The Survivor Chronicles (Book 2): The Divide (3 page)

His hair was standing on end as his brown eyes briefly met her gaze, but he moved off the presets and onto other stations. Mary Ellen's head bowed as she listened to the hideous noises coming across the waves. "Turn it off," Xander said.

"Hello."

Mary Ellen jumped, her head shot up as the single road broke through the static a second before Bobby turned the radio off. They sat in stunned silence for a second before Bobby lurched forward and turned the radio back on. Static greeted them, then silence and then some strange other sound that Mary Ellen couldn't quite pinpoint.

"I know I heard that," Bobby muttered.

"Hello." Mary Ellen didn't realize she'd been holding her breath until it exploded out of her. Static buzzed over the airwaves before the voice broke through again. "Hello. Is there anyone out there?"

"Is it real?" She didn't mean to ask the question, hadn't even realized she was thinking such a thing until the words burst out of her. She didn't feel crazy for saying them, though she felt like she should. Instead, they felt right. The disembodied voice coming over the airwaves reminded her of a Siren trying to beckon them somewhere that they weren't supposed to go and she was worried they wouldn't come back from it.

Bobby glanced at her over his shoulder; she hadn't realized that Xander had stopped driving until he turned to look at her too. He gave a subtle shake of his head before turning the volume up a little. The static crackling beside her ear caused her skin to crawl, but she hated the silence even more.

"Hello."

"Where is this station?" Bobby inquired.

Xander glanced at the radio display. "I don't know, it's AM. I know nothing about the AM frequencies. For all I know it could be coming from a high school gymnasium or someone's garage."

"Maybe if they said something other than hello."

"Is it real?" Mary Ellen demanded, hating the knot of panic that was growing in her chest and threatening to choke her. She was losing her mind, she was certain of it. She was going off her rocker, but she couldn't shake the feeling that she was trapped in some awful episode of the Twilight Zone, and that the voice was just a figment of their imaginations. She couldn't shake the certainty that the voice would be their ultimate demise.

They both looked at her, she'd expected them to laugh or to tell her she was crazy, instead she saw the same doubt and misgivings radiating in their eyes. "Hello."

She started, a lump formed in her throat as her hands began to twitch in her lap. She wanted Bobby to turn the radio off, but that was also the last thing in the world she wanted. She sat immobile, unable to breathe as the static and silence intermittently crackled out of the speakers. "Hello. Hello."

Xander turned away from the radio and shifted into drive. The static lessened as he continued down the battered roadway. A chill crept up Mary Ellen's spine, the hair on her arms stood up. She stared wordlessly at the radio as the words continued on. That awful rush of saliva that preceded vomit flooded her mouth.

Was it a Siren calling to them? Were they being led toward something far worse than anything else they had encountered today?

She couldn't breathe, she was half afraid she was going to have a widow maker in the backseat of the Caddy, and she wasn't entirely certain she cared anymore. The world had become a nightmare, a hideous nightmare that only death would set them free from.
Rochelle
, she reminded herself fiercely. If there was even half a chance her daughter was still alive, she was going to do everything she could to find her, no matter how improbable that idea was.

Mary Ellen's hands flew to her ears as the speakers squelched and a new voice came over the airwaves. "Give me that! Hello." Mary Ellen lowered her hands as an older, gruffer voice sounded through the speakers. "Hello, if anyone can hear this, we are looking for any kind of assistance. We're trapped and we need help."

"Xander," Bobby said.

"We don't know where they are."

"They have to be close."

"We don't even know if they're safe to be around Bobby!" Xander snapped. He bowed his head as his hands clenched the steering wheel. He took a deep breath before turning his attention back to his friend. "You saw what happened at that stadium, you saw what some people are like now. Are we going to put our trust in them even if we can find them?"

"If we stop putting our trust in people Xander, we stop being human," Bobby said. "This may very well be what the rest of our lives are like. Are you going to spend it scared and distrustful of everyone? Are you going to let people die because you don't know if we can trust them?"

