Poison Paradise - Damned of the 2/19th

Inside the School

"On the count of three," Sarah said.

Charlie nodded, biting her lip. Sarah had her hand wrapped around Charlie's thumb, which was bent backwards.

"One," Sarah said.

She twisted, pulling the thumb back to where it should be.

Charlie screamed, slapping her other hand against the table. She grabbed her forearm, screamed when the pressure made the break hurt, then let go to slap the table again. She sat, sobbing, as Sarah wrapped her arm and hand in splints, even putting her thumb against the side of her hand.

"It's bad," Sarah said.

Charlie nodded. The pain was receding behind a numb tingling feeling.

The door to the library banged open and Lori stood there with Renee, both of them carrying boxes.

"Says 'Meals Ready to Eat' on the boxes and they're heavy," Renee said.

Lori didn't say anything, just set the three boxes she was carrying down and rushing over to where the baby was sleeping. She sat down, checking on the baby, careful not to wake her up despite Lori's fussing.

"What's the 'Best Eaten By' on them?" Raincloud asked.

"They're military rations. They don't have a best eaten date," Renee said. "A hundred years could go by and you could eat them."

Raincloud looked doubtful as he moved over and watched Renee pulled the plastic straps off of the box then tip the box on its side and shake it so that the inner box slid free of the cover. She ripped open the top of the box and looked inside.

There were twelve brown plastic bags. Six per side.

"Food," Renee whispered. She reached in and pulled out one. "Ham slices. I'm so eating this one."

Sarah got one for herself and one for Charlie, opening the Chicken & Rice MRE for the injured woman.

The food was delicious, although Sarah was willing to bet that a lot of the great taste had to do with how hungry everyone was.

"Want to come with me?" Renee asked, sitting down next to Sarah. She looked at the book sitting on the table. "I, the Jury? Whose reading Mickey Spillane right now?"

"It was already sitting on the table. From the dust, I'd say it's been there for a while," Charlie said. She tapped it. "Wasn't a library book either."

"Huh," Renee said. "Anyway... wanna come with me?"

"Where are we going?" Sarah asked.

"Going to try to fire up the furnace. We need heat, and we need it soon, or our fellow castaways will start burning books to stay warm," Renee said. She got a strange look on her face. "It just feels like if we get that desperate, can we even call ourselves civilized people any longer?"

Sarah nodded. "All right. I'm with you," she checked her arm.

"Want me to go?" Charlie asked.

Sarah shook her head. "Not with that busted arm. Stay here."

Charlie just nodded.

Sarah followed Renee out into the hallway, then they moved through the building together.

"Don't remember high school feeling this creepy," Renee said softly at one point, as they moved past the trophy case in between two sets of double doors.

"Because this is all fake," Sarah said. She stopped and tapped the glass over the trophy case. "Look at these trophies. No engravings, just random trophies. You didn't notice it, but your brain did, and your brain started sounding the alarm."