New Eden- The New Eden series book#1 (#Wattys2016)

Chapter 11 "Yep. Awkward..."

Day 4  

  Kay ended up volunteering to look after the sick. Another girl too, Judy, volunteered. Malcolm was her boyfriend it turned out and she was decent enough to take care of him. Everyone else was too afraid to be close to the sick.

   I glanced at my watch. Eight-forty seven AM. There was going to be an expedition to go back down to the cafeteria at nine and I wanted to go with them. When the little food we had had to be divided among forty people it went fast. I quickly ate the remainder of my breakfast; a couple of potato chips and some M&Ms. I took a sip of my water bottle and stashed the rest in my bag for later.

Out in the halls some kids just strut about aimlessly. There was nothing to do really except just to sit around and wait for rescue. That was something that I couldn't do. Couldn't sit on my ass whole day doing nothing. That was like a slow agonizing death sentence.
  I went to see Samantha. She was in the class close to the exit. John and Malcolm lay next to her on the floor silently.
"They look so calm don't they?" Kay said. She sat against the wall staring at the three comatose students. Judy had just given them some water. She also stacked books behind their heads, trying to make them as comfortable as possible.
"Yeah." I replied. The peaceful look on their faces showed they were completely unaware of their situation. I almost envied them.
  Kaymarie sniffled, breaking my silent gaze. I hadn't come to feel sorry for them. "You see Brandon about?" I asked. She wiped her watery eyes on her sleeve and stood up.
"He's with Whickham." She noticed I was wearing my backpack. "You going with them?" She gave me a surprised look.
"Yeah," I nodded. "I know, I know. It's crazy to be down there. But we need to eat. And I can't sit around doing nothing..."
Kay gave a little nod showing that she understood my reasoning. I took her hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. Usually the words that go along in a moment like this are, "It's going to be OK." But I didn't say anything. Didn't want lie.
  I left Kay and Judy and I went down the hall to find Brandon. Just as I had been told he was in the electronics lab with Whickham. The two were bent over an old with tools layer out on the table. The smell of iron and solder hung in the air. The electronics teacher looked up at me. "You going down?" He asked eyeing my bag.
"Yeah. I wanted to let you know I was going."
"Good," Whickham dug in his shirt pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. "I need some things."
  I took the piece of paper and glanced over the list of items. Foil, vinegar, metal spoons and knives, and bleach. I raised my eyebrows. "What's all this for?" I asked.
"Well," he paused to put a screw in place in the radio. "As you can see, we're trying to assemble this radio with a new antenna to try and boost the signal. If we can do that then we'll be able at least send a distress call outside town. Those-" he pointed to the paper in my hand. "Those are some things we might need if worse comes to worst and we have to fight our way out of here."
  I didn't have to ask what he meant. If he was saying that we might need to fight our way out, then he wasn't holding high the expectation of a rescue either.
I folded the list and stuck it in my pocket. Brandon wished me good luck and I left them to find the crew that was going downstairs.

"Hey 'migo." Steffan greeted me as I joined the team of students that were going on the expedition. It was five of us. Steffan and two other kids I didn't know (they didn't even bother to introduce themselves), Nichola and myself.
"Aren't you gonna take some kind of weapon?" I queried upon seeing his bare hands and empty backpack.
"Naw bro." He replied with a smile. "Me and my two 'migos here are just going to scavenge. It's up to you two heroes to watch our backs." He was talking about Nichola and me.
She was carrying her staff as usual. "Here." She passed me the body of a broken tri-pod. "That little knife of yours is only good when they're up in your face. By that time they'll be all over your nerdy ass."
I took the weapon grudgingly, but grateful. I would need it.
  When we moved the blockade and opened the door we stepped out into the quiet stairway. My heart thumped in tandem to the door locking behind us. Bradley, you must be seriously crazy to want this. We moved ahead.
  Now and then we'd hear the screeching and skittering of bugs, but we were lucky enough to not run into any. At the cafeteria Nichola and I paused by the doors while Steffan and the others went on in. "Hey!" I called Steffan back and handed him the list from Whickham. With my mind so tense on the situation I almost forgot. He took the piece of paper and left.
  With the two of us left standing in hallway silent as ever, I felt the awkwardness creeping up. I threw a glance at Nichola. The girl seemed rather calm. Almost like she was just keeping an eye out for the principal so we don't get busted.
Our eyes met and locked. For two seconds we stared at each other, then she raised her brows giving me a look that said 'what?'
I blushed and turned away.
Yep. Awkward...
  I checked my watch. Only two minutes had passed. Damn, it seemed longer. I was about to poke my head in to check if everything was OK with the others when Steffan suddenly yanked open the door.
He stood still with his head cocked to the side.
"What is it?" I hissed, my sweaty palms slipping on the tripod limb.
"I think I hear..." He started but trailed off. It was at that point that I heard it too. A low distant thumping. It seemed almost odd hearing it, but it was something I'd heard before.
"That's a helicopter!" Nichola cried. Steffan ducked back in the cafeteria to hurry the others up.
"C'mon!" He yelled and we were off running to get back upstairs. I still moved cautiously, being aware not to make too much noise. But Steffan raced ahead, his sneakers squeaking loud on the tiled floor. He reached the door first and hammered on it till it was opened up.
  Steffan dropped his gear right by the door and continued running. We followed him all the way to the roof. There Whickham, Feroklas, and a lot of other students already formed a crowd.
Some people were jumping, waving and shouting out for the helicopters attention. But none of that was going to work. The aircraft was much farther out into the town. Probably over the business area.
  I found Brandon. "You guys got the radio working?" I thought that they might have been the ones who called for the help. Brandon shook his head. "We heard it while we were still working on the radio."
  Still, I felt hope well up inside me. Someone was here, looking for survivors. "Can they see us from here?" I asked squinting in chopper's direction.
Again he nodded. "Whickham and I were the first ones up here. They flew right by. Right by." He held up his hand illustrating the path the helicopter took. He frowned as he stared off at the flying machine. That kinda of wiped the smile from my face.
Why was he frowning?
"They saw us right?" I asked. The small hope in me starting to ebb away. "I mean-you said that they saw you. So they must know that they're people here. They'll be coming to save us, right?"
Brandon stared for a while. "Yeah, they're coming."

**********
Author's Note

  Hey guys. If you've read up to this part then get ready. From here on out things are about to get crazy! ;-) This is where the action begins. (Spoiler)People are gonna die. As you know, I base my story characters off real people. So from here on out I'll be needing you guys to submit yourselves to be characters who could end up driving the story and creating nice plot twists....it'd mean a lot.
So once again, thank you guys and enjoy the ride!