by Ted Hill
Henry held up his hand—the other cradled his sister. “I thought everybody had made it.”
Hunter bowed his head, hit by a wave of shame. Barbie glaring at him didn’t help. Outside, the raucous noise rose now that all the bugs had finally made it to the party. Hunter breathed deeply then released it in a long hiss. Another grasshopper bit into his back. He ripped off his shirt, swiped all the hoppers off, and stomped them into the dirt floor.
“Okay, everybody look around and see if we’re missing anyone else.” Hunter finished shaking the bugs out of his hair.
Everyone started counting and looking for friends among the forty-two kids that formed the final census of Cozad. Barbie took charge of the headcount.
Hunter walked over to Henry. “Sorry about yelling like that. It was a little messed up out there. Is she okay?”
Henry nodded, working a strand of blonde hair from his sister’s brow. “She’s been through a lot today. She just needs rest.”
“I’m all for that. I think we’re safe here for a while.”
Henry bent down and wrapped his other arm under his sister’s knees, lifting her up. “You think it’s safe by the walls?”
The roof rattled and popped from the intensive onslaught, but the barn was holding. The incredible noise of angry insects had everyone watching the walls in fear. Mold and stale air mixed with smoke as dust shook out of the rafters and drifted slowly down, switching places with the rising smoke. Anyone with asthma was screwed.
Stalls lined the sides of the barn: one filled with lumber, old rusted tools hung in another, while horse tack and other farm implements occupied other areas.
“I wouldn’t sit right next to the walls. Maybe next to these support beams would be best. That way, if these bugs bring the barn down you’ll probably be all right.”
Henry’s jaw dropped. His sister’s eyes popped open.
“I’m just teasing. Sorry, that was kind of dumb to say. We’re safe in here.”
Henry shook his head and kissed his sister’s before guiding her away from Hunter. He slid down one of the structure beams and held his sister protectively while they watched the ceiling rattle.
Hunter mentally punched himself in the face and told himself that once everyone was safe, he’d do it for real.
Barbie walked up, her face muscles tight. Hunter waited for the bad news.
“Brandon isn’t here. He’s the only one. He was working on the bus when the bugs hit.”
“Nobody saw him running for the barn?” he asked.
“The bus was too far away. He probably didn’t even know we were running before they were on top of him. Hopefully he’s safe inside the bus.”
“Hopefully the windows will hold.”
The trash in the barrel burned down along with the light. The kids held one another as the approaching darkness threatened to strip away the last of their bravery. Hunter grabbed some lumber out of one of the stalls and laid an eight-foot, two-by-four over a cinderblock. He jumped, snapping the board in half and he handed the pieces to Barbie.
“Put those in the barrel.”
She smiled at him, patting him on the bottom. He jerked with embarrassment. “You’re so handy to have around.”
He regained his composure and smiled as he dropped another board on the block. “You have no idea. Better hurry before the fire burns out.”
“Why? Are you afraid to be with me in the dark?”
“Yes,” he said, and cracked another board in half. “Here, two more.” He placed them lengthwise into her arms on top of the first set.
She plopped them into the barrel, sending sparks of ash up from the trash. They lazily floated in the air. Hunter held his breath, hoping they would settle on something nonflammable.
Once the fire raged harmlessly in the steel drum, and the smoke found the high ceiling of the barn where it filtered out, Hunter leaned on the beam across the stall from Henry and his sister. They had relaxed some after the blunt dose of Hunter’s honesty. She slept peacefully with her head in Henry’s lap. He stroked her hair and Hunter smiled.
Henry looked up. “Thanks again for saving her.”
“Thank Barbie. I just went along for the ride.”
Barbie turned her head from the fire and came over. “Thank me for what?”
“For saving Sophie. I hope one day I can repay you.”
Barbie leaned down and kissed Henry’s forehead. When she stood up, Henry’s eyes were closed, and a huge smile stretched to the corners of his lean face.
“You just take care of her,” Barbie said. “She’s very special.”
“I know.” Henry returned to admiring his sleeping little sister.
Barbie leaned on Hunter. Her softness weighed upon his body and his thoughts. Both were heavy in a way that Hunter did not want to admit. Too tired to fight, he allowed her to share his space.
“What are we dealing with out there? It’s not everyday a cloud of bugs fall from the sky. This has something to do with Cozad, doesn’t it?”
“They are part of Famine’s tools. A plague of a different sort. The bugs didn’t start off in one giant cloud, but grew with each passing field, building in numbers, and they will keep building.”
She paused and Hunter grasped at what she was saying, but his mind had trouble reeling in the last bit. “Why? What are they doing?”
“They feed. They will strip the land and feed until there is nothing left.”
The information was too heavy combined with everything else. He dropped his foot back for leverage and gently pushed her off.
“The direction that cloud was headed…” he couldn’t finish. His mind refused to allow the thought to blossom any further than it already had. But the idea had mushroomed and the spores were spreading fear throughout his limbs, numbing with deadly poison.
“Yes,” Barbie said it for him. “It’s heading for Independents.”
