Authors: Jeremy Laszlo
Looking back at him, both Jack and Sam were smiling. Their eyes hinted at real happiness, something he hadn’t seen in a while, though they both faked it for him almost daily. No, today it was real. Will hoped there was more good news.
“Hi, guys,” Will greeted his older siblings.
“Hey, little man,” Jack responded. “I thought you might like that,” he added, gesturing to the toy.
“Hey, Sam. You got your hair fixed!” Will almost shouted, having almost forgotten what she looked like with her long black hair when it was silky and smooth.
“I sure did. You got your robot and I got a brush.”
“What did you get, Jack?”
It almost felt like Christmas, the change so drastic from the day before, he couldn’t help but feel giddy inside.
“I got to see you and Sam smile, buddy. That’s enough for me.”
“If you say so, Jack.”
The change then was palpable, as Jack and Sam both came closer and sat to either side of him on the bunk. Their smiles faded to the fake ones he had become familiar with, and they both looked at him expectantly as if he would turn into a puppy at any minute.
“Will, we have to leave the vault and the apartment,” Jack said
“Are we going to look for Mom and Dad?” he asked after a moment of contemplation.
“Not yet, buddy. We need to find a safer place to stay.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know, pal. I thought we might head out of the city. Maybe to Grandma’s.”
“Grandma’s would be good, wouldn’t it, Will?” Sam asked.
“OK. Can I take my robot?”
“You sure can. And we need to scavenge whatever else we can too. Do you know what scavenge means?” Jack asked.
“Like a scavenger hunt?”
“Exactly,” Sam said with a real smile.
“We’ll have to be careful. The house is a real mess, but we’ll get some clothes and whatever else we can find and look for a way outside.”
“OK, Jack.”
“But first we need to take what we can from here,” Jack concluded as he rose.
Will watched as Jack reached out his hand and pulled Sam to her feet, before she turned around as well and helped him out of bed. He knew just what he wanted to take with him.
While he and Sam moved about the confined vault, collecting what items they thought necessary, Jack found his mind wandering back to the scene of the devastated city outside. Everything had been burned, but by what? Had they been attacked by another country? Bombed? Could it have been a meteor or solar flare? Had something biological happened to the people and the city simply burned in their absence? They literally knew nothing of what had happened over the last six months or more. Nothing. The whole world was an unknown now, and the ‘what ifs’ were astounding.
He didn’t know whether they would be able to find people, and if they did, if they could trust them. There was no way of knowing if this was an isolated incident or more widespread. Was the whole U.S. destroyed? The world? It was his job to keep Sam and Will safe, but he didn’t even know what safe meant anymore. They would have to be cautious. They couldn’t trust anything or anyone. Dad had always told him to make an effort to learn about something before making his own decisions, not to simply believe what he was told. Jack felt that more than ever, his dad’s words applied now.
So absent mindedly going about his task, he paused a moment to look down into the pillowcase in his hands. Thus far he had collected a can opener, a pair of screwdrivers, a hammer, and a set of camping silverware for each of them, along with the other camping cooking supplies they had to include a frying pan and camp stove with half a bottle of propane. It wasn’t much, but would allow them to cook a meal if they found something to eat. Hunting would have been an option if Chicago’s gun laws hadn’t gotten so strict over the past years that it basically stripped guns from law abiding citizens, leaving only the criminals and police armed. The crime rate had gotten terrible back then, and that was when his dad had the vault built. If only their dad had been able to keep one of his guns. Jack had shot his dad’s rifle before and wished he had it now, but no such luck. They would have to scavenge for food until he came up with something better.
Turning, he witnessed as Will stripped the pillowcase from his own pillow and stuffed his toy robot inside along with a deck of playing cards. It was amusing how different his own priorities were from his younger brother’s.
“Hey, Sam, what did you find?” Jack asked across the security vault.
“I got the first aid kit and a couple books of matches from old MREs. Toilet paper too, cause I’m not making the mistake of using leaves again,” she joked, referencing a camping trip two years ago when she got poison ivy all up her backside.
“Didn’t like the nickname Scratchy, huh?”
To this all three laughed, before turning more serious once more.
“I think we should go get some clothes from our rooms and good shoes or boots too. If you can find a backpack or duffel bag, grab it too. That way we can free up our hands,” Jack instructed.
“Sounds good. I’ll take Will to his room after I get my stuff. OK?” Sam inquired.
