The Survivor Chronicles (Book 2): The Divide (11 page)

She struggled for breath as the ground settled around her again. She didn't want to lift her head as tears began to burn her eyes and a small sob escaped her. Gradually, she regained enough control of herself to take in her surroundings again. Though there was a new fracture a hundred feet away from the car, this quake didn't seem to have created the same kind of destruction that its predecessors had.

"Bobby?" The word came out as no more than a strangled croak. She tried to get her shaking under control as a single tear slid down her cheek. "Bobby!" Her voice was louder as it carried further into the shadowed interior. "Bobby!"

"Here." The word was small and barely discernible.

"Are you ok?"

There was a brief hesitation before he finally answered her. "I'm fine. Was that the storm?"

"Aftershock."

"Freaking wonderful."

"Do you hear him?"

"No." She listened as he made his way through the room again. "I think I found the doorway."

"Maybe you shouldn't go through there." She was fairly convinced that whoever went through that door wouldn't come back. She pressed her forehead against the cool brick as she waited for his response.

"I won't go far."

"If there's another tremor…" her voice trailed off. They both knew what could happen if there was another tremor.

"I won't go far."

A single tear slid down her cheek, her hand fisted on the wall as she took another quick glance around. She listened to Bobby's voice drifting away as he repeatedly called out to Xander. She found her gaze irresistibly drawn back to the clouds as a low clap of thunder rolled across the land.

Her thoughts were drawn back to her daughter as she recalled what it had been like to hold Rochelle in her arms for the first time. She'd been so small, squiggly, purple and beautiful as she shook her fists in Mary Ellen's face. She'd still thought that she was in love with Larry at the time, and she'd been so proud of her family. She'd been certain that though she was frightened about being such a young mother, they would be the perfect family that everyone envied.

That dream had never come to fruition, but Mary Ellen had managed to keep Rochelle sheltered from the darker side of her marriage, had managed to keep her protected from the worst aspects of life.
And now she was out there, alone…

Mary Ellen broke the thought off before she started to sob like a baby. She had to keep it together. Taking a deep breath she lowered her head back to the window and strained to hear Bobby. Silence met her. "Bobby?" she called.

She didn't know what she was going to do if someone didn't come back soon. She couldn't leave here without knowing what had happened to them, but she wasn't sure if she should climb in there. She glanced at the Caddy and then back at the menacing sky. "Bobby!" she called into the classroom again. "Xander!"

Her voice didn't seem to carry far into the gloom. Xander had said that someone should watch over the car, but the car wouldn't do them any good if they weren't able to break free of the school. With a deep sigh, she grabbed hold of the windowsill and lowered herself into the classroom before she lost her courage to do so. She shuffled forward with her hands outstretched as she called out to Bobby again.

She tried not to think about the possibility of another aftershock as she brushed up against a desk. She pushed it back with her leg and swung her arms from side to side. She cursed as her hand smacked into something metal, and jerking it back, she began to shake it out. She cradled it against her stomach as she bit into her lip and fought the urge to jump up and down and scream. This was what she got for almost laughing at Bobby, she realized as she stuck her foot out and prodded at the area surrounding her.

Gathering her strength, she stuck her hand out again and came up against something cool and metal. It took her a second to realize that she'd found the doorframe that seemed to lead into another world, or a giant crater that had swallowed Bobby and Xander.

She stuck her foot out the door as she grasped the frame and leaned her head into the hall. "Bobby! Xander!" She only heard the beat of her heart as she strained to hear any noise from them. "Bobby!"

It took everything she had not to release the door and run back to the window. She became certain there was a monster just inches from her face, watching her, breathing her in as it waited to pounce. She could almost hear it now, almost feel it as it leaned closer, clearly able to see her while she stared blindly into the hall. The clatter of something caused her to jump as a small squeak escaped her.

"Mary Ellen?"

She almost cried in relief at the same time she almost screamed at the top of her lungs. "Bobby?"

"Yes. I found them. Keep speaking."

She took a deep breath and began to recite his name over and over again. A scream erupted from her and she jumped back as a hand came down on her arm. "Sorry," Xander muttered. "You ok?"

