by Holly Hook
"Do you know where Mina lives?" I asked. For the first time, I regretted leaving Tony but I hadn't had a choice. It wasn't like I had left him in danger. Tony hadn't even been mean to me since David took a one way trip into the sewer. In fact, he had been pretty nice and I had been the one who treated him like crap. Maybe I should have given him a chance.
"I don't know," Alana said. "We should check on Jerome and Gina. I miss those two."
"We don't know where they are," I said. Translation: they might be dead. The thought horrified me and I hated that. It was getting to me.
Gina's trailer park, Red Acres, smelled horrible even at the entrance. All the mobile homes packed together were dark and I knew what they all contained. There was even a misshapen, lumpy form of a dog lying next to one with dust clinging to its fur. For some reason, I hated seeing the animals dead even more than the people. There was some innocence in them, something that people didn't show, even though I knew that animals could be horrible too. It was nature. The radiation had spared nothing but the insects. The things that were automatic. The things that only knew survival. I coughed and gagged and felt like I was going to throw up the junk food I had wolfed down. Alana muttered something and dropped the flashlight.
I got my bearings. "Come on," I said. "The smell will go away in a few minutes. It always does in an open area."
"That's just because we get numb to it."
"Gina?" I called. I couldn't imagine anyone staying here. Sleeping here. It would be like staying in a trailer park of zombies, except these ones didn't move. "Are you in here?"
"I'm back here," she called from the darkness ahead. "Come on back."
I looked at Alana and grimaced. She returned it.
"Just take one breath at a time," I said. "Through your mouth. Not your nose. Never your nose." I was mastering that kind of breathing. I had been practicing since Mr. Ellis had died in the elevator at the Collider. I just hadn't realized it until now.
We walked through the park, calling Gina's name over and over. We found her in a less stench-filled part of the park, between two abandoned trailers for sale, when Alana shined her flashlight there. Gina was there, sitting on an outdoor couch swing, her leg dragging against an indent in the ground where she must have swung many, many times before. She was wearing black lipstick, black leggings, black everything. Even for her, this was dark.
"Hey," she said, staring across the street. She didn't want to meet our gazes. "Eric died last night."
I wanted to just keep walking towards her like it was normal news. I should have. But I stopped. "He what?" I asked.
"I never knew the guy all that much," Gina continued. "The dust got him. Mina thinks it might have been thirst. Well, she's hoping it was from that because the other way he could have gone is...ghastly. Did you hear what happened to Tony? He almost died of thirst from not being able to find shelter. He had to lie there and--"
"I know. I found him," I said. I counted the times Gina swung on the couch. Mina must be still alive. "He didn't tell you that?"
Gina faced me. "No. He didn't."
I was glad.
"Eric's dead?" Alana asked.
"He got caught in the storm," Gina said. "He ran right out into the field that's next to the park. You know, that big one where they used to throw horseshoes on Labor Day? He must have gotten turned around. The wind must have been worse out there in the open. His skin...it was like it was sandblasted off from what I heard."
I knew I should say something, but I backed away instead. I'd seen how red Tony's skin was and he'd had some shelter in The Dip. Eric...he had been right in the open, right in the storm's full force. In one horrifying moment I imagined what it must be like to feel your skin coming off, tiny piece by tiny piece.
Eric hadn't died quickly and this would happen again.
"We can't stay in Colton," I said. "There will be more storms like that. Come on. We have to get everyone together and figure out how we're going to get out of here and we can't wait another night."
Chapter Four
It turned out that Eric had been the only fatality in the first Great Dust Storm. It was the name I called them now.
The wind got a bit strong again as the three of us walked through town, calling for everyone to meet at the high school, almost like it wanted to start up again and send its billion little blades screaming through our skin. We stopped at Jerome's house, which had all the windows open to clear out the smell and it took a long time for him to answer. Physcially, he was okay. He managed to smile at me but that pain was still there in his eyes.
"Thanks for stopping by," he said as he stepped onto his porch. "I've read about grief, but it sucks to just lay there and, you know, think."
"I hear you," I said. "I've been doing it for a year. It's like your world goes out from under you." I liked Jerome. The guy made sense. He was cool and logical and I was very, very glad he hadn't died. I was so glad, in fact, that I let down my guard and offered him a hug. "Try to keep your footing, okay?"
He took it. We hugged for a few seconds and let go, and then I had to put my shield back up. Death was waiting for a weak moment to strike. "Let's find the others."
Tony and Mina were in the Colton Market, doing more looting and clinging to each other even though Tony's skin was still as red as it had been when I found him. Christina and Jasmine were across the street in the old pizza place, where they'd cleared out some tables so they could sleep on the floor. We all walked down Main Street before Tony mentioned meeting at the high school in case the weather got bad again. There was blood crusted on his scalp. I hadn't noticed before, mainly because he was taller than me. His face was the only part of him that had escaped the scathing sand, the only part that wasn't some angry shade. Mina kept her arm very loose around him as we walked, Jerome trailing behind them.
