“They were everywhere! They wouldn’t stop! They attacked us!” Aunt Carol clutched the sleeve of the paramedic, pulling his face to hers. She only let go of him when she saw Nicole and David.
“Kids!” she shouted. “Kids, I’m so sorry! I couldn’t ... they were everywhere!” Her gaze drifted from them to the rest of the room. She had either lost them in the crowd, or could no longer control her focus. Nicole ran to her side and held her strapped-down hand. David stood back and watched; tears streaming from eyes that darted from his aunt’s face, to the blood pouring out of her, to the pained look on Nicole’s face as his aunt unknowingly crushed her fingers.
Then Aunt Carol caught David’s eye, stopped screaming, and said with eerie calm, “They’re coming.”
Someone grabbed him from behind and David could see them doing the same to Nicole, pulling her back as they wheeled Carol to the far Colby exit and into the tunnel to St. Joseph’s. He and Nicole were led to a classroom set up for sleeping on the second floor. His aunt’s screams stayed with him long after, as he tried futilely to go to sleep.
Each time David closed his eyes, he saw the look in his aunt’s eyes as she said, over and over:
They’re coming.
ALEX
Alex woke up to the wail of sirens approaching. He hadn’t meant to fall asleep and was groggy and stiff. His neck clicked when he stretched. It was only when he saw the second empty can of pop that he realized the siren might be the people coming to pick him up. To take him to the safe zone. To his family.
He drew the curtain open just in time to see the ambulance speed by—going much faster than he’d ever seen an ambulance driving before, and all over the road. He was almost glad that the erratic driver wasn’t there to rescue him. Almost.
As he turned, he realized something dreadful.
It was dark.
Where’s Dad? When did I talk to Dad?
He looked at his watch: 11:17. The last time he noticed the time it was just after 3:00.
What if he called and I slept right through it? Who knows what his dad would have thought? That he had gone out again for some stupid reason! He had to call his dad to let him know that he had been sleeping and that everything was okay. He hit re-dial on the phone.
No answer. He realized it was the number that his dad had left for his office. He ran to the kitchen and grabbed the phone book. Quickly he looked up the number for Colby and dialed it. It rang and rang. No answer. He tried again. No answer. He hung up again.
He didn’t call from a regular phone! Probably emergency lines or something.
He went back to the couch and saw that Shadow was lost in sleep. Her foot twitched as it usually did when she dreamed. Not a dog-care in the world. He settled back on the couch next to her and pulled up the blanket his dad had left for him when he thought Alex was sick. It seemed so long ago. He looked at the TV and knew he didn’t want to watch repeated interviews with no one saying anything useful.
After rewinding The Sword in the Stone back to the start, he curled up with Shadow, putting some of the blanket over her. She breathed a happy sigh, which comforted him. He’d keep her safe.
He was asleep again before the opening credits finished rolling.
DAY 2 - THE MORNING
NICOLE
A distant explosion brought the two siblings back to reality. In the upstairs classroom where they’d attempted and failed to get much sleep, the lights flickered, then died. The faltering hum as the power drained was audible. The sun must have risen, since enough light came through the thick closed curtains to allow them to see.
They sat across from each other, too tired and frightened to stand.
“David,” Nicole croaked out, her throat hoarse from sobbing all night, “what do you think is happening out there?”
David simply shrugged, not making eye contact. Not lifting his eyes from some imaginary spot on the floor. Nicole decided to let him be for the moment. Seeing Carol last night had shaken her very badly; she could only imagine how it affected David.
There were a dozen cots, some with people still lying on them—though all but one person was also awake. The unmoving man had a broken leg and arm, and a head wound, all bandaged the evening before. Crumpled sheets, water bottles, shoes, and other temporarily abandoned items littered the room as people made their way downstairs for some news.
Soon only four people were left: David, Nicole, the injured man on the cot, and in the corner, wrapped in a blanket, a young boy. Nicole guessed he was no more than five.
Despite her demeanour toward David, Nicole liked kids—at least to a point. Before they became idiots. David was already too close to that point, but this one seemed to be a few years away from idiocy. Slowly, she crawled over to the boy. He was wide awake, and as she got closer, he tried to hide his face under the blanket.
“Don’t be scared, buddy,” she said, in the calmest voice she had. It came out so scratchy that the kid’s eyes went wide. At least it wasn’t because of her appearance. She already liked him. She cleared her throat with a loud cough. “Sorry about that. I guess I had a frog in my throat. Ribbit ribbit.”
The boy just stared, though Nicole could tell from his breathing
