From the Indie Side Read online

“I have to stop the reactor before it’s too late.”

  “How much time?” her mother asked. “How much time before it won’t make a difference what you try to do?” He pinched the bridge of his nose, and his lips began to move again. Counting. Revising.

  “An hour… maybe two at most,” he answered. “But I have to get inside. I have to flood it with seawater.”

  “But if you’re inside?” Emily started to ask, and felt the first tears before he could answer. Her father took hold of his daughter, his wife, pulling them both into his arms. Emily dug her fingers into his shirt, holding onto him, knowing he might not make it back.

  “I’m going to make this right!” he said, and then was suddenly gone, leaving them alone.

  * * *

  The engine turned once and then sputtered before dying. Emily’s mother cursed under her breath, thumping her palm against the steering wheel. The sound of her foot pumping up and down on the gas pedal came next. She turned the key again, holding it there while the motor grunted objections. The motor turned over, sputtered again, and then finally roared to life.

  “Oh my God—thank you,” she sighed, and leaned in to kiss the steering wheel. “I don’t know what we would have done.”

  “Call Dad!” Justin cried out from the back seat. Emily turned to see her little brother tucked away in his car seat, his blanket pulled up just beneath his chin, a thumb stuck in his mouth. Out of habit, Emily raised her hand, wiggling her thumb for him to see. His expression changed, shame filling his eyes. A distant crash pulled her attention away. When she looked back, he’d already popped his thumb back in, turning his face away to stay clear of her eyes.

  Can’t hurt him now, she thought sadly. Her little brother had no idea what was on the other side of the garage door. None of them did. He had no idea that somewhere between here and the shopping mall, they might all be dead.

  “Emily,” her mother interrupted. “Does your phone work?” Until Justin’s suggestion, the thought hadn’t occurred to her to check for a signal.

  “Four bars,” she said, relieved. “I’ve got four solid bars and a full battery, too.”

  She jumped almost clear out of her seat when the garage door behind them began rolling up, clanking metal on metal.

  “Power isn’t out for good yet,” her mother said. It had been flickering on and off like a failing fluorescent bulb while they hustled Justin out to the car. “Won’t be long though.”

  Emily stretched to look outside. Gray mist fell into the opening of the garage, but stayed at the entrance. They were safe. But for how long? The mist was white, pure white, mottled with streams of dark patches. She could see nothing beyond it. Another bang hollered from inside the home, and she imagined a wall or ceiling collapsing.

  Emily dropped back down to her seat and bit nervously on her fingers. She had her bad habits too. She glanced over to Justin, who seemed intent on his thumb-sucking, yet oblivious to what was going on.

  The mall was a good idea—a great idea. But how were they going to find it?

  “Mom… how are we going to drive through this?” she asked, and watched her mother slump against the steering wheel.

  “Dad’s driving,” Justin answered. “He said he had to go to work—remember?” Her mother bolted up and jabbed a finger at the car’s dash.

  “The GPS,” she answered. “Has to be. It’ll be our eyes.”

  “Can it get a signal through this stuff?”

  “Works when there’s a rainstorm, right?”

  “Yeah… yeah, it does,” Emily answered, knowing it didn’t matter. The GPS had to be their eyes. They didn’t have a choice. They didn’t have anything else.

  “What is that?” her mother asked. Emily followed her mother’s gaze as a cloud of chalky debris fell onto the windshield. Ticking sounds tapped against the roof of the car like heavy rain, and for a brief moment, she thought the gray mist had come inside to take them. But the dust was too heavy, and had already started to leave a thin coat on the hood. The wall in front of them moved, bulging outward as if taking a dying breath. Large cracks sprayed from the center, spidering in every direction. The ceiling…

  “Mom, we have to move. NOW!”

  “What is it?”

  “Hit the gas, Mom!” Emily screamed, realizing the house was caving in on them. “Go, Mom! Go!”

  If they didn’t move now, they’d be trapped beneath the rubble. A blast shook the car, splintering the wood that held their house together. Emily felt the bite of tears as their home died around them, collapsing. Chunks of ceiling and wood crashed on top of the car. The loud thud jarred them, startling Justin. Emily turned in time to see his eyes narrow as his face cramped with fright.