"We may have to Bobby, in order to survive."

"I'd rather die than give up my humanity."

Xander cursed loudly, he pulled the car to the side of the road as he sat back in his seat. He turned to the window and leaned his forehead against it. She watched his reflection in the glass as he closed his jade green and gold flecked hazel eyes and took a deep breath. The muscles in his shoulders and arms flexed as he twisted his hands on the wheel. His dark, sandy blonde hair clung to the sweat beading along his brow.

She wanted to tell him he was right and to keep going. To find his girlfriend and retreat to whatever semblance of normalcy the two of them could find in this disaster surrounding them, but the words froze in her throat.

Xander
was
right, he was so unbelievably right. If they were going to survive, they had to put themselves first; they
had
to be the priority. Survival of the fittest, only the strong survive, natural selection and all that stuff, yet she knew that if they somehow found out where those people were, Xander wouldn't drive past them if they were able to help. It wasn't in him, just as walking out of that house hadn't been in him.

She was amazed to discover that it wasn't in her either. She'd spent a good portion of her life frightened of people and hiding in the shadows. She didn't want to hide anymore, and though the world around them was falling apart, she didn't want to be afraid anymore either.

"You're killing me Bobby," Xander muttered.

"I know you mean well Xander, and I know you're just looking out for us. That's what you do, but what's the point of living if you can't live with yourself anymore?"

"Easy there Jiminy Cricket, you've made your point. I got it, ok? If we somehow figure out where they are, we'll try to help them. But we cut ties and run if anything goes wrong, agreed?"

Bobby gave a small nod. "Agreed."

Xander pushed himself away from the window and sat back in his seat. He met her gaze in the rearview mirror. Mary Ellen stared silently back at him, terrified that they would never be able to find these people, that they would listen to their silent pleas, but never know where they actually were.

She focused on her folded hands as static flickered over the airwaves and Xander resumed driving. "I'm not Jiminy Cricket you know," Bobby muttered.

"A little cane and a top hat and you could be."

"I know where I'd like to shove that cane."

Xander grinned at him. "That's not very Jiminy Cricket like."

Mary Ellen couldn't help but laugh as Bobby shoved Xander's shoulder and started to chuckle. The tension within her eased and she felt almost human again. "Hello." The radio taunted near her ear. "Hello. If there are any emergency personal in the area we need assistance." The radio squawked as someone in the background said something. It seemed as if the microphone was being passed around as it was jostled about. "We are in the media room in the high school."

"In Plainville. We are in Plainville high school," another voice, a girl's, chimed in.

Xander's breath hissed out of him as Bobby's head bowed. Mary Ellen blinked back the tears that filled her eyes. "Please help us."

"The high school's not far from here." Bobby turned toward Xander again.

"We may not even be able to help them," Xander pointed out.

"We'll never know until we try."

"I know where I'd like to shove that cane too."

He continued onward for another mile or so before making a right at a set of lights that were sagging across the road. The street he turned onto was pitted and broken, there were a few lost souls rambling around in search of answers that Mary Ellen was beginning to think didn't even exist. Some of them watched the car as it drove by, but most of them ignored it.

She didn't like being back in populated areas, but at the same time her heart soared at the reminder that they weren't alone, that they weren't the only ones left. In the distance she could see the dim glow of a blaze, but there was little else out there to illuminate the day that was beginning to darken earlier than it should have.

"What if it's a trap?" Mary Ellen asked.

"It's not," Bobby said forcefully.

They passed by groups of toppled buildings, a police station that had burnt to the ground, and a massive chasm that seemed to have swallowed a good portion of what had once been a car dealership. There were more people in the streets near a library, they didn't seem as shell shocked as some of the others, but there was a desolate air around them that brought tears to her eyes.

She didn't ask what good they were going to be if the people were trapped in the school, she knew they were already wondering the same thing. However, there would be no sleep without at least attempting to make an effort. She longed for a gun as she settled back against the seat and stared unseeingly at the remaining businesses and homes that dotted the landscape.

