by Holly Hook
That wasn't my fault, either.
I would have to be extra fair and extra nice.
I scrambled for an answer. "We can draw straws or something," I said. "Whoever gets the short one has to go get the tape."
"I'm not short," Jerome said.
"You don't have to draw," I said. "You already worked your butt off. Sit down. We'll get you something to drink from the cafeteria. I don't think it was lunch time when the pulse hit. That place should be empty."
"No milk," Gina said. "If we drink that, we won't need the dust storm to kill us."
The band teacher had a cup on his desk with a bunch of those little coffee straws in it. The guy was always seen with a mug in hand, especially in the mornings and during graduation week. I grabbed seven, cut one in half, and held them all in my hand. Everyone stepped forward, hesitant, and grabbed a straw. Mina trembled as she hesitated, then chose the second to last one.
After it was done and I held the final straw, I opened my hand to confirm the worst.
I had the cut straw. I'd be going out. Alana shot me a look of horror and even Tony gulped for my sake. Christina sighed in relief. That girl would never like me.
I swallowed and caught gulps of the last fresh air I'd have in a while. "Flashlight?" I asked, trying to sound light and happy. "Gas mask?"
"We don't have one of those," Tony said. "Sorry. Are you sure you want to go? I can if you want me to."
"I'm good. I was kidding." I counted to five between each breath. Those counts would get longer once I was out in the hallway. I'd try Mrs. Taney's classroom. It wouldn't have a dead teacher slumped over the desk that I'd have to move and definitely no dead students. I could do this. I'd look up and breathe through my mouth, even though that didn't do a ton of good. I pulled my shirt over my nose and made sure it was tight against my face. The air was stale but it was better than what was to come. "Okay. Someone has to get the door." I didn't want to have to send anyone out there, especially Mina and definitely not Alana. I was almost relieved about this.
Alana moved to the door and grimaced at me. "Good luck," she said. "You want me to come with you?"
It was the last thing she needed. "Stay here," I said.
I could see the relief spreading on her face as she opened the door and I stepped into the dark, flashlight in tow.
I held my breath for as long as I could, almost until I got to the end of the wing. I couldn't run with all the bodies lumps on the floor. Some classroom doors were shut when my flashlight landed on them and others were wide open, exposing the horror within. I was walking through hell, a land of swollen arms and legs and flies and blood. Of lumps that used to be human beings but were now just rotting material. Missing eyes. Faces that had become half-eaten baby fly nests. They were everywhere in here, mostly in the hall, slumped against lockers, half in and out of classroom doors like they were trying to crawl to safety.
My lungs began to burn. I hurried and it got worse, but I kept my shirt over my face and bolted for Mrs. Taney's room. Spots were flaring across my vision as I dove inside, jumping over another lump to do so.
I slammed the door behind me, let out my stale breath, and took another one.
The room looked empty at first, but the vile air told me otherwise.
The janitor.
He lay in the back corner of the room, right by Jerome's and Alana's desks, curled up in a fetal position. His mouth was open in a grimace and he was staring at the wall with eyes that were no longer there. I turned away, leaned over the trash can, and heaved up whatever it was I had eaten with Alana right before the sun went down. That would only add to the smell. I tied up the garbage bag and held down another round. I wanted to wake up. I imagined what happened to the poor janitor, who no one ever talked to. He had come in, thinking he would get Mrs. Taney's room clean when no one was here. It was the reason the door was open. Then the radiation had hit.
It must have killed very quickly. Within minutes. It would forever be a mystery.
I held my breath again and counted the seconds as I rummaged through Mrs. Taney's desk. Being who she was, she had a roll of duct tape stashed somewhere that she threatened noisy students with. I found it in the second drawer down, next to a framed photo of a younger Mrs. Taney with her arms around a man that might be her husband. I grabbed it and closed the door as fast as I could. I couldn't afford to throw up again. My stomach was angrier than ever and I knew that the calorie loss could make me pay later. The cafeteria was the next stop. Jerome needed water. I pulled my shirt over my face again and headed out the door, closing it behind me.
The cafeteria was empty. I shined the flashlight on the whole room, scanning it, before I stepped inside. The air was better in here, too, but the windows were bigger and the dust and sand were beating on them harder than ever. I shone the light on the nearest one, a long one that looked out on a moving wall of brown and tan and black. I felt like the entire high school had sunk into the sands of the Sahara desert and they were closing around us, trapping us in a little space until we ran out of air.
I took another breath. Counted to five once again. I calmed down enough to keep moving. Of course that wasn't happening. I was conquering that fear of closed places. I had to. I'd be spending a lot more time in them if this was how the whole world was now.
The kitchen was okay, too. The air was almost fresh in here, at least compared to the rest of the school. There was a pizza lying on the counter, thawed and growing mold, but at least the kitchen ladies had gone somewhere else, probably to be sick away from the food. I wasn't touching the pizzas, but there was a bunch of plastic-sealed bottled water packs stacked almost to the ceiling and bags of more chips. The top one was already torn open, so it was easy to get out some bottles and stuff them in my backpack. The walk-in fridge was closed and I didn't bother to open that. Nothing in there was safe after a week of no power. I wasn't going to risk going through the boxes in the freezer, either. Besides, it wasn't like we could cook anything without a grill, and starting one indoors was a horrible idea. So I stuck with the chips and the candy, which I was getting horribly sick of, but we had nothing else. Already my stomach was recovering and begging for something.