“Yeah, that’s good. Let’s get moving, we don’t want to be out in the open at night, especially if another storm comes. After we get our stuff we are going to have to look for a way downstairs, our door and the fire escape are destroyed.”
Both Sam and Will nodded their understanding, and all three stepped out into the apartment together.
Leading the way, Jack paused as both Sam and Will ducked into Sam’s room, and he heard when she spotted her laptop and gasped excitedly. Shaking his head, knowing that it was unlikely the device still worked let alone not knowing if an internet even existed anymore, he retraced his steps back to the bathroom, assured that his siblings were safe.
Entering the small room, Jack carefully pulled the medicine cabinet open as shards of the attached mirror rained down into the sink with a symphony of shattering glass. Once it was open he sifted through the contents and collected what he considered the necessities. A bottle of Tylenol, some cough drops, and most importantly, one of Will’s inhalers were added to his makeshift pack as he began pulling the drawers on the vanity open one by one.
Digging through the contents of the drawers he added a pair of tweezers in case one of them got a splinter. He knew the simplest infection now could be fatal. Other than that, however, the only things he added were a pair of scissors, dental floss, and some unopened tooth brushes and tooth paste, along with a couple bars of antibacterial soap. Nothing more, nothing less.
Leaving the bathroom behind, he witnessed as Sam and Will vanished into Will’s bedroom, nearest the one that used to belong to their parents. He was impressed. He had expected to have to remind them to hurry. Ducking into his own room, he regarded the devastation briefly once more before yanking the closet door open wide. Quickly selecting a pair of jeans and hiking boots, he changed his clothes and grabbed a handful of assorted garments before rummaging around on the shelf above his head. Finding last year’s backpack, he pulled the zipper open and stuffed in the clothes he had gathered inside, before dumping the contents of his pillow case in as well. Rising, he looked about once more at all the items in his closet and room that had meant so much to him before the event, but now they were just things he was discarding in order to keep his family alive. Stuff was no longer important.
Turning towards the door, his heart stopped as a pair of blood curdling screams arose in the hall as the building began to shudder beneath him.
* * * * *
Guiding Will by the hand, Sam stepped into her room for the first time in what felt like an eternity. Here and there upon the walls were posters of her favorite punk bands and dub step icons. On the bed her laptop sat, still opened, just as she had left it when called to the living room by Dad so many months ago. She had been in the middle of writing Mom an email when it happened, but she couldn’t focus on the past now. Jack said they were leaving and needed to go. She couldn’t dwell on such things, and as such she scanned around her room once more.
Dolls with X’d out eyes littered the floor, and dark makeup lay scattered about the carpet around her dresser in shades of crimson, purple, and black. They weren’t important nor vital, but just looking at the small containers, compacts, and vials made her feel more normal, and as such she kneeled for a brief second and collected a handful of beauty products for later use, which she deposited in her pocket.
Turning her attention to her closet, she kicked off her more or less decorative wedge Nikes and pulled out a pair of more rugged looking leather knee boots. God, how she hoped they wouldn’t have to run. Unable to change with Will wandering about her room, she selected various garments from both her closet and dresser, depositing them on the bed before digging beneath it in search of a bag.
It took just seconds to locate the black, single strap, backpack that was more an accessory than proper pack, but nonetheless, it was what she had. Looking more like a twisted version of a Raggedy Ann doll, she unzipped the black and white thing’s face and stuffed her clothes quite literally down its throat before zipping it closed once more.
“Now listen, Will,” she said, gaining his attention. “You’re going to turn around like a little gentleman while I change really fast and then we can go get your stuff. Alright?”
“OK,” he said, already turning his back.
“No peeking either,” she added.
“Eww, gross. Like I wanna see your big ole butt anyway.”
Ignoring his insult, she stripped off her disgustingly soiled clothing and pulled on a pair of black leggings. Over her head she yanked a plain black form-fitting tee with parallel tears up both sides, before adding a zipper covered hoodie with a barbed wire pattern that crisscrossed all over it. Next she added a pair of jeans her mom called atrocious, due to all the tears and patches, before pulling on her knee-high boots and lacing them up. That done, she collected Will once more, and began pulling him into the hall behind her, veering once again through another doorway, this time into
his
room.
“Listen here, pal,” Sam began, “We need to be quick so no digging through your toy boxes for half an hour. You get a couple small toys and I’ll get you some clothes. Got it?”