Tony didn't bother to say anything to me as he joined us. Mina's eyes were haunted. She was the one who had found Eric. I didn't know where she'd gone during the storm, but that didn't matter now. I wondered if someone should say some words about the guy, but Eric was the person who always hung in the back of the room, not really doing anything. I didn't know what to say. He'd been a loyal Davidist before. I couldn't help but wonder if karma was real after all.
The high school was unlocked. The wind was picking up all over again. This was probably the safest building in town.
I opened the front door on darkness.
The smell was even worse than the trailer park. I closed the door and faced everyone. I hadn't even realized. "We're not meeting in there."
School had been in session when the pulse hit. First, the power would have gone out. They would have sent the students home after waiting for a little while...but then the buses weren't working and the radiation hit minutes after the flash of light. There wouldn't have been time.
"There might be another storm coming," Jasmine said. It was one of the first times I'd heard the girl talk. "We have to."
"Would you like to stick your face in there?" I asked. There was no time to be nice.
"Geez," Christina said. "You don't have to be rude."
"No," Jasmine said, shrinking back. "I believe you."
"The point is," I said, "we need another place." I didn't want to see my classmates dead. I didn't even want to see our teachers dead. And the bathrooms would be on a level beyond terrifying. "It's a tomb. We shouldn't disturb it."
"This whole town is a tomb," Christine said. Another gust of wind followed, blasting her hair across her face. I had never experienced such crazy weather in my life. "There's nowhere to meet."
"My house," I said, regretting it right away. "Or Alana's."
We had the only non-tomb places in Colton and I had just reminded everyone of that. Christine glared at me and Mina leaned against Tony, who seethed. But then Mina stood back up again and shook her head. "I don't mind meeting at Laney's," she said.
"We have to hurry," Alana said.
A bit of dust blasted into my face and I
coughed. More dust followed. It whipped through the flashlight beam, thickening by the second. Sheer panic filled me and the survival instinct took over. "I changed my mind," I said, opening the door. "We meet in here after all."
Alana moved the flashlight so it was pointing at the parking lot.
A rolling wall of dust roared towards us, rising towards the smog above. Monsters whirled around inside, reaching towards us with their claws and billowing heads. It swept across the parking lot, swallowing the stalled cars and the bodies that lay between them.
I dove into the school, into the protection of the brick and linoleum. Alana landed on me, pushed by someone who might be Jerome or Tony. People screamed. I banged my elbow into the floor and someone else closed the door. The wind roared outside with a renewed fury. A new storm had descended on us as soon as the other one had left the room.
"Are you kidding me?" Gina asked.
I got up and Alana coughed. The flashlight had landed on the floor. It illuminated a bloated hand just a few feet away. A student.
We were trapped in here with hundreds of bodies. We might as well be standing in a mass grave.
The smell.
I leaned over and struggled to hold everything down.
"God," Christine muttered. "How long are we going to be in here?"
"We didn't leave anyone outside?" Jerome asked.
"No. Eight," Tony said. "There are eight of us here." We were all keeping our sentences short, trying to breathe as little as possible.
I stood up and made no motion to reach for the flashlight. The darkness was better. The wind howled louder and louder as the new storm ramped up to full fury. I breathed through my mouth. Counted to five. Breathed out. Five was always a good, safe number. Eight was unstable. We were eight.
Me. Alana, Gina, Jerome, Tony, Jasmine, Christina, and Mina.
We were the only thing left of Colton and we were going to be buried under the sands soon like some lost Egyptian tomb.
Someone threw up with a disgusting sound.
Jerome coughed. "You know, the band room is usually empty. They only practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We did our trip on a Wednesday."
"Well, what day is it now?" Tony asked. "I hope they have ibuprofen in the office. My skin's on fire."
I thought about Mrs. Cheney who always manned those phones and the counter. I then imagined her bloated body lying over her phone. That happened a lot, too. People either died in the bathrooms being sick to death or they died calling for help.
Alana picked up the flashlight and we all walked through the hall, which turned out to be the Science wing. I stepped over two lumps on the floor...
...count to five...
...and passed Mrs. Taney's open classroom. It was empty. Everyone in the class had either gone on the field trip to Life (maybe) or Death (the detention room where they had no other choice but to sit.) The smell was a little more bearable here. The air was clearer, but I didn't stop. Her empty desk had no personality now. I couldn't even see it in the dark, but I could hair the angry grains beating against the window. We had gotten inside just in time.
Alana and I had called everyone out from their hiding places and almost gotten them killed.
I breathed the thought out. It was better if we were together and risks were a part of this new existence. It wasn't my fault.
After stepping over many more lumps--a lot of people had fallen in the hallway, maybe trying to get home--Jerome opened the double doors to the band room. Fresh air came out and bathed us all. We all piled in and stood among music stands and cleanliness and sanity. Jerome closed the door, leaving the stench out in the hall. The dust still roared against the building, but we were safe in here.
I lowered my shirt from my face. People still coughed, getting the vile stench out of their lungs.
Alana propped the flashlight so it was pointing straight up, making a circle of light on the ceiling. There was a pencil stuck up there which Tony tried to jump and grab. Not only did he not succeed, but he managed to get his skin really hurting again because he seethed and rubbed his arms.