The noise of the grasshoppers outside subsided gradually and sunlight pushed through the cracks of the barn. Hunter rushed to the door, flipping up the board that had locked them in and kept the bugs out. He hurried into the late afternoon sun and then around the side of the barn to look southeast where the cloud progressed in a wispy, buzzing trail. The awesome bulk filled the horizon, carrying disaster toward Hunter’s home.
On a nearby hilltop, Hunter saw Tommy the Perv with both arms stretching toward the sky, displaying his middle fingers. Famine smiled at Hunter. Then he descended down the other side and disappeared after his cloud.
Twenty-Five
Scout
After a while, Vanessa left Scout alone. He sat on the couch in the dim aftermath of his breakup, wishing he had something better to do than wait for supper.
Raven didn’t need to leave town. They could have worked their problems out together like couples did, not bolt when the first sign of trouble popped up. But Raven chose the easy way out. She was riding into the sunset while Scout sat in their apartment and stewed.
It sucked.
Shadows stretched into the living room as evening approached. He thought about rehearsing Sunday’s sermon, but the idea left him feeling cold. Raven said she was leaving him because of the way she was treated by everyone else. He was left with a congregation that drove his girlfriend away. How was he going to bring those kids the Good News?
Standing up, Scout noticed the early birds milling around Main Street, waiting for the Brittanys to open their doors. He looked at the orange sky in the west and then picked up his spiral notebook.
He read his sermon out loud. The topic was about loving thy neighbor. Scout didn’t miss the irony and his presentation sounded hollow. How could he continue to preach to these kids after the way they treated Raven? He stopped and tossed the notebook on the couch and looked out the window again.
A black storm cloud swelled over the horizon, rolling and breaking apart before closing back in on itself unlike any other cloud he’d ever seen. Scout sunk his knees into the back of the couch and leaned forward for
a better look. A grasshopper twitched outside on his window sill and then hopped into the sky, wings buzzing.
“Do you hear that?” someone said on the street below the open window.
“Yeah,” said another boy. “Sounds like a car.”
“Sounds like a really big car. Let’s check it out.”
The boys raced across the street, and Scout leaned closer, cocking his ear. The loud drone sounded like a tractor engine running full bore inside a barn. Scout looked back at the cloud as the massive shadow from its approach blocked the late afternoon sun, creating an eerie kind of twilight. His window screen rattled from the sound and he jumped back. Then the screams started and Scout shot out the door and ran down the stairs to the street.
He slid to a stop on the brick cobbles as something struck him in the face, and then another and another until he threw up his arms, wondering if Billy had returned with more rocks. Twenty or so grasshoppers hummed and twitched at his feet. He picked one up. Several more bounced off his back. Scout looked toward the sky that was falling like a giant hand intending to crush everything underneath.
Across the street, candles were being lit inside Brittany’s. Kids plastered their faces against the large pane windows to see what the deal was and a few began trickling out beneath the awnings, staring up at the creepy darkness.
“Get back inside and get everybody away from the windows now!” Scout ran across the street, waving his arms frantically. “They’re grasshoppers! It’s a whole cloud of grasshoppers!”
“What’s the problem?” one of the kids said. “Get the Raid, right?”
The first wave dropped on top of Scout and knocked him flat. He rolled with the flow, scrambling to his feet. Jason, the smart kid with the jokes, looked on in horror. Scout grabbed him by the arm and another kid by the shirt collar and flung them both through the door.
Scout charged inside after the two stumbling boys. “Everyone get away from the windows! Blow out those candles!”
“But we won’t be able to see,” a girl said.
“Bugs are attracted to light.”
Candles were instantly snuffed.
“Move to the back. Don’t panic,” Scout said. “Take the tables with you as you go.”
“Why?”
“We’ll need to hide under them.”
The sound of moving tables scraping across the hardwood floor barely registered over the loud din of grasshoppers outside. Scout didn’t know if the windows would hold. The swarm that fell on him had felt like a sandbag dropping from a hot air balloon. If that much weight pushed against the windows, they’d have flying glass everywhere—followed by a massive bug swarm.
Scout pushed a table to the back. “Is that all the tables?”
“Yes, I think so.”
“Luis?”
“This isn’t normal.”
“Who’s with Ginger?”
“No one’s with her right now. I was getting us some food.”
Scout pictured Luis’s clinic with the same large windowpanes facing Main Street. Sure, metallic blinds covered them, but they wouldn’t hold back squat.
Scout grabbed Luis by the shoulders as the light outside grew dimmer by the second. “Get everyone under the tables and flip the front ones sideways, facing the windows.”
“Why?”
“In case those windows shatter and the grasshoppers rush inside.”
Scout released Luis and moved toward the door, tripping over the chairs that had been left behind. The noise outside scared the hell out of him. Luis’s clinic was to the left, past Mark’s police station and the thrift shop where Hunter and Scout dumped off the usable stuff they found. Scout had to reach Ginger and little James.
He pulled the door open to the giant buzzing cloud of grasshoppers swarming down. He’d read the stories of Moses in the Bible. Was this like the plague of locust that God unleashed on the Egyptians to convince their rulers to free their Hebrew slaves? Someone other than God had sent this plague. Scout was certain.
