The Freeze (Barren Trilogy, Book 3)

by Holly Hook

  “I think we did it,” Jerome said.

  “Out,” I said. There was no time for rejoicing. “We don’t know if they saw us.”

  Jerome and I hopped down from the truck. I couldn’t even be relieved to be off the ice. Now that the headlights were off and we were jammed in this barn with hardly any space between us and the stalls, there was nothing but a very faint, brownish glow from outside and the sweeping searchlight of the helicopter. It illuminated the tops of the nearby trees for a second, swept over the barn and peeked through the cracks before continuing on its way. The helicopter’s blades got deafening, then faded again as it moved on.

  I had no idea if we were still hidden.

  Or how they knew to search here.

  I faced Jerome. He was a dark shadow among other shadows. Someone shouted something from the back of the truck. I didn’t answer.

  “David must know where we’re headed,” I said.

  “He might,” Jerome said, “But I don’t know how. We need to see if anyone in the back ever told him about our plans to find our families. You know it wasn’t me.”

  It couldn’t have been. Jerome and David had been fighting ever since we’d been trapped in the Visitor Center. Jerome wouldn’t have told David anything about himself or anyone else. I knew I hadn’t. I hadn’t even spoken much to anyone during the last year.

  I waited and held my breath until the sound of the helicopter faded away. I walked around to the back of the truck, taking breath after breath to keep my temper down. It wouldn’t do me any good to lift up that back door and demand to know who had leaked to David.

  So instead, I knocked. “It’s us,” I shouted. “I’ll explain everything as soon as we open up.”

  Jerome and I had to lift the back door of the truck together. It slid up with a hollow metallic sound and clanged at the top. We stood in front of a long metal box filled with groceries—food that would keep us sustained for a long time—if we got to keep it.

  “Why does it smell like a farm?” Christina asked. She was standing in the front, holding the flashlight up so it was making creepy shadows on her face. I was almost glad to see her cartoon monkey shirt. “It smells like David’s old ranch.”

  “Because it is a farm,” I said. “The army knows we’re out here. I didn’t think they’d come after one food truck, but they’re going to want the people who killed General McElroy or what’s his name. David’s dad.”

  “We didn't kill him,” Christina said. Behind her, everyone else stood, including Gina. She was balancing the best she could on one leg.

  “We have a question,” Jerome said.

  He waited for me to say it. “Did anyone ever tell David that I was planning to go to New York to find my dad?”

  Christina shook her head. “You never told any of us you were planning to do that. Well, when David was all in charge. Afterwards, you did. None of us could have.”

  “That doesn't count,” I said. Maybe it was my fault after all. I thought I had told David about my dad. Had I? That was an eternity ago, before I knew he was a monster.

  “I didn't tell David,” Alana said, emerging from the darkness to stand next to Christina. Her dark hair was ragged. The others came into focus around her. Tony and his huge chest. Mina, clinging to him. Even Jasmine, who rarely spoke. There were eight of us all together, eight of us left from the field trip into the end of the world.

  “I know you wouldn’t have told anyone my dad was in New York,” I said. “David would know we were all heading to the East Coast, though. That’s just using your brain. The thing is, how does the army know exactly where we might be and what highway we're on?”

  Tony shifted leg to leg. I had spent enough time around Jerome now to have learned the signs of someone holding a lie back. Jerome knew everything about how people worked and why.

  “Tony?” he asked before I could. “Do you have any idea?”

  “I never told David anything. Like I said, the guy was unstable,” he said. “This freaks me out, man. What if that helicopter comes back?”

  I cleared my throat. “It's obvious we're being searched for, unless that helicopter was looking for someone else and we just happened to be in the area when it came through.” I knew in my gut that it might not be the case. I knew better than to hope. “We're connected with the death of General McElroy and the guy was a pretty high ranking person at that base, maybe even in the whole military. We're wanted. Now we need to get out of this barn and into the house, preferably with some food.”

