Project Airborne

by Johnson, Cassandra

  One day, there would be enough people in the same group to start rebuilding, he never believed that he would see Kaige again and there she was, she found them all on her own.

  If that was possible, anything was possible, it just all took time to put together and that was one thing they’d become lackadaisical about, they expected instant gratification. It wasn’t the way things worked. It never had been but the internet seemed to make it feel that way.

  “Do you two think you can wait until tomorrow?” Kaige asked, her eyes moving over Charlie and then Blake with concern.

  The mere idea of maybe finding their parents had to be excruciating for them when they had to wait until the next day to go to their old home. Kaige didn’t know if she would have been able to handle it.

  “Yeah, we’ll be okay. We can wait, it’s just a couple of hours.” Blake replied shocking Kaige.

  To only be fourteen the girl was so mature, she had to be if she was the one who was taking care of her little sister all by herself. How long had their parents been missing? Two weeks?

  Regardless of the time frame that was a lot to put on the shoulders of a teenager.

  “You two can stay here with us.” Megan said then. “I figured out that this sofa pulls out into a hide-a-bed so you can sleep on it.” She grinned, standing up and lifting one of the cushions to show the mattress that was hidden beneath the seat.

  “I have extra blankets and some pillows, and I think there are some more in the other apartment too.” Kaige mentioned, she wasn’t sure she felt right about putting the girls in the spare apartment even if it was empty, they had a lot of extra supplies in there and they could be moved, but that still felt like leaving the two kids on their own, they needed to be with adults and they needed to feel like they were being taken care of. At least for Blake, take some of the load off her shoulders. “I’ll go up now and get them.”

  Kaige stood up, gathering her coat and her backpack to drop off in her own apartment before she went upstairs. They were a full house, and who knew, perhaps by tomorrow they would have even more people in the house with them. Then they would move all the supplies that they stock piled in the spare apartment down into the basement for the family to have an apartment to themselves.

  20.

  “How did the two of you find your way into the neighborhood where you found us?” Kaige asked Charlie.

  The sun was still nothing more than an orange streak in a purple sky as they set off on their long journey together early that morning. The whole house was awake by four and ate breakfast by the light of their solar lanterns together, except for Tobey. He slept straight through the food.

  By Kaige’s estimate she thought that it was sometime after six-thirty in the morning, she wished that she thought of putting her wrist watch on before they left. At least then they might know what time it was when they reached their destination.

  “After mom and dad didn’t come back within a few days I wanted to go find them and I finally convinced Blake even though she didn’t want to leave the house. The only problem was we didn’t know what direction they went in, so we picked one at random. Blake figured that if they were going to look for food, they probably went towards the big Walmart, but when we got there it was all locked down and it was already beginning to get dark outside and I was scared. I don’t like being outside in the dark, not now.” Charlie began to explain, recounting the events that took place after their parents disappeared.

  “I don’t like being outside when it’s dark either.” Kaige told the little girl. And it wasn’t a lie by any means, the darkness was more than just a darkness, it was as if every light in the world had been shut off and you couldn’t even see your own hand in front of your face. “What did you do then?”

  “Well, it was still a little light out and we saw some buildings. You know the big Wal-Mart in North Little Rock, those apartments aren’t far from them. I always thought it was neat that those people got to live so close to Walmart. If you wanted, it you could walk right over to them. Anyway, we ran over there. Blake said we needed to be up higher, so we started checking doors on the second-floor apartments and they were all unlocked, which is weird since the Walmart was completely locked down. That’s weird isn’t it Kaige?” Charlie looked up at her inquisitively.

  “That is weird.” Kaige replied, considering the options. Absolutely none of the stores on this side of town had been on lock down. If it weren’t for the fact that they had been inside other large stores, like the Lowe’s where they got their heaters. Why would that store be closed? It made just as little sense to Kaige as it did to Charlie. “So, you and your sister staid in those apartments?”

  “Yeah, we stayed there for a week because the people who used to live there had a lot of food and we could go in and out of the other apartments and take food from there too. We figured if we stayed close to the stores, maybe we might see mom and dad. Maybe they got lost? It could happen. But we never saw any people, but we started hearing weird things later at night once it was dark. These loud booming noises, like there were bombs going off and we could feel the ground shaking in the apartment. At first, Blake thought that it was an earthquake, so we hid in the closets whenever they started, but eventually they would stop, and it would go dead silent outside again.”

  “You heard booming sounds?” Kaige’s brows arched up suddenly. Thus far, they hadn’t heard anything like that, not in the area that they were living in. But, Kaige had seen the plane. They hadn’t found any evidence of other survivors except for Blake and Charlie, but now this information sent her brain into a tailspin.

