kill off the plants.
Plants meant food.
Food meant survival.
I stared at our meager vending machine. It was all we had and when we got out of here there might be nothing left unless everyone on the western side of the continent really was dead except for us.
That didn't mean survivors from the eastern half wouldn't come over here and stock up. If I were on the eastern half, I would, knowing that there wouldn't be as much competition. There was just the matter of keeping the ultraviolet rays off me.
"So no one is coming for us," Mina said. "They think we're all dead."
Tony shrugged his big shoulders. "Why go rescue a bunch of dead bodies? According to them there aren't enough survivors over here to worry about. People are dying on the eastern half, too."
I backed against the wall.
My hopeless mind was already calculating how this would be in the long term. In the short term, we might survive. But if most of the plants on the planet died, long term wasn't looking so good. It would depend on how long the sky stayed screwed up. Even if we got to town, supplies there wouldn't last forever. No one would be restocking the grocery stores. I thought about the bodies again and what might happen to them.
Chances were some of us wouldn't be alive by next year--if we even escaped.
"What are we going to do?" Alana asked, joining me at the wall. She dropped her voice to a whisper. "All of us need to stick together. We've got to go before all the supplies are gone."
She didn't get it. All of us sticking together and getting close were the worst things we could do right now. "Maybe it's better that we scatter. You know? That way there will be more food for each one of us when we find it." And it will be less horrible when some of us die, I wanted to add. Alana didn't want to see people die. She just didn't realize how badly she wanted to avoid it yet.
"Come on, Laney. Stop being such a loner. You've changed. It was your mom, wasn't it?"
I turned away. "I don't want to talk about it."
"You used to talk to people more. Now you're closed up. That's not good for you."
I whirled around on her. "You don't know what I've been through," I said.
"Exactly. I don't. You don't tell me or anyone else anything anymore. You make me feel like you've put a wall up. We used to tell each other everything."
I remembered those days, in another age. Nothing was private. Well, almost nothing. The world had changed a year ago. Now it had changed even more. I wanted to spill everything to Alana, but that would make things worse down the road. I wanted to be close to someone, but at the same time the idea of it scared me more than anything, even though she was my best friend. I didn't even want to get close to David as much as I liked the guy. Or used to like the guy. Alana had been pushing that.
I so, so wanted to tell her every horrible detail.
I turned away. "We have other things to work on right now," I said. "I'm going out to the bus once everyone's asleep."
"Why? It's not going to be protected when the sun comes up and besides, it won't start."
"I left my backpack out there." I wanted my sketchbook. Now that it was dark, no one would see what I was drawing. I needed the flashlight.
"But you said we have things to work on. Sitting out there won't help us get out of here before it's too late."
"We can't even move until tomorrow night at the earliest. We still have to figure out how to shield ourselves from the sun before we venture anywhere."
"Good point." Alana leaned against the vending machine and the stench from the bathroom hit me. It was a monster all by itself, coming and going like a troll poking its head out of a cave every once in a while. The door was shut completely now by some brave soul, leaving the stench only a little crack to come through. "We can look around tomorrow once we get someone dressed in forty layers or something."
"In the desert," I added. It was my lame attempt at humor.
David turned off the radio, which had begun to drone off the same message over and over. "I think we should all try to sleep," he said. "We need to keep our energy and your brains working. Everyone grab a place on the floor and we'll try to get some shuteye."
People shuffled around and David turned off the flashlight. I heard it get put on the counter and Alana walked away from me. We were going to have to lie on the floor. It was going to be a very long night.
I knew a lot of silent tears would be shed. People had lost their families today. All of my classmates had family members in Colton, which had been hit full force by the blast. Now we knew the full extent of it. It was as if we were taking a long moment of silence as we tripped over each other and found places on the floor. Guys pulled shirts off. Their shadows made strange monsters for a brief time. Someone sniffled. Yes. Tears were coming out now that the truth was out.
I was glad it was dark and everyone had the privacy they needed.
Even Alana had gone silent. I knew what she was thinking about and it was her younger brother. He was seven. He would have been in school when the radiation hit. The building was brick, but if those particles could go partway into the ground, he wouldn't have made it. I thought about a school full of swollen children lying around on the floors and walked faster, almost tripping over someone as I got closer to the desk. I needed to draw, to let off this storm. Otherwise, I would never sleep.