  Outside, one of the cows mooed. They were having a great time feasting on the grass. Before the pulse, they had all been trapped in this barn for most of their lives, judging from the smell and the mess inside the stalls. I wondered how long the cows would have to live with the coming food shortage. Sooner or later, someone would come for them. It might even be us if we couldn't get out of here without being discovered.

  “I agree with Laney's plan,” Tony said, leaning over to lower the ramp. It hit the ground with a metallic clang as the helicopter passed over us again, so low that the grass outside blew down, and continued on its way one final time. We had narrowly escaped but my heart wouldn't stop racing.

  New York had never seemed so far away.

  Outside, the rain poured down harder, coating everything in an even thicker layer of ice. As I approached the open barn door, I spotted some hanging off a dying tree in tiny icicles that looked like clear, icy fangs. I'd seen ice before, when I went to Colorado to try out skiing for the first time with Mom and Dad, but that ice had been beautiful and lit by sun that wasn't yet deadly. This stuff was sinister.

  “We're in an ice storm,” Jerome told me as if he could read my mind. “I've heard bad things about those. My dad used to drive in them when he was working for one of those shipping companies. He got into a really bad accident one time. A pileup, I think.”

  “I hope it's over by tomorrow night,” I said, stepping out into the gloom.

  The world was a strange brownish-gray. The rain clouds hung low, but I knew that far above them was the smog that formed when the ozone layer broke apart. I shined by flashlight on the small field around us, where the cows grazed on the grass that was stiff and a group of chickens pecked the ground over by the farmhouse. A coop stood nearby, empty and shiny with the ice on its roof. Twigs and branches hung low with the clear coating everywhere. I wondered if they would snap under the weight.

  This was so, so not normal for June.

  The whole world was changing and not for the better, but at least the animals seemed OK for now.

  I nodded to the others. Alana was the first to climb down the ramp, holding a small box of snacks that the military had stolen from the Westman's Grocery. It was ours now. Civilization had closed and all that was left was people wandering through it, trying to stay alive. Gina followed, hobbling between Tony and Mina. Her foot was still a mess, wrapped in bandages. We had found more antibiotics in a store a few hundred miles back and more pain meds, stuff that was strong enough to make her goofy. She grinned at me and took a breath. “Smells great in here,” she said.

  “Yeah.” I turned away and eyed the sky. “We have to hurry. I hope no one died in the house.”

  “Maybe not,” Jerome said. “The front door was open. Someone left it, at least.”

  We hadn't seen as many bodies over on this side of the country. Almost everyone was dead west of Oklahoma City, everyone except for those who had been way underground when the radiation hit and looters who were headed that way to take what they could. Ever since leaving Kansas, the cars pulled over with bodies next to them had gotten to be fewer and fewer. Here in Pennsylvania, I'd seen bodies only every few miles or so—mostly older people who hadn't survived the radiation sickness and hadn't been cleaned up yet. That could be because people had more time to get out of sight before they died over here. No one wanted to be eaten by animals. It was a horrible thought. I'd spotted flocks of crows and vultures more than once in the distance, swarming over thi
ngs we couldn't see.

  Jerome handed me a box of canned food and we all ran for the farmhouse across the stiff grass, trying not to slip and go down. The helicopter had gone to a low drone in the distance and I could no longer see it over the trees that grew around the fields. Pennsylvania was a mix of forest and farm, a landscape I hadn't seen much of due to living in Arizona all my life. Even though the light was very pale and brown, I could tell that the trees looked more ragged than they should. They were dark, wiry shadows against the background of brown haze.

  The inside of the farmhouse didn't stink too badly. I took a breath since I was the first to cross the threshold and sighed in relief. “No one died in here,” I said. “The people must have left.” I sucked in a breath and yelled, “Hello?” into the darkness that must be the dining room, judging from the table I bumped into.

  No one responded. I didn't even hear any cats jumping down off counters. Either these people had taken the cats with them, the animals had died or they were outdoor cats. I would have welcomed one right then. Alana had one when she was little that ran away and his name was Sparky because he had weird salt and pepper markings on his back. Mom and Dad never let me get a cat because we used to travel so much.

