Black Blizzard

by Kristin F. Johnson

  “Rainstorms usually don’t look like that,” Ethan pointed out.

  A prairie dog ran up to the bus. The little creature stood on his haunches with his eyes darting back and forth as if he had gulped down too many energy drinks. Then he scurried off and ducked into a nearby hole. Tyler would have mistaken the hole for a snake hole if he hadn’t just seen the prairie dog dive into it.

  Tyler and Julia saw the prairie dog at the same time and caught each other’s eyes. Tyler was no animal expert but he figured that if even the animals were looking for cover, some serious weather must be coming their way.

  Behind them, what looked like a wall of brown clouds moved closer. One by one, kids began to head off the bus to see what was going on.

  “Hey, stay on the bus. Guys—” Mr. Dwyer stood as the students rushed past him. He sighed, lifting his hat to wipe at his forehead before following them out of the bus.

  “Dust storm,” José said.

  “Awesome!” Kevin yelled.

  When Tyler stepped off the bus, the hot air caught his breath. He loosened his tie. Good thing he’d brought his inhaler. He never went anywhere without it. Not being able to breathe was the scariest feeling ever. Out in the desert, he felt like he was breathing while sitting in a sauna, except this air wasn’t just dry. It was full of dust particles that coated his mouth. Tyler wore braces and the thought of dust and dirt on his braces made him wince.

  Pretty soon, everyone had exited the bus. The whole team stood outside and pointed at the approaching clouds.

  “I’ve never seen anything like that,” Sha’relle murmured.

  “It’s heading this way,” Kevin said.

  The driver came out to stand near Tyler. As he stared at the brewing clouds, his mouth gaped open. He clutched his hat, crushing it in his grip. “Sweet mother of mercy.”

  The driver hopped back on the bus and into his seat. He revved the engine, pressing on the gas a few times. The engine groaned as if it was in pain. The driver turned the key and tried again. The gears were grinding. “Come on! Come on!” He pumped the gas several more times, which probably just flooded the engine.

  Nothing.

  He hit the steering wheel with his hands and gave up. That bus was not going anywhere.

  Tyler looked down the road. No towns in sight—no gas stations—no cars.

  “We could outrun it,” L.J. suggested. “Dust storms don’t travel very fast, do they?”

  “About twenty-five miles per hour,” said Ethan, probably remembering that information from his presentation.

  L.J. was a fast runner, but who would want to run with that dust cloud chasing him?

  “No,” Mr. Dwyer said. “We’re staying with the bus.” He looked at L.J. “All of us.”

  “But there’s probably a town just a few miles away,” L.J. argued.

  “Did you bring running shoes?”

  L.J. looked down at himself. He wore black dress shoes with his dress pants and suit jacket. “I can run in these.”

  “Well, you aren’t going to,” Mr. Dwyer said. “This isn’t a debate.”

  “Yeah,” Tyler said. “Quit arguing.”

  “Well, what do you suggest, genius?” L.J. said. When Tyler said nothing, he added, “Then again, maybe we shouldn’t be asking you for advice. It hasn’t exactly been your day, has it?”

  Tyler clenched his fists, then looked down. The ground had shifted into mini-sand dunes. He’d never get over being the reason the team lost at State. What if this embarrassing loss followed him around for the rest of high school?

  “Lay off him, L.J.” Ethan elbowed L.J. Tyler was surprised but also relieved that Ethan was coming to his defense.

  The dust storm kept moving but approached slowly, the way water comes to a boil.

  Earlier that year, a firefighter had come to Kennedy High School and given the annual safety talk in the auditorium. Dust storms were becoming more common, he’d said, so they were getting more attention as a result. The firefighter taught them the motto from the National Weather Service for what to do in case of a dust storm: Pull aside. Stay alive!

  Well, Tyler thought, they were already pulled aside because the bus broke down. So they were following that direction. Now they needed to know what to do if the storm actually reached them—and it looked like it would very soon.

  “How much time do you think we have?” Tyler asked.

  Mr. Dwyer pulled out his phone, glancing at the clock on the lock screen. “Maybe twenty or thirty minutes. The dust cloud’s moving pretty steady.” He fiddled with it for a bit before sighing and looking up at the students.

