Oliver looked to tower one where Kiya and Erika were hiding. “Over there!” he pointed. They ran to each other and hugged. It was unexpected embrace—and no one could really figure out why they did it—but it just felt natural. “How did you guys know how to open the gates?” Oliver asked.
“I’m not stupid,” Erika replied. “It's pretty obvious.”
“I didn’t even think that the gates would unlock. There was no power,” Oliver said.
“They probably don’t use power,” Kiya said.
They pulled away from each other and started to look around. More and more adults were filing through the gate.
“We did it,” Shelly said proudly. “We liberated the school.”
“We should probably find our parents now,” Kiya said.
“Yeah,” Shelly answered, “we should.”
Everyone looked at the ground and then to each other. “See you in school tomorrow?” Erika asked. They laughed and looked around, searching for any recognizable faces. “Stay safe guys,” Shelly said running off. Kiya, Erika, and Oliver looked at each other and smiled. “I should really find my mom,” Kiya said walking away from the group. “How do you know she’s here?” Erika asked. “I just know,” Kiya answered. Kiya moved throughout the crowd looking for anyone that resembled her mother. Unfortunately, they resembled moms of all kinds. Women with the same height, hair, and complexion. Plus it was very dark. She glanced back over to the spot she was standing at only a moment ago and caught a quick glance of Erika and Oliver talking. It was the last time she would see any of them again.
Chapter 5: Alice, Brian, and Kiya: No Home for Us Here
Moments before the doors were opened; there was talk outside of overtaking the school by any means necessary. Several parents were searching in vain for the police or some authority figure who would take charge of the situation. The man who climbed the wall, only to be shot, was forty-four year old Bill Hackney, single father of two children attending Sun Crest Middle School. He had been shot in the chest; a wound that he may have been able to survive if not for the brutal fall from atop the school wall which broke his neck. “Can we get an ambulance here? A paramedic? Something?” another man yelled kneeling from the crowd as held Bill's corpse in his arm. One of the parents happened to be an off-duty paramedic. She ran over to assist Bill, but determined there was little that could be done because he was already dead. Alice watched the scene in disbelief, holding on the Brian's shoulders. There was a stunned shock among the crowd once they realized there was no help or assistance on the way. “This is going to get real ugly, real fast,” Alice said to Brian. The parents formed at the gates and tried to push and pry their way through to no avail. “Murderers!” a woman yelled. Others joined in the chorus as well. “Mom, is that man dead?” Brian asked. “Yes, Brian. It was an accident, a terrible accident,” Alice said. She looked to the top of the wall and scanned along the perimeter. She thought it possible that there weren't enough guards at the school to cover every area.
Alice turned Brian around to face her. “It's not safe here for you. I want you to wait in the car,” she said. “But you said that we can never split up,” Brian replied.
“I know that I said that, and it's true,” Alice said. “But if we get inside the school, I can't risk anything happening to you.” Brian was done arguing with his mother for the day, though he had plenty of objections to waiting in the car. But he wanted to find Kiya just as badly.
“Listen to me,” she said. “Don't leave the car, for any reason. No one knows that it works so no one should bother you. Just lie low and wait for me. I promise that I'll be back with Kiya.”
Brian shook his head. “Now go,” Alice said. She hugged him tightly. Too tightly, he felt. He placed his arms around her and tried to squeeze back. Brian turned away and made his way back to the car. Alice watched until he disappeared into the darkness alongside an endless line of cars. Now it was time to get into the school. She looked around the crowd to find a parent that could perhaps assist her. An accomplice. Someone as determined as her to get into the school. Alice was realizing that standing outside the front gate was getting them nowhere. It was at this moment that another gunshot ran through the air. The crowd jump to the ground gasping in terror. “Get down!” A man yelled within the crowd. Alice leapt onto the ground, landing on her chest. The impact caused a sudden jolt that knocked the wind out of her. Alice lifted her head up. Several people remained on the ground, lying still with their arms over their head. “This is ridiculous,” Alice said to herself. “It is,” a man lying on the ground answered. There was shouting from the other side of the wall. The people on the ground slowly lifted their heads up to listen. Then followed the sound of the front gate slowly moving open. A large squeaking metallic sound, as if the door was being unevenly pulled open like a curtain.