  “It just smells like some food spoiled in here,” Alana said. “We can deal with that.”

  She was talking more and more now the farther she got from Colton and away from the memory of finding her family dead. The distance seemed to be helping all of us. It was helping me. The dark moments were still there but they were duller, especially now that there were other people around here.

  “Open the fridge,” I said.

  Even though I asked someone else to do it, I was the one who stepped forward and did the deed. I was doing that a lot. Maybe Jerome was right that I was trying to punish myself. Of course Mom hadn't died because of me. She knew something was off with that first mole, but maybe she hadn't wanted to know the truth. It was easier not to face it, after all.

  But she asked me if I thought it was dangerous.

  I told her no.

  The thought was getting bigger and bigger with each passing day. Nothing could drown it, even though there were people here. More supplies. Towns were much closer together on the eastern side of the country and I could never get over how crowded it was.

  So to chase it away, I sifted through the stuff in the dark fridge while Alana held the flashlight up to let me see. There was some really old, spoiled milk that must have been sitting there without refrigeration for at least two weeks. That was how long since the pulse hit, right? I took it out and set it on the counter, then removed everything that was covered in tinfoil. There were still some eggs on a plate, still in their shells, which I didn't mess with.

  I really, really wanted some fresh eggs.

  “I think we're good,” I said. “If we can check that chicken coop for eggs before the sun comes all the way up, that would be great. If we see the helicopter, don't run. The military might think we're the people who live here if we don't act like we're afraid of them. It was the truck they were looking for.”

  “But how do we cook the eggs?” Jasmine asked. “We need a pan and a fire. We can't start one in here.”

  It was a good question. “Gas stove?” I asked, eyeing the dials on it. “You don't need power to start one. Just a really long match. I'm sure these people must have some.”

  I rubbed my hands over my bare arms. I hoped these people had some warm clothes. They must. Pennsylvania had winters. Arizona didn't and I hadn't thought to grab any. Tony walked over to the stove and tried to lift a burner with one hand. “Gas,” he said. “We can cook.”

  Everybody cheered. It was the best thing we had heard since leaving Colton. Heck, it was the best thing since the pulse had arrived. I hadn't had a cooked meal in forever. Junk food was getting old.

  Mina and Jasmine headed outside with a bowl. The helicopter did not return and I turned the knob on the stove to start the burner. Gas hissed out and I turned it back to the off position. We had to be careful. “Match?” I asked, holding my hand out.

  Jerome dug through the cabinets and found a box of the long ones. I took one, lit it, and turned the gas on again. I held my breath and touched the match to the metal ring. Blue flames burst to life and danced around the burner like this was an ordinary morning of making breakfast.

  “Yes!” I yelled. I hadn't been this happy since before the pulse, if you counted that as happy. “I just hope they have eggs.” I couldn't remember what a warm meal tasted like.

  Jasmine and Mina returned with a bowl that was heaping high with eggs—and all of them were different colors than the plain white ones you found in a store. Alana shined her flashlight on them. They varied from brown to almost dark red to even a couple that looked greenish and they were all different sizes.

  “Are those okay to eat?” Gina asked. “They don't look normal.”

  “The shells are just different colors,” I said. “I'm sure they're fine.”

  “They aren't refrigerated,” Christina said.

  “They never are when the chickens first lay them,” Jerome said. “I think they'll be okay. All we can do is fry them, though. We'd need milk for scrambled eggs.”

  We found a couple of pans and Jerome and I went to work frying the eggs. The aroma filled the house as Alana kept the flashlight on the table, casting a circle of light on the ceiling. The eggs sizzled and for a moment, even though I was in this cold and dark farmhouse on another side of the country during the apocalypse, I was home with Mom and Dad and helping them make breakfast like we used to do every Sunday morning.