“Yup,” Will replied, and grinning he spun and went to work, searching for the possessions he prized the most.
Turning her attention to gathering his clothing, Sam went straight to his dresser and began pulling out articles that would be both comfortable and durable, consisting of mostly jeans and tees with a sweat suit for him to slip into now.
“Here put these on,” she said, gaining his attention before holding them out to him.
“You better not peek either,” Will said.
“Duh.”
It was a moment later when Will spoke again, the mischievousness more than evident in his voice.
“OK, I’m done,” he said, barely containing a giggle.
Not knowing what he had done, Sam turned to see the stark white of his tighty-whities aimed directly at her as he busted out laughing.
“Pull up your pants, you gross little twerp,” she spat as he yanked his pants upwards before turning to confront her.
“What you doing, looking at my butt?” A smile split his small face.
“That’s enough, Will. Ha ha. You got me. Now where is your book-bag?”
Sam watched as Will looked around halfheartedly before his eyes settled upon her once more.
“It should have been on my doorknob, but it’s not,” he stated matter-of-factly.
“Good enough, pumpkin. Then I guess we’ll just have to do without.”
Reaching out for his hand once more she waited as he stooped down to collect the toys he had gathered, and taking his hand she left the room with him in one hand and his clothes packed under her other arm. They were halfway down the hall when Will paused and turned back the way they had come.
“There it is!” he said excitedly as he released her hand.
Turning, Sam watched as Will dashed back down the hall to where a giant steel girder protruded down from what was once the ceiling above. Beneath it, where its jagged tip rested upon the floor of their apartment, was his small school bag. She took a breath to warn him away from it, but it was too late, as he slid to a stop and in one motion he ducked down grasping at the colored canvas of the bag before giving it a single yank. Then the building around them seemed to groan as a nightmare sprang to life right before Sam’s eyes. As her heart hammered in her chest, her breath caught in her lungs, holding for just an instant the scream that raged within her.
* * * * *
Though he had already passed the thing, Will suddenly realized what it was that he had seen down the hall. Turning, he released Sam’s hand and ran back towards his room. It had been there the whole time, but covered in dust, he just now realized it. Bending down, he grabbed at the strap of his bag and feeling it resist, he pulled with all the might his little body could muster. Like a feat one of the super heroes upon his wall might do to save a damsel in distress, he dragged the backpack free from beneath the iron girder that began to slide towards him.
As the girder moved, it dug into the floor below with a loud cracking sound and the building groaned and screeched around them. Turning to run, Will lost his footing as the floor vanished beneath him as dust exploded into the air. Plummeting down, something hit him hard, making his ears ring as his scream of pain matched Sam’s scream of panic from above.
Hitting a solid base somewhere below, the air was knocked from his lungs as he peered up through the dust to see the girder falling above him. Down and down the giant piece of steel came tumbling in what appeared to be slow motion, but no matter how much time it seemed he had, Will could not get his arms or legs to do what he wanted as the breath seemed to catch in his chest. Not now. He couldn’t have an attack now.
Down the girder came, wrapping itself in wires as it tumbled, but they did not seem to slow its descent. One jagged end of the girder slammed to the floor to Will’s left, the building jolting again with a groan as the girder leaned precariously over him, threatening to topple. And it did.
Tipping as gravity forced its will on the giant steel beam, it fell, the electrical wires around it becoming taut and catching it, holding it fast. His heart hammered, but his chest relaxed. Will took a breath. Pulling himself back to his feet, he looked himself over. He had scratches and scrapes here and there, but otherwise seemed OK. If he cried over the scratches he would get attention for sure, but he wasn’t a baby anymore.
Scrunching up his face, he dusted himself off and turned to look back up to the floor above when something caught his attention from the corner of his eye. Though dust filled the air making it hard enough to breath let alone see, he swore that something moved at the opposite end of the room from him. Leaning forward and peering into his dust-filled surroundings he watched, ignoring the shouts from above. And there it was again. Like a shadow in the dust he could see it move as if on all fours, slinking away from him awkwardly. Though it moved differently to any animal he had ever seen, and was nearly indistinguishable, it was there nonetheless. Then, just as he had seen it, it was gone around a corner.
Blinking his eyes several times, he looked again and watched patiently but saw nothing of note even as the dust began to settle. Shaking his head, he cleared it of fanciful alien monsters and turned his attention to the shouts from above.