Yeah. I had to stop throwing up, but you couldn't get used to the smell. Ever.
I took three breaths, then an extra deep one. If I ran without tripping I could get to the band room without taking another one. With everything packed into Alana's backpack, I walked to the other end of the cafeteria and got to the double doors that were closest to the band room. I could remember where the bodies were now. I thought.
Someone coughed.
I turned, shining my light through the cafeteria and across all the empty tables.
No one. But then the cough came again from the direction of the kitchens. It sounded like it might be coming from the walk-in fridge.
Right then, the fridge door slowly squeaked.
I took a final breath, held it, opened the doors and ran.
It took me exactly twenty-five seconds to run to the band room and pound on the door.
Chapter Five
"Someone's here," I said as soon as I sucked in a breath and closed the double doors behind me.
Everyone stood there and squinted as I shined the light on them. Tony was hanging back, holding his reddened hand over his eyes and Alana was sitting cross-legged on the floor, away from everyone else.
"What?" Gina asked, rising.
"I heard them cough," I said. "I was right by the walk in fridge, but I didn't go in. Right after I left the kitchen someone coughed in there and I heard the door open."
We all stood there, silent. There was one word playing through my mind and it started with D.
Did the school basement cross with the sewer system? Mr. Ellis had mentioned once that the school was old and there were a lot of old pipes down there no longer in use. I hadn't thought about that fact until now.
I could tell from the looks on everyone's faces that they were thinking the same th
ing.
"Maybe it's another survivor," Christina said.
"Doubt it," Alana told her. She remained on the floor, picking at her shoes. She had gone to her own world again.
I couldn't worry about that. "David wasn't armed when we threw him in the sewer, was he?"
"No," Tony said. "You took his gun."
The memory was blurry.
I remembered holding a gun to Tony and Eric so maybe I had taken it from David. I'd heard before that people who came out of horrible events sometimes had trouble remembering details and I hadn't tried to think about it much since that night. But now I needed to. "He shouldn't have a gun," I said, "unless he's been sneaking around town, getting into houses."
"Or our police station," Gina said. "We never checked it. We already have the guns from the other one, but I don't think anyone brought them with us. We all thought David was gone."
I didn't have to say why no one but Jasmine had brought weapons. There was no one left to defend ourselves against. It was what we had thought. Someone was a lot less dead than the rest of Colton. Someone who was sheltering in here just like we were.
"Barricade the door," I said, waving to the band teacher's desk.
I didn't even know the guy's name but at least he hadn't died here. The band teacher only worked part time so we didn't see him often. I was glad for that fact as Jerome and I slid the desk against the double doors, keeping them sealed from the inside. They were big metal doors like the ones that led to the gym. Not easy to shoot through--right? I'd never actually fired anything other than a BB gun on one of my parents' long camping trips and that was at a paper target on a tree. A real gun would be a lot worse.
"That should keep him out," Tony said, rubbing his arms again. "If that was even him out there. Who knows? Maybe someone was in the basement of the school when the radiation hit. It could be the janitor."
"The janitor's dead," I said. "I saw him. I'm not going to describe it. Now we need to figure out how to suit someone up to go out there and how we're going to set up our transportation. Siphoning gas will be easy. It's all over. The thing is, will that old truck tow something? Those prewar motors can't be as powerful."
"We might have to just have everyone lie in the back with something over them like a tarp," Jerome said. "We managed that before, remember?"
"These are the worst dust storms in the history of the planet," Christina said. She wasn't even glaring at me anymore, not like she used to when David was still attractive and wasn't trying to kill us all. We were both equally disgusted by him now. There was nothing to compete over. "We'll need more than a tarp."
"I survived in The Dip," Tony said. "I think as long as we're not in the worst of it like Eric was, we'll be okay."
I wasn't so sure about that. The doctors had told Mom that if they started treatment early enough, she might be okay. The word was a lie a lot of the time. I hated the thought of driving that old truck and having everyone lying in the back when the next storm hit. Of not being able to see. Of getting lost and having to stop and wait days for the storm to pass. We couldn't do that but there were no other options.
Well, there was. Staying here and letting David find us was one. Getting buried was another.
"Okay," I said. "We need to get a couple of people geared up and then go out and find the truck as soon as it calms down at all."
* * * * *
I was one of the lucky ones once again. Well, I offered. I hated the thought of standing here while two people went out into danger at my word and wound up getting killed. My heart wouldn't stop racing as Alana and Gina bound me in thick insulation, which got hot quickly. I had a huge piece around my torso and even thicker pink pieces around my legs. I felt like that marshmallow man from Ghostbusters, the old one from the eighties that I watched with my parents on one of our movie nights. I could barely move my legs after they got them wrapped and I knew without speaking that going to the bathroom would have to wait. All we had was a trash can in the store room, anyway, and we were delaying using that as long as possible.