  If I found Dad, we could do this again. There would be no more long business trips for him, no more escaping from his memories. I was letting hope get ahold of me again, but right now, I let it. It was a welcome break like kissing Jerome back in the barracks had been. He smiled at me as we cooked egg after egg and served them to the others on little plates I found in a cabinet, ones decorated with happy hens and roosters. I was letting my guard down. The deadly shadows were still out there, but for now they had to wait outside in the freezing rain while we cooked. Silverware clinked as people ate at the long dining room table, overlooked by a grandfather clock that was still ticking away. Not everything had lost power during the EMP. There was no telling if this farmhouse had lost it from that or if there just wasn'tanyone left to man the power stations. Some of the cars over here ran. Either could be true.

  Jerome and I fried our eggs and sat down with the others. No one spoke as they wolfed down their food.

  The eggs didn't taste like the ones Dad used to buy at the store, those plain white ones that were all clones of each other and broke if you looked at them funny. They were better. Much better, even though those chickens might have been dosed with some cosmic rays from space a couple of weeks ago. It might have just been me enjoying a warm meal for the first time in forever, too. Either way, this was an amazing breakfast.

  “We need to raid farms more often,” Tony said, wiping his mouth. He'd cleaned off his plate in seconds.

  “I agree,” Gina said, doing the same. “Before we leave, we should take some eggs with us.”

  “I'm shocked no one's killed the chickens yet,” I said. Now that the meal was over, the shadows of reality were closing back in. They crept around outside and around the back sliding door, looking for cracks to get through. My imagination was running overtime. “Or the cows.”

  “The food isn't completely gone yet,” Jerome said. He was sitting really close to me. “It will be, especially if the weather keeps getting colder like this. This is growing season. Crops are going to fail all over the world. It's why the army's stockpiling what they can. The rest of us will have to fend for ourselves.”

  “Maybe we can stay here for a while,” Alana said. “We have the food truck.”

  “That won't last us more than a few months,” I said. “There's eight of us. Even the chickens can't lay that many eggs. And what about vegetables? Anythin
g these people were trying to grow won't now.”

  The table went silent. Our empty plates looked really, really ominous. We were lucky to have found this place. But sooner or later, other people would come who were desperate to eat and they might be like David or those men who had found us at the motel back in Arizona. Right now, food was dwindling. People were fleeing to the other side of the country for a better chance. We were headed into the ice and the dropping temperatures.

  “Is there a radio around here?” Gina asked. “We haven't listened to Mr. Doomsayer in a while. I think it's time that we do.”

  Chapter Two

  Just as Gina predicted, Mr. Doomsayer was there when we popped the batteries into the emergency radio we had found down in the farmhouse basement.

  By now, the sun had risen, judging from the brownish light that filled the outside. The cows and chickens had retreated to safety under the trees and seemed to have vanished. The rain came down harder than ever. It was the strangest scene I'd come across yet. We had gone into a dimension where everything looked like the normal world but the colors were inverted somehow, like some strange image done in Photoshop.

  So we gathered in the living room, where heavy curtains hung over the windows and the sun was safely kept out.

  And there, the shadows returned.

  Jerome and I sat on the couch together and Alana sat on the other side of me while everyone else, maybe in a silent agreement, took the floor because we had cooked and driven. The radio perched on a heavy antique coffee table where it crackled to life as Gina found the AM station we'd listened to before.

  Mr. Doomsayer, the unnamed guy who made dread curl in your gut with his serious we're-all-going-to-die voice, was there like always. I wondered if he ever slept.

  “The high temperature for Boston today will only be around forty degrees. This is two degrees cooler than yesterday. Parts of New Hampshire are expected to see snow this afternoon as the remnants of Hurricane Aurelia track up the east coast. A large swath of freezing rain and mixed precipitation is currently moving across eastern Pennsylvania and into New York State, causing a travel nightmare for those who are trying to reach the western side of the country. The government has advised everyone to stay where they are, as looters and organized crime gangs are targeting and shooting those who venture into the grocery stores.”