I leaned against the desk and waited for the sounds of people finding their places calmed down. No one protested at the early bedtime. The end of the world changed people. They craved order.
"Goodnight," Alana said somewhere to my left.
I was opposite the front door. "Night." There was no point in adding the good anymore.
I waited a long time. The breeze died down, leaving nothing but the sounds of breathing and people turning over on occasion. The silence was very heavy. We weren't in a building in a desert anymore. There was nothing but a dark void outside now.
Chapter Six
Sneaking out was easier than I thought. The door didn't creak, being fairly new, but finding the bus once I had stepped out was tough.
It was very, very dark out here. Normally in the desert, you get a great view of the night sky and if you stared long enough, you could see the whole galaxy spreading out overhead. There was none of that tonight. It was a rare night of pure darkness, a night that had just become common as if the world had flipped upside down. I listened for the sounds of bugs, of footsteps, of anything. Mrs. Taney and the receptionist lady were out here. So was the rest of the field trip. I could smell the stench.
Somewhere to my right, in a neat line.
The crickets had stopped chirping and the night wasn't as cool as most desert nights. The smog was keeping the heat close to the ground. It was the only good thing it had done so far.
My eyes were as adjusted to the dark as they were going to get. I felt behind me to make sure the building was still there, then stepped forward towards where I remembered the bus to be. I held out my hands until I hit the dusty metal of the bus. After feeling around for a bit, I found the open doors and climbed on.
The smell wasn't as bad, at least. It had dissipated and it got better the closer I got to the back of the bus. I was going almost completely by touch now. I crept around, counting the seats. I had been somewhere in the back earlier. That was a long time ago, a world ago. Eventually, I felt under all the seats until I found the fiber of my backpack.
I turned the flashlight on and turned it down. I hadn't been able to risk turning it on just outside the building. Someone would have noticed. A light out here would be like another supernova going off. No, hypernova.
I fished through pointless homework and books and pulled out my sketchbook. I had been drawing in it for the last two years. I opened it to the Happy Era, before reality hit me in the face. Flowering vines and forest creatures melded together in a complex mural of nature and wildlife. I flipped through more drawings like it, drawings I used to spend hours doing to blow off steam from crabby teachers and school stress. Then, in the middle of the old sketchbook I hit the Real Era.
I found the day Mom told me about her diagnosis. I had drawn rain that day, a terrible storm descending upon the Happy Era. Deer and moose ran from the oncoming clouds, but a single flower remained standing, defiant and determined to beat the s
torm.
Next page. I had gone two weeks before drawing my next picture. Mom's treatments had started by then and they were brutal. The flower's petals were falling off.
I flipped. The landscape got more dismal with each page, going from a forest to a dry, cracked desert just like this one. Just like the entire world was turning into.
I came to the day she died.
The flower's petals were gone, cracked and crumbling on the ground that had turned into a wasteland. I had sat down and drawn the picture after the funeral home took her body to do terrible things to it.
After that I drew monsters.
Lots and lots of monsters. I flipped through scores of them, tormenting a little girl who was just trying to sleep and get some rest. They popped out from under the bed, leering at her while she held the covers close.
And then I flipped to a blank page.
"Those are some pretty sweet drawings."
I jumped and shined the flashlight into the Goth girl's face. Gina. That was her name. I had to remember that and stop calling people by their labels.
I shut the sketchbook with a loud slapping sound. “I didn’t see you there. You scared me.”
“I heard you sneak out,” she said. “I can’t sleep on the floor. I guess we all have to have a way to blow off steam, right?”
“Right,” I said. I opened my backpack and shoved the sketchbook in.
“Sorry if that was private stuff,” Gina said. “I’m just into art like that. I never got to take any art classes though like Christina and Jasmine. You know, those two girls who came down the elevator with us? They get to take all the art classes the school has to offer. I swear, if there was an art school around here they’d be attending it.”
“That sucks,” I said. I had to get the subject off the sketchbook. No one, not even Alana, had ever seen it. It was my own private world.
And now Gina had seen the worst of the worst. Before long she would ask where the inspiration came from.