The Borando kids had no parents, or rather, the parents they had weren’t much use to them because they were dead. This would be bad enough but they lived in a town in northwest Oregon called Rainbow Ridge, a town that was under quarantine. Lizzy Borando had just learned from her older brother Mike what the word quarantine meant, and although she had misunderstood somewhat, that didn’t keep her from explaining what it meant to her stuffed monkey Squiggles.
“The object of war is for people to kill each other,” she said. Her sister Fiona made an annoyed sound. She didn’t like listening to her little sister’s nonsense. “They’re always trying to find new ways to kill each other. Sometimes they use fire or bullets, or little tiny robots, so small you can’t even see them. That’s what got mommy and…”
“Shut up!” Fiona shouted.
Lizzy picked up Squiggles by his long furry arm and went behind the couch, where she continued her explanation in a whisper. “So the war-fighters are always looking for new ways to kill each other…”
“I can still hear you.” Fiona said.
Lizzy stuck her tongue out at her sister even though her sister couldn’t see her. “And the people who are fighting against us, the bad guys, they invented a new way of killing. It’s so new nobody even knows what it is, or how it works. They can’t let anybody leave until they figure it out.” Lizzy looked closely at Squiggles’s glass eye to be sure he understood, but she dropped him when her sister screamed.
“Spider!” Fiona shouted. “Mike, kill it, kill it quick!” Mike slammed his foot down on the bold arachnid, squashing it dead. “Oh I hate spiders,” Fiona said, “they’re just awful.”
“That’s the fifth spider I’ve killed since Monday,” Mike said. “There never used to be so many spiders in our house. Maybe we have a nest somewhere.”
“Oh don’t say that!” Fiona shouted. “Just that word, ‘nest.’ It makes my skin crawl.”
Lizzy couldn’t resist. “Nest!” She shouted from behind the couch.
“Shut it Lizzy!” Her sister yelled. “I’ll slap the freckles off your ugly face!”
“Squiggles wants to know when the quarantine will be over and we can go live with Gran.”
“Soon.” Mike said.
“Don’t tell her soon, you don’t know that.” Fiona said.
“The man at the checkpoint said it would be soon.” Mike said.
“Yeah but you said he was dressed like a spaceman, you said they all were. They don’t dress like that for the fun of it. They don’t even want to breathe the same air as us.”
“It’s probably just a precaution.” Mike said.
“Where does Gran live again?”
“Lizzy I told you already.” Mike said. “Santa Monica. It’s in Southern California, right by the beach.”
“And we’ll go soon?” Lizzy asked.
“As soon as it’s safe.” Mike said.
“They’re probably just waiting for us all to die.” Fiona said.
Mike gave Lizzy the look that said not to listen to Fiona, and Lizzy smiled. When she was little she’d wished Mike had been closer to her age so she’d have a brother she could play with, but now that mommy and dad were gone she was glad he was older.
There was a knock at the door and Mike held his finger up to his lips and got their dad’s scatter gun off the table. He pointed the gun at the ceiling and leaned over to take a peek out the front window. “It’s just Barfo.” Mike said. He put the gun back and opened the door. “Get in here before someone sees you.” He said.
Franklin Barto entered the room and looked around. “How come there’s a Guard truck in your driveway?” He asked. “I thought maybe something happened.”
“You’re not supposed to go visiting house to house Barfo!” Fiona said. “That’s how you spread the disease. The notice said to stay in your house.”
“Don’t call me Barfo.” He stomped his foot down suddenly. “Spider.” He said.
“Another one!” Mike said. “I just got one a minute ago.”
“Whatever we’re infected with killed off all the birds.” Franklin said. “So the spider population is booming. We got ’em at our house too.”
“Birds don’t eat spiders they eat worms.” Lizzy said.
Mike was looking out the front window. “They parked a big tuck in our driveway,” he said, “Why would they do that?”
Fiona looked out the window over Mike’s shoulder. “There’s no one in it.” She said. “I wonder where the driver went.”