  “What’s happening?” he cried.

  “It’s okay, Justin, we’re leaving!” her mother answered, but she seemed stuck, fumbling with the shifter as more debris fell on top of them. Another explosion thundered from somewhere high above them, and Emily thought of the rafters and the roof, like her father had said. Wood tore like paper, throwing bombs of insulation and drywall all around them. The ruckus grew, becoming louder, and sounded like a thousand campfires hissing and popping as they burned through acres of forest.

  “My house,” her mother cried, and Emily felt her mother’s anguish, but now wasn’t the time to mourn. Emily sat high on her seat, begging that they get out of the garage. She grabbed the car’s shifter, pressing the button and throwing them into reverse. The car sped backward, clipping the side of the house as it careened out of the crumbling garage.

  When their car became engulfed by the fog, her mother slammed on the brakes. She was breathing hard, sweating, her face full of shock and fear. Emily shrank back into her seat. A thunderous sound came, and more debris pummeled the car, forcing her mother to turn away. Emily reached over, taking her mother’s hand, trying to ease some of the tears. She wanted to cry too, imagining their house crumpled and destroyed, but they had to keep moving.

  “Come on, Mom,” she said. “Nothing we can do.”

  Emily grabbed for the GPS and tapped furiously at the pale black screen. The small display sprang to life. Her mother joined in, quickly finding the shopping mall, and pinned the location.

  “You ready?” she asked, looking over. Emily nodded somberly. “I’ll watch the road as best I can. You tell me the direction to go.”

  Almost at once, they ran over something. Her mother cringed at the sound, and the car lifted up and then dropped.

  “Don’t stop, Mom!” Emily yelled. “If you stop, you might get the car stuck on it.” Her mother pressed the gas pedal, throwing the car over whatever it was they’d hit. Emily’s heart tightened when she considered the dead bodies. What if they’d run over someone?

  “It’s just the mailbox!” her mother yelled. “I saw it at the very last second.” As they drove blindly away from their home, Emily struggled to rid her mind of what their house must look like. She shook her head, faced forward, and let the sentiment fall out of her.

  “Almost at the end of our street,” her mom announced. “We’ll be able to move faster soon. Just hope there aren’t other cars.”

  A buzz came from her pocket, vibrating across her bottom. It was a new message. Excited, she grabbed her phone.

  “Is that a text?” her mother asked. “Is it your father?”

  “Are you guys okay?” she read aloud. “Yeah, it’s from Dad!”

  “Quick, tell him we’re on our way. Ask him how he’s doing.”

  Emily typed, thumbing the keyboard, shortening nearly every word to mere letters. She hit send, and felt the car lift up and fall back down.

  “What was that?” But her mother only shook her head, then glanced at the rearview mirror.

  “No idea. But I know what I hope it wasn’t.”

  “How fast?”

  “I’m staying below ten. I don’t want to go too fast… you know, in case we hit something.”

  “Yeah, but what if someone hits us!” Emily answered sharply.
Her mother raised her brow, realizing the danger. Emily’s phone buzzed twice more.

  “Dad says that he’s nearly there. And that he loves”—Emily’s voice choked up—“he loves us very much.”

  The car became quiet as Emily watched her mother’s face grow red.

  “Call him,” her mother demanded, looking over. Emily didn’t hesitate, and pressed the icon to make the call. She put her phone on speaker, letting the unanswered rings echo in the car. The tension weighed heavy with each jingling tone. The call broke suddenly to an all circuits busy message.

  “Can’t do this now,” her mother said, muttering more words under her breath. She stopped, becoming choked up, and then continued. “He should’ve come with us, should have… but he made his choice.”

  “Mom,” Emily said. “He’s trying to stop this.”

  Her mother snapped her head around, glaring, her expression filled with disappointment. The look made Emily feel small and stupid for having spoken up to defend her father. Her mother could always do that. One look was all it took.

  “He can’t stop it! He knows he can’t stop it! They thought they could control the oceans, the weather, like the planet was something they could just tinker with!” Her voice grew, filling the car. “He should be with his family. You tell him that!” While the words were meant for Emily’s father, they still stung. Emily looked down at her phone, the cursor blinking on and off, waiting. She started to type.