  “Does anyone have service? We should try to make a call.”

  Though he’d just looked at it minutes ago, Tyler pulled his own phone out of his pocket along with the other students to check. A few of them even held their phones up in the air as if that would help them get service. They were far enough from the nearest cell tower that apparently none of their phones could get a strong enough signal.

  “If all that dust gets in the air, how will anyone be able to breathe?” Daniela asked suddenly.

  “That’s the point,” L.J. said. “We won’t be able to breathe. We need to be inside a building. Which is why I think we should start running.”

  “No one is running anywhere,” Mr. Dwyer ordered.

  “We don’t have air tanks. We can’t hold our breath. How are we going to last in the middle of that dust cloud?” L.J. was getting more agitated.

  “We’ll seal the bus the best we can,” Mr. Dwyer said.

  Ethan removed his tie, then his jacket, and unbuttoned his white dress shirt. “And we can cover our faces,” Ethan said. “We also need to protect our clean air as much as possible.”

  Ethan was always prepared during scary situations, like the time he and Tyler got Tyler’s dad’s car stuck on a sand bar. Ethan had calmly suggested putting something under the back wheels to gain traction—and that had worked. Ethan planned to become a rescue worker someday.

  Ethan wrapped his dress shirt around the top of his head. Then he arranged the arms to cover his nose and mouth. He made his red tie into a headband to hold the shirt in place.

  “There,” Ethan said.

  Tyler laughed. “You look like the Karate Kid.”

  “Just call me ‘Sensei,’” Ethan joked, flipping the ends of the tie behind his head and standing on one foot with his arms raised. He crane-kicked a leg toward the storm. The smoky cloud looked to be less than a mile away now.

  “Can you breathe under all those clothes, Sensei?”

  “Yes.” Ethan’s voice was muffled. “I’ll be able to breathe just fine when that dust bomb drops on us.”

  He pulled out a pair of sunglasses from his jacket pocket. “If you have sunglasses, you can wear them to protect your eyes too.”

  Everyone else got to work on their own face coverings. It didn’t take them long to copy Ethan’s method. Not everyone had sunglasses, but some students wrapped their ties around their eyebrows to serve as a windshield of sorts.

  “Hey,” Ethan said, surveying everyone. “Where’s L.J.?”

  Then they looked down Interstate 10.

  L.J. was in the distance, running away from the storm.

  4

  Mr. Dwyer cupped a hand around his mouth. “L.J.—get back here! Now!”

  It was no use. Even if L.J. decided to listen to their coach, he probably couldn’t hear Mr. Dwyer yelling over the approaching wind. The coach took a few running steps as if to chase after L.J. before stuttering to a stop. He glanced back and forth between L.J.’s disappearing form and the rest of the students standing by the bus, looking torn over whether he should follow L.J. or stay with the others.

  Tyler shook his head. “Idiot.”

  Mr. Dwyer’s face reddened as he finally walked back to them. “That’s just great.” He removed his hat and ran his hands through his hair. “He thinks he can outrun the storm.” L.J. looked smaller now that he was even farther away.

>   “Someone needs to go get him,” Ethan said.

  “No one is going to get him.” Mr. Dwyer crossed his arms. “Everyone stays here. It’s important for us all to stay together. Is that clear?”

  Murmurs of agreement rippled through the group. Sha’relle rolled her eyes.

  “None of you have service?” Mr. Dwyer tried again. “Someone try texting him—see if that goes through.”

  Ethan typed out a quick message on his phone, watching it for a minute before he finally looked up with a frown and shook his head to the coach. “Still can’t go through.”

  “He could get heat exhaustion or come across a rattler or get hurt from running in the dust.” Mr. Dwyer paused. “He could even die out there. What was he thinking?”

  Tyler swallowed. His throat was getting dryer the longer they were stuck out there. Everyone usually brought water bottles for the tournament, but his bottle was already half-empty. Did anyone else have water left?

  “I say it’s his own fault for being stupid,” José said.

  Everyone watched L.J.

  Tyler wondered if L.J. might turn around and come back, but he kept getting smaller in the distance.

