Escaping Darkness (Book 2): The Cloud

by Richards, E. S.

  “Sure thing,” Deb answered. “That makes life easier.”

  “Thank you,” Mia smiled. “And I’m sorry about all of this. I didn’t mean to cause any trouble earlier.”

  “Oh don’t worry about it,” Stuart smiled. “Everyone’s emotions are pretty high right now.”

  Mia laughed. Stuart calmed her; he was a good asset to have around. Aside from him and, to an extent Deb, Mia could see how scared everyone else was. She worried about Tom and Brady and whether they planned to come with the group when they left tomorrow. She wanted to save everyone, but she also wasn’t willing to risk staying in the village any longer than she needed to. Yes, she wanted to help everyone, but not to the detriment of her own health.

  “Make yourselves at home,” Stuart smiled as he held open the door to his house, letting Mia, Patrick, and Allie walk inside first. “It’s not much, but it should suffice for the night.”

  “It’s more than enough.” As he entered, encouraging Allie to walk forward, Patrick shook Stuart’s hand for the second time since meeting him. “Thank you so much for letting us stay here. I had hoped that what happened at the airport would be the worst of it, but after seeing what’s happened here, we can only be grateful for how considerate you’ve all been. I’m so sorry for everyone you’ve lost.”

  “Thank you,” Stuart smiled, closing the door behind the four of them. “That means a lot. I can’t really believe what happened. It’s horrible.”

  “Did you have any warning?” Mia asked, curious to know whether people were able to prepare or not. “Did you know it was coming?”

  “We didn’t have a clue,” Stuart replied with a shake of his head. “The way the valley is cut, we can’t always see what’s going on. The water literally came out of nowhere. It was terrifying.”

  “Did you lose anyone beforehand?” Mia questioned, still trying to figure out how bad the damage was in the area. She needed to know more about whether people were struggling before the lahars swept the place. The scientist inside her wanted answers.

  Stuart’s head dropped, the man remembering everything. It had only been a matter of hours since it all started. Everything was likely too fresh in his memory. “A few,” he nodded. “Belinda down the road was coughing up blood, and Jackson complained of not being able to breathe properly. I don’t understand it. Is our air poisonous now?”

  “Not poisonous,” Mia replied, discrediting that idea before it had a chance to take hold. “But dangerous. Ash particles are floating around in it now; in the right light you can even see them. They can lacerate our lungs if we’re not careful. That’s why it’s important to cover your mouth and nose when you go outside. Something I guess you hadn’t been doing before?”

  Stuart shook his head again in dismay. “We didn’t have a clue. We literally didn’t have a clue.”

  The mood in the house was awkward and somber. Mia didn’t know what to say, Patrick and Allie also standing silently at her side as they waited for Stuart to gather himself. The man appeared to be taking a moment to himself, processing what had happened and trying to fight against his emotions. Mia could see it in his face. The panic, the fear, and the sorrow. They were all dangerous feelings to have and she felt incredibly sorry for the man.

  “I’m sorry,” Stuart apologized, wiping a few stray tears from his face. “I’m not normally like this—let me start over.” He tried to shake his bad mood away like an annoying fly, wafting his arms around for a second and squeezing his eyes shut. When he opened them again, Stuart had a much cheerier disposition. There was a smile on his face—though it didn’t really reach his eyes—and he was holding his posture a lot straighter, though his breathing was still heavy and sad. “Now,” he started again, refusing to give in to the pain that was trying to control him. “What can I fix you guys to eat? I’ve got chicken, leftover pizza, mac n’ cheese...”

  Making herself comfortable in Stuart’s house, Mia helped him prepare a relative feast for the four of them. Stuart was adamant that he would be leaving the village with them in the morning and so had no need to save food or make anything keep. He maintained his falsely cheerful mood the entire time they cooked and ate, the smile unable to completely fool Mia no matter what he said or what he pulled from the pantry.