It took her a couple of seconds to catch her breath. "Yes. You?"

"I'll be better when we're out of this place."

She couldn't argue with that. She turned away from the doorframe and shuffled her way back toward the window.
Please don't have another earthquake now
, she silently pleaded as she continued carefully onward. Xander helped to ease her through the window. She blinked against the sun as she scurried through the pile of bricks.

She turned back as a young girl emerged from the building. The girl held her hand up to the sun as she flinched away from it. Mary Ellen eased her away from the window and took the hand of a young Asian man that was emerging from the shadows. He recoiled as he threw his arm up to block the sun from his midnight eyes. His black hair stood up in styled spikes around his angular face.

"It will just take a little time," Mary Ellen assured him. She helped to ease two more people from the school before Bobby and then Xander emerged. "Are you ok?"

"Fine," Xander told her as he opened one eye a little, and then the other. "Bright light."

"I bet it is."

"What is that?" he demanded as he spotted the dark sky in the distance.

"I don't want to know," Bobby muttered.

"Riley," Xander breathed. Mary Ellen froze in her attempt to rise to her feet.

"Are they over there?" she demanded. "Are Riley and Al over there?"

Xander rubbed at his eyes before opening them again. His one hand was bloody and bruised, but he seemed otherwise unharmed by his time within the school. "It's a good possibility," Bobby answered.

She turned back to the sky that was now firing rapidly with lightning in vibrant, violent waves. Smoke was smoldering on the horizon as another clap of thunder shook the ground. "Oh," she breathed.

"It's just a thunderstorm," Bobby murmured.

"On steroids," Xander retorted. He shook his head as he leaned back on his heels. Though his face was streaked with dirt, his skin was ashen.

A loud gasp jerked Mary Ellen's head around as one of the young girls began to cry. The handsome middle aged man with brown eyes and a mustache moved forward to comfort her. "What caused all of this?" the young Asian man inquired.

"We don't know," Mary Ellen told him.

The other young girl began to cry as she wrapped her arms around her stomach and rocked forward. "We have to go," Xander said briskly. He placed his hand against the wall and used it to help him rise to his feet.

"Where?" the older man demanded. "Where do we go?"

Xander shook his head. "We're heading to Sturbridge, we can give you a ride into town if you'd like. I have to tell you though, it doesn't get better."

The man closed his eyes as the young girl in his arms began to sob even harder. "My parents," she moaned.

Mary Ellen looked away as she fought against the tears that burned her eyes. She could only hope that her daughter wasn't this frightened. That she was with someone who was helping to keep her safe, perhaps a camp counselor or maybe she had found police or military aid. Rochelle was strong and far more resilient than Mary Ellen had been at her age. She would be doing better than this young girl was.

"We have to go, now though," Xander urged. "We can't stay here; we don't know who else may have heard your call for help. We've already been here for far longer than I'd planned to be. If you're going to ride with us it has to be now."

Yesterday the words would have seemed callous, now they made a chill run down Mary Ellen's spine as she realized that he was right. She bent down and grasped hold of the other young woman's arm and helped her to her feet. "He's right, we have to move."

The girl blinked at her and nodded numbly. "Will you take me home?"

"We'll try," Mary Ellen promised her.

She helped the young girl over the rubble to the car. It was a larger Cadillac Sedan but she had no idea how they were going to fit everyone inside of it. Xander answered this question by opening the trunk. "It's not the best, and I'm sorry for it, but I'll drive slow," he told the guy with the mustache.

"It's better than being trapped in an audio room with no idea how we're going to get out." He thrust out his hand and Xander took hold of it. "I'm Peter, or as my students know me, Mr. Dade."

"It's a pleasure to meet you Peter, I'm Xander and this is Bobby and Mary Ellen."

"Thank you, all of you." Mary Ellen managed a small smile as she nodded to the teacher that appeared a few years older than her. "That's Josh and Allie," he nodded to the two students hovering beside Mary Ellen and Bobby. "And this is Molly." The young girl was clinging to him as tears rolled down her cheeks. "Josh and I will ride in the trunk."