  “Man, why did he have to be so stubborn?” Ethan groaned.

  Mr. Dwyer scratched his beard again and rotated his hat in his hands. His face went from red to pink as he calmed down and said, “Let’s hope he comes to his senses.” He took a few more steps down the highway again before stopping himself like he had before. It seemed like he’d finally come to terms with staying put. He climbed back on the bus, followed by the majority of the team.

  As soon as his back was turned, a smaller group of students huddled up.

  “We can’t just leave him out there,” Ethan said. “He doesn’t have anything with him—all his stuff is still on the bus. He could run into trouble or collapse in the middle of nowhere, with no one to help him.”

  “But you heard Mr. Dwyer. He said no else goes,” Daniela said.

  “He also said it’s important we stay together,” Ethan said. “So we’ll just send two people together.” He grinned at his own cleverness.

  “You’re twisting his words,” Daniela said. “You know that’s not what he meant. I’m staying here.”

  “Me too,” Sha’relle said.

  “Do we have any volunteers for the mission?” Ethan asked. “Anyone?”

  No one else moved for a minute.

  A few people glanced back at the dust clouds. Sha’relle chewed her thumbnail. Then Julia reluctantly raised her hand.

  “I’ll do it.”

  “Great. Thanks, Julia.”

  Julia was going!

  “I’ll go too,” Tyler said.

  “No.” Ethan swatted at him to lower his hand. “You have asthma. You can’t run in this weather.”

  “Okay, fine. I’ll go with her,” Sha’relle said with a sigh.

  Tyler interrupted. “I have my inhaler and a bottle of water,” he said. “I can do it. I know I can.” Tyler stopped talking and glanced away for a moment. He didn’t want to sound too anxious.

  Ethan was thinking.

  “Besides,” Tyler added, “I think sending a guy and a girl is a good idea. In case we need to carry L.J. back. No offense, Sha’relle.”

  Sha’relle took a step back. “None taken. I’m not lifting him. Go for it.”

  Ethan took in a deep breath and then said, “Okay. We’ll need to distract Mr. Dwyer. Some of us will go talk to him, and the rest of us can block his view.” He looked at Tyler and Julia. “When the coast looks clear, get going.”

  5

  Tyler snuck onto the bus to grab his backpack, then ducked off and around to the side of the bus where Mr. Dwyer couldn’t see.

  Tyler pulled on his sunglasses. Julia used her own glasses as eye protection.

  Before Tyler put the covering over his face, he shook his inhaler to take one preventative puff. He removed the cap and exhaled all of his breath. Whoosh! Then he inhaled, held his breath to the count of ten, and exhaled.

  He and Julia wetted down their dress shirts with a small amount of water, then put on the makeshift masks so their faces were completely covered. The wet clothes felt good in the dry, dusty heat.

  “How do I look?” Julia asked teasingly. Her entire face was covered in her pale blue dress shirt, so she was left wearing her skirt and a tank top. Tyler could only make out her eyes from behind the clear lenses of her glasses.

  “Awesome,” Tyler couldn’t help saying.

  “Get back as soon as possible without overexerting yourselves. Just walk at a decent pace,” Ethan instructed. “You don’t want to get heatstroke.”

  “We’ll be careful,” Julia promised.

  José and Kevin were the lookouts, making sure Mr. Dwyer’s view was blocked. Daniela and Sha’relle got back in the bus and asked Mr. Dwyer more questions about dust storms. They stood behind his seat so he would have his back to the direction the L.J. rescue party had gone. It wasn’t difficult to get Mr. Dwyer talking. In physics class the students liked to ask questions to get Mr. Dwyer going off on tangents, keeping him from giving his weekly pop quizzes.

  Tyler and Julia set off at a brisk pace, following the highway like L.J. had. They walked in silence, about a foot apart from each other. Their shoes kicked up dust.

  “Good thing we’re covered,” Julia said. “Especially you, Freckles.” She nudged Tyler’s pale arm. Julia’s dark skin made her less susceptible to sunburn. By her tone of voice, Tyler could tell she was smiling. That made the heat bearable.

