by Stan Morris
Since there were no adults around, the boys were starting to stay up later and later at night. That night, after the other boys had retired to their bunks, Mike went back to the Admin’s cabin and retrieved the key. He let himself into the cabin, and he checked the radio phone again, only to find that they had neglected to turn it off. The battery was dead.
Disgusted, he laid it back on the desk. Turning around, he saw the bed. He took a step and stood by the bed for a minute. It looked comfortable. Slowly, almost cautiously, he lay down on top of the covers. He could see out the high window on the front of the cabin. The stars were bright, and he watched them for a time.
After a while, he got up and removed his shoes, socks, pants, and flannel shirt. Wearing only his t-shirt and briefs, he got back into the bed and crawled under the covers. He felt like he was doing something that he shouldn’t, but in a strange way he felt like he was at least doing something other than just waiting for something to happen. He quickly fell asleep.
The next morning, Mike awoke late. He put on his clothes, and he went outside. He locked the door, but as he was about to place the key under the mat he hesitated. After a moment, he put the key in his pocket.
Mike went to the dining hall looking for John. The kids in the dining hall were installing a new box of milk in the milk dispenser. AAP had purchased large bags of dry cereal, cases of canned food and a lot of boxed milk that they usually mixed with powdered milk, and they offered the most common canned vegetables and fruits. Mike found John wolfing down his second bowl of cereal. A boy he didn’t know well, but whose name he knew was Jacob, sat on the other side of the table.
Mike looked at John for a moment, and then he asked, “What are we going to do when our food runs out?”
John paused with his spoon halfway to his mouth. He looked unpleasantly surprised at Mike’s question. He stared at Mike, and then he slowly finished eating the spoonful.
Carefully, he sat his spoon down, and then he asked, “All right, dude, I give. What will we do when the food runs out?”
“Whatever we do, we better think of it now. How will we keep warm this winter?”
John looked even unhappier at that question. “Maybe some other adults will show up to help us. Not the Admin and the counselors, but some other adults.”
“What if the adults who show up don’t help us? What if they just take our food? What if they’re the kind of adults who hurt kids?”
John scowled. “Man, you are really pulling me down this morning. Let me finish eating before we discuss the end of the world, okay?”
Mike went outside and walked down to the river. He walked downstream until he was opposite the bales of hay that were used for archery practice. He stared thoughtfully at the bales for some time, and then he went back to the dining hall. He walked around the building until he came to the storage room on the east end, and then he entered the room.
In the storage room, mounted on a rack of two by fours, was the overhead tank for the hot water that was produced by the solar panels covering the roof of the dining hall. Under the rack were several barrels holding empty aluminum cans that had contained fruit juice and diet soda. The only soda that was served to the children was diet soda. The boys seldom drank it, but some of the girls did. The boys and most of the girls preferred the cans of sweetened fruit juice.
Mike took several empty cans from a bin, and then he went back to the Admin’s cabin. Once inside, he looked through the tool chest until he found a pair of metal snips. Carefully, he cut apart an empty can and flattened the aluminum. Then he cut out a piece of metal in the shape of a spear tip.
Mike left his work on the desk, and he went outside after making sure to lock the door. He walked east until he was deep within the forest. He searched for and found an old fallen tree with straight branches. When he was satisfied, he broke off a branch that was about as long as he was tall, and went back to the cabin. Inside he found a box cutter in the tool chest, and he used it to split the end of the branch. He forced the blunt end of the aluminum spear tip into the split.
Mike left the cabin again and crossed over the bridge. He walked down to the hay bales. Standing a ways from a bale, he grasped his newly made spear, and he threw it at the bale. When it hit the hay bale, the spear tip and wood broke apart and the aluminum tip bent.
It would take Mike several days and many trials to get an aluminum spear head which would not bend, and to discover how to fasten it to a branch so that it would not come apart. Eventually, after folding a layer of aluminum around two other pieces of aluminum, he made a spear that would penetrate the heavy bale. By using a file, he was able to get a very sharp edge on the side of the spear tip. He weighted the spear by attaching fishing lead to fish line and wrapping it around the shaft, just under the spear head.