Now the dark mass totally blocked the sunlight. He skimmed the storefronts, running his hand over windows and doors as bug after bug struck him and landed in his hair, working their way under his shirt. Most disturbing were the stinging bites once they found his skin. Scout smashed and flicked, while shuffling through the grasshopper piles on the walkway, stomping now and then with satisfying crunches. He passed Mark’s and then the thrift shop. Finally he crossed the window of Luis’s waiting room and found the door. Scout turned the knob and slipped inside, shutting the noisy insects out.
“Ginger!”
He stood on shaky legs, swiping away the bugs who’d ridden him inside. He stumbled through the darkness and found the doorway that led to the delivery room.
“Ginger?”
He barely heard the crying baby over the incessant roar outside. Scout blindly walked with small steps, his arms stretched out in front until he bumped into Luis’s desk.
“Ginger! Where are you?”
“Scout? We’re under the desk. Is that a tornado outside? ”
“No. There’s a billion grasshoppers dropping out of the sky. I need to get you someplace safe.”
“What? We’re not safe here?”
Scout regarded the direction where the sound reverberated off the windows. “No.”
“How big are the bugs?”
“There are a lot of them out there. Are you and the baby all right?”
“Yes, thank you for coming.”
“No problem.” Scout searched his memory and found the hallway to the back nearby, where two separate doors led to a storeroom and a restroom. He opened one of the doors to a dark windowless area.
“Scout?” Ginger called after him in a shaky voice.
“Here, I’ll take James.” Scout held the squirming bundle and helped Ginger to her feet. He cooed at James and the baby quieted. Scout supported the baby’s head, covered by a little stocking cap. In spite of his growing fear, Scout managed a smile. Of course Jimmy’s kid would be wearing a hat. The baby cried some more.
“He must really be scared,” Scout said.
“I think he’s hungry.”
“Oh? Well, I’ll let you take care of that once we’re settled.”
Ginger laughed and laid her head on Scout’s shoulder just as a giant crack sounded behind them. The crack traveled straight up Scout’s spine. His fear became reality after an enormous crash. Glass and a gust of wind blasted inside Luis’s clinic, pitching them forward with concussive force. Scout covered James and caught his balance inside the open doorway. A tidal wave of insects roared into the delivery room. The door slammed closed, leaving Scout with a hysterical baby James alone in the small room.
Ginger screamed from the other side.
Twenty-Six
Margaret
She awoke on a strange couch inside an unfamiliar house. Margaret sat up and held herself steady as blood rushed to her head, making her dizzy. It had been a while since she’d performed a healing, even one as small as a broken nose. Being the conductor of God’s light and the transference of His divinity to the person being healed was no easy task, but people needed miracles so they could be saved and their faith restored.
Her head buzzed. That was something new. She stuck a finger in one ear, trying to pop it. The front door was open to an unnatural darkness waiting outside.
Margaret rocked forward and stood, checking her balance before venturing on. She crossed the room and gripped the doorframe for support. She felt better after a couple deep breaths. The feeling ended quickly.
Samuel and Dylan stood silently in the front yard, stunned. A massive cloud, buzzing with swarming insects, descended in a dark, rolling blanket on top of Main Street. She was in Dylan’s house, which had been built on a highpoint at the edge of town. The slight elevation provided a scary view.
Margaret walked up behind the boys and stopped beside Samuel.
He looked at her then directed his attention back to town before bringing it once again
to rest on her. His face showed complete incomprehension. “Are you okay?”
Margaret nodded. “When did this start?”
“About five minutes ago. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“No one alive ever has.”
“What can we do?” Dylan asked, mirroring Samuel’s dumbfounded expression. The tape had been removed from his nose and the black eyes were gone. “Everyone is down there.”
Margaret nodded again and gripped Samuel’s hand for needed support to keep her grounded. The sight of that massive cloud and the fear for the people trapped indoors was overwhelming. “Nothing can be done against that. All we can do is pray for the safety of our friends...”
“Is that it, Molly?” Samuel searched her face.
“What do you mean?”
“You,” he paused, watching her. “You healed Dylan, just like Catherine. How is that possible?”
Margaret gazed back at the town, wishing she could do something. She knew the concentration of bugs was not a normal occurrence. A large amount of focused power had gathered those insects together then pointed them like a loaded weapon straight at Independents. Margaret was sure that Main Street wasn’t the only destination of the swarm, but rather a brief stop. Chase was the plague. This was the work of Famine.
“Molly?” Samuel shook her hand. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yes,” she said. “I’ve had a realization today, thanks to Catherine. I’m still adjusting. Can we talk about it later?”
“Sure, if there is a later.”
“I need to pray,” Margaret told them.
“I didn’t know you were so religious,” Samuel said, letting go as she pulled away.
“I used to be a long time ago. That’s part of the realization.”
Margaret walked over and knelt beside a large tree with a full view of the town, under siege from the roaring wings of a billion insects. She bowed her head and spoke to God.
He immediately answered, as if waiting for someone to ask for His help and eager to give it. Margaret’s earlier fatigue was stripped away. A jolt of energy filled her and she clenched her fists to contain the swell that His light provided and listened for the instructions of His message.