I shouldn't have left him in the gas station. I hadn't realized how hurt he was.
I swallowed down the apology. "Okay. We need a plan for getting out of here. It looks like the storms have made it to Arizona after all."
"It's like the dust storms on Mars," Jerome said. "In Astronomy, Mr. Ellis would tell us about them. They can cover the whole planet."
"They're going to keep happening, maybe one after the other," I said. "That's why we need to leave. And besides, we can't live on junk food forever."
"We're teenagers. Of course we can," Tony said.
A couple people laughed, but it was tense.
"No. Really." I paced around the room while everyone watched. "We have to leave. We have that crank truck. It just needs gas and to get off those rocks, which I think we can do. Maybe." I wasn't sure about that. "That's all. As soon as we get a lull in the storm, someone needs to go out and do that."
"We don't know how long the calm will last," Mina said, leaning on Tony.
"You're right. We don't," I said. "Whoever we send out there to do the gas will have to be all bulked up. I'm sure there's something in this school. We can't have anyone else's skin getting torn off."
"With what?" Alana asked. "That wind out there won't even let you walk. It's like a dry hurricane." She wrapped her arms around herself like she wanted her mom. I couldn't blame her. We only had each other out here and I still wasn't sure how everyone was going to tolerate each other. But I just wanted out of here. I had memorized Dad's hotel number. His room number. Four fourteen. Holiday Inn. That was if he hadn't gone down in a plane or left the place. The EMP might have only hit part of the country.
But either way, no one was coming to save us.
I thought. "There has to be something in this school. How about the shop? They've got goggles, don't they? That'll help with our eyes. And there might be something we can put on our bodies, too." I thought about the sports department.
"Great idea," Jerome said. He gave me a thumbs-up. "You're way better than David so far."
"Eric," Mina said, clearing her throat, "Eric was wearing a long sleeve shirt but the sand still got to him. I checked. It was horrible. Even his clothes were torn. We need something strong like insulation."
"Or that coat that little kid had on in that Christmas movie," Christina said. "You know, the one where he couldn't put his arms down."
"Arizona," Jerome reminded her. "What's a coat?"
"That's the problem," Tony said.
I paced and thought harder. The goggles would work and there would have to be gloves down in the shop, too. "Insulation, then," I said. "There's got to be some up in the ceiling panels. We can stack some desks and get up there. Someone will have to find some scissors. Or does anyone have a knife?"
Jasmine shuffled around in her pockets. "I do," she said, drawing out a wicked looking blade with a skull handle and a jagged edge.
"Jasmine," Tony said, holding up both hands. "I didn't think you had something like that."
"I was afraid David would come back," she said. "Nobody let me have a gun when we found the police station, remember?"
Jasmine had been the only person in the David group to suggest that they not abandon us out in the desert. I had some respect for her. I hoped that she didn't die, but I didn't put too much hope into it because I knew what hope did to people.
Nobody spoke except for me. "I remember," I said, nodding at her. "I don't blame you for having that. In fact I'm glad you have that. Someone will need to climb up there and cut off some big pieces of insulation. We'll need tape if someone's going to be mummified in this stuff."
Jerome, being the tallest, was the lucky guy who got to climb up into the ceiling and cut out pieces of yellow and pink insulation. The school must have put it in for the air conditioning. I remembered seeing it poke through the ceiling in a couple of places in some of the older classrooms. We were lu
cky. Jerome dropped piece after piece on the floor, panting with the effort, his body leaning against the edges of the removed panel. He'd be getting a lot of the crappy jobs like this. I felt so bad for the guy. He was destined for some great school and awesome career, not manual work.
I shook my head. That was assuming we all survived.
At last, after an hour of moving music stands, chairs and desks for Jerome to stand on, he had thrown what had to be forty pounds of insulation on the floor, some of it still stuck to backing. He jumped down. Sweat beaded his forehead and he caught his breath, dropping the knife. He didn't even make an effort to pick it up, so I did and handed it back to Jasmine.
"Now what?" Jerome asked, fanning himself with his shirt. I caught a glimpse of his chest in the pale light. He wasn't as skinny as I thought. It looked like he had worked out in the past.
Everyone was watching me. "We need tape," I said. "Duct tape."
"There's none in the desk," Alana said. "I looked. Someone has to go find some."
I realized how horrific that would be. The wind continued to howl against the school and dust beat against glass. There were only a few small windows at the top of this classroom, but I was starting to wonder if they would shatter. Either way, someone would have to venture out into a school full of death and decay. Someone would have to get sick and puke their guts out to find a roll of silver tape. There was no other way we'd be leaving, ever.
Alana waited. Even Tony waited. I realized that I needed to say something, to make a decision.
It was then I realized what had happened. I had become the leader of this outfit, at least for now.
It might be because I had the idea to throw David in the sewer. It might be because I had stood up to him. Or it might be from me making the call to shelter in the school. I hoped for the latter. I didn't want these people to fear me like I was some kind of monster.