On his way back to the Admin’s cabin, he met Jacob at the bridge. He was about to pass by, when the other boy called his name. Mike looked at Jacob and saw that Jacob was wearing his backpack, and that it looked full. Mike did not know much about Jacob, except that the other boy always seemed to be going off by himself. Mike thought that Jacob was a year older than he. Jacob had black curly hair like Eric, but Jacob’s eyes were hazel instead of black.
“I’m hiking down the road,” Jacob announced.
Mike looked at him blankly.
“Where to?” he asked.
“As far as I can go,” Jacob answered.
Mike was alarmed. “Hey, that might not be such a good idea,” he responded.
“Well, I’m going,” Jacob replied.
“Are you going to be back before night?”
“If I find someone.”
“What are you going to do if you have to stay out overnight?”
“I’ve got my sleeping bag. It’s down filled. I’ll be warm.”
“You got food?”
“Enough for three days.”
Mike stared helplessly at Jacob. He did not know what to say. This was stuff for adults to consider. This was not stuff for a kid like him to be worried about.
Feeling defeated, Mike said, “Be careful, okay?”
“Okay,” Jacob said, and then he walked away. But after a few steps he stopped, and turning back he said, “Hey, Mike. Thanks.”
Mike waved.
“See you,” he said more cheerfully than he felt.
Jacob turned and walked away. Mike watched him climb the low hill, and when he disappeared down the other side, Mike went back to his cabin to work on his spear.
While Jacob was gone, Mike practiced every day with his spears trying to find the best design. John and Eric joined him. Two other boys, Peter and Howard, expressed interest in what he was doing, and they also began to build spears. Between the five boys, they found a design that was sturdy and could easily pierce the bales. Each day, they practiced throwing their spears.
Late in the afternoon of the sixth day since he had left, Jacob returned. Jacob was hungry and exhausted. There was a bleak look in his eyes. As he approached the camp, he noticed five boys out by the bales. When he realized that Mike was one of them, he turned that way, and went stumbling down to the bales.
Mike had just thrown a spear, hitting the paper archery target that the boys had fastened to one of the bales, when he turned and saw Jacob. At once, he hurried over to the returning boy. Jacob was so spent that he was struggling to remove his backpack. Mike quickly grabbed it and took it from him.
“Are you okay,” he asked anxiously.
“I’m just tired. And really thirsty,” answered Jacob in a weary and raspy voice. “I need a drink of water real bad. I didn’t drink anything since last night. And I never ate yesterday or today.”
“Pete, run up to the hall and get some water and food, quick!” commanded Mike. Pete nodded and swiftly ran to the dining hall.
“Did you find anyone?” asked Howard eagerly.
“Howard, let him drink something first,” Mike said.
Howard grimaced, but he nodded. Mike understood Ho
ward’s impatience, but he had gotten more and more worried each day that Jacob had not returned. Now that Jacob was back, Mike was more relieved than anxious for news.
Pete was fast, and shortly Jacob was drinking a bottle of water and devouring a sandwich. The others waited patiently while he regained his strength. Presently he finished eating, lay back on the grass, and sighed sounding very sleepy.
“Well?” John asked, unwilling to be silent any longer.
“I walked three days,” Jacob began. “On the morning of the third day, I didn’t eat any of my food because I wanted to conserve some. That afternoon I found it. The fog, I mean. It was about four o’clock. I know because I checked my watch. I was about a half mile past the seven thousand feet sign. The elevation marker, I mean.
“The road started going down real fast. I saw some fog ahead of me. It was real strange because it was level. I could see over it. It looked like the ocean, except that it was brown, and there were no waves. There was a deer standing next to the road, close to the fog. I stopped to watch it. Then it walked into the edge of the fog. The fog was only by the ground there. Then it walked down farther into the fog, so its feet and part of its legs disappeared. Then I saw its head come up, and it tried to, like, jump out of the fog. It fell down with its head and shoulders out of the fog. I could see it was trying to struggle. It was making strange sounds. Then it stopped moving. I think it was dead. Then I saw the body of the deer moving backwards into the fog like something was dragging it. Then it was gone.
