Nuclear War Club: Seven high school students are in detention when Nuclear War explodes.Game on, they are on their own.

by Triarii, Colt

  Doron noticed that neither Matt nor Ashley introduced themselves to Karen. Karen said nothing, and her face remained impassive, as the bell rang. It was as if Karen did not even exist in Ashley world.

  “Who was that next to Zeke, holding court with the A list?” Doron overheard Ashley whisper to her friend as they left the lunchroom.

  “Her name is Karen Wilson. She transferred over this year when the district school zones changed. Her Dad is a hired ranch hand, and they live in a trailer at the Sierra Madre Ranch,” her friend replied.

  “Trailer trash,” Doron heard Ashley reply, rolling her eyes.

  Doron looked at Karen, who was walking next to him. He knew Karen had heard Ashley also, but she didn’t seem angry, or even concerned. It was as if Ashley was irrelevant.

  10.

  “Watch out for Dimon,” Zeke warned David quietly when the bell rang.

  “Word is you are heading for a beat down by his posse,” Zeke said.

  “He didn’t seem angry,” David replied.

  “Not the place, not the time. Boy knows he needs backup. Watch your back, he won’t fight fair,” Zeke said, pointing both fingers to his eyes, then to David, as he walked off. David nodded thanks for the heads up.

  Zeke saw that both Doron and David walked Karen to her locker. On the Geiger counter of school popularity among the insecure and shallow, the girl was now radioactive, he thought.

  Zeke rushed over when Ashley and Matt Dimon walked by Karen’s locker. He saw Matt glance both ways, to be sure the social studies teacher was not in the hall watching, then turned and slammed his hand on the locker next to Karen. Matt turned to David and said, “Coach says you will be taking some snaps today on first team.”

  “He’s the Coach,” David said evenly, moving between Matt and Karen. Zeke sensed the fight was going down, so he prepared to block any of Matt’s friends from the offensive line standing nearby.

  “If you are smart, you will stay on defense,” Matt glared, “less likely to get injured on defense.”

  “Maybe you can help me learn all the plays. Coach gave me your wrist band with the plays.” David said, emphasizing the word “your” lifting up his long sleeve to show the play summary covered by a plastic covering, and stepping closer to Dimon.

  What Zeke saw happen next was recorded better than many NFL plays--by two hall surveillance cameras, and three student phones who loaded it instantaneously on the internet site Periscope. Zeke learned it was watched repeatedly in slow motion by every student in school, all day, for the rest of the day.

  Matt swiftly swung his right arm to punch David in the face. But the camera angle hid Matt’s first move as he was shielded from view by both Karen and Doron.

  When Matt pivoted, he shoved Karen, to get her out of the way so he could hit David. But he seemed surprised when, Karen, who had seen many brawls between ranch hands, quickly shoved Matt, knocking him slightly off balance.

  Ashley screamed what she later claimed was, “You Witch” at Karen, clearly audible on the video. Zeke and everyone knew what she really said.

  Zeke was impressed when David quickly slammed Dimon’s face into the locker and pinned his left arm behind him, twisting up. He realized Karen would get really messed up if she got a misdirected punch to her face from either David or Matt, and quickly snatched her out of the way, running into Doron.

  Security officers blew whistles, rushed over, and broke it up. The security officers took Zeke and everyone to the Discipline Dean’s office.

  “What did you see,” the Dean asked the security officers.

  “The blond haired kid slammed Matt Dimon against the locker, and the black haired girl helped him slam Matt Dimon. We broke it up,” the overweight officer summarized, breathing heavily.

  “Did Matt Dimon hit anyone first?” she asked.

  “Not that we could see, but there should be video,” the officer replied.

  Zeke remembered that under the absurd no tolerance rules, fighting, could result in immediate suspension and possibly expulsion.

  “Why did you bring in Zeke Brown and Doron Cohen?” she asked.

  “Zeke Brown was guarding Matt Dimon’s friends and kept them out, he may have been in on this. Zeke physically grabbed the black haired girl and we could not see if Doron also hit Matt,” he replied.