“He’s in the back yard.” Lizzy said. “I can see him.” They all rushed to the back window and looked out at a man in a hazmat suit, holding a plastic cylinder up to a tree branch. He had a pencil in his other hand and he was using it to try to push something into the small cylinder. “Why’s he drawing on our tree?” Lizzy asked.
“He’s not drawing on our tree,” Mike said. “He’s trying to catch one of those spiders.” He went through the kitchen and out the back door, and he stood on the back porch. “Hey,” he shouted to the man. The kids in the living room could hear him clearly. “Hey, what are you doing?”
The man screwed the lid on the cylinder and looked at Mike. “Get back in your house.” The man said. His voice sounded strange from behind the mask.
“How come you’re out here catching spiders?” Mike asked.
“This town is under 24 hour curfew, now get back in your house, you’re violating the law.”
“Are those spiders dangerous? Is that how they’re spreading the disease?”
“I am authorized to use deadly force against uncooperative civilians, now I’m telling you for the last time, get in your house.”
Mike came back inside and shut the door. “He’s on our property, I should shoot him for trespassing.” Mike said.
“Don’t be stupid.” Fiona said. “We’ve gotta figure out what to do. We can’t just wait around to die. We need to get out of here.”
“Yes and go to Gran’s in Santa Monica.” Lizzy said.
“How?” Mike asked. “They’ve got all the roads blocked, we can’t just drive out.”
“I know how we could get out.” Lizzy said.
“We have camping gear and a magnetic compass, we could just head out through the forest.” Fiona said.
“If you do that I want to come with you guys,” Franklin said. “I don’t want to stay around here either, my mom’s driving me crazy.”
“No one invited you, Barfo.” Fiona said.
“I haven’t seen anyone get sick.” Mike said. “This whole thing might be precautionary. They could be about to lift the quarantine.”
“I have fishing poles and tackle,” Franklin said, “we’ll need that stuff.”
“Remember last Valentines day, what mommy and dad did?”
“Shut up about mom and dad!” Fiona yelled. “It’s all you ever talk about!”
“She’s right,” Mike said, “they’re gone, we have to look out for ourselves. Hiking through the woods is going to be really hard with izzy-lay, but it’s our only option…”
“Hey!” Lizzy said.
“We don’t want to hike to Mill Creek, it’s too close, we’d get caught, so that means we have to go to Jasper.” Mike said. “If we average ten miles a day it should take seven or eight days. We can’t carry that much fresh water so we’ll need iodine tablets.”
The three teenagers talked for the rest of the evening, making plans and looking at maps. They decided to head out after sunset the next day.
Lizzy liked to leave the closet light on at night, even though it annoyed Fiona, who shared her room. Lizzy wasn’t afraid of the dark, she just didn’t like it. She always slept with Squiggles and a flashlight. That night she was lying in bed wide awake, thinking about her Gran, and what life might be like in Santa Monica. She wondered if she could see the ocean from her Gran’s apartment. She thought every morning before breakfast she could look out and watch the dolphins play in the surf.
It was very late and she could tell Fiona was asleep by the
way she was breathing. Lizzy shifted around and in the dim light and noticed something moving on her pillow. She sat up quickly and fumbled with her flashlight. When she got it on and shined it down on the pillow there was nothing there.
She pulled the covers back and shined the light down, but didn’t see anything under there either. She took the covers back up over her legs and was turning around to lay back down when her flashlight reflected off of something on her sister’s side of the room. It was a thin filament of reflected light, and Lizzy followed it down to a spider. It was descending quickly from the ceiling, and it landed right in Fiona’s open mouth and crawled inside.
Lizzy’s scream woke her sister, and she heard her brother come running down the hall. “What?” Fiona shouted. “What are you screaming about?”
Mike slammed the door open and snapped the light on. “What’s wrong?” He asked.
“Sp… Spider.” Lizzy said.
“Ugh!” Fiona slammed her head back down on her pillow. “You woke everyone up over a stupid spider?” She asked.
