Our faces were mirror images as confusion took hold. Not letting us ask any questions, Landon held a hand up. The siren echoed through the lonely forest,silencing the creatures of the night. Without a word, Landon stood, each of us in turn following him back to our tiny bunker.
I trudged back toward the bunker,reluctantly entering our cave void of light. Gripping Danny’s hand, he steered me down the steps. The soft shuffling of our feet reverberated around the tiny space. No one dared speak; fear coursed through our bodies as we expected the worse.
Without explanation, Landon begun to pack the small amounts of provisions left out into one of our three backpacks. I moved beside him, bundling the rest of the food. He paused, glancing into my eyes. Nonverbally, he gave me his thanks. I saw him physically relax a fraction, as he realized he had my support. As I predicted, instead of arguing, the others followed my example. Within minutes we had cleared the bunker, shutting the door tightly behind us.
Once again, I felt a heavy weight leave me as I stepped into the open air. Slicing through the air the siren continued to wail. As Landon attempted to put out our meager light source, Zach dragged me out of the safety and warmth of the fire.
“Evie, what are we doing with this guy? I mean, we don’t know anything about him, and he just happens to know what is going on? Something’s not right,I don’t like him. I say we go back to town, find mom, and discover what’s happened,” whispered Zach intensely.
Punching his shoulder irately, I shot back, “Obviously something is wrong. I don’t know why, but I trust Landon.” My nostrils flared, as if challenging Zach to call me on my stupidity.
He took a deep breath before responding,“ Let me see if I can wrap my brain around this. Some guy just happens to show up as our house is on fire, and just happens to have a hunch that something else might happen to our house. Then something does-our house explodes. He has us purchase over $100 in food and emergency supplies , takes us to a crusty fall out shelter, hears a siren ,and decides it’s time to move? And, by the looks of it, further from town!” Zach sharply pointed to Landon who finally finished shoveling dirt into the fire pit and was now walking the treeline, opposite where we entered the grounds.
Rationally, Zach was absolutely correct. I had no idea why I was fervently defending Landon’s actions. However, I was fending Zach off , and as a result veins popped in my brother’s neck as he tried to force me to logically think. He was beyond angry whispering. His shouting was noticed by Danny, Landon, and Jessica, who rapidly approached us, wanting to join in on the argument.
Fortunately Landon arrived first, clearing the area in half the time. He put a hand over my lips and an arm around me, slamming my backside against his chest. I could feel his heartbeat fluttering through his shirt. My breathing became more shallow as I allowed myself to be held by him.
Zach did not appreciate the closeness, proceeding to attempt to remove Landon. Without hesitation, Landon released me and shoved Zach into the nearest tree. I gasped.
“Noise will attract them, and you two have already made too much. We have to get as far away as we can from the town, lest they find us. You’re most certainly not going back into town if you value your life,” Landon pressed a little harder on Zach’s chest to drill his point in. As soon as Landon had attacked Zach, he let go, walking back to me, an apology pursed on his boyish lips.
At the same time,though, Zach went ballistic. He charged Landon, knocking him to the ground. Because we were in the shelter of the trees away from any possible source of light, it was difficult to follow the fight. Although, that did not deter Jessica from screaming on the top of her lungs.
Landon managed to roll over on Zach, crushing my brother under his weight. He jumped up, wiping blood from his nose. Zach tripped him, but was met with the undeniably painful elbow of Landon, who accidentally jabbed his into Zach’s groin, quickly ending the fight. Each of us cringed as Zach began dry heaving, rolling to his side, clutching his man parts.
With no warning, I began laughing. Stress from the day rolled off me as I held my stomach. Uncontrollably I laughed for no apparent reason. As expected, everyone looked back at me with horror and disgust, including Jessica.
Suddenly, a muffled barking was carried on the wind, halting my random burst of laughter. Without hesitation, Landon handed Jessica the backpack, slung one of Zach’s arms around his neck, and motioned for Danny to help. An unspoken agreement passed through us- something bad was coming for us and we don’t want to be around to find out.
After what felt like hours of silent hiking through a dark forest, we were allowed to catch our breaths. The barking we’d heard earlier had stopped and eventually Zach had stopped moaning, and begun to walk, surprisingly keeping pace with us.
“Where are we going?” Asked Jessica, as she stuffed her face full of crackers,lounging on a bed of leaves. Landon merely glanced at her, before getting up and walking away. Jessica shrugged and continued depleting our cracker supply.
Disgusted, I stood up, stretching, and followed Landon to where he had wandered to a tiny river, leaning against a firm tree. Boldly, I wrapped my arms around his back and pressed my face against him. If he was surprised, he didn’t show it , as he continued staring ahead.
The cool night air blew over us, ruffling his hair. I pressed myself closer to him, absorbing his warmth.
Finally, after moments of standing together, his rough voice seeped into my ears.
“Would you believe me if I said the world as we know it is ending, as we speak, and more than three fourths of the population with be decimated in a matter of days?” his rough voice seeped into my ears.
I pondered the question is silence. Moments passed, and he slowly turned around, gently unclasping my arms .
Although it was dark, there was no mistaking the haunted look in his face,accented by shadows. I wanted to take the pain away from him. I carefully watched his eyes, as if I could pull the truth from them. Finally, I spoke.
“If that’s true, why are we still here?”
Before he answered, he closed his eyes,“What if I said I’m a bad man, sent to do horrible things to good people like you?”
“Well, what if I disagreed? I don’t believe you’re a bad man,” I countered, hoping this trust I was putting in him wasn’t false.
I was rewarded with a small smile as he sighed. “How could anyone want to destroy the only good things in this world, like you?” He pushed his hands into his pockets. A yearning settled deep within my bosom as I had the urge to fix this beautiful, broken boy. Moments passed as we held each other’s gaze.
Suddenly Danny interrupted, out of breath. “Someone’s coming.”