"No!" Molly protested.

"It will be fine Molly, and you'll be safer if you ride in the car," Peter told her.

"I'll ride in the trunk with you, Josh can sit in the car," Bobby volunteered. He settled into the trunk and wrapped one hand on the frame of the car as he used the other to keep the lid propped up. His long legs dangled out of the back of it. Every motherly instinct Mary Ellen had screamed against the position, but it was better than riding on top of the trunk, and they certainly couldn't ride on the roof.

Xander nodded and shifted the keys in his hand as Peter extricated himself from Molly's clasp. Mary Ellen took hold of Molly and guided her to the back door of the car. She tried to get the girl into the car but she was like a barnacle as she clung to Mary Ellen's side. Giving up on breaking free, she slid into the car with the girl and Xander closed the door for them. Allie climbed in on the other side of Molly as Josh eased into the front seat.

"Is our town still even standing?" Josh asked.

"Not really," Xander told him as he started the car. "There's not a whole lot still standing right now."

"What will we do if we can't go home? If we can't find our family?"

Xander maneuvered the car onto the road and drove cautiously around the many holes. "I don't know. I'm sorry, but I just don't know. We have no answers for you."

"Is it really that bad?" Allie squeaked.

"It's just very confusing," Mary Ellen told her in the hopes of warding off panic amongst the three young students. She winced as the car jolted over a hole and the open trunk lid bounced a little. She was trying to shut down images of that lid crashing down on them as Xander eased the car back onto the main road.

The girls were silent as they stared at the town that had once been their home. "My house is down there," Josh said as he pointed down a road that was marked with potholes and collapsed buildings.

"Is there another way to get to it?" Xander inquired.

The boy was pale as he stared out the window and shook his head. "That's it, the red one, or at least that used to be it."

Mary Ellen stared at the rubble of the red house that lay half in the broken street. "I'm sorry, but your parents might not have been there, they might…"

"They would have been at work. They own a small printing company in town. They weren't at home." Though Josh said the words, it sounded as if he was trying to convince himself of this fact. "They weren't there."

"I'm sure they weren't, and we'll get there somehow. Do either of you live closer than the printing store?"

"I live about a half a mile from here," Allie told him.

"Guide the way," Xander said.

They turned down another side road and made their way around the obstacles in their way, Xander was about to make a left when he came to an abrupt halt in the middle of the road. Mary Ellen lurched forward as something crashed against the back of the car. She heard loud cursing and then someone, probably Bobby, thumped on the trunk to show his displeasure over being bounced around.

"Xander…" Mary Ellen's words trailed off as her mouth dropped. The oddest sensation, one of being hot and cold filled her as she gazed out the window at the crowd gathered within the street. They stood, unmoving, and vacant…? She didn't know how to describe them, but vacant seemed to be the best way as they moved together down the road.

Mary Ellen was still trying to figure out what they were exactly, and what was going on, when Allie blurted, "That's my mom!"

Before Mary Ellen could stop her, the young girl thrust her door open and leapt out of the car. "Mom! Mom!" she cried as she plunged into the peculiar crowd.

Mary Ellen's heart hammered, her throat went dry, and that strange feeling wouldn't go away. She had the urge to close her eyes and block her ears, but there was no reason to. Most of the crowd barely noticed Allie as she shoved through them in search of her mother. "Mom!" she cried again.

Xander grabbed for his door as Allie was swallowed within the crowd and her cries became frightfully silent. Josh seized hold of Xander's arm and pulled him back. "Wait!" he cried.

Xander's hand froze on the handle, and Mary Ellen's breath caught in her chest as about a quarter of the crowd finally noticed their presence. A small squeak escaped her as they turned toward the car.

CHAPTER 9

Riley

Franklin, Mass.

She hadn't meant to step into the shower and lose complete control, but that was exactly what she did. The minute the lukewarm water hit her she began to cry like a baby. Gulping sobs racked through her, shook her muscles and caused her to slide limply to the floor of the shower that she'd been a little hesitant to step into in the first place.