“It… It came down from the ceiling,” Lizzy said, “it… It went in your mouth!”
Fiona sat up again. “Shut up Lizzy! I think I would know if a spider went in my mouth!”
Mike was looking all along the floor and walls for any sign of a spider. Lizzy clutched Squiggles tight. “I don’t see any spiders.” Mike said.
“She’s making it up, she just had a bad dream.” Fiona said.
“Can Squiggles and me sleep with you tonight Mike?” Lizzy asked.
“Don’t let her Mike, she’ll wet the bed.”
“Shut up spider-eater, I don’t wet the bed.”
“Okay,” Mike said. “You and Squiggles can bunk with me tonight, but you have to lay still, no thrashing around.”
Lizzy hopped out of bed with her monkey. “I’ll be right back,” She said. She left the bedroom and ran downstairs.
She came into Mike’s room holding a pack of disposable face-masks from when her dad had painted the rec-room. She took one out and handed it to Mike. “What’s this for?” He asked.
“To keep the spiders out.” Lizzy said. She put one on herself and then went about putting one on Squiggles.
“Lizzy are you positive you didn’t imagine it?”
Lizzy hopped onto Mike’s bed. “I saw what I saw and I said what I saw.” Lizzy said. “No one ever believes me. No one ever listens. Mommy would’ve listened.” She got under the covers and put her head down.
Mike gave his sister a little hug and put the mask on. “There, happy?” He asked. “I don’t know how the heck I’m going to sleep in this thing.” He shut his lamp off and pulled the covers up over them. “What were you trying to say about mom and dad earlier?” He asked.
“Last Valentines day,” Lizzy said, “they went on a hot air balloon ride.”
Mike sat up and turned the light on. “Mr. Miller down on Ridge Road! He used to take people for hot air balloon rides every Sunday!”
“Yeah, Mr. Miller with the moustache.” Lizzy said.
“Lizzy that’s genius! Why didn’t you say something before?”
“I tried.”
“I’ll do some research on it tomorrow. I like your idea a hell of a lot better than hiking all the way to Jasper.” Mike hugged his little sister again. “We could just drift away with the breeze.” He flipped his light off and put his head down. “Tomorrow night after sunset,” he said.
Sometime early the next morning Mike took his mask off. He was dreaming a woman-doctor was trying to suffocate him. He stuck it on the windowsill above his bed and went back to sleep.
Fiona came downstairs the next morning looking like Dracula had sucked all the blood out of her. Mike was making scrambled eggs in a big skillet. “Boy you sure slept in.” He said. He turned and looked at her. “Are you feeling alright?”
“No, I’m really sick.” She said.
“Get back upstairs, I’ll bring your breakfast up.” Mike said. “You’ve gotta get better, we’re busting out of quarantine tonight.”
“Ugh, okay.” She said. “I don’t think I could hike anywhere right now, I’m not even sure I can make it upstairs.”
“We aren’t hiking.” Mike said. “I’ll tell you when I bring up your eggs.”
Fiona nodded and left the kitchen slowly. “Mike,” Lizzy whispered, “Mike, she’s sick. That spider she ate had the disease on it. She’s gonna make us sick too.”
“Maybe,” Mike said, “but we can’t throw her into the street, she’s our sister. She’s probably just got a stomach flu.”
Mike took a plate of eggs, some toast and a glass of orange juice up to his sister. He spent rest of the day on the pick system looking up information and videos about hot air balloons. Lizzy went hunting spiders with Squiggles. She killed eight. Fiona didn’t come down for lunch and Lizzy asked her brother if he was going to go check on her. He said he’d just let her sleep. Lizzy thought he was afraid of catching whatever she had, but he didn’t want to tell her.
The hot air balloon research continued until supper time. Mike put a pot of water on the stove and got out the spaghetti and sauce while explaining the plan to his little sister. “Mr. Miller’s house is on Ridge Road and 22, that’s two and a half miles from here. If he still keeps his balloon gear in the barn we should be okay, but still, we have to be completely quiet when we get there. As soon as it gets dark, we’ll head out on our bikes…”
“I’ll get packed after dinner.” Lizzy said.