“That really scared me. I was, like, not breathing and my heart was pounding. I watched for another hour, and I saw a bird fly very low over the fog. Something came out of the fog and grabbed the bird, and it disappeared. It was so fast, that I couldn’t tell what had happened. I climbed a little hill next to the road, and I looked over to the other side. There was more fog. It’s like we’re on an island in an ocean.
“That’s when I turned around and started back. I felt sick to my stomach, and I didn’t eat anything that day, I only drank water. I tried to conserve my food and water on the way back, but then I ran out.”
The faces of the other boys grew grimmer and grimmer as Jacob told his story. Mike felt the hairs on his arms and on the nape of his neck stiffen. John was thinking about the Admin and the counselors who had left to find some help. Had they driven into the fog?
Mike drew a breath. “Well,” he said slowly. “Now we know.”
“We’ll have to tell the others,” said Howard.
Mike nodded. “Yes, but not today. The sun’s going down. We’ll tell them in the morning.”
“Why not tell them now,” Eric asked.
“Better to get scared in the morning than at night,” John answered. Mike nodded.
“You come with me,” Mike said to Jacob. “The rest of you; well, just don’t tell anyone, all right?” There was a chorus of agreement.
Mike and Jacob walked up to the Admin’s cabin. As they were entering they heard a shout. Jacob was too tired to turn back, but Mike looked towards the shouter. It was Ralph; at seventeen, one of the oldest boys in the camp. Hurriedly, Mike shut and locked the door, just as Ralph arrived at the cabin.
Mike told Jacob to lie down on the bed. Outside, Ralph was banging on the door and demanding to be let inside. Jacob pulled the bed covers over his head, and soon he fell asleep. Mike ignored Ralph. He decided to climb the ladder leading to the loft. Upstairs, he found two separate futons. He laid down on one and waited until Ralph gave up and went away.
Sometime after midnight, Jacob awoke and insisted on returning to his own bunk. Mike accepted his decision reluctantly. He hoped no one was awake in Jacob’s cabin who would try to get Jacob to talk. He thought it would be better for everyone to hear the story at the same time. He walked with Jacob to his cabin. The night was bright, because the moon was just past half full, and there were only a few thin wispy clouds in the sky. Mike was unsettled as he returned to the Admin’s cabin, and he wondered if John, Pete, Howard, and Eric were getting any sleep.
Mike’s late night anxiety caused him to sleep later than usual the next morning. Shortly after he left the cabin, he realized that one of the boys had talked. He wasn’t surprised. He hadn’t expected that news of this sort could be kept quiet for long. As he made his way to the dining hall, he heard boys whispering about monsters and aliens.
There were a lot of boys in the dining hall, and Mike could see why. Jacob was there eating a bowl of cereal. Many boys were pressing close, trying to talk to him, but John, Pete, Howard, and Eric were fending them off.
“Tell us what happened,” a boy angrily demanded.
“Shit!” John exclaimed. “At least let him finish eating his Cheerios!”
Mike walked past the clump of boys, and he stepped on to the platform at the end of the building.
“Hey!” he said in a loud voice. Everyone stopped talking and turned to look at him.
“Jacob’s going to tell everyone what he saw. Give him a few minutes. Some of you need to go down to the girls’ camp, and tell them that we’re having a meeting.”
“Who died and made you Chief?” someone sneered. Mike looked to one side, and he saw that it was Ralph who had spoken.
“Do you think Jackie will come up here, if you tell her what’s happening?” Mike asked Ralph.
Ralph shut up. Everyone knew that he liked Jackie. He hesitated, and then he stood and left the room. Mike truly hoped that Ralph could get Jackie to come and listen to Jacob’s tale. Jackie was the only person available who was close to being a real adult.
