by Nancy Isaak
“Apparently,” I said, as shocked as he was. Like Kieran, I had just assumed that when the electricity had gone out—that we had lost the water as well. It didn’t even occur to me to actually try the taps or flush a toilet.
The bathroom door opened and Ethan came out.
He smiled up at us. “All done.”
* * * *
It was sometime after midnight when Kieran joined me at the window. He had carried up a chair from the kitchen, placing it opposite me. From there, he could look outside but—hopefully—not be seen by anyone looking up from the ground below.
“Man, it’s dark out,” he said, peering into the shadows. “Even when there’s been a power outage before, it’s never been this dark.”
“That’s because we’ve never seen the whole city go out before,” I said. “Just parts of it.”
“Plus we could always use flashlights.”
“Or the lights on our phones.”
All of a sudden, Kieran jerked back from the window. “There’s something out there!”
“Don’t move,” I whispered. “Just stay completely still. If you’re motionless, it makes them harder to figure out your shape.”
Kieran froze.
“Where are they?” I asked, quietly. “Don’t point. Just tell me.”
“Over on the left,” he whispered. “Near the Washingtonian palms.”
I stared in that direction for a while. Suddenly I saw them—slowly making their way along the fence. There were three of them, moving in and out of the shadows.
“Got them,” I said.
“Ohmigod!” Even in the dark I could see that Kieran looked terrified. I couldn’t help myself. I began to chuckle.
“Dude—what—” His fear was making him choke on his own words.
“Look for yourself,” I said, still chuckling.
Moving ever so slowly, Kieran inched his head forward to peer through the window. Down below, three raccoons were climbing over our fence, into the backyard.
“I left some of the salad on the table. I’ll bet they probably smelled it,” I said.
Kieran looked over at me and grimaced. “I hate you, bro.”
“Right back at you.”
* * * *
“Do you think that there are going to be zombies?” Kieran asked, sometime later.
“What?!” I coughed, choking on the gum I had been chewing.
“Everyone’s disappeared,” said Kieran, seriously. “There’s no electricity. No batteries even. Why would it be so weird if zombies showed up?”
“This isn’t “The Walking Dead.” There won’t be any zombies…or vampires…or werewolves.”
“But you don’t know that for sure, do you?” he persisted. “I mean, you didn’t even know we still had water. Let’s face it. We don’t really know anything anymore.”
“There aren’t going to be any zombies,” I sighed. “I guarantee it.”
“That’s stupid,” he said. “You can’t guarantee something that you don’t know for sure.”
“Okay, then,” I said, throwing up my hands in exasperation. “I’ll bet you five dollars that we won’t be eaten by zombies. Terrorized by murderous juvenile delinquents—that’s something else. But zombies—I’m pretty sure that we’ll be fine.”
Reaching into his pocket, Kieran pulled out a five dollar bill and slapped it on the windowsill.
“I’ll take that bet,” he grinned.
* * * *
The sun was just starting to rise, its rays peeking over the edge of the horizon.
Down below, an opossum waddled across our front lawn, stopping every few feet to sniff the air for intruders.
“Do you think that this thing happened everywhere?” asked Kieran.
I shrugged. “I’ve been up all night and I haven’t seen a single light in the sky. If there’s a plane flying somewhere, it’s not here.”
“And we’re directly in a major flight path.”
“Between Burbank and Los Angeles, we’ve got two International airports. I don’t think I’ve ever looked up and not seen at least three planes flying overhead. And that’s not even including all the news helicopters.”
“But it’s so weird,” said Kieran. “Because we know that there are still people out there. So they have to be somewhere.”
“Not people,” I corrected. “Guys. The only other survivors we’ve seen are the juvies and Ethan.”
“You think only some boys are left?” Kieran looked disbelieving.
“I hope not,” I said.
“Because you want your girl to still be out there, don’t you?” he teased.
“I don’t have a girl.”
“Yeah, whatever,” Kieran yawned. “Like I don’t see you mooning over the blonde’s picture every night.”
He was talking about a photo I had on my bulletin board—the girl I loved, painting one day in Sumac Park. I had taken the picture using a telephoto lens, nervous that she would suddenly look up and see me.
“It’s just a nice picture,” I said, trying to appear nonchalant.
“That’s it?”
“That’s it,” I shrugged.
“Okay, then,” said Kieran. “That means if she’s still around, then you’d have no problem with me hooking up with her.”
I didn’t say anything, just glared at him—which made Kieran snicker.
“Guess that says everything, doesn’t it?” he grinned.
JOURNAL ENTRY #4
I can’t stop thinking about her.
About Kaylee.
I know that my priority has to be my brothers and Ethan, but I can’t stop wondering if Kaylee is still out there somewhere.
And I worry about her.
And then I feel foolish—and ridiculous.