  Maybe he should ask Julia to the dance right now. If he did ask her now, though, she might think he was opportunistic—that he’d only volunteered to go on the rescue mission so that he could be alone with her. And okay, that was kind of true. But he also just liked being around her. He should at least try to make conversation.

  “I wonder how far he got,” Tyler said.

  “Well, he’s been out of sight for a while.” Julia glanced at Tyler. Her voice sounded off. She was nervous. “Guess we’ll find out when we catch up to him.”

  Tyler looked back. The sky behind the bus kept turning darker, with the dust storm growing closer every moment. Tyler picked up his pace and Julia sped up to match his stride. He tried to think of another conversation topic to distract her.

  “My dad said the drought this year is the worst one in a long time.” He cringed. Why did he say that? He bit his lips to prevent any other stupid comments from escaping.

  “Yeah,” she said.

  “We’re going to make it, you know,” Tyler continued. “We’re going to be okay.”

  She didn’t answer for a few moments. Then she said, “I know.” They kept walking for a while before she asked, “Do you think we’ll run into coyotes?”

  “They’ve probably found their own shelter already. Animals can sense things. When we had Daisy, she sometimes whimpered before the tornado sirens went off.”

  “Do you still have her?”

  “No. She had to be put down last year. Old age.”

  “I’m sorry.” Julia touched his forearm.

  “Thanks,” Tyler said. “My dad won’t let me get another dog right now.” He didn’t want to get into how his parents had separated about eight months ago and could barely stand to look at each other anymore, let alone have a civilized conversation. Tyler realized that it was unlikely they’d be getting back together, but at this point he would be happy if they could at least stop bickering in front of him.

  Julia seemed to notice his sudden change in mood and asked him another question about Daisy. Tyler told her stories about his family dog for nearly a half hour. They passed a few acacia trees. They weren’t large enough to provide shade if he and Julia needed it.

  A little farther ahead, among the tiny buckthorn bushes along the side of the road, a large boulder loomed along the highway. It stood about a foot shorter than Tyler—and he thought he saw movement near it.

  “It looks like there’s something
behind that boulder.” He pointed at a rounded figure—someone crouching down.

  “What if it’s a coyote?” Julia whispered and stopped.

  “It’s probably not. And coyotes don’t usually attack people. Come on.”

  When they came around the corner, a sliver of shade leaned away from the boulder. L.J. was crouched in that shade, wedging himself inside the crevice between the boulder and the ground, hiding from the sun.

  “What are you doing?” Tyler asked.

  L.J. panted and clutched his right ankle as if he was in pain. “I twisted my ankle.”

  “You shouldn’t have run in those dress shoes,” Tyler snapped. “You need to think more before just taking off like that. You could have gotten yourself killed—and us. We had to come save you!”

  “I know, I know. Can you please spare me the lecture and help me up?”

  “Um, we just came all this way to get you, so . . . you’re welcome,” Tyler said, crossing his arms.

  L.J. rubbed his sore ankle and then looked up. “Thanks,” he mumbled finally. “Thank you for coming to find me.”

  Tyler exhaled. “No problem.”

  “We need to get back,” Julia said. “Mr. Dwyer doesn’t know we left to find you. Here.” She held her hand out to L.J. “I’ll help you up. Put your arm around my shoulder.”

  L.J. pushed himself up, one hand using the boulder, the other hand grasping Julia’s hand.

  Tyler went over to L.J.’s other side, so L.J. could put an arm around each of them. Tyler didn’t want Julia to think he was a jerk.

  “Try and rest more of your weight on me,” Tyler said, trying not to feel jealous that L.J. had an arm wrapped around Julia. “Come on. Mr. Dwyer has probably figured out we’re gone by now, so we need to pick up the pace.”

  “I hope we’re not in too much trouble,” Julia said.

  L.J. was finally in a standing position. “Okay, I’m ready. Let’s go.”

  ***

  Hiking back seemed to take longer than the walk to the rock, now that they had been out in the hot sun. Tyler really wanted to drink the water left in his bottle, but he knew he might need it later on. So he tried not to think about his thirst. He also wanted to get back because he had already screwed things up for the team once and didn’t want to get in more trouble for disobeying their coach. He hoped Mr. Dwyer would understand once they brought L.J. back safe.