“What if he attacks us?” Sara said. She was going to be the Queen of Hearts, a role, she joked, that had been created just for her. Sara didn’t understand why little girls wanted to be princesses when they could be queens. Even her cell phone had a tiny dangling jewelled crown attached to it.
“He won’t do anything,” Colin said, and he wrapped his arms around Sara. “Not while I’m here.”
The man suddenly let out a stream of cuss words that made almost everyone on the bus blush. Colin’s cheeks reddened, and instantly he didn’t look so sure of himself. Letting go of Sara, he leaned back in his own seat and looked up. Reading the bus ads suddenly seemed more important than reassuring Sara.
Aries rolled her eyes and pressed the buzzer. They were getting off at the next stop. Colin would be able to leave without his cowardice being properly revealed. The moment they got to school Colin would probably tell the story about how he’d been preparing to stand up to the crazy guy on the bus. Then Sara would smile and kiss him on the cheek and pretend he was the hero he wanted to be. Aries would politely join in, keeping the secret truth to herself. Boys could be ridiculously stupid sometimes.
She looked back at the strange guy. He was still watching her. He’d put the book away, but he wasn’t getting up. One leg rested on the seat, slender fingers tapped absently at his knee. So intense-looking. She tried to place him; did he go to her school? She couldn’t tell for sure.
Colin got up out of his seat, clinging to the safety rail. Sara joined him. Aries zipped up her backpack and was about to move when the insane man turned around and looked right at her. She froze, half off the seat, when he reached out and grabbed her arm. His fingers were icy cold.
“Pretty girlie,” he said. “Brace yourself. It’s about to open.”
“Excuse me?”
“Couldn’t keep it closed forever. Too much hate. They found a crack. Let it out again. Here we go. Ten, nine, eight.” Spittle flung from the man’s lips, and his grip tightened on her arm.
“Let go of me,” Aries said. She pulled backward but it was useless. She grabbed hold of his filthy hand and tried to pry his fingers off. She didn’t want to touch him; his gray skin was clammy. His clothing was filthy and he smelled faintly of spoiled milk. Crumbs were stuck in his beard, and his cheeks were pockmarked and scabbed. Her stomach lurched as she asked him again to let go.
“Hey!” Colin yelled out, but he didn’t move to help. He was frozen. Sara stood beside him, her mouth wide-open, but no sounds came out.
“Seven, six, the cities are collapsing around us. Five!” the man said. “Game over! Four! Hear the screams. Feel the power! Three!”
The bus lurched, rising up over the top of something, and then crashed back to the ground. People fell forward in their seats. There were screams as several people slammed about in different directions. Colin staggered against Sara, sending her down the aisle and crashing against an old lady with groceries. Mandarin oranges rolled away, and a bottle of spaghetti sauce exploded. The strong smell of spiced tomatoes filled the air.
But Aries and the insane man didn’t move. His eyes were fixed on her. She looked right into them.
She expected his eyes to be bloodshot. Crazy people always had bloodshot eyes in books and movies. It was the standard insanity cliché. But his weren’t. They were something else.
The veins in his eyes were black.
“Two.”
The bus lurched again, the driver slammed on the brakes, and more people screamed. They came to a sudden stop in the middle of an intersection, and other cars honked their horns in protest. A sophomore girl was thrown forward, her purse dangling from her shoulders. Her back cracked against the metal railings. People surged out of their seats and onto the floor, trying to get free. But the doors weren’t opening. Men banged their fists against the glass windows.
Still Aries and the crazy man didn’t move.
“One.”
The ground exploded.
The bus staggered forward. The road beneath them began to break apart; pieces of concrete vibrated and scattered as if alive. A fire hydrant burst, and water surged upward, raining down into the intersection. Power lines swayed until wires tore and flayed violently. The lights from the businesses and street surged and went dark. Cars hit their brakes and crashed into one another. Through the window, Aries watched people trying to climb out of the wreckages, while others ran for the safety of the parking lot and sidewalks. Beside the intersection a grocery store rocked on its foundations. Glass shattered, sending tiny projectile missiles in all directions. People covered their heads with their hands to avoid being sliced apart. They fell over one another as they tried to keep their balance on the shaking ground.