  As a result, they gorged themselves on everything from cold pasta and pizza to fresh bread, cooked venison, and a rather obscene amount of mostly melted ice cream. Anything that Stuart deemed perishable was eaten, and especially when it came to the ice cream, he received no complaints.

  Once they’d finished eating, the adults moved on to Stuart’s large leather couch to talk, while Allie retired to bed upstairs. As Stuart only had two bedrooms, Mia made absolutely sure that Stuart could remain in his, and Patrick and Allie could share the other. She refused to let Stuart spend the night on the couch any more than she would allow Patrick and Allie to not sleep in the same room. The two of them had been through too much to be separated, and she didn’t want to inconvenience Stuart any further.

  “So,” Mia proposed as they all let themselves relax into the couch and the day’s worries fade away slightly. “You really think some people will refuse to leave?”

  “I do,” Stuart nodded. They’d discussed leaving the village at length while eating, Allie perfectly happy to ignore the conversation and just listen in. To Mia’s surprise, Stuart believed that some of the people who lived there would refuse to leave, despite what they had been told about the air and the water supply.

  “Like I said,” he explained after taking another long swig from the bottle of rum in his hand. “Pretty much everyone here has lived in the same house their entire lives. People don’t travel or go away to college then come back.” He paused to hiccup, a sound that morphed itself into a half-sob as Stuart’s façade started to crumble. “They grew up here, met their partner here and stick around or leave completely. It’s a simple life, but one that works for the most part.”

  “Don’t take this the wrong way, Stuart,” Patrick spoke up slowly, carefully choosing his words as both he and Mia had noticed their host getting increasingly intoxicated and losing his cover of cheerfulness during their conversation. “But you don’t seem like most of the people who live here. Neither did Michael once I got to know him. How come you’ve stuck around for so long? And how come you’re so ready to leave now?”

  Mia was a little taken aback. It was quite a personal question and not one she’d expected Patrick to ask. Watching Stuart cautiously, she waited for his response. Although it wasn’t a question she would’ve asked herself, she was very intrigued by what the man’s answer would be.

  “Let’s just say there’s nothing left for me here,” Stuart replied with a sad face. “There used to be,” he sniffed. “That’s why I’m still here, but there isn’t any more so I’m ready to move out.”

  Mia looked at Patrick, watching his face fall. She could tell that hadn’t been the answer that he wanted, a feeling she shared. They both knew it was rude to try and push for an answer though, especially if Stuart didn’t want to give one. Their host was breaking down, sinking back into the leather couch as he drained more and more of the bottle of rum in his hand. Pretty soon, Mia doubted whether he’d be able to tackle the stairs. Perhaps it was time they all called it a night, the conversation between the three of them completely fizzled out.

  Sprawling her body out on the couch and trying to get comfortable no more than twenty minutes later, Mia wondered just how right Stuart was about everyone and whether the man himself was okay. She could hear heavy sobs coming from upstairs where he slept, the kind that sounded like someone was trying to hide them, but was simply unable to do properly. She wondered about Stuart and what he was hiding, a story that would undoubtedly start to unravel if he joined her on their journey.

  She still couldn’t decide whether she wanted more people in her group or not. On the one hand, she knew it would help more people to survive and she would be doing the right thing; on the other, she knew it wou
ld also slow her down. Though she tried not to be selfish, the latter was the issue that she deemed more important. Considering her survival and that of her family in Texas, Mia knew she needed to start cutting a few more corners and taking a few more risks if she was going to see them again any time soon.

  Chapter 11

  “This is weird, man,” Jesse remarked, looking at Jadon and Marcus with a nervous expression. None of them were certain what to make of the village they found themselves in, but it appeared to have become their home for the night. They were all crammed into what could only be described as a pre-teen bedroom. It belonged to Miles, Ethan’s son—who had been moved out for the night so the three of them could occupy it. They weren’t ungrateful at all for a place to sleep—it sure beat the floor of the airport—but the whole situation was just a bit strange.