  Zeke started to respond, but she motioned for him to shut up, with a finger over her lips.

  “Anything else?” she asked.

  “Yes, Ashley Kensington called the black haired girl a name, she said it was Witch,” he concluded.

  “I will watch the video,” the Dean said, “Please wait outside and put everyone in a separate room.”

  11.

  The Dean watched Matt slam the locker twice.

  “Karen’s actions could be self-defense,” the Dean said.

  The Dean’s desk phone beeped.

  “Yes,” the Dean responded.

  “Coach Durant on line 4, he says it’s urgent.”

  “I understand you have both my quarterbacks in for a small dust up,” Coach said.

  Coach got the word literally before she did. With texting, parents and teachers frequently knew before she interviewed the students.

  “No Coach, we have a serious matter, not a dust up,” she replied heatedly

  “Now hold on, Dean, I am sure it was just a misunderstanding. They are just butting heads for the starting position next Friday night, it’s to be expected,” Coach explained.

  The Dean suddenly understood, he was terrified that she would suspend both quarterbacks and Coach would be naked for next Friday’s division game.

  “I warned you before, they better keep the physical contact on the football field!” she replied.

  “Let me come down, I am sure we can straighten this out,” Coach urged.

  “No!” she replied. “I will let you know what happens,” she said as she hung up.

  The Intercom buzzed again.

  “What!” she snapped.

  “Dr. Dimon, Matt Dimon’s father on line three.”

  “Take a message,” she replied.

  “He says Matt has an attorney for this brutal attack, and will not be giving you any statements,” the harried secretary blurted out.

  “Brutal attack?” the Dean thought. From a kid who has thirty pounds on the alleged attacker, and is angry he cannot be the starting QB on the football field. Lawyered up in less than seven minutes, she thought. She reached over and called the School Board’s legal counsel emergency hotline.

  She hated to admit it, Doron Cohen was so wearisome , but he had convincingly argued Matt Dimon started the fight. He had even diagramed the camera angle and why Matt’s actions and first move did not appear on video. Then she found out Doron sent a blanket email alert to everyone using geek. peek asking for video of the fight. Doron edited these in slow Motion and showed them to her.

  After the attorney and the Dean talked to all the students but Matt, the attorney suggested one day of after school detention as their sole punishment.

  “If the students refuse the one day detention, they could have a formal hearing with the risk of suspension. Matt Dimon would not be offered the deal, he demanded a suspension hearing, he would get one,” the school board lawyer explained.

  She agreed. Dr. Dimon wanted to lawyer up, how about some payback.

  All the students, David, Karen, Zeke, Doron and even Ashley, accepted the plea deal of one day after school detention that afternoon. It was a good deal, only available because Matt had lawyered up. Doron was very reluctant, and wanted to fight the charge. But Doron’s Mother, who had been texted by another student, screamed in her Skype video call to Doron that he could not risk his acceptance to college over a disciplinary action.

  “Suck it up, it’s one afternoon detention, with no grade impact or discipline record. I don’t care if you are innocent!” Doron’s Mom shouted. Everyone could hear Doron’s Mom scream through the wall in the Dean’s office.

  Doron c
ame back into her office.

  “I decided to take the detention,” Doron calmly told her.

  12.

  David thought you could learn a great deal about students from observing what they brought to detention, since no smart phones, laptops, or other electronic devices were allowed. He had brought the football play book Coach had given him.

  He watched Doron bring twelve printed pages from the electronic text in Physics, and Calculus III. It was all the pages he could print with his cash card. Doron had to stay busy, detention was an hour long.

  Karen Wilson brought reading assignments from World Literature. Ashley Kensington brought the expensive SAT prep course flash cards she was supposed to study, and the current editions of Cosmopolitan and Seventeen she would actually read. Zeke Brown brought three Sports Illustrated magazines from the library, because he could not finish his Algebra until he could access geek-peek.