A moment ago people were frantically trying to get off the bus. Now they turned and started pushing their way back in. The ground kept vibrating, and the bus groaned and heaved; a giant chunk of concrete smashed into it from behind, forcing the back of the bus up into the air several feet.
Aries could hear Sara calling her name, but she couldn’t see her through the confusion. People were all around her, crawling along the floor, climbing over the seats, banging against the glass to try to save themselves.
“What’s happening? What’s happening?” Someone kept repeating the words over and over. Another person was calling for help. Others were screaming. Over the noise, the crazy man began shouting something that sounded foreign. She couldn’t tell if he was laughing or crying.
Somewhere in the distance there was a loud explosion. The bus windows shattered, forcing Aries to cover her head and duck down between the seats. Bits of glass rained down on her, catching in her hair and bouncing off the backs of her hands. The crazy man had released his grip. She no longer heard him, but he was close. She could still smell the scent of sour milk.
A delivery truck sped through the intersection and crashed into the side of the bus. The collision was powerful; it rocked the bus, which tilted over onto its side. Aries grabbed hold of the seat and held on tightly. Bodies crashed against her. For a brief second she saw Colin’s face pressed up against her leg, but he disappeared quickly in the sea of struggling bodies.
The ground continued to shake.
Hours? Minutes?
And then it was over.
The bus was deathly quiet. Aries lay there, her back against the metal window frame and the broken cement, unable to think about anything. Her leg hurt but not enough to make her think it was broken. Liquid dribbled down her face, making her forehead itch insanely. She couldn’t free her hand to scratch or check if it was blood. Was she bleeding? She wasn’t sure. There was too much weight pressed against her chest. Her arms were stuck. Too many people were lying on top of her. Breathing deeply, she inhaled dust and started coughing. The taste of copper was heavy in the air.
Wiggling her fingers, she tried to pull her hand free. She had to yank hard; her arm was stuck underneath someone’s back. She pushed against the body weighing her down, almost screaming when the head rolled toward her, showing the insane man’s face. A tightness stretched across her chest, cold air filled her lungs, and she was positive she’d stopped breathing. The edge of her vision darkened into a tunnel. She was going to pass out.
What if he woke up? His lips were practically touching her cheek. The sour milk smell invaded her nose. If he moved she was going to have a heart attack on the spot. She looked straight up through the broken windows and at the sky. Pictured how good the fresh air would feel against her skin once she got free.
A hand reached out. “Here,” a voice said. Fingers tightened around hers, giving them a soft squeeze. The hand was warm and soft. Firm. Reassuring. The dark-haired guy appeared in front of her. With his free arm, he grabbed hold of the crazy man’s jacket, yanking the body backward and off of her.
“Is that better?”
She nodded. Somehow she managed to find her legs somewhere in all that clutter and she brought them up to her chest. The guy continued to hold her hand, helping h
er maintain balance while she struggled to her knees.
“Sara?” Her voice was loud and strained.
The bus was full of bodies, some of them moving, most of them still. Grabbing hold of a seat’s metal railing, she pulled herself up until she was standing. The seats were still bolted to what was now the side of the bus, crowding the small amount of free space. Bits of glass quivered above her head, raining down the occasional shard.
There were so many bodies.
“Let’s look for her,” the guy said.
He was still holding her hand, and she allowed him to gently lead her toward the front. She stepped through the bodies, stopping to check the faces of everyone she passed. What had Sara been wearing? She couldn’t remember. Her jacket? A hoodie? Which one? Other people started to get up, staggering and tripping as they tried to make their way off. Because the bus was lying on its side, they couldn’t go through the door, so someone took one of the emergency hammers off the wall and smashed his way through the front window. A woman whose arm was bent awkwardly began to climb over the steering wheel to get outside. Other people searched around, looking for their friends and family members. She saw Colin step over the body of the elderly lady. His foot came down on one of the mandarin oranges, squishing it into a mushy pulp.