“It's opening,” the man next to Alice said. “The gate is opening.” Alice looked to the gates. The man was right. They opened slightly a crack then stopped. Then opened some more. Alice jumped to her feet. More people followed. “They're letting us in the school!” the man shouted. This drew the attention of nearly everyone who within an earshot. Most of them had been gathered outside the school for over six hours now. They hadn't even taken into account what was happening in the world, why the power went out, or why their cars weren't working. They just wanted their children back. As they pushed through the opening between the two squeaking, metallic doors, Mr. Wright had underestimated their resolve. Alice ran towards the door, joining the other parents, but found herself being pushed to the side. The crowd turned unruly within moments, as several parents pushed their way into the school.
Alice finally made it through the doors and joined the other parents as they walked up the entrance lane into the school, past the three guard towers, and into the courtyard. There she witnessed a group surrounding Mr. Wright, pushing and shoving him. Out of nowhere, it seemed, a punch was thrown, knocking Mr. Wright onto the ground. Alice ran towards them. Other parents journeyed right into the school, through the courtyard and into the various classrooms buildings. “Stop hitting him!” Alice shouted as she stepped into the middle of the crowd. “He knows where our children are.” A bald, overweight man was holding Mr. Wright ready to take another swing. Mr. Wright's head hung low. His face was bruised and bloodied. “He's going to pay for this,” the bald man said. “We need him,” Alice said. She walked right up to Mr. Wright and grabbed his collar. “Where is everyone?” she asked. “Gym...auditorium...cafeteria,” he mumbled back. Alice remembered Kiya's classroom after visiting it during open house weeks prior. The only thing she wasn't sure of was its exact location within the school. Time was a precious commodity; especially with parents storming the halls looking for the same thing she was.
Mrs. Crabtree perked up from her cot as she heard the sound of multiple footsteps moving down the hall towards the gym. It was an alarming sound, like that of a stampede. “It can't be children,” she thought to herself. Several students sat up, disturbed by the noise. The sound grew closer, and with it, came a swarm of adults entering the gym. All the children had awakened. The teachers, including Mrs. Crabtree, got up from their cots, trying to understand who the people were and what they were doing in the gym. One parent caught Mrs. Crabtree eyes. “Where's my son?” he demanded. Mrs. Crabtree turned to her class. “Everyone just remain in your cots,” she commanded with her arms outstretched.
“Amber!” one of the women shouted. Mrs. Crabtree looked behind her to see Amber standing near her cot. “Mom!” Amber said. She ran to her mother, pushing Mrs. Crabtree out of the way. They embraced as the other parents confronted Mrs. Crabtree. “Where are our children? What have you done with them?” several of the parents demanded.
“If everyone could just stay calm, we can locate the students. What we can't have our people running around starting a panic,” Mrs. Crabtree said.
“A panic?” one man shouted. “This school is responsible for a man’s death. You're all goin
g to burn for this.”
The rest of the crowd joined in agreement. They were pushing themselves uncomfortably close to Mrs. Crabtree, encircling her.
“I don't know anything about that. If you would just listen to me for one minute—”
“We're done talking,” an angry woman declared.
Suddenly, several students—girls and boys—from Mrs. Crabtree's class ran over to her, pushed their way through the adults, and encircled her. “Leave Mrs. Crabtree alone. She didn't do anything,” Bobby Ramer said. Mark Nelson noticed the commotion and walked over to aid Mrs. Crabtree as well. “Yeah, she's just been looking out for us. She could have escaped the school at any time, like some of the students did.”
“And she stayed with us,” Rachel Moss said.
“So don't mess with her,” Luke Ardono added.
The kids all clamored in agreement, causing the parents to back off. One man with great concern in his eyes approached Mrs. Crabtree to speak. “Just please, help us find our children so we can go home.” “It's not going to be easy,” Mrs. Crabtree said. “But I'll do my best to help each one of you find your children.” The parents nodded in support, and certain calmness came over the formally tense scene. Mrs. Crabtree rubbed her head in exhaustion. “How did you get into the school?” she asked. “The gates opened, and we came in,” the man answered.