“No,” Mike said. “We bring nothing. We can’t risk taking one of those disease infected spiders.”
“Not even Squiggles?” Lizzy asked, hugging her monkey tight.
Mike put down the wooden spoon and took Squiggles from his sister. He looked closely at the monkey and squeezed it all over. “I guess you can take Squiggles.” He said.
Mike put some pasta on a plate and told Lizzy to take it up to Fiona. “Tell her we’re leaving in an hour.” He said. Lizzy sat there, staring at the plate. “Listen,” Mike said, “we all live in the same house, understand? If whatever it is got one of us, it’s probably got all of us, okay? Fiona is our sister, and most likely she caught a flu. If it was some new type of bio weapon it would’ve killed her already. Take this spaghetti up to your sister.”
Lizzy took the plate, a can of iced tea and silverware wrapped in a napkin, and went up the stairs. She pushed the door open on a dark room. “Fiona, you hungry?” She asked. Her sister didn’t answer. “Mike says we’re leaving in an hour.” Lizzy set the plate down on her sister’s nightstand, next to the uneaten eggs from breakfast. She turned the lamp on, which put a soft orange glow on her sister’s face. Lizzy could tell that she wasn’t really sleeping, she just had her eyes closed. “Come on you big faker!” She said. She took the edge of the blanket and ripped it off her sister, expecting a scream.
Her sister didn’t move. Fiona’s bare legs were splayed and between them was blood, all over the sheets and her sister’s thighs. Lizzy froze, unsure what she was really seeing, and then noticed some movement in the blood. She looked a little closer and saw hundreds of baby spiders, all crawling toward the edge of the bed leaving little bloody trails.
Lizzy screamed and jumped back, swatting frantically at her bare feet and ankles for a second before she ran from the room. She flew down the stairs and jumped up on a chair in the kitchen, looking all around. “What?” Mike said. “What is it?”
Lizzy opened up her mouth but didn’t have any words. Mike left the kitchen and went up the stairs. Lizzy heard his footsteps above her, entering the room she shared with her sister. She heard him stop, then take a couple of steps toward the bed then stop again, then run out of the room and down the stairs. “Get your shoes on, we’re leaving now!” He barked at Lizzy.
Lizzy checked her sneakers for spiders before she put them on. She grabbed Squiggles and went out the back door behind Mike. all he was taking with him was a flashlight. They headed for Ridge Road, pedaling hard.
“What’s that smell?” Lizzy asked.
“Fire,” Mike said, “look.” He pointed to three wide columns of black smoke rising in the evening sky. They made it to Ridge Road and the usually busy street was completely empty. Lizzy was out ahead of Mike. “How come you’re going so slow?” She asked him.
“I’m sick.” He said.
They rode the rest of the way to Mr. Miller’s place in silence. It was dark by the time they got there, and the lights were on in his living room. Mike told Lizzy to wait and snuck up onto the porch. Lizzy watched her brother look through the front window carefully. He came back down to the driveway and waved Lizzy over. “Dead,” he said when she got to him. “He’s right there on the floor.”
“Mike your voice sounds awful.” Lizzy said.
He ignored her comment and pedaled to the barn. He opened the big door and found a light switch. “Mr. Miller must’ve had the same idea,” Mike said. “This thing looks ready to go.” There was a brand new truck with a wicker basket, on its side in the back. Mike handed the flashlight to Lizzy and climbed up into the truck. He started the engine and called down to Lizzy to open the other big door.
