The End Boxset: Postapocalyptic Visions of an Unstoppable Collapse (23 page)

Shelly Ackerman turned around from her seat and gave a head nod to Kiya. Kiya glanced to the side and saw Erika talking to Oscar, the quiet kid. She was talking a mile a minute as Oscar sat emotionless, staring at his desk. Shelly gave Kiya another nod, beckoning her to do something. Kiya was afraid she knew what it was. It was time to talk to Mark Nelson. Chunky, annoying, dumb Mark Nelson. Kiya looked back at Shelly. Shelly widened her eyes, as to say,
do it!

Kiya could see his back. He was sitting in front of her with his head resting on his arms. He was sleeping, given his rhythmic breathing and the steading rising and falling of his back. Kiya's hand hovered above his back. She tapped him. He shook a little but remained in apparent deep slumber. Kiya tapped harder and then hit him on the back with her palm. The force jolted him awake. “What? What?” he said as if only-half awake.  “Mark,” Kiya whispered. “Wake up.” He slowly sat up and turned to her. A spittle of drool had formed around his mouth and chin. “Can we go home yet?” he asked.  

“Soon,” Kiya said. “We need to talk.”

Mark wiped the drool from his mouth and rubbed his eyes. “About what?” he asked.

“I want you all to gather your belongings and start to line up outside the door,” Mrs. Crabtree said from the front of the class.

Kiya leaned closer to Mark—far closer than she ever had wanted to—and confided in him. “Listen, we need your help. Shelly, Erika, and me. When we line up, stick with us, okay?”

Mark was baffled. “Uh. Okay? What do you want me to do?” he asked.

The other students, some just waking up, started getting up from their seats and picking up their book bags from the floor.

“Just stand next to us in line. We're going to make a run for it,”

“A run for it? You mean like escape?” Mark said much too loudly.

“Shhhh!” Kiya demanded. “Just keep your voice down and listen to me. We're going to escape and we need your help.”

“You do?” Mark said.

“Yes, we do,” Kiya answered.

Her response put a smile on Mark's face. Kiya looked to Shelly and nodded. Shelly stood up, grabbed her stuff, and with a tilt of her neck, beckoned Kiya outside. 

“Thomas, I want you to take charge of the line,” Mrs. Crabtree said as she observed the children leaving the classroom. She figured that she could keep him at bay by giving him some responsibility. But she wasn't going to allow him to become an extension of Mr. Wright's authority. Mrs. Crabtree felt in her heart that their principal was crazy. Or that he had lost his mind. Always a reclusive, odd principal, now she understood why.

“Let's go,” Kiya said to Mark. She stood up and swung her small pink backpack over her shoulder.

“Where are we going?” Mark asked, still rubbing his eyes.

“The class is going to the gym. But like I said, just follow our lead.”

Kiya looked over to Erika who conversing with Oliver. She grabbed him by the arm and pulled him out of the classroom. Shelly met them at the doorway.

“Follow me,” Kiya said to Mark as she walked to the classroom exit. Mark grabbed his worn and torn backpack and followed closely behind. “Hurry up, you two,” Ms. Crabtree said. They were the last students to leave the room.

The students lined up against the hall of lockers as they were told. Kiya ran to the end of the line with Mark tagging along behind her. Shelly, Erika, and Oliver stood there waiting. “Any day, Kiya,” Shelly said. “I had to explain things to Mark,” Kiya said defensively.

“What did you tell him?” Shelly asked.

“Not much, really. Just to watch for my signal.”

“How are we going to do this?” Shelly asked. Thomas has his stupid friends watching the line.”

Kiya looked around and, sure enough, Anthony and Greg stood opposite the line watching the students.

Erika turned around to face the girls. “Okay, Oliver is on board. He's not so retarded after all.”

“Erika!” Shelly said.

“Alright, let's move out,” Thomas commanded from the front of the line. Mrs. Crabtree exited the school room and closed the door. She scanned the empty hallway that was quiet aside from the footsteps of her class marching down the hall.

“We need a distraction,” Shelly whispered to Kiya.

“Like what?” Kiya asked.

“I don’t know,” Shelly said. Anthony and Greg, walking next to the line, looked over in her direction.  Mrs. Crabtree was a few feet behind the group of escapees. Once the two boys looked away, Shelly continued, “We need something. We’re surrounded. There’s no way to sneak out of this line.”

Kiya looked around nervously then whispered back to Shelly. “We can run into the bathroom, like we did last time.”