"I'm not promising anything Bobby." Xander turned the car onto a drive that was partially blocked by trees and broken road.

"I know."

The high school came into view as they rounded the top of a hill. Mary Ellen leaned forward, her hand curled around the back of Xander's seat as her mouth dropped. Most of the building was gone. All that remained was a leveled mess of bricks and rubble. She was finding it difficult to breathe as she spotted desks, books, chalkboards, computers, and other school supplies scattered amongst the mess.

"Thank God it was summer time," she whispered.

Xander drove cautiously around the building; parts of it had collapsed into a large crater that he had to maneuver around. "How could anyone possibly be in there?"

Even as Xander asked the question another "hello!" burst over the airwaves again. Xander was forced to turn the car around and go back the way they had come in order to circle around to the back of the school. She couldn't help but think of Rochelle as Xander was finally able to drive the car around the building where, miraculously, a small corner of the school remained standing.

"Hello. Can someone help us? Hello."

Xander shifted into park as he stared at the one remaining area. Mary Ellen leaned forward to peer at the mess before them. "What do we do?" she whispered.

She couldn't bring herself to move as a sinking sensation began to form in her belly. "Hello." The voice croaked again. Mary Ellen wasn't aware she was crying until a tear landed on her hand. "Is anyone out there that can help us?"

Mary Ellen wiped the tears from her cheeks as Xander turned the car off and climbed out. Bobby glanced briefly back at her, the bleak look in his eyes wrenched a small sob from her. "We shouldn't have come here."

"We couldn't not come," she told him.

His head bowed, he glanced out the window as Xander began to climb over the rubble. Bobby shook his head as he thrust the door open. "He won't leave here now. Not if he thinks he can do something. I shouldn't have made him come."

"There was no choice, not if we were going to be able to live with ourselves," Mary Ellen told him. Bobby opened his mouth to say something and then closed it again. "He'll be ok. We all will."

"Will we?"

She had no answer for him, but he didn't wait for one as he stepped back and closed the door. Mary Ellen's gaze focused on her hands as she thought over his last words. Would they be ok? Even if they survived this, even if they went on to live for another ten, twenty, fifty years, would they be ok? They most certainly wouldn't ever be the same again, but would they even still be human?

The lump in her throat made it difficult to breathe as she flung the door open and stepped out of the car. Xander had only used the air conditioner sparingly, but even still the heat was like a slap in the face as she inhaled sharply. "Hello!" Xander called as he slid down a pile of bricks toward the remaining structure of the school. "Hello!"

Holding out her arms to help steady her balance, Mary Ellen picked her way carefully over the debris. She slid down a slight slope and came to an abrupt halt before the remaining structure. Xander grabbed hold of a broken piece of rebar and hefted it in his hands. "Hello!" he shouted as he began to hit the wall with the piece of metal. "Hello!"

Mary Ellen strained to hear anything as Xander began to walk along the wall, tapping it with the bar and calling out to the people inside. They were almost all the way around the remaining structure when something hit the wall from the other side. Mary Ellen jumped and took a stumbling step back from the wall as another crash reverberated against it.

"Hello!" Xander called as he tapped the bar against the wall.

"Hello! We're in here!" A distant voice echoed back at them. "Can you get us out?"

Mary Ellen glanced over the pile of rubble before turning her attention back to the solid wall before her. Xander rested the rebar on his shoulder as he rocked back on his heels and tilted his head to the side. "Hello!" they shouted from inside again.

"We're going to take a look around!" Xander called back to them.

He nodded to Bobby as he resumed climbing his way through the toppled school building. Mary Ellen followed as they worked their way around the remaining structure. "Here!" Bobby called to them.

Mary Ellen turned back around as Bobby excitedly began to toss bricks and debris out of his way. A broken out hole began to appear in the side of the building as the remaining wooden slats of a window took form. Using the rebar, Xander began to pull and pry some of the debris out of his way. Mary Ellen grabbed clumps of it and tossed it aside to give them more room to work.