Why do I care so much for a girl who probably doesn’t even know I exist?
* * * *
I think I fell in love with Kaylee the first time I saw her.
I remember the exact moment—9th grade, the first day of school.
The bell had rung; we were coming out of homeroom. She turned left while everyone else turned right. One of the custodians had left a ladder in the hallway and she ducked down to go under it.
Not thinking, I reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her back. “You crazy?!” I said, twisting her around to send her the other way.
She looked up at me then—with those amazing green eyes.
Right there, right then—I knew that she was mine.
So—of course—I had to go and screw everything up.
“It's bad luck to walk under a ladder, Katie,” I joked.
Oh crap! Not Katie…Kaylee—I meant Kaylee!
She muttered a quick thank you and just stared at me then—probably thinking I was a complete dumbass. And—dying of embarrassment—I decided to make it even worse. Instead of explaining my mistake, I simply turned and walked away.
She must have thought I was so dumb and rude that day.
I know that I did.
* * * *
Now, I just watch Kaylee—mostly when she’s not looking.
And sometimes I take pictures.
She has the most wonderful blond hair. If I manage to get the photo just right—backlighting her against the sun—it shines golden, a halo around her beautiful face.
Truthfully, I feel a little like a stalker.
I wish that I could get up the nerve to ask her out. But I haven’t been able to, yet. I think it’s because I don’t want her to say ‘no’.
I guess I’ll never get the chance now.
* * * *
Last Valentine’s Day I got a Secret Valentine in my locker. I’m pretty sure it was from another girl—Peyton Buckingham. She’s been hounding me for almost a year now. Still—sometimes—I think that maybe there might be the slightest of possibilities that the valentine came from Kaylee.
This coming February, there was going to be a Sadie Hawkins Day dance at Agoura High—when the girls ask the guys to be their date. Ever since
I found out, I’ve been trying to think of a way to get Kaylee to ask me.
On the off chance that the anonymous valentine in my locker actually came from Kaylee, I even thought about dropping my own Secret Valentine into her locker. It was going to say:
Ask me to the dance. I’ll say yes.
Because the valentine would have no name on it, I figured I’d be safe from humiliation if I had been mistaken. It would just be another anonymous card to a pretty girl.
I’m such a coward.
GUNS AND SCAVENGING
We didn’t go to the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station the next day.
Or the day after.
Instead, we spent the time wandering through the neighborhood—breaking into homes and searching through their owners’ belongings. We were looking for weapons to add to our arsenal.
At least, that’s what we told ourselves.
* * * *
With the light streaming in through the windows that first morning after the ‘whatever it was that happened’, we decided to start by exploring Mrs. Holly’s house. I’d been in it a couple of times before—helping her carry in her groceries or selling her chocolate bars to support the high school football team. But I’d never been farther than the front hallway.
It was fascinating to see how this cranky old lady really lived.
We had, of course, expected all the religious paraphernalia. There were crosses everywhere, big ones, small ones—a large wooden one over her bed with a sad Jesus dripping blood from his stigmata.
How she slept under that would forever remain a mystery to me!
But what also surprised us was that our Mrs. Holly was a gun nut. She had nine guns in her house—one in every room, including the garage.
And they were all loaded!
I guess in her own, crazy way—Mrs. Holly really was preparing for the Book of Revelation and the End of Times.
* * * *
“I wonder if she had a license for all these guns,” I mused.
We had spread the weapons out on the kitchen table. They were all different, although they all had similar holsters—and bullets.
Kieran reached out to touch one. I slapped his hand away.
“There’re going to be rules for these things,” I announced. “The first one is, don’t touch the guns until you’ve learned how to handle them correctly.”
“Guns are bad,” cautioned Ethan. “My mom said.” He was standing a little ways off, holding his teddy bear. One furry paw was soaking wet from having been sucked on throughout the previous night.
“Your mom is right, Ethan,” I said. “Guns can be very bad. They’re also very dangerous. So, we’re going to take it slow with them.”
Kieran pointed to a medium-sized one in the middle of the table. “I get the Glock.”
“How do you even know what that is?” I asked, surprised.
“Dude, how do you not know what that is?” was his response.
* * * *
There had been no sign of Mateo and his boys during the night, so we were feeling a little more secure as we walked around the neighborhood. Still, we stayed close to each other, our eyes constantly searching for movement or anything orange.
I hadn’t wanted to but—after some thought—I sat down with Ethan and explained what had happened on Kanan-Dume Road. He was understandably horrified and scared, but I needed him prepared in case there was trouble.
Ethan was given one instruction. If we came under attack, he was to run!
He was to head straight to Mrs. Holly’s and climb in through a back window that would be left open just for that purpose. If there were any of Mateo’s boys around, and he couldn’t get to Mrs. Holly’s—then he was to run back to his townhouse and hide either inside or somewhere nearby.