  “Listen,” the instructor demanded, pausing until she had their eyes.

  “You are here as punishment. It’s supposed to be distasteful. If you disobey any of the following rules, you will be ejected and subject to more penalties,” the instructor explained.

  “No sleeping or shutting your eyes, no talking, no eating, chewing or drinking, and absolutely no electronic devices of any type are permitted. If you forgot an electronic device put it on my desk now,” she warned. Ashley, Zeke and Doron trudged up to the front and dropped off their smart phones on her desk.

  “Detention is for one hour. You will sign this roll I am passing around, and print your name and student number. At the end you will present your student ID and I will confirm your attendance and provide your certificate of compliance.”

  David looked around, wondering why Detention was held in the basement, under the cafeteria. It really was like a prison cell, he thought. The basement room was stark, with no windows, bare cement walls, and absolutely no furniture except for the instructor’s desk, and their student desks, arranged in four rows, five deep.

  Seven students were paying their debt to society this afternoon. David Phelps, Karen Wilson, Ashley Kensington, Zeke Brown, Doron Cohen, Jorge Rodriguez, and Liu Nguyen, a quiet, studious, female student who excelled at school. David didn’t know Jorge, and he wondered what Liu could have possibly done to get detention. He had noticed that Asian American students generally held teachers in incredibly high esteem and never, ever, got in trouble. And Liu was even more straight laced than most.

  David carefully signed the roll and then passed it to Ashley. Detention started when the bell rang at 3:15pm. He would normally be on the football field right now. There was a large clock with a red sweeping second hand hanging behind the instructor’s desk. David watched the second hand slowly tick until one minute’s debt was paid, and remembered the clock in the old movie High Noon.

  Zeke looked like he might fall asleep as soon as the room became dead quiet as he looked at each page of his Sports Illustrated.

  David just stared at Karen. He really liked looking at her, until she menacingly challenged his glance.

  Doron furiously calculated some new theorem and seemed to be using the time most productively. Ashley glanced his way with a look of disgust. Liu seemed embarrassed and humiliated to be here. Jorge just stared blankly at nothing, like a prisoner careful not to visually challenge anyone in jail.

  The instructor walked around the room looking at what the students were doing. David watched her walk behind the class, and disappear.

  13.

  At precisely 4:11pm Pacific Standard Time- four minutes before the end of detention-David struggled to breathe as pressure seemed to squeeze the air of out of his lungs. He tried to inhale, but the air was being forced out. It felt like he had dropped a fully loaded bench press weight bar on his chest. The pressure eased slightly and he was able to suck in just enough air to choke. He strained to cough, smothering in the dust, hungrily gasping for air. Finally he was able to take a half breath.

  The classroom was absolutely dark, like a cave. Sweat burned his eyes. He couldn’t see his hands in front of his face. His heart raced uncontrollably, even though he wasn’t moving. It was like it belonged to someone running sprints. He tried to move his legs, but he was trapped.

  He couldn’t see anything, but he knew the ceiling had collapsed, his head was gashed by fluorescent light fixtures. But he couldn’t orient himself, there was no light at all. His head throbbed, his hair was soaked with blood.

  He had no idea how to get out. He frantically tried to remember where the exit was located.

  “I’m going to die. Trapped in this rubble,” he realized.

  Some of the other students were screaming, some praying, and others cursing. Losing control. The utter darkness seemed to make everything much worse. David knew he was panicking. His Dad explained to him over and over that panic led to death for pilots.

  “When panic comes, run the checklist,” his Dad had said.

  “Your brain can’t panic and run a checklist at the same time, and you can use that to your benefit. Run a checklist and you choke off the panic,” Dad emphasized.

  “Okay, so let’s run a checklist,” David said out loud. His voice was fairly calm and for some reason, made him feel better.

  “One step at a time,” he said.

  He could breathe, and the dust was settling, so he slowly took several deep breaths before he tried to move. He was surprised how much better he felt. Next he could orient himself in total darkness.

