by Harley Vex
“Oh. His father’s one of those, then.”
“Was,” Jerome says quickly.
“Well, I knew the guy was a Marine.”
“Yep, and my parents said he got dishonorably discharged, or something.”
“So David has a superiority complex.” It was best to know the enemy. I wanted to feel bad for him about having a father like that, but with my shaking limbs and borderline nausea, I couldn’t. David must have developed survival tactics to deal with his father. He must have built a lifetime of rage. And now he had the power to wield it.
Jerome eyed the ceiling. “That’s my working theory. And we both got on the wrong end.”
My stomach rumbled again, and I wondered if they were going to feed us. David had kept everyone moving and never explicitly said that Jerome and I had to sit here, hungry. That was the quiet part that I assumed everyone else had missed.
I listened as my heart raced, and I knew I could trust Jerome with this next bit of news. If there was any time to unite us against David and whatever unhinged thing he’d do next, it was now. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out my phone. “Jerome. Don’t tell anyone about this, but remember how I’m a construction worker?”
He eyed my phone, not comprehending.
“My metal lunchbox,” I said.
Jerome’s eyes widened. “Your phone was in that?”
I turned it on, muffling the speaker with my hand, and shapes danced on the screen for a moment before I powered it back down.
“Your. Phone. Works,” Jerome hissed. “That means we can call for help as soon as we’re in range.”
I nodded, stuffing it back into my pocket. “David can’t know.”
Jerome motioned like he was zipping his lips. “Who does?”
“Bethany. That’s it. But she doesn’t like David, either.”
“If everyone stood up to him, we’d all be having a much better time.”
I agreed, but a wave of lightheadedness swept over me, and I leaned back against the wall. My energy was gone, and I wasn’t sure how I was going to get to the end of today.
Or even if I’d make it to the next town. What was David’s endgame?
Footfalls approached, and I stiffened. Next to me, Jerome did the same.
And two people entered the Visitor Center, sharing the awning that someone had ripped off the front of the Visitor Center at some point. The red and white fabric looked like a moving blob as it came through the door, and then the people underneath lowered it.
Christina. And Alana. David was sending people in pairs, then. And he had a hold on Christina, right? She’d always had a crush on him. That meant Alana couldn’t help me.
“Bathroom,” Christina said to no one in particular. She looked at me and Jerome as if she weren’t sure why we were sitting here.
“How are things going?” I asked, right before my stomach rumbled again.
Alana frowned at the noise. I hadn’t meant it. “Go ahead,” she told Christina. “I can wait for a bit.”
Christina entered the bathroom and shut the door, leaving us there by the vending machine that once held the poisoned food. That was still behind the receptionist’s counter, but I would not dare to touch that. If we got poisoned, David would have an excuse to leave us behind, saying we were too weak to make the journey.
“It’s going. We’re not supposed to say much, and we have two minutes to do our business,” Alana said. She leaned close to me and Jerome, stuffing her hands in her pockets. And then she whispered, “My rations for morning.”
Two candy bars landed on my lap, and my heart soared.
Alana knew what was happening, and she would go hungry to help us. But it was logical. She had eaten more than I had last night. Plus, she hadn’t taken a five-mile walk.
I handed one to Jerome as the toilet flushed on the other side of the door, and he sat on the prize as I did the same. Christina emerged, and Alana entered as she silently waited by the door. Once Alana had finished, the two gathered back under the awning, and left without another word.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Alana wouldn’t have given me one of the candy bars that was on the surface when the gamma-ray burst happened. David, maybe, but not my best friend. We of course waited until she and Christina left before we chowed down, because it wasn’t clear yet where Christina stood. But since she’d crushed on David for years, it was likely that David would try to use her for information. It wasn’t a good idea to complain about David in front of her.
Or at all.
David must have sent Christina to monitor Alana.
I felt better after the candy bar, and I hid the folded wrapper in my pocket with the cell phone. Jerome did the same, only he didn’t have a working phone.
The sun moved away from the east, and as I realized we were probably passing noon, and the ruddy light was as bright as it was going to get. I started removing the framed pictures from the east-facing windows and moved them to the west-facing ones. Jerome got up and helped, and we had the job done in a little under five minutes.
“What do we do now?” I asked, relishing the flow of energy into my limbs as I sat back on the floor.
Jerome looked at the ceiling as he did the same. “Well, we’ve dug ourselves into a nice hole, and I don’t think anyone likes David right now. But he’s made himself look like our only chance to get out of here alive. Ever see that movie about that cargo plane that crashed in the Gobi Desert?”
“No.”
“Well, this one nerdy guy wanted to rebuild the plane, but only if everyone else fell in line with him. He held their lives over their heads so he could be in charge.”
“Did they escape?”
“Yes. Barely.”
I sighed. “So, you’re saying David is that guy, and we should fall in line.”
Jerome looked at me, eyes wide and deadly serious. “Yes, and no. David is trying to be that guy, but I don’t think he’s going to make it work for all of us. He doesn’t want to. The dude in the movie was just downtrodden all his life and wanted a chance to do something big. David—there’s something not right about him. He takes pleasure in seeing others suffer.”