  “I know,” Marcus agreed. “This place feels kind of spooky, doesn’t it?”

  “It’s practically a ghost town. There’s hardly anyone left.”

  “Yeah, but we can’t really blame them for that,” Jadon interjected, worried his two friends were going to start making up horror stories about the place they were staying. “Imagine what could’ve happened at the airport if Mia hadn’t warned all of us what was about to come.”

  “True,” Marcus nodded. “Man, that was crazy.”

  “It was beyond crazy,” Jesse huffed. “Do you think everywhere is like this? What about back home?”

  Jadon opened his mouth to answer, usually the rational and calm one amongst the group. But even he couldn’t say for certain that he knew their home was safe. His mouth closed slowly when he realized that, the reality of everything hitting him. His parents and little sister still lived out there; how had their world been affected? Surely, they would know something had happened. He was supposed to be back home with them by now—why hadn’t he got on that earlier flight as planned? They’d all rearranged their plans so they could attend the final party of the semester. Right now, looking back, that felt like the stupidest idea ever.

  “I have no idea,” Jadon finally replied with a shake of his head. “But Mia seems to think she can make it back to Texas and things will be okay there. If that’s the case, everything should still be all right in Philly as well.”

  Rearranging his makeshift bed, Marcus sank down into it, the superhero sheets crumpling under his weight. “I hope you’re right, man. We’ve gotta make it back there eventually.”

  Looking at one another, each of the boys knew they had their own reasons for going back home. They all had families in Philadelphia and lives that they wanted to live out. Marcus’s girlfriend still lived there, and both Jesse and Jadon could tell that was who he was thinking about as his head hit the pillow. Jadon thought of his parents and younger sister while Jesse, too, thought of his family. He lived farther away from the center of Philly compared to Jadon and Marcus, in a less well-off area. It was just him and his mom out there and it worried him to think about how she was coping on her own. They had a strong network of friends, but Jesse knew how independent she was and how reluctant she would be to ask for help.

  She was like him in that way, a fact that always reminded Jesse of how he, Jadon, and Marcus had become such good friends. For three boys of the same age who were all from the same city, it had taken traveling across the country and attending college for them all to finally meet and form a brotherhood that each of them knew would last forever.

  Jesse had won a football scholarship from the University of Montana, giving him the chance to make something of his life. He knew that without it, he would’ve never gone to college or amounted to anything much. Football was his chance to achieve something. To make his mom proud and to give her the better life that she truly deserved.

  That was where the three of them had met: in the locker room on the first day. Jadon and Marcus were both on partial scholarships, Jadon majoring in philosophy and Marcus taking a few foreign language classes to get by. Jesse didn’t have any interest in anything other than football, but he had picked up a few classes just to meet the requirements set by the school. Philosophy just happened to be one of them, opening the door for a relationship with Jadon to begin.

  The other two hit it off immediately. Jadon was an incredibly friendly guy and Marcus was just the right mix of confident and brash. They came head-to-head on the field a couple of times and by the end of the first training session, they were bumping shoulders like old friends. Jesse had watched them slightly enviously in the locker room, jealous that some had been able to make friends so easily. Because of his background, he felt like he was out of place at the school. He had never been afforded much in the way of education and you didn’t have to speak to him long to figure that out.

  Overhearing Jadon mention that he was a philosophy major gave Jesse his in. He didn’t have a clue where to find the classrooms on campus so he knew that following this fellow football player was his only option. And, in short, that was what led to his friendship with the two of them. Jadon caught on that he had a shadow after three days of Jesse trailing behind and called him out. They butted heads a couple of times but after letting all the aggression out on the field, a true friendship naturally clicked and that was that. When all three of them were selected for first string and put in a training program together, their fates were sealed.