  “Wait,” her mother blurted. “Don’t say that. Just tell him we love him—” Emily hit send before her mother could finish.

  “Already did,” she answered. “I also told him that we’ll see him at the mall.” For a moment, her mother said nothing, only stared ahead.

  “Exactly when did you get so smart?” she finally said. Emily felt her cheeks warm.

  “I was always smart,” Emily answered. “You’re just starting to notice.”

  “Love you, girl,” her mother said, stretching to rub her shoulder. “We’ll get through this. Family.”

  “I think it’s safe to go faster,” Emily said, hoping her mother would agree. She was feeling the urgency once again; they had to get moving. “If Dad’s already close to work, he must be moving faster: a lot faster.”

  Her mother leaned into the steering wheel, peering into the fog, trying to see more than the gray covering them.

  “Well,” she said, and neatly moved the GPS. “I’ll try to go faster, but keep your eyes on the screen.”

  Emily watched the screen’s triangle move along the highlighted path. The map revealed a world she could no longer see. As she glanced out the window and then back to the GPS, she found it hard to grasp what had happened. Hidden beneath all that gray were roads and buildings, even creeks and small ponds. All of them were showing up on the screen, but she could see none of it.

  No sooner had their speed increased than the first in a series of bumps lifted the car, dropping them down hard each time. Any harder and she thought that the car might stall. Her mother eased off the gas, slowing, but didn’t stop.

  What the GPS didn’t show them was all the debris. A new concern—not just about people, but stranded cars, dead animals. How many animals had wandered into the fog, collapsing onto the road’s blacktop? And she guessed that there wouldn’t just be the occasional squirrel or possum, but deer; big enough to destroy their car.

  “Did we break something?” Emily asked. She could hear the fear in her own voice as she searched blindly outside. “We’re still driving, but is the car okay?” Her mother shook her head, straightening her shoulders, leaning over the steering wheel.

  “I don’t know… Car feels right. I just can’t see anything!”

  Another hit, a big one, slamming Emily forward. Her seatbelt contracted, yanking her back with a jerk. An eruption of white filled the inside of the car as her mother disappeared behind an airbag. For a moment, Emily only saw the overinflated balloon. Fingers came next, followed by an arm, and then the airbag deflated, revealing her mother’s bloodied face.

  “Mom, your face!” Emily yelled.

  “I’m okay,” she answered, wiping her nose. “Your brother?” Emily was only vaguely aware of Justin’s crying. By the way his fingers hung in the air, she guessed he’d bitten his thumb.

  “He’ll be fine,” Emily answered, wrapping her hand around her brother’s. “How’s your nose? Is it broken?”

  Her mother only shook her head, pulled tissues from her bag, and shoved them into each bloodied nostril. “I don’t know what we hit, but we have to keep moving!” Emily heard concern. “Justin, you good, baby?”

  Justin grunted once, his injured thumb already back in his mouth.

  The car’s cabin cleared and Emily helped push down on the airbag, moving it out of the way. Her mother hit the gas pedal, and the car sputtered. She hit it again, pressing until the engine roared, but the car didn’t move. Her mother’s expression was pinched as she let out a huff.

  “Come on now!”

  “What if you try turning the wheel?”

  Her mother hit the gas again, pulling on the steering wheel. The car pushed forward only a little. They didn’t need the GPS to know that they were stuck. The front wheel was hung up. Frustrated, her mother stomped on the accelerator, throwing the engine into a fit of screams. The car lunged, grinding forward slowly, but dragging whatever it was they’d hit.

  “Okay, we have a problem.” Her mother threw the car into park and reached for the keys. Emily’s hand jabbed at the air, pulling her mother’s arm back.

  “No, don’t!” she blurted. “Don’t shut off the car. We don’t know if we’ll be able to get it started again.” Her mother paused and then nodded, understanding.

  “Well, we’re stuck on something. And I’m sure it’s on my side.”

  “What if we try going in reverse?”

