The Rebels (on break)

Chapter 5: Ready to Roll

I felt like I couldn't breathe.  We were not, in any way prepared.  And now it seemed our only form of communication with what to do next was cut off.  Oh my gosh.  What are we going to do now?  Those words were on a continuous loop in my mind.

I looked to Shannon to see a look of shock on her face, and then over to Eddy to see a familiar look of panic which seemed to be spreading around the room.  In spite of myself, I turned around to be face to face with an alarmed looking Zach.

"What do you think's gonna happen El?" He stammered, clearly ready to cry.

"I don't know Zach, it seems like were gonna have to figure out our own way to evacuate.  Cause it sounds like if we don't, there'll be hell to pay." I replied, shocked he was talking to me.  Well I guess our formal "talk" wasn't going to happen, what with the giant wave about to crash onto Birchwood's shores.  Maybe he figured we'll actually have to communicate to survive.  After all, in our group I was the only one he knew, besides Shannon and Eddy; his friends hadn't passed the test.

"El, I'm really scared.  Like do you think we're going to die?"  He looked so young then.  He was only a little over a year younger than me, but at that moment, it seemed he was looking to me for all the answers like a small child would.  That was when I felt it come down on me like a ton of bricks; I had no plan.  No one had a plan.  We were truly on our own to get through this catastrophe.  While went through this though process, I glanced around only to realize that in all the hub bub, our instructor had vanished.  She was gone just like that, probably to a special government transport. Ugh.

"No, we'll make it, we just have to act fast."  I didn't want to lie to him, in fact I hated it.  But in that moment, I had to.  I knew how he could get when he was upset; he'd shut down.  And this was upsetting to the extreme, so I knew I had to tell him whatever I could to keep him going.  He looked at me and gave a weak smile before giving me a quick hug.  God, how I missed him.

Just then, Shannon bounded over to me with Eddy right behind her.  "Ellie, the three of us have to stay together! We have to get out of here soon.  Some people have already left."  I looked around to find that about a third of the group had indeed left, in small parties.  Then, without thinking I grabbed Zach's hand next to me turned to Shannon.

"I know. The four of us have to stick together."  That's when she noticed our hands and gave me a smirk, despite the crisis, and nudged Eddy who then looked as well.  Zach didn't even react to it as if we held hands every day. 

"Right, Eliie the four of us." Eddy mocked, "Now come on, we have to move quick, grab your bags.  Just grab whatever you think we'll need and then we'll sort quick and leave in five.  Agreed?"

We answered by darting across the room for our bags.  I yanked my trusty messenger off the hook in the closet like there was no tomorrow and ran over to the bathroom nook immediately.  I busted open the locked cabinet with my foot kicking it and grabbed the small first aid kit, I kinda had a feeling we'd need it.  I opened it fast to survey what was in it; an enormous amount of band aids, medical tape, a tiny bottle of aspirin, medical gloves, gauze, roller bandages and a pair of tweezers. I also saw a travel size pack of tissues and a small bottle of hydrogen peroxide on the shelf, and snatched those up as well. 

Then, I moved on to the small refrigerator and cupboard near the instructor's desk.  I busted open those locks too and glanced inside to see what I could take for us.  In the refrigerator, there were about 5 water bottles that I grabbed since nothing else would last.  Then I moved my attention over to the cupboard.  Pulling the cabinet open revealed several granola bars, some crackers and a small bag of nuts.  I seized all three and added them to my stash.

Turning toward the teachers desk I grabbed a pair of scissors, some pens, a tiny pocket calendar and a little black notebook lying in the drawer.  I threw those in my bag as well amongst the food, medical supplies as I tossed out all my day to day school supplies onto the floor.  I rearranged everything in the bag making it all fit among what I had already had in there. 

I had been keeping some important things in my messenger bag, since I knew this was coming, and since I never went anywhere without my bag.  I had some clothes, vitamins, a pocketknife, and a teeny tiny photo album with pictures of everyone I loved.  Thinking of the pictures made me think of my mom and dad, and Mel.  I probably wouldn't see them for a while and that scared me.  I didn't want to be without my family, but I also didn't want to be without my friends either; they all meant so much to me.  But even though I started thinking about my family, I couldn't stop, we had to leave.

"Ellie, you almost ready?" Eddy yelled from across the room.  I started to make my way over toward the group.

"Yea, I'm coming."  Omg, my bag was pretty heavy.  I probably wouldn't be able to move that fast with it.  As I reached the table they were all crowded around, people whizzed by me and out the door. We better get going.  Zach seized my bag from me and dumped the contents on the table next to the other 3 piles. So much for getting it all to fit. 

"Besides everyone's personal crap, I'm gonna divvy up all the supplies amongst the bags so were all carryin' about the same weight.  That way we'll be able to move fast."  We all nodded at Zach as he began sorting. 

When he was all done and my bag was planted on my shoulder cross body style, it was much lighter than before.  I felt as ready as I could in a situation like this.  I felt like that was important, feeling ready, because if you don't feel confident, how can you think about things realistically.  You won't feel confident in the decisions that you make and you won't last long in a crisis.

As we left the group's room, the hallway was in complete confusion. With no direction, people really shut down.  They're all like fear robots and can't do anything smart.  There were people just sitting in the hallway with panicked faces sitting in little groups.  I wanted to tell them to go, get out of here, but I knew that was useless.  The fear robots must not have come to the realization that nobody was going to come on the speaker and tell them what to do.  They had to fend for themselves now and actually think and act, and quickly. And with the teachers gone, I didn't even want to think about what was happening to the younger groups.  But now, all I had to think about was the huge mass of kids we faced the four of us turned the corner into the main hallway.

"Holy shit!" cried Shannon as she seemed to grasp what I had the minute we turned the corner.  We were not getting out anytime soon.  In this predicament, one might say, "No big deal, try another door." The problem was that there was only one double door into the building at the front.  The one we were in like a two hour line to get out through now.

"Guys, what are we going to do!?" I was panicking.  Why was nobody concerned about getting out of the city.  Why weren't people fleeing as quick as possible.  I just didn't understand why people weren't moving.  I was so frustrating.  I felt so caged and trapped.  The tsunami was coming soon, and we weren't going to be out of Birchwood in time. OMG!!! I had to stop freaking myself out and stay calm, that's the key.

"Guys, it's okay, let's just try to weave through the crowd and stay together." Eddy said, trying to be optimistic.  So we all held on to each other so we wouldn't get lost in the crowd and we tried to make our way through.  It was so claustrophobic and I swear, I could smell salty ocean air and usually I can't.  The salt in the air made the whole thing a lot more real.  Now it wasn't just on the Morning Update, or in a text from Shannon, it was real and you could smell it and feel the rumbles underfoot and it was extremely terrifying.

After about 20 agonizing minutes of almost tripping, and having my foot stepped on and almost falling over myself as Eddy tried to pull me through the crowd, and my bag trying to be ripped off me, we made it outside.  And that was the most terrifying scene of all.

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