  “Yeah, it was pretty scary. After we kept hearing them every night, we grabbed as much of our stuff as we could, and we ran away because we never saw any people, but then the noises –it was strange. We had flashlights, but we got lost anyway because we didn’t want to walk past the Walmart. We went through the woods and that’s how we ended up wandering into the rich people neighborhood. It seems like we walked for forever.” Charlie shrugged, tucking her hands into her pockets to keep her hands warm.

  “If you get tired, just let us know and we’ll rest for a little while.” Kaige smiled, rubbing a hand over Charlie’s hair gently.

  “We took lots of breaks when we were walking, and we stayed in some of the people’s houses too but it felt sad there.” The little girl frowned.

  “Knowing that it was someone else’s home?” Kaige asked her.

  “Yeah. I hope that maybe they are safe somewhere, and one day they get to come home.” It was a sweet sentiment, and Kaige felt her heart break a little bit listening to the child. She still had faith, that maybe not every single person was gone and that one day, those people, all their suffering would come to an end and they would be rewarded for all the hardships they went through. Kaige admired that tenderness of Charlie’s spirit. She was such a bright little soul and she had seen so much darkness in the world already.

  “I hope so too, Charlie. I really do. But I want you to know that no matter what happens, you have us now too and we’re going to do everything that we can to protect you and your sister and Tobey.” Kaige paused, turning to look at her, and squat down so that she could look at Charlie at eye level, even though the twelve-year-old was only maybe five inches or so shorter than she was, but Kaige wanted the girl to feel the full impact of her words. “I know it’s been hard for you being all on your own, even before. But I kind of like to think of all of us as a family. We might come from all over, but we’re all the same and we belong together.”

  “When we find mom and dad, we can all be together.” Charlie smiled up at her, before locking her arms around Kaige’s waist quickly, hugging her as tightly as her arms would allow her before the two caught back up with Charlie’s sister, Logan and Brian.

  With the kids with them, Kaige kept touching her hip to feel the hang gun that Brian gave her. While she thought that having weapons was a great idea, something more than the baseball bat that she had been using, but Kaige also
didn’t know a damn thing about using a firearm and it made her a little nervous having one so close to her body. Before they left the house, Brian showed her how to turn the safety on and off, which she would need to remember if she ever needed to use it. The words remember to turn the safety off when you use it stuck in her head and were at the very forefront of her mind as Logan took them to the other side of North Little Rock, which for some reason basically surrounded all of Little Rock itself.

  “Guy’s let’s take a break.” Logan called, stopping in front of a store front that was abandoned. Normally, he wouldn’t have been so ready to stop, but with the kids with them, he wanted to give them time to rest and not push them too hard because it was going to be a very trying day, not just physically, but if they weren’t able to find the girl’s parents it would be an emotional one too and the young man didn’t want to stress the kids any more than they already had been.

  Pushing the door of the EZ Mart it was open, taking his gun from his waistband, he turned the safety off and stepped inside, cautiously looking around before he darted over to the refrigerated case, grabbing a couple bottles of water and some Powerade before he came back out, the rest of them taking a seat down on the ground to rest their legs.

  “How much further?” Charlie asked, blinking up at him, taking one of the blue Powerade’s from Logan’s hand and sharing it with her sister.

  “I’m not sure in miles, but I know we’re on the right track now, I wasn’t sure at first, but I used to get gas at this station all the time.” He told them, opening a bottle of water and taking a few quick gulps.

  “Wait, we’re in Maumelle.” Kaige said, tilting her head, looking at the gas station for a second. “I remember this library, I came here once a long time ago.” She said, standing up and glancing down the road, which sure enough the Maumelle Library was located just down the road from the gas station.

  “Yeah, once we get off of this road, and we cut to the left and just follow that road all day down, we’ll be in North Little Rock again.” Logan said, pointing.

  “I recognize this.” Blake said, wiping the back of her hand across her lips to get the blue Powerade off her lips. “I don’t know how we got so lost, but it was dark outside.” Blake commented.

  The sun had begun to climb higher, lighting their surroundings as they got back on the road, the long walk taking their breath away as they stopped several more times before getting to the trailer park where the girls and their parents lived.

  Blake and Charlie lead the way, then, almost running through the trailer park that had been abandoned, getting to their house out of breath, climbing the steps to the house, pushing the door open as they hadn’t locked it when they left, they didn’t have the keys.

  “Girls hold on.” Brian said, grabbing Blake by the shoulder before she went into the house. “Let me go in first,” he trailed off, stepping inside with his flashlight and gun drawn.

  Checking each empty room, there was no one inside the trailer except for their belongings.

  “We’re clear.” Brian called from inside, opening the curtains to bring more natural light inside.

  Together they all went inside, looking around at the living room exactly as the two girls had left it, blankets on the couch and love seat where they’d taken to sleeping, waiting for their parents to come back, the fireplace in the corner hadn’t been used.

  “They aren’t here.” Charlie’s voice broke before Blake pulled her into her arms, hugging her.