  Her mother considered. “Not a bad idea, girl.” The car’s motor sang out a high pitch while her mother stood on the pedal. Rearing up, the front of the car lifted and finally began to move. They drove in reverse, traveling blindly, dragging along the remains of what they’d hit.

  “I think it’s coming free!”

  “Try going forward now. May have loosened it enough.”

  Her mother dropped the shifter down. The car lurched, jerking them to a stop. Justin shouted, his thumb raised up. He’d bitten it again. Emily reached behind her, stretching until she found his wet fingers. With his hand in hers, she tried to rub away the sting.

  “We going?” he asked. His expression turned curious as the car bucked up again.

  “You might just want to hold onto this,” Emily told him, motioning toward his thumb. “Keep your thumb safe, no more biting it.”

  “Uh-huh,” he answered, and wrapped his hand in his blanket, protecting it. “Hurts when I do that. We going to see Daddy?” Justin’s question caught her by surprise, and a sudden sadness touched her. Would they see their father again? The feeling was new. Fresh. But it was there, and like the fog, she supposed it might be there forever. She pulled up her cell phone, checking for new text messages.

  “Daddy might be at work by now.” It was all that she could think to tell him. “I’ll send him a text and tell him you said you love him.” Justin smiled, but she could see he was becoming frightened.

  “No good,” her mother said as the car settled back to an idle. “We’re not going anywhere.” Her mother’s face had become flushed and her forehead was covered in a sheen of sweat.

  Emily felt panic rise in her throat. “What are we going to do?” Her mother looked around the car, searching the floor, and then the back seat. Justin reached out, taking hold of his mother’s hand.

  “My boy doing okay?” she asked. Justin’s face lit up, but then turned to a scowl.

  “Bit my thumb,” he answered, and quickly received a kiss to make it all better. His smile was back in a flash.

  “The plastic bags,” her mother declared. “I packed all the plastic trash bags I could find.”
>
  Confusion. Why would her mother pack trash bags?

  “Really, Mom?” Emily snapped, and immediately regretted her tone. But her mother only raised her brow. Warning. “Why trash bags? What for?”

  Her mother leaned against the headrest and said nothing. Emily sensed her mother’s reluctance to answer. It was her turn to raise her brow, asking.

  “Once we get to the shopping mall, we have to get out of the car. And before we do that, we’re going to cover ourselves in plastic.” Emily recalled Ms. Quigly’s drowning voice and the sound of her body collapsing against their front door. She held her breath until the images passed. She began to shake her head, understanding what her mother was going to do.

  “Emily… Hon, I need your help!” Her mother reached across the center console, pulling up her hands. She locked their fingers together. The touch was warm, and Emily felt her eyes grow moist. Her mother was going to go outside. She was going leave them and try to fix the car. “Emily, baby. We have to keep moving.” The tears came then, and Emily turned her head, hiding them from Justin.

  “You can’t go outside. We’ll try the car again, drive in reverse if we have to.”

  “Emily, we can’t do that. Look at me,” she said. Emily wiped a tear from her face and turned back. “I need you to do what I ask. Can you go in the back and get the trash bags?”

  Emily said nothing, and instead did as her mother asked. She climbed over the seats, digging out the roll of plastic trash bags. When the cool vinyl was firmly in her hand, she started unrolling it, covering her mother in a polyethylene suit.

  “Will the plastic protect you, outside?”

  “Let’s hope,” she answered, pulling a bag over her arm. “Eyes. I need eyes.”

  “What eyes?”

  “Eyes! Holes in the plastic so that I can see what I’m doing.” Worry had shortened her mother’s patience, and she snatched the plastic roll from Emily. But while her mother dug a finger into the black plastic sheet, she looked over at Emily, and then to Justin. She frowned, mouthing words that Emily didn’t understand.

  “I’m ready,” her mother finally said. She motioned to Emily with her hand, encouraging her to come closer. She spoke quietly. “I won’t put this on my head until I’m ready to open the door. I don’t want to scare your brother. But it’ll be fast.” Emily nodded and moved back to her seat. She’d expected a count, or a wave of a hand, or even a goodbye, but before she could object, her mother wrapped herself in the black plastic and opened the car door.