My heart pounded. “You think he’s going to get us killed.”
“He’s going to get someone killed. Just watch. That’s why we need to split before—”
Footsteps approached the Visitor Center, and I realized the others were coming. All the others. The pace picked up, and I knew everyone was running, trying to get out of the sun before it did its damage.
The awning came back inside, and everyone had crammed under it. David motioned for it to come down, and it fell to the floor as eight sets of hands tossed it to the side. Then Tony closed the front door, shutting out any sun that might come through.
“We hooked the tractors up,” David said to no one in particular, as if Jerome and I weren’t worth hearing the news.
Yes. He was taking pleasure in our suffering. David wasn’t like the guy in the movie who wanted to keep everyone alive. The head of the football team wanted power, and he was going to rise in his father’s place.
“That’s good,” I said, raising my voice. “So, awesome work. I wish I could have helped more.” I couldn’t help it. I let a bit of vinegar seep into my voice.
Gina dared to smile at me, but she sneaked a sideways glance at David, who was reaching behind the receptionist’s desk for something. He pulled out the radio and turned it on, but nothing came through, so off it went again.
“We have limited food, though. I think there may be some supplies in Colton that aren’t poisoned, like in the Connors mine,” David said to everyone. Keys jangled in his pockets. Yes, he had taken control of those, too.
“Does that mean there could be other survivors?” Alana asked. “That people might have taken shelter in the mine?”
I didn’t want to burst her hope, though I knew that would be the most merciful thing to do.
Alana had a mother. A younger brother.
They wouldn’t have known to get to the mines in time. Even with Mrs. Taney and Mr. Ellis shoving us into the elevator, we barely made it.
I wanted to throw up.
But I held it down and held back my thoughts.
“We don’t know,” David admits. “But people could have gotten there in time. It’s worth checking. At the very least, we know Ed Connors hoarded all kinds of supplies.”
“Probably enough for all of us,” I added, waiting for David’s reaction.
Then he turned to me and Jerome. “Yes. Enough for all of us who will cooperate with one another.”
“I’ve done nothing but help here. And I wanted to help today. So did Jerome. Did you think we were going to sabotage the escape plan?”
Silence fell. I had backed David into a corner, and Jerome tensed beside me. I had a good point, and there was no logic that could refute it.
“You still went off on your own. And you’ve done nothing but argue. Arguments get people nowhere. Look. We’re wasting time right now.” David spoke with so much force that I jumped.
“Talk about projection,” Jerome said. Despite talking about lying low, he couldn’t do it, either. And I understood why.
Alana stepped forward like she was trying to be the distraction. “When do we all leave?”
Her tactic worked. David paced around the room as we all watched. “It’ll take a while, maybe a day, to get to Colton. There was that town between there and here, and it’s possible we’ll find more working vehicles there. But we have to get there first. We leave later this evening, when the sun is getting low.”
A few cheers went up, and Jerome clapped me on the back. It left a tingle, and I breathed in. We were getting out of here.
“But,” David said again, “Food is low, and then we have the matter of getting to where the radiation wasn’t so bad. I can’t be sure that all of us will make it.”
The mood in the room plummeted. He was right, of course, but I heard an undertone I didn’t like.
David was talking as if he knew not all of us would make it.
He didn’t look at me or Jerome, but Jerome tensed beside me. “We have to do our best to make sure every one of us makes it to the alive zone. Otherwise, this group is going to break down.”
David turned to him. “It already has.”
“Hey, man,” Eric said with a shrug. “Jerome and Laney have been nothing but helpful. Jerome and Laney brought food up that ladder, and Laney brought back that second tractor. Without them, half of us wouldn’t get out of here.”
Someone was standing up for us. Someone brave. It was refreshing to see.
David’s cheeks flushed. And I knew this wasn’t just his need to dominate and control on the line. He needed this disaster to feed his ego, and Eric had put in on the line.
“That was on my watch, Eric,” David said in a dangerous voice. He raised his shoulders, showing Eric just how much bigger he was than the smaller science nerd. In a fight, it was clear who would win.
Eric backed off. And no one else said a word. Ugh, we outnumbered David nine to one, and no one was going to stand up. “Sorry, man. I forgot.”
David dropped his shoulders as he looked at everyone else.
Any hope I had dared to feel drained out of me, and I knew that David might have no intent of letting me and Jerome make it to Colton and beyond. And none of us could call for help. David no longer had a reason to hide his nature.
“We should settle for a few hours before we leave, and get some rest,” David said, motioning around the Visitor Center. “I’ll think about how to distribute the food. Laney and Jerome, I think the two of you should stay in the bathroom for the time being, because you haven’t exactly earned our trust.”
Now I couldn’t stay quiet. “We’ve done a lot for this group, David. Admit it. We all want to get out of here before we starve or die from UV exposure.”
“But you ran off,” David said, advancing on me. I wondered if he was going to hit me, and if he did that, I’d have no chance at fighting him off. Then he looked at Tony and Gina. “Don’t you two agree?”