  “It’s okay, Charlie. We’ll find them. I promise we will.” Blake whispered into her ear as Charlie began to cry. She was so sure that they would be here, that they had come back, and they were just waiting for their children to meet them back home.

  Pulling Blake and Charlie closer to her, Kaige held them, trying to comfort them the best she knew how.

  “Blake’s right Charlie, we aren’t going to stop looking for them. They could just be lost like you two were.” Kaige said, running her fingers through Charlie’s hair tenderly. “Don’t be sad sweetheart.” Kaige just hoped that she was managing to keep the tears out of her voice as she sniffed softly, wiping under her eyes once to brush away the tears.

  “Is there anything you guys want to get to bring back to the apartment with you?” Logan asked, rubbing Charlie’s back as Brian looked around the house, he was still on the hunt, searching for any sign that someone else had been here.

  “No.” Charlie mumbled into Blake’s neck almost making it impossible to understand what the girl said, but Blake collected her, leading her into her bedroom. She knew her sister, she might say she didn’t want anything, but once they were gone, then she would think of something she needed or wanted to keep with her.

  Wandering down the hall, Kaige was looking at their family portraits on the walls, taking one of them down it looked recent, at least the girls still looked close to the same age, the picture might have been taken a year ago and put it into her backpack. They might want a picture of their parents later, but for right now, the adults let the two girls pick through their bedrooms.

  “Poor Charlie.” Logan said, looking around the kitchen. “She just knew they would be here.” Pushing his hands into his pockets, he leaned back against the counter. There were dirty dishes in the sink, a tub, sitting next to it where they had been washing their dishes like the way that they washed their dirty stuff at home. The signs that the girls were alone here for a while were everywhere. Little messes that kids left or always thought there would be time to clean up later.

  “Yeah. Maybe it’s silly of me, but I thought that they would be here too. You know how time can sometimes stretch on differently for kids, maybe they weren’t gone that long and the girls just got scared, but...” Kaige trailed off, folding her arms over her chest, their breath fogging in the cold. It was noon now if she had to guess, they wouldn’t make it home until it was dark out, but her mind was also going down another trail.

  Kaige had completely forgotten all about the library in Maumelle, which she’d been to a few times, she even had a library card. It was easier to get too, but the others that were in North Little Rock and the Clinton Library in Little Rock were ridiculously difficult to get to when she’d gone there so she just gave up, the novelty was lost on her after her first couple trips there.

  Today wasn’t the day, but now that she remembered where a library was, she had a lot of work to do.

  “I think I got everything.” Blake said, struggling down the hallway with her duffle back on her shoulder.

  “Let me grab that for you.” Brian took the bag, slinging it over his shoulder quickly before Blake helped guide Charlie back outside onto the porch, the girls staring at their parent’s car for several long minutes. Something interesting that Logan noticed was that there were fewer cars on the road here, many of them were off to the side, allowing for a vehicle to move down the center of the lane. No one would have done that, not in the middle of the mayhem that took place that first day, this was done afterward.

  “Can we take the car?” Blake asked, pointing to the Toyota 4X4 sitting in the driveway.

  “Do you know where the keys are?” Kaige asked her, looking back inside the house quickly for a second.

  “Yeah.” Coming inside, she knew that her parents took the house keys that had the car keys on them, but there was a spare set in her mom’s purse. Going to the master bedroom, Blake got her mom’s purse, looking through it for a second before she held them up.

  “Looks like we’re taking the car, at least as far as we can.” Kaige said, taking the keys and looking them over for a second before they locked the house up and piled into the Toyota. Putting the keys into the ignition, she prayed for a few seconds before turning the keys, the motor didn’t turn over at first, obviously the vehicle had been sitting for a long time without being run, but Kaige tried it again and the car tried to come to life briefly.

  “Okay guys cross your fingers, hopefully the third time is the charm.” She told them, turning the
key in the ignition one more time, tapping the gas pedal gently before the 4X4 finally came to life and ran a little rough for a few seconds before evening out.

  Putting the car in reverse, Kaige backed out of the driveway with a slight bump because she ran over the curb.

  “Sorry about that guys, I haven’t driven in a while and I’m used to a smaller car.” Kaige laughed a little bit, as she drove through the park, slowing at the speed bumps that were stationed every couple hundred feet or so.

  “This feels so weird.” Logan commented from the back seat as Kaige drove down the middle of the street, flying passed cars that were all parked on the side of the road.

  “I know, it’s going to suck when we get back to our side of town and we have to park the car and walk the rest.” Kaige replied, the reflex to put her blinker on as she made a turn, the sound clicking softly in the silence of the vehicle. The only real sound was the engine of the car as Kaige drove. It was almost an automatic to turn on the radio, her fingers idly punching buttons, but the airwaves were quiet, until they heard something.

  Hitting the breaks, the all sat there, leaning forward to listen to the high-pitched frequency coming over the radio station.

  “What is that?” Logan asked, his head and shoulders crammed between the seats looking at the radio.