"How are you feeling?" Gina asked me. "That's sexy, if you ask me. You'll be picking up guys right and left."
Jerome laughed. I had an urge to laugh with him for a second--but only that.
"Thanks," I said, feeling like I was going to explode in sweat. I looked down and saw nothing but pink and yellow fuzz and the occasional name of some building company on paper backing. Layman's Construction. I doubted they existed anymore.
And I couldn't put my arms down.
There was no way the dust was going to eat through this. "What about my head?" I asked.
"You're getting the Colton High banner," Alana said. She held it up. It was complete with the image of a coyote flexing his biceps, our school mascot. "And the goggles. Don't feel bad. Mina has to wear one, too, so she won't make fun of you too badly."
I had forgotten. She was on the other side of the room, being wrapped by Tony and Jasmine. She had begged to go in Tony's place after he'd put in his offer since she knew the most about cars. Jerome had also offered to go out and he stood there against the wall, a pleading look in his eyes. He must not want a girl to have to venture out there.
Once the wind calmed, there would be no time to waste. She knew how to siphon gas. I had driven that truck before.
Once Alana slid on the goggles and I felt like I was wearing that radiation suit all over again, Mina and I stared at each other. Her eyes were blurry behind her own and she waved at me, flexing her fingers in thick gloves. While I had gone to the cafeteria, Tony had remembered the shop teacher's supplies and gone to get them, which were right across the hall. His trip hadn't been as horrifying as mine.
"You're already way better than David," Mina said from behind her makeshift scarf. "David didn't do anything. He just bossed everyone else around."
"I told you. The guy was doing it for his ego," Jerome said. "He wasn't a lazy guy. The whole thing just made him feel good."
"Let's not argue," I said. The dust grains hitting the window were getting less intense or maybe it was just the banner wrapped tight around my head blocking out the sound. "I think the wind's calming down again. If it keeps doing that, we can leave soon. The walk to the truck isn't far." I thought about where it was still sitting, front tires on the boulder. I had gotten it there while trying to escape from David. I hadn't tried backing it off yet, mainly because we had left it running out of gas while David was planning my death. I hadn't thought about turning it off at the time.
There was only a chance that this would work. If we couldn't get the truck free, there was no point. I couldn't think of any other prewar cars in Colton, except for that one the old guy on my street kept in his garage and never ran. The thing was falling apart. He'd been putting it together for years.
The wind gusted again, and then stayed quieter. I looked at Mina. If there was a time we were going to go out, it was now. At least the sand wouldn't rip my skin off, but I held my hand out for a drink of water. Alana handed me an open bottle and I chugged it down. I didn't need to be dying of dehydration out there. It might be a worse death than having my skin slowly eroded away.
"When we leave," I said, "Barricade the door behind us. We need a code word. When Mina and I get back, we'll yell something so you’ll know it’s us.”
"What?" Tony asked.
"How about strike out?" Mina asked, poking at Tony.
"I was drunk," he said. "I normally play way better than that."
I laughed until I remembered that it wasn't a good idea. I'd work with these people, but I couldn't allow my wall to come down. I was doing better, doing what I needed to do, but Death was always waiting to shatter everything. I'd need the strength to go on in case someone else died.
And that was likely.
Tony and Jerome moved the desk while I held the flashlight in my hand. Mina mentioned something about hitting the mechanic first, which was right down the street, downtown. We often heard them pounding on cars from the school, they
were so close. They'd be maybe a few buildings before the truck. There had to be a way to siphon the gas from some of the vehicles in there. They'd have gas cans for sure.
The wind calmed a little bit more. We'd reached another lull in the storm. None of us needed to speak. Alana opened the band room doors for us and I sucked in my breath of fresh air. Mina and I tore out into the hallway at the same time, unarmed and possibly at David's mercy.
"The closest door is to our left," Mina said. "I was in band and you can get out through the storage room. Come on."
I followed her, holding the flashlight. We both looked like strange monsters. Another gust of wind followed and I wondered if this scarf would keep the dust out of my lungs. I'd coughed enough during the start of the last dust storm. I could barely breathe right now, which might be a blessing. The scarf was also helping to keep out the stench.
Mina led me to the storage room, which was thankfully unlocked, and opened the door. We walked past tons of band equipment, drums, and instruments that no one would ever use again and to a door on the other side of the wall. It was cramped in here, but I counted the seconds it took us to get through the room. It was just another enclosed space.
The wind blasted in when Mina opened the door but not as badly as it had back at Alana's house. It could pick back up at any moment.
We could both die out here.
I could end up abandoning Alana after all, leaving her to go on without her best friend on top of going on without her mom and brother.
Mina held the door open like she was testing the air for a few seconds. "I think we're going to be okay," she said. "We're facing the football field, by the way. I know you were never in band, but we used to use this door a lot. If we go to the right, we'll get to the fence and then to the parking lot."
"Okay," I said. She was in charge here. I never hung around the sports areas or the band areas. They weren't my thing. I'd have to trust her judgment.
Mina stepped out into the storm and I followed.
Chapter Six