“Who opened the gates?” she asked.
“We don't know,” the man said shrugging.
Mark looked up to Mrs. Crabtree. “I bet it was Kiya and them. I knew they were going to escape.”
Mrs. Crabtree struggled to get her thoughts together. The repeated pain in her head felt like a migraine. “The best thing for us to do would be to conduct an orderly search through each area,” she said in an exhausted tone. “Each grade is in a designated area. This is the sixth grade. The seventh grade is in the auditorium and the eighth grade is in the cafeteria.”
“Show us,” a woman demanded.
“I have to stay with my class. I can't go anywhere.”
“I'll show them,” Mark Nelson said walking away, “Follow me.”
“Mark, no. You need to stay here and wait for your parents,” Mrs. Crabtree.
“Trust me, they're not going to be here,” Mark answered.
Mark exited the gym, as a large group of parents followed. One of Mrs. Crabtree's students, Jill, pulled on her dress while rubbing her eyes. “What is going on?” she asked.
“We're going to go home soon,” Mrs. Crabtree answered.
Before entering the school and undertaking a long search and potentially unsuccessful search for Kiya, Alice walked around the courtyard looking for any child that resembled her. She called out several times for Kiya and caught the attention of Shelly who was wandering around courtyard trying to find her parents. “Did you say Kiya?” Shelly asked. Alice immediately looked down and saw Shelly standing before her. “Yes. I'm calling for my daughter, Kiya,” Alice said.
“I know a Kiya, she's in my class. She was standing right over there,” Shelly said pointing the front gate. “She helped open the gate.”
Alice looked over to the gate, only to see more adults shuffling through the opening and into the school. It was hard to see. She looked back down to Shelly. “Thank you. Thank you so much. If you do see Kiya, tell her that her mother, Alice, is here looking for her,” Alice said. She touched Shelly's shoulder in gratitude then ran towards the front of the school where she prayed that Kiya would be waiting. There was a young girl ahead. She seemed to appear out of nowhere. Alice slowed, nearly colliding into the girl. The girl looked up in a panic. Alice halted.
“Kiya, is that you?” she asked.
“Mom?” Kiya asked back.
Alice knelt down and grabbed on to Kiya's arms, then yanked her towards her in a loving embrace. “I can't believe this, both of my children. We're blessed. We're so blessed.” Tears streamed down Alice's cheeks, Kiya squeezed her back. “I knew you would come,” she said. Alice lifted her head up and wiped her eyes. It was time to fight through the crowd and get back to the car.
“We have to get out of the school and walk to the car. It's close, don't worry. Brian is waiting for us.”
“Brian's here too?” Kiya asked with a smile.
“Yes, we're going home.”
“You wouldn't believe what happened. They rounded us up and they tried to make us go to the gym, but me and some other kids escaped, and then they shot at us, and then we opened the door, and we ran and hid, and this Oliver kid ran into the tower, and then the other kids got into a fight—”
“You can tell me everything later, just stay at my side until we get out of here.”
“Okay,” Kiya said. Daughter in hand, Alice walked back out the gate of the school making it one step closer to her plan of survival.
When they got to the car, Alice spotted Brian sitting in the back seat, much to her relief. She looked around and didn't see too many people around. Once the other parents had their children, they would be relieved and joyous. But the next thing they would face would be immobility. Or at a realization that they were stuck, aside from walking. If one parent got word that Alice had an operational car, which actually started, she had no doubt that they would instantly take it from her. “That's not our car,” Kiya said as they grew closer to it.
“It is now,” Alice said.
“Where did you get it?” Kiya asked.
“Kiya, not now. Just get in the front,” Alice said opening the passenger side door. Kiya got in and Alice shut the door. “Wow, she actually found you,” Brian said.
“Nice to see you too,” Kiya said.
“What the hell were you doing in there?” Brian asked.
“They closed the school and wouldn't let us leave,” Kiya said.
