OUTBREAK

Quiet #10

Hugo could feel the metal door beginning to heat up and backed away. An orange glow began to emit from under the door. "No!" he screamed, in futile frustration. His voice fell on deaf ears.

The light from the fire began to burn bright, dimly illuminating Hugo's surroundings. The heat of the fire began to grow, sweat dripped from Hugo's forehead. He glanced around the walls and found an exit door beside the ride. He ran to it, pulled the handle and ran up a flight of stairs behind the door. It was a corridor with several branching paths and doors, most were locked or dead ends. The employee elevator was jammed, and he couldn't find a way down.

Hugo found himself on the roof of the building once more. Surrounded by a moat of fire and a 50 foot drop.

BAM

A bullet crashed into the concrete wall to the lower right of Hugo. He looked in the direction of the noise and saw two people at the top of the Jurassic Park ride. One held a flashlight, which was almost flailing around to the night sky. Hugo looked intently, trying to make out what was happening.

CRAACK went the south wall of the Transformers ride. The building rumbled, tossing Hugo to his feet. He felt the concrete he stood on becoming loose.

"Crap..." he said under his breath. With each moment the floor shook harder and looser. He looked up at the flashlight again to find it directly on him, but it was approaching from the ground. It shook around as if the owner of the light was sprinting toward him. When they came into the light, Hugo gasped.

"Tia Marga!" Hugo shouted.

"I'm coming Mijo!" said Tia Marga. She was wearing military fatigues.

The south wall of the Transformers Ride began crumbling down. A cloud of dust erupted from the destruction engulfing Hugo and his Tia.

"Hugo!" Tia called. She searched through the rubble and the dust, finding Hugo unconscious over a piece of concrete.

—

"Ugh," Hugo groaned. He awoke on a mattress on the floor, in a room he wasn't familiar with. There were some open supply crates and several more mattresses. In the opposite corner, beside a door a group of children sat amongst themselves, playing with some Simpsons toys.

Hugo's left foot was tugged, and pain erupted from it. He tugged his foot away but it was pulled back.

"Stop! I need to wrap it!" said Lila.

"Lila?" said Hugo. He looked to see his little sister wrapping a cast on his foot. "Lila!" He sat up and held her. The wounded foot hurt, but he ignored it at the sight of his sister.

"Stop it! Let me finish!" she said, almost pulling away from him.

Hugo let her go, only now noticing the bags under her eyes. It seemed like she hadn't smiled in years. Hugo looked at the group of kids who were now all staring. Each of their faces had a different degree of depression.

"Oh," said Hugo. He lifted his foot, allowing Lila to finish wrapping it.

The door into the room opened, Tia Marga came in with some more supplies. "What's going on? Oh, Hugo, you're awake. How's your foot?" Tia Marga placed the supplies on the ground beside him.

"It's fine," said Hugo. Lila tugged again with the cloth, hitting a nerve. "Ow!"

"Sorry," said Lila.

Tia Marga smiled. "Lila was worried sick about you. She would tell stories about you to the other kids."

Lila tried to hide her blush.

Hugo turned to Lila, "I missed you too." He pulled her in for a big brother hug, and she didn't fight it. He could feel her tears on his shirt.

Tia Marga kneeled down over the supplies, sorting through them. "Where were you on the day of the outbreak? I went to the apartment but you weren't there."

"I was with Carlos," said Hugo. Lila went stiff as he said that. Hugo shook his head at Tia Marga, who nodded back disappointedly. "He's out there. Somewhere."

Tia Marga looked back at the supplies; realizing she hadn't done anything with them, she took one rag with water and began cleaning the faces of some of the kids. "I found only Lila in the apartment, so I took her and drove away fast. I wanted to try and get up to Tulare, your cousins would let us stay with them. But the road was backed up, we managed to cram into the park before it was closed for good. The only adults left are me and the old man."

"Old man?" said Hugo.

"The one who...last night..."

Hugo nodded in understanding. "Where is he?"

"Doing surveillance, he'll be back soon. You need to stay here though. Your foot was hurt in the crash. It's not broken from what I could tell, but you need to let it heal."

Hugo continued to rest after Marga left the room. "Hey Lila, remember that game we used to play? Freeze!"

She looked at him with tired eyes, but did not move.

"Are you...frozen?" Hugo asked. Lila didn't move. "Unfreeze."

"Freeze!" said Lila, Hugo froze. Lila's smile slowly came back to her. She grabbed Hugo's finger and stuck it up his nose. "Unfreeze!" she said.

"What? Why is my finger in my nose?" said Hugo. Lila laughed at him. "Freeze!" said Hugo and they repeatedly froze and unfroze each other until the other children joined with them. The room was filled with laughter and playfulness.

The door swung open. "Hey!" shouted the old man. He came in with a rifle to his side, in old military fatigues. "Shut up! Are you really laughing in the middle of a war?!" he screamed. The children stopped laughing and sat back down. The old man turned to Hugo. "Communist scum... You try anything I will shoot you on the spot." He spat at Hugo.