Tony said nothing. Gina would not stand up to David. She backed into Bethany.
“Look, man. There’s no need to show that you can control everyone. We’re all on the same page,” Tony said, no doubt struggling under the pressure exerted on him thanks to being the second biggest guy in our group. He was the only one who had a real one-on-one chance against David, and everyone knew. “We all want to get out of here.”
The hope monster came back, and with everyone against David, except for maybe Christina, that meant we’d all get out of here alive.
“Tony, everyone is going to board a vehicle when we leave,” David assured him. “I promise. There’s no need to worry. I know I overreacted.”
Tony nodded. David slowly paced. He was going back on everything?
“Just give me this. I want to make sure we can trust everyone because this is a tense situation. I just want Laney and Jerome to be in the bathroom for the time being, given their history. That’s it. They’ll go with us, and if they can prove they’ll work with us, everything will be fine.”
I wanted to believe it. Tony nodded. “They’d better come with us. I want them in my corner. I want all of you in my corner. It will not be easy when we get to Colton.”
“I’m sure we’ll find something in the mines. My father said that old Ed Connors was a hoarder,” David said. “And if there’s anything we need right now, it’s a prepper’s stash. And we’ll get there faster if we just do this one thing.”
Tony lowered his shoulders. He was tired. “Okay, man. But after this, we go.”
David turned to the bathroom, with a silent agreement between him and the rest of the group. “Laney. Jerome. Prove you can cooperate. We’ll all leave together in a few hours. This should be easy enough.” He walked over and opened the door for us.
I swallowed. And I looked at Tony, Gina, Bethany, and Alana.
“We won’t leave without you.” Tony nodded his promise.
Alana, however, stayed silent. And I didn’t like the worried sheen in her eyes.
If David had something planned, he wouldn’t want to lose the trust of his troops. He was trying to keep his seat.
Not now, when we were getting into real danger.
I had the sense he was going to try something far more sneaky than simply saying he wanted to leave us behind. David had already laid down whatever web he wanted me and Jerome to get caught in, and it was up to us to figure out where the trip lines were.
But I stepped into the bathroom and waved Jerome in with me.
He followed. “Okay. We’re in. We’ll sit and fold our hands like model students, if you give us desks.”
No one laughed. David just nodded. “We’ll all eat while we wait, and then we’ll all get ready to go. Just to make sure Laney and Jerome can pass the test, we’ll all go sit out in the hangar, where it’s cooler. And Tony?”
“Yeah?” I heard the doubt in his voice.
“Spread something in front of the bathroom door in a pattern they won’t guess, so we make sure it’s not disrupted.”
“Like bits of paper?” he asked.
“Yeah. That’ll work. They won’t know the pattern, but we will. And if that door swings out and ruins the shape we make, we’ll know they broke our trust. If it doesn’t, then we’re all ready. Simple enough.”
Ripping sounds followed as David closed our door. He was keeping us all hostage, in a way. And he was doing it with the bits of paper that Tony was arranging into some shape that Jerome and I wouldn’t guess from in here. If the others fell in line, he was promising a simple time for us all. It was simple, yet effective.
He closed the door, and though no one slid anything in front of it, there was no need. This was a test, and David was banking on our desperation.
I didn’t want David’s trust.
He was taking his intentions underground, where they’d rise and snatch us while no one was
looking.
“Okay, everyone. Move out. I’m sure Laney and Jerome will pass the test, and we’ll all leave together.” He clapped. “Great work, Tony. They’ll never guess that shape. I’ll follow you all out in a second.”
And with that, the tarp whispered and all the footsteps left the Visitor Center.
Jerome tapped my shoulder, pointed up, and instantly confirmed my suspicions.
The bathroom had a narrow horizontal window near the ceiling that wasn’t obvious from outside the room. And it glittered with dangerous, rusty light as the midday sun slowly moved to the west, where it was facing.
And then two bags of chips slid under the door, a pair of green bags that were the right size to have come out of the vending machine.
I looked at Jerome, raising my eyebrows.
David wanted to kill us.
And he needed it to look like a simple oversight.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“Are you kidding me?” Jerome asked, staring down at the bags of chips. He must have known they were in the vending machine, too, since he was part of that argument.
“I’m not kidding you,” I told him. “Remember when you said that we had to split?”
“It sounds like a great idea,” Jerome hissed. “His plan is to have us get sick and have to be left behind, or something, for the good of the group. David does not want to look like a back end. Namely, the exit from a back end.”
I forced a laugh, glad that Alana sneaked us some candy bars. It was David’s plan to make us desperate from hunger and then poison us. How bad would the chips poison us, anyway? Would it take multiple doses of radioactive food to kill us, or would one do the trick?
“Laney, don’t think about it,” Jerome whispered.
Outside, the Visitor Center remained silent. David had run after the others. He had gotten everyone out so they wouldn’t hear our protests, just in case we realized his plot.
Plans of escape already swirled through my head. But I had to get David to let down his guard and think he was the evil genius. “Thank you for the food,” I shouted, but no one responded. David might have been out of earshot by then.
