Chapter Six: This is Worse than the Thing with Ryan
{Colette}
I open the
door and head out onto the street. There
aren’t any people my age; they’re all in school. So mostly just the old people who use their
powers for, like, washing dishes or knitting.
Ha ha. Anyway. I walk down to my uncle’s hunting store –
yes, we have a designated 7 acres of hunting space – and push the door
open.
He looks up
at me and smiles, his crooked teeth showing.
“Here for another knife?”
I
laugh. “No. Actually, I came to get a pistol – you know
with Mr. Hitler gone, and that idiot of a vice in control, you never know. And why would he go to France anyway?”
“No
telling.” He shakes his head. “So, any
particular model you’re looking at?”
“You know I
know almost nothing about guns. How
about a .22? Wait, do they even make .22
pistols?”
“Sure
do. I’ve got red, black, and
gray-green. I’m guessing red?” he says.
“Actually,
I’d like gray-green. To match the
military uniform I’m about to go buy,” I tell him.
“Military
uniform?” he asks.
“Yeah, I’ve
had a hunch about Hitler leaving. He has
no reason to go to France. So why would
he go unless he was doing something . . . violent?” I explain pointedly. My uncle just shrugs and takes me to the
shooting range. Good aim is also a benefit
of my power. So when I finish there’s a
gaping hole in the center of the target.
We walk back up to the store and I buy the gun and pick out a
uniform. Then I go back to the cabin and
pack away my stuff under my bed, where no one would dare look because once, two
years ago, there was a huge spider down there.
I let myself drift off; staring at a random bug and watching it writhe
in pain. I don’t know when I fall
asleep; I just do.
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{The Reaction}
Vickatecht sits on the couch in his cabin, a beer bottle in
his hand. He hears the sirens, and a
loud blast startles him. His cabin
spontaneously combusts. Immune to pain,
and very drunk, he thinks the flames are pretty. He runs into them, wanting to collect
them. Vickatecht falls, overpowered by
the heat and the fumes.
Violet sits in class.
The sirens make everyone jump out of their seats. She is in the middle of passing notes with
Mallory. The teacher yells for them to
get under their desks. Mallory is
crying, and Violet wants to comfort her, but she can only hold her hand and
hope with all her might that they will survive.
A distant boom sounds, and everyone starts. Mallory’s sobs are now audible. She knows where the first bomb hit. The row of cabins where Mary and Malcolm
live.
The noise of the cafeteria stops abruptly at the sound of
the air-raid siren. Lois looks around,
at Luna, and at her boyfriend, Nathaniel.
Some people at other tables vomit.
They know the drill, and everyone crouches under the frail cafeteria
tables. Nathaniel puts his arms
protectively around Lois, seeing her eye color – straight black. Luna scrunches against Lois, scared for her
family, though the boom that makes some people yelp is in the opposite
direction.
Katie is jolted from her daydream by the wailing
outside. Out the large window in the art
room, she sees a plane drop a bomb, and several cabins go up in flames. Her classmates are under the tables. She slides down, embarrassed. She can hear the teacher, of all people,
crying. Her children have a cabin in
that direction. Katie begins to tremble
uncontrollably.
Mary is finishing her calculus homework at Malcolm’s cabin when
she hears the siren. She twitches so
hard, she pokes a hole in her paper.
Scrambling to find Malcolm, she trips and bangs her knee on the hard
floor. She calls for Malcolm and he runs
out of the kitchen, crying. He is so
scared when they hear the planes that he freezes. As the flames begin to swallow the cabin,
Mary is forced to slam the cellar door.
Without Malcolm. She curls up in
a corner, sobbing his name.
Aly sits in the cellar of the counselor’s meeting center,
clutching Jared’s hand as the muffled sirens continue to scream above
them. A quiet but terrifying boom shakes
the ground not far from their cabin. In
spite of herself, a tear runs down her face.
Jared’s recruits are at the approximate location of the explosion. She squeezes Jared’s hand tighter as the
planes’ sounds get nearer and nearer.
Scarlett can hear a muffled sound from the water, and
judging by the others’ reactions, the sound is not a good one. She pushes off the bottom of the pool,
emerging into pure chaos. The girls in
her swim class are screaming and running around, scrambling to find the cellar
door, and the guys look sort of amused, as if the idea of possible
death-by-incineration is entertaining.
Scarlett sees a square of floor with a knob on it and opens it, leading
the others in. She can just hear the
boom as she closes the cellar door.