Mike stopped long enough for Lizzy to jump up and get in the passenger seat, and then he drove right over Mr. Miller’s garden and out into the middle of the field. When he opened the door Lizzy could see in the interior light of the cab that Mike was as white as chalk. He opened the gate of the truck and yanked the wicker basket out onto the dirt. The balloon was folded in the basket, and Lizzy helped him pull the top of the balloon far out onto the field as far as it would go. They spread the balloon out like unfolding a huge bed-sheet. There was a giant fan with a motor like a lawnmower, and Mike had a tough time getting it to start. Lizzy stood behind him holding the flashlight, and she could see his fingers shaking. Finally he got the thing going and went and lifted the edge of the balloon to let the air in. He directed his sister where to point the fan.
Once the balloon was taking shape he went to the burner and looked at the small-screen controller and flipped through a bunch of screens and then pointed the flame-throwing end at the inside top of the balloon. “Cross your fingers.” He told his sister. She crossed fingers, arms, and legs too. The burner screamed and flames shot into the balloon, and started lifting it almost immediately. Lizzy was relieved.
“Mike, there were spiders crawling out of Fiona.”
“I know,” Mike said.
“Why?” Lizzy asked. “What happened?”
“The spiders aren’t spreading the bio-weapon like we thought. The spiders are the bio-weapon. You should take the flashlight and search every centimeter of the basket for spiders.” He said.
The basket started to lift upright and Mike shut the burner off as Lizzy began her inspection. As she looked he was programming something on the small-screen and checking gauges as best he could in the dark. He coughed violently and spit and then stomped on his spit in the dirt. “Why’d you do that?” Lizzy asked.
“Did you find any spiders?” He asked.
“No.” She said.
“You might have baby spiders hiding in your pockets or between the layers of fabric or something.” Mike said. “You should take off all your clothes, down to your underwear.”
“Why’d you step on your spit like that?” Lizzy asked.
“I coughed up some little spiders.” He said. “I got ’em. I should’ve listened to you and kept that mask on last night. How do you feel?”
“I’m okay I guess.” Lizzy said.
“Good. Clothes.” Mike said. She took off all her clothes except her underwear and Mike lifted her into the basket and handed her Squiggles.
“What about you?” Lizzy asked. “What about your clothes?”
“I’m not coming.” He said. He hit a button on the small-screen and flames shot out of the burner, loud and bright. Lizzy cringed. “I can feel them ripping up my guts.” He shouted over the noise.
“Mike, I can’t go up in this thing by myself!” Lizzy started crying. “I don’t know how to fly it. You have to come with me.”
“The wind should take you west,” he yelled. The balloon started to lift off the ground and Mike stood on the edge of the basket to keep it grounded a little longer. “When the sun comes up look for a good place to land.”
“I don’t know how!” Lizzy shouted.
Mike pointed. “The small-screen,” he yelled. “There’s only one button on that screen, and when you push it you should be on the ground within fifteen seconds. You’ve got enough fuel to keep you up there until midday tomorrow, so you can afford to be choosy about where you come down. Time to go.” He stepped off the basket and Lizzy’s stomach turned as she lifted into the air.
She wanted to look over the edge at her brother but she was too scared, she huddled down and pressed her face against Squiggles. She was carried up and up, and she could feel a breeze moving the balloon. She stayed that way for a long time, and almost panicked when the burner snapped off, but then realized she wasn’t falling, she was staying up in the air. It was peaceful without the burner going and she got the courage to stand up. She could see the lights in the distance and the smoke smell was getting stronger. She saw flames on a hill she was heading toward. The burner started again and she went higher as she approached the burning hillside. When she could see over it she saw flames stretching out in both directions, burning up all the forests around Rainbow Ridge. She was moving toward a wall of black smoke and Lizzy ducked down into the basket again.
She coughed and tried to hold her breath, but got a lungful of smoke. She squeezed her monkey tight and felt something move under her fingers. She squeezed him again, and again felt movement in the stuffing. She stood up, the smoke sending tears down her cheeks, and looked over the edge as best she could. There were flames everywhere beneath her. She pitched Squiggles down into the inferno. She was really alone now, all alone in the sky above her town, which was soon to be destroyed in the fire. She was moving slowly, quietly away, out of the smoke, away from the infested territory.
-back to table of contents-
For the Future