  “Just break it into small steps, Phelps,” he said.

  “First find the floor, then the wall. Now get out of the desk.”

  Simple steps, but he felt the panic recede, his heartbeat slow. His morbid fear of being trapped in rubble faded. It was coming back to him, he was on the second row facing the front desk. The closest wall would be to the right and lead out of the room.

  He felt the wall with his foot. Raising his arms, he confirmed he could crawl on his knees without hitting his head on the collapsed ceiling.

  David heard Zeke curse, then saw him turn on his cell phone he had grabbed from the front desk. Zeke held the lit display screen above his head.

  David struggled to calm his voice.

  “Zeke, can you toss me one of the cell phones?” David said, pleased with his calm tone.

  “Are you okay?” asked Zeke.

  “Fine, no sweat,” David lied.

  “Toss me a ph..,” Karen yelled to Zeke.

  Karen was drowned out by a loud, muffled, crash, then the sound of metal straining, groaning, collapsing under stress. Dust mushroomed from the hallway behind the instructor, illuminated by Zeke’s cell.

  David thought immediately of the video he had seen in history class of the dust clouds when the Trade Center collapsed on 911. His Mom told him she had actually watched 911 live on television, back in the day. Ever since David had seen the debris from the towers, he had a lifelong fear of being trapped under rubble. He tried to remember how many building floors were above, pancaking down on them.

  Suddenly the ceiling caved in at the front of the class. Liu screamed as she was thrown to the floor and tangled in her desk. Zeke grabbed Liu’s legs and jerked her free.

  “Karen, see if you can drag Jorge out,” David yelled.

  The dust now billowed up and it was impossible to see anything. It stung David’s eyes. His eyes burned as they teared. It only stopped when he shut his eyes. He gasped, trying to breathe, the air looked clearer back near the steel beams. Jorge and Karen were violently coughing as David struggled to reach them.

  By touch, David estimated the ceiling had collapsed around Karen and Jorge, leaving about a two foot high crawl space which could collapse at any minute. Worse, debris had fallen in a random pattern so Karen and Jorge could not reach them by crawling in a straight line.

  Someone would have to go back, in the dark, and get them out, David realized.

  David took another breath, and tried to calm himself. He preferred almost any death rathe
r than being trapped in rubble, dying slowly. Going back for Karen and Jorge required him to overcome every instinct screaming for him to run away. Karen and Jorge were only about fifteen feet away, but in the debris, the dust, and the dark it might as well have been a mile.

  “Zeke, I have my eyes closed, touch me with the phone. I am going to get them,” David said.

  Zeke tapped David’s hand with the phone and said, “Liu’s bleeding, looks like her arm is cut.”

  “Put your hand on the bleeding until we get everyone out,” David said.

  “Now, I need one of you to take off your belt and hand one end to me and hold the other end, like a rope.” David said.

  “I’ve got one,” Doron said.

  “Thread the belt through the buckle around your ankle and hand me the other end,” David said, remembering what his Dad had told him.

  Doron tried twice, as his hands were shaking.

  “Okay, listen up. Karen and Jorge, we are going to get you out,” David said.

  “One of you grab my belt, the other one grab their ankle. We will make a human chain,” David said. David crawled backwards with his eyes shut to Karen and Jorge so he would not lose his bearings, and would be able to crawl back to the steel beams. David had taken off his leather belt and looped the belt through the buckle around his right ankle.

  “Where are you?”, David asked.

  “Here,” shouted Jorge.

  “Over here,” shouted Karen.

  David judged from the sound that Karen was closer. The cell phone light was blocked by the debris, the dust looked like snow flurries. He checked with his right foot, touching her head.

  “Karen, I am tossing you my belt tied to my ankle. Grab it, then Jorge, you grab her ankle,” David said. “We are going to make a human chain so we can get to the beams.”

  David then tossed the other end of the belt to Karen, hitting her head. His athletic shoes slipped on her head, like on a wet, greasy floor. Karen grabbed his belt, and kicked Jorge.