  Thinking back on it now, Jesse was so glad he’d managed to find friends like them. It was a real coincidence that they all came from Philly, their hometown giving the young men something further to bond over. They were now in their second year and instead of moving into a frat house like the rest of their team, the three of them had rented a small place together just off campus.

  “Hey,” Jesse piped up, thinking about their time at college and where Mia’s route was taking them. “Do you think we’ll end up heading back past the university? Like, aren’t we heading in the direction of Seattle now?”

  “Oh yeah.” Marcus pushed himself upright again. “We could go back to our place for a bit. Lay low there until this all blows over.”

  “I don’t know guys,” Jadon cut in, thoughts of his family and going home still fresh in his mind. “Don’t you think we’re better off sticking with the group? We don’t really know how to deal with this ourselves, do we?”

  Marcus quickly changed his mind, deciding going back was a bad idea. “Yeah true,” he nodded. “I think we should stick with Mia.”

  “Be cool to go back for a bit though,” Jesse pushed further. “Just to get some stuff. We’ve got loads of things there we could use, I bet.”

  “If it hasn’t all been looted.”

  “What?”

  “Oh, come on,” Jadon continued. “You don’t think everywhere will be safe in the cities, do you? I bet that’ll be the worst of all this—what everyone else does. That’s what always messes things up in the movies, isn’t it? It’s not the disaster itself, it’s how the human race reacts to everything.”

  Jadon’s revelation seemed to shock Jesse and Marcus, stunning them both into silence. They both spared a second to think about what their friend had said, trying to come up with their own examples where that hadn’t been the case. But Jadon was right. In almost all the scenarios they could think of, it wasn’t the actual disaster itself that had made the most damage, it was the people reacting to it. Out of all the volcanos that could erupt and storms that could damage the planet, no one was doing more harm than the human race.

  “Jeez, you’re right, man,” Jesse replied as his head flopped forward into his hands and he let out a groan. “We’re screwed.”

  “Hey,” Jadon placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “No we’re not. We’ve got a good thing going here. I say we just stick with the group and keep making progress. We’ll find a way to make it back to Philly before you know it, and I’m sure everyone there will be fine. Philly has got to be one of the farthest points in the country from all of this. I’m sure nothing bad has happened over there.”

  Doing his best to rea
ssure his friends after the worry he had caused them, Jadon reminded them just how different things could be only a few hundred miles away. The thought of home and what it would be like was in all of their heads now though, each of them worried about what they may find.

  “How long do you think it’ll take us to get back there?” Marcus asked, picturing his girlfriend’s face and desperately willing her to be okay.

  “Your guess is as good as mine,” Jadon shrugged. “I’m sure Mia has a few more tricks up her sleeve. She seems to have the hang of all this.”

  “Yeah—that girl got game,” Marcus laughed. “I wouldn’t want to mess with her.”

  “Me neither,” Jesse agreed, joining in with the laughter. All three of them were huge, strong young men, but all three of them had very quickly developed a high level of respect for Mia. She might be small physically, but on a mental level she was a lot tougher than any of them could hope to be. If anyone was going to get them home safe, it was her.

  “We should probably try and get some rest guys,” Jadon reasoned after the laughter had died out, aware that tomorrow they would be continuing their journey away from the airport and further west.

  “That’s going to be interesting on this,” Marcus smirked, his legs sticking out from underneath the superhero sheets from the ankle down. “I feel like a giant on this bed.”

  “You’re welcome to come and slum it on the floor,” Jesse joked, rolling over onto his front and trying to get comfortable on the random collection of pillows that had been fashioned into a bed.

  Marcus laughed again, “I’m good, actually. Night, guys.”

  “Night, dude,” Jesse and Jadon both chimed, their voices merging together in the darkness. With his eyes closed, Jesse tried to prepare himself for what was ahead. He knew getting to Texas and then back to Philadelphia and his mom was the final and absolute end goal. But there was no telling what they might come across on the way.