Jacob finished eating and took his bowl and spoon to the kitchen window. Mike noticed that no one had done the dishes for days. While they waited, a few of the girls began to trickle in, and soon there was a crowd of them entering. Mike did not see Ralph or Jackie. Jacob stepped up next to Mike, and then Mike stepped to one side.
“Hey!” Mike called out. The teens stopped talking.
Mike continued. “Everyone come close so that you can hear him.” The boys and girls crowded up against the podium.
Jacob told his story in a plain, flat tone of voice. By the time he finished some of the kids were weeping, others were just sniffling. Mike looked down at his feet. He felt worse than when he had heard Jacob’s story the first time, just from hearing all the crying. He felt like crying himself.
“Bullshit!” someone yelled. Mike looked up. It was Ralph, and the older boy sounded as if he were about to panic.
“You’re so full of crap! You never went there. You never saw anything. You’re just making this up, you and Chief there.”
Jacob stared at him. Then he said, “So go see for yourself. Go stand in the fog if you don’t believe me.”
Ralph looked angry and frustrated. “Screw you,” he snarled, and then he left. Mike still saw no sign of Jackie.
“Are you telling the truth, Jacob?” a girl asked quietly.
Mike realized that she was the girl he had seen running around the dirt track. He had learned that her name was Yuie. She was Asian-American, and she had long, straight black hair, large lovely dark eyes, and a fair complexion.
“Yeah, it’s true. But I don’t know what the fog is or where it came from,” he answered.
“It must be aliens,” a boy suggested.
“Oh, right,” sneered another boy. “And NASA or nobody else saw it coming.”
“Maybe it’s something the Russians invented.”
“Or the Chinese.”
“Or Al-Qaeda.”
“Whatever it is,” Yuie answered. “There are monsters in it, real monsters.” At that, everyone fell silent except the few kids who were still crying. Mike saw that Kathy was one of them.
“Whatever it is,” Mike said. “We have to decide what to do. We don’t know if anyone but us survived the fog. We don’t know if anyone is coming to rescue us. If they are coming, we don’t know how long it will take them to find us. We can drink water from the river, but what if we run out of food? What i
f we are still here when winter comes? It’s going to freeze. It’s going to snow. What are we going to do?” For minutes there was no response.
“We can cut back on the stuff that we are eating,” a girl spoke slowly.
“Yeah, we’ve been pigging it lately,” said another.
“But how can we stop anyone from just getting food for themselves?” a girl asked, and the other girls looked at Mike.
Mike had been thinking about that same thing. “We might have to put a guard on the food,” he suggested.
“A guard?” someone repeated. There was silence.
“I’ve got to roll up my bag,” someone said.
Slowly the teenagers drifted away. Most of them did not seem open to any discussion of their future. Mike felt frustrated. He felt like most of them were afraid to tackle the dangerous predicament that they were facing.
After a while, the only ones still in the dining hall were Mike’s group of boys and Yuie. After talking it over, they decided to make a list of the problems that they would need to solve.
“First on the list is the food,” Mike said. “We have to ration the food. We have to figure out how to get more food.”
“We could hunt game,” Yuie suggested.
“Do you know how to hunt?” Pete asked. “If you catch something, do you know how to cook it?”
“Not really,” Yuie admitted. “I can shoot a handgun or a rifle,” but I’ve never hunted.”
“There’s forty-nine of us counting Jackie,” said Mike. “Ask around. Someone must know something about hunting or about cooking animals.”
“I do,” said Jacob. They looked at him with surprise. “I hunt deer and birds with my Dad. I know how to cut the patches off, and how to gut them, and how to skin them. If we can kill a deer or a bird, I can get it ready to be cooked.”
“All of us are probably good at something,” said John. “We should make a list of what we know.”
“And we should ask everyone else, and make a list of what they know, too,” suggested Howard enthusiastically.
“I’m great at video games,” offered Pete with a laugh.