“The power went out at my school,” Brian said.
“Mine too!” Kiya said.
“Children, quiet for a moment, please,” Alice said with her fingers wrapped around the steering wheel. Both kids did as they were told. Alice carefully placed the key in the ignition, said a quick prayer and turned. The car rattled to life in no time. She placed her forehead against the steering wheel, not in frustration, but in relief. “We're going home kids,” she said. She drove the car further, without the headlights on, trying not to draw attention to them. She had to drive past the school in order to find a clear path. The opposite direction was completely blocked by a graveyard of cars in the road. People filtered back outside the school, taking immediate notice of their moving car. A family only a few yards behind them, pushed their station wagon down the road, trying to start it with the gears in neutral. She wasn't the only car moving, but she was the only car that appeared to have a working engine. Most people took little notice of her as Alice cruised by—at a steady ten miles per hour—but those who did looked at her with awe and suspicion.
“Why is everyone looking at us, mom?” Kiya asked.
“Because their cars don't work,” Brian said. “And they're gonna want our car.”
“Why don't their cars work,” Kiya asked.
“Who knows? Why doesn't anything work now?” Brian asked.
“Well this car works,” Kiya said.
“Yeah, because it's like a hundred years old,” Brian said.
“So.”
“Old stuff works. New stuff doesn't.”
“How do you know?” Kiya said.
“I just know,” Brian said.
Once the groups of people thinned out Alice looked for a clear path in the road and gently accelerated the Valiant. It chugged its way to thirty miles per hour. Alice turned on the headlights. The odometer flickered back-and-forth. Alice glanced at the fuel gauge. Though it still displayed half a tank, Alice didn't know if it was even reading right. She would have to trust it. A million thoughts raced through her mind: fuel, food, clothes, shelter, power, terrorists, money, people, danger, weather, safety. It was overwhelming for her to consider. They were nearing their suburban neighborhood and a familiar area w
here she felt safer. They passed car after car on the side of the road. She swerved around many that were directly in the middle of the road. Brian and Kiya stared out the window and watched as several people ran out of the darkness and followed after the car. Alice grew more nervous. All these people working together could easily construct a road barrier meant to block their path. Alice tried to rid her mind of thoughts of her and her children being ripped from the car and thrown into the street. “Just get us home. It's all I asked,” Alice whispered with her eyes close.
“Who are you talking to?” Kiya asked to no response. Alice was too focused on the road. In the distance a large fire illuminated the sky. “Not another fire,” Alice thought. This time it was a house fire in their neighborhood. A house on the corner was ablaze as a small crowd stood outside watching it. The people standing outside paid no attention to Alice’s car. She glanced at them and could see tears pouring from the eyes of one of the women.
“Whoa,” Brian said leaning against his window watching the fire. The house fire was now behind in the distance, a stark vision in Alice's rear view mirror. “We're almost home,” Alice said. It would be only a few minutes to safety, so she thought.
She turned down a residential street, miles closer to their home. Everything was dark, except for their headlights, and another small blaze ahead. “Another fire,” Brian said, climbing into the front seat.
“Brian, stay in your seat,” Alice said. About a mile ahead another house was on fire. The odds of two fires in a single residential area were very unusual. In the shadows of the fire she could see a large group of people walking down the roads towards their direction. The closer they got, the more Alice could make them out. They were young. All young-adult to late-teen and grouped together like a menacing herd. Alice noticed something unusual. They were carrying weapons of some sort. Bats, pipes, bars—they were armed to the teeth. Like an oncoming wave, they flowed directly into Alice's path, blocking the road, just as she feared. She had moved directly into the path of a flash mob; looters and vandals that join together at a moment's notice to wreak havoc following any disaster or emergency. In normal times, flash mobs are dangerous, and known to attack tourists or locals with the element of surprise and violence. Now, without anyone to stop them, or any infrastructure to minimize their influence, they were a true force to be reckoned with. They formed a human barricade a half mile directly in front of the approaching Valiant.
The End Boxset: Postapocalyptic Visions of an Unstoppable Collapse Page 20