“With two boys with us?” Shelly snapped back.

“No talking in line,” Greg commanded.

“Greg!” Mrs. Crabtree said. “You’re not to boss the students around.”

“But they’re talking in line,” Greg said.

“Then you need to tell me and I’ll take care of it,” Mrs. Crabtree responded.

Greg grumbled and looked at the ground.

“Kiya and Shelly, no talking in line,” Mrs. Crabtree said.

Shelly turned her neck slightly and whispered as softly as we can could. “Tell Mark to do something. He’s going to have distract them.”

“I can’t, I told him our plan. He thinks he’s going with us,” Kiya said.

The gymnasium doors were near. The collective chatter of the other students inside could be heard beyond the doors. The bathrooms were closer, and they were about to pass them.

“Do it!” Shelly said.

Kiya turned to Mark. “We need you to distract the teacher and the other boys.”

“Huh?” Mark said loudly.

“Mark, what did I say? No talking in line,” Mrs. Crabtree said.

“I wasn’t talking,” Mark said.

“Don’t argue,” Mrs. Crabtree said.

“I’m not arguing. And why can’t we talk in line anyway?”

Greg walked over to approach Mark. “You heard the teacher, shut your mouth,” he said.

Mark, growing more frustrated, looked back at Mrs. Crabtree then to Greg.

“You shut up,” he said. “You think you’re so big, kissing up to the teacher and the principal.”

Without hesitation, Greg pushed Mark against the lockers, causing everyone to stop marching. Kiya and Shelly were knocked aside in the ensuing scuffle.

“Both of you stop that!” Mrs. Crabtree yelled as she ran to them. Mark pushed Greg back. They were locked on each other, holding one another by the shoulder and pushing with all their might.

Another slam and Greg was against the lockers. The boys were grunting and heaving. It seemed that a real fight was about to begin. Thomas, surprised by the scene, watched the boys with a look of confusion and uncertainty. The children had dispersed into a circle surrounding Mark and Greg. Mrs. Crabtree pushed her way through and grabbed Greg by the collar. “I said stop it!” she said. “Mark, let him go.”

Shelly and Kiya stood outside the circle and looked at each other, then to Erika. “Now’s our chance,” Kiya said. The two other girls nodded. Oliver stood near not saying a word.  The bathrooms were only a few feet ahead down the hall. All attention was on the two scuffling students. Kiya took lead and walked with quickened pace to the bathroom. Thomas had entered the circle to hold Greg back. Mrs. Crabtree held Mark by his arms. “Let me go!” he shouted. Greg tried to pull himself from Thomas’s grip. “I’m gonna pound this fatty into the ground,” he said. “You’re fat too!” Mark shouted. The boys attempted to lunge at each other, swinging in the air, but unable to break from the restraint of both Mrs. Crabtree and Thomas. Other students in line started cheering. Up ahead, in the distance, Kiya, Shelly, Erika, and Oliver moved swiftly into the girl’s bathroom.

The door swung open and the children entered. It had grown darker than before, near pitch black. “Okay, now what?” Erika asked.

“We’re going to have to wait,” Shelly said. “Hopefully they won’t notice we’re gone.”

“What if they do?” Erika continued.

“We’ll hide. No one can see us in here,” Shelly said.

“But they have lanterns. Real lanterns, like, I didn’t even know people still used those things,” Erika said.

“We have to get Mark,” Kiya said.

“Forget Mark. It worked out perfectly. He created the diversion we needed, and that’s that,” Shelly said.

“But we can’t just leave him,” Kiya said back.

“He’ll be fine. Well probably not. He’s in trouble now. It’s too risky,” Shelly said.

“I agree, Mark’s out. And I don’t want to hang out in the girl’s bathroom all night, so let’s think of something,” Erika said. “Oliver,” she called out. “What do you think?”

“Nothing,” his voice said from the darkness.

“Come on. Don’t clam up on us now, we need your help,” Erika said.

“I just want to go home. Like you guys,” he said.

“Okay, so we give it a minute and then go back out in the hall. But we can’t get caught. Please try not to get caught,” Shelly said.

Mrs. Crabtree held Mark back the best she could. His arms were becoming slippery on account of the sweat, but he began to tire as did Greg. “I want everyone back in line,” Mrs. Crabtree said to the class. “Get back in line and proceed to the gym.” The students groaned in disappointment, and slowly formed a line. Thomas had Greg’s arms locked behind his back. “Knock it off, you big dummy,” he said. Greg was panting and sweating as well. His hair was tussled and the collar around his shirt had been stretched. Mrs. Crabtree pulled Mark by one arm towards the gym. “Mark Nelson, what am I going to do with you? I would send you to the principal’s office if I could, but we have to get to the gym.” 