When the battle was over—we would find him.
Assuming we’d won.
* * * *
I wound up wearing a Sig Sauer in a leather holster attached to my belt. And Kieran was ecstatic when I gave him the Glock that he had wanted so badly. It came with a shoulder holster that he proudly secured over his shirt.
Rhys didn’t want a gun—he was scared of them—so I gave him one of our dad’s camping knives. It was a little big for him, but it was the only one with a sheath that he could thread through his belt.
For a few moments I had contemplated giving Ethan a weapon. But watching him suck on his teddy bear’s paw had made me realize that his best defense really was probably running away.
I was starting to really like this little kid—but he was still so very young.
In this new world—that worried me.
* * * *
Because our house was right across from Sumac Park, my brothers and I decided that we would explore only the houses that bordered it. That way, no matter where we were, we would always have a clear line-of-sight to both our house and Mrs. Holly’s.
We started our search in one of the houses on the far side.
It was a single-storey Craftsman like ours—but painted in a light blue with bright white trim. Personally, I had always thought that the house looked just like the Wedgwood china my mom kept in the dining room cabinet for special occasions.
The truth was, we chose the house to explore first for a very good reason. It was owned by a married couple who we knew worked in the entertainment industry. She was a Props Master for the movies, while he was a well-known Director of Photography.
If I had thought Mrs. Holly’s house was fascinating—theirs was amazing!
They had souvenirs from all of the movies that they had worked on during their careers, including some of the biggest blockbusters of the last ten years. My brothers and I wandered throughout their living room, our mouths wide open in awe, gently touching this sword from that blockbuster, that pirate ship miniature from the Disney trilogy, and over there—could that really be a life-size Predator?! And apart from all the movie props, there were scripts in cabinets, and photographs and publicity shots all over the walls.
“Look at this one,” said Kieran. “Isn’t that Peyton Buckingham’s sister?”
I walked over to take a look at the photo of a blond girl in an old Western dress, riding a horse in full gallop across a prairie, her braids streaming out behind her.
“That’s Amelie,” I acknowledged. “I met her once. She’s a sweet kid.”
“She’s pretty famous now.”
“Probably,” I shrugged. “I haven’t seen any of her films. I just know her as Peyton’s little sister.”
“Can I have this?” Rhys came over to us, tugging a large scimitar behind him. I recognized the sword as coming from a historical drama released a few years back.
“Don’t you think that’ll be a little awkward to use as a weapon?” I asked.
“I don’t want it as a weapon,” admitted Rhys. “I just want it.”
* * * *
It seemed wrong, somehow—to take things from people’s houses.
Frankly, it even seemed wrong to be searching through them. Although I knew there wasn’t anybody inside the homes, I still felt like we were trespassing.
Kieran, of course, had no problem at all going through other people’s possessions. He happily pawed through drawers, peeked in closets, and read through private journals.
Rhys was somewhere in between Kieran and me. He felt uncomfortable going through personal items, but if he saw something he wanted—his conscience suddenly went on a coffee break.
After about the fifth house, I found myself standing back with Ethan and letting Kieran and Rhys conduct the searches.
After the tenth house—I just wanted to go home.
“This is stupid,” I said. “We have more than enough guns at Mrs. Holly’s anyways. We really don’t need to be doing this.”
“But it’s fun,” insisted Kieran. “And we might come across something we need.”
“Like what?” I asked.
“I don’t know—something.”
Beside me, Ethan was yawning. He looked
as tired as I felt.
“One more house,” I said.
“Three,” Kieran negotiated.
“Two,” I responded.
“Deal!”
And two houses later we found him.
JOURNAL ENTRY #5
We found a dead body today.
It was a kid from Agoura High. Kieran and I didn’t know his name, but we’d both seen him around. He was one of those quiet kids—who always sit in the back of class and, half the time, you don’t even realize he’s there.
I think he was in the 11th grade, but I’m not even sure of that.
What I am certain of—is that he took his own life.
* * * *
It was Rhys who actually found him.
We had broken into the last house of the day—a 2-storey almost directly across the park from Mrs. Holly’s. While Kieran, Ethan, and I explored the downstairs, Rhys went upstairs to search out the bathroom.
Because—well…Rhys needed to go.
A few seconds later, we heard a blood-curdling scream.
* * * *
I yelled at Kieran to stay with Ethan. Then I turned and raced for the staircase at the far corner of the hallway. As I leapt up the stairs—two at a time—I struggled to pull my gun out of its holster.
Reaching the top, I could see that the door to the bathroom was open at the far end of the upper hallway. Rhys was standing just outside, his hand over his mouth in horror. My first thought was that there was someone in the bathroom, holding a gun on him. As I got nearer, though, I saw all the blood on the floor.