“Let me go!” Greg shouted to Thomas. Thomas loosened his grip and pushed Greg in front of him. “Just keep moving,” he commanded. “This is such bullshit,” Greg said back.

The students resumed their march to the gym with Mrs. Crabtree, Mark, Thomas, and Greg in the back of the line. It was not immediately apparent to anyone that there were students missing. They made their way into the gym and were met with the sight of thirty other students sitting on cots in the darkness of the large gymnasium. Food was being served by the bleachers, leftovers of pizza and chicken nuggets, from lunch. Several lanterns strategically placed in the corners of the gym lit up the room enough to see, but it was still incredibly dark. Mrs. Crabtree moved to the front of the line, pulling Mark with her, and stopped the class. There was an area in the corner with several empty cots to which she pointed. “Class, I want you all to find a cot and remain there until I talk to the other teachers.” Once we get a headcount of everyone, then we’ll line up for food.” The exhausted children moved as directed towards the cots. Mrs. Crabtree pulled Mark to her, looking him right in the eyes. “Can I trust you to be good?” she asked. Mark shook his head yes and she let him go.

Mrs. Crabtree looked to the area where the lunch personnel—several women in their forties—were serving food from large mermite containers. She noticed a few other teachers from the sixth grade class, Mr. Brown and Mrs. Roney for instance, but was shaken to see other teachers missing. She wondered if her colleagues in Mr. Wright’s office had actually left the school, and if so, what was waiting for them outside the walls. “This will all be over soon enough,” she told herself, and walked over to converse with the remaining teachers. The class didn’t take long to select their cots. Mark found one in the corner and sat. He looked up to see Greg and Thomas staring at him from a few cots down. Clearly things weren’t going to blow over that easily. He looked away and tried to find Kiya somewhere in the group. She was nowhere to be found. He looked around for Shelly and couldn’t locate her either. He stood up to examine each cot more carefully. No indication of either girl in sight. “So it’s true,” Mark thought. “They escaped. And they left me.”

Chapter 4: Kiya and the Great Escape

“Is the coast clear yet?” Shelly asked.

“I’m not sure. It’s so dark out there. But I don’t hear anyone,” Erika whispered while peering outside the bathroom door. Shelly looked to Kiya, even though they could barely see one another. “Okay, so we should probably move soon,” she said.

“Wait,” Kiya said.

“What do you mean, wait? They’re going to find out any minute now,” Shelly snapped back.

“We need a plan,” Kiya responded.

“I thought you had a plan,” Shelly said.

“The coast it clear,” Erika said.

“I do. But—we have to have a story. Some reason we’re not with the class. I’ve been thinking. You know how Thomas and the others were made school monitors? That’s what our story is. We’re school monitors,” Kiya said.

“Three girls? No one is going to believe that they made us school monitors” Shelly said.

“Well, we have Oliver,” Kiya said.

“Guys! Hurry,” Erika called out.

“So Oliver, you’re the leader if anyone asks,” Shelly said.

“Okay,” Oliver responded.

“So we make it to the front gate and then what?” Shelly asked Kiya.

“Our parents will be waiting for us. All we have to do is get the gates opened,” Kiya said.

“Easier said than done,” Shelly said with a laugh. “There’s like, guards. Didn’t you hear Mr. Wright? We’re on lockdown.”

“There’s a button in tower three that unlocks the front gates,” Oliver said.

Surprised, both girls looked to Oliver. “How do you know that?” Shelly asked.

“Because Deputy Willis took me there when I tried to skip school on the first day. I saw him press it.”

“You tried to skip school on the first day?” Shelly asked in disbelief.

“Yeah,” Oliver said.

“Why?” Kiya asked.

“Because I don’t like school,” Oliver said.

Shelly turned and walked to the bathroom door. “Oliver, you’re weird, but I hope you’re right,” she said.

Kiya and Oliver followed and, the group stopped at the bathroom door, ready to make their exit.  Erika opened the door enough for her to squeeze through. Shelly held the door behind her. Erika rounded the corner of the entrance to the bathroom and looked down the hall. No one was there. The silence was eerie, aside from the chatter coming from the gymnasium on the other side of the hall. “We’re good,” Erika said. The other children slipped past the bathroom door and into the hall.