“Help me,” she called out. “I can’t find Sara.”
But Colin ignored her. She could see in his eyes that he was set on getting free. Unfocused. Rattled. His hair was sticking up and his cheek was splotchy with grime. She’d never seen him look dirty before. Even his fingernails had been meticulously clean. He moved past her, never giving her a second glance.
She thought about calling after him, but it seemed pointless. Instead she concentrated on methodically moving among the bodies, desperately searching for her friend. Voices called out, pleading, asking for help. Someone screamed for his mother, begging her to come because he couldn’t understand where he was. Everywhere was pain and death. A few hands reached out weakly for her, and she helped free a man from underneath an unconscious woman. The man’s ankle was broken and beginning to swell but he still managed to crawl toward the front. She continued to look for Sara, but she wasn’t there.
“Why don’t we check outside?” the guy said. She nodded and allowed him to put his arm around her. It seemed like the right thing to do. His body was warm, and the muscles beneath his jacket pressed against her, drawing her in, comforting her.
Maybe Sara had already managed to get out?
An overly pregnant woman struggled to stand from between two crushed seats. “Please, help me,” she said.
The stranger let go of Aries and they both put their arms around the stunned woman. Blood trickled down her forehead from where she’d smashed her face into the window. The three of them stumbled through the front window and onto the broken street. There were benches at the bus stop, and they helped the woman over and sat her down. Another woman came over to lend a hand. Blood seeped from a gash in her forehead, but she crouched down beside the expectant mother and began talking to her calmly.
The first thing that struck Aries was the lack of noise. There were so many people standing around, many of them covered in blood and injured. But they were quiet. They moved about, some helping one another, barely uttering a single word.
The street was destroyed. Most of the concrete was torn apart; it lay in piles, strewn across the ground. There was broken glass everywhere. It crunched beneath her feet. The sun was beginning to set; the sky was filled with pinks and purples. Long shadows spread out across the ground. Normally by now the street lamps would start to switch on, but with the power out, there would be no city glow. Soon everything would be pitch-black. Aries shuddered. The thought of being on the streets once the sun went down was enough to make her feel like she was five years old and terrified of closet monsters or things that hid under the bed.
The building on the corner had imploded. It used to be a grocery store. Now it was nothing but a pile of debris. Shopping carts lay on their sides where the parking lot used to be. Some of the wheels were still spinning. How many people were trapped inside? There were dozens of cars in the lot, many of them rolled over on their sides. The smell of gasoline was strong.
Walking the length of the bus, she studied the faces of everyone around her. She moved between the groups, bending down to check people lying on the ground. There were a lot of dazed and pained expressions, but none of them were familiar. None of them were Sara.
One of the drivers had a first aid kit in his trunk. He opened it and began handing out supplies. The stranger from the bus came over holding a sterile white bandage. “You’re bleeding.” He brought the gauze up to Aries’s forehead and pressed gently against her skin. “Hold this. Are you all right?”
She put her hand up, fingers touching against his as she took control of the bandage. She pressed carefully against her own skin but there was no pain. When she pulled the cloth away there was dark blood. “I don’t think it’s mine,” she said. “I’m not hurt.”
“Good. Did you find your friend?”
She shook her head.
“Well, let’s try the bus again. We’ll keep looking for her.” The guy turned back toward the wreckage, and she followed. She liked his calmness, the way he carried his body when he walked. It made her feel safe. Stronger. She saw Colin standing in the road and thought about calling out to him but then changed her mind. He’d ignored her before; she doubted he’d be much help now.
“What happened?” she asked as they climbed back on the bus.
“Earthquake,” the guy said. His eyes flickered in the dying sunlight. “It’s like the ground just opened up and swallowed us whole.”
Brace yourself. It’s about to open.
The crazy man had said that just before he started his countdown.
But how was that possible? No one could predict earthquakes—could they?
“Sara has to be in here,” Aries said, her voice sounding heavy and strange in her ears. “She’s blond. Wears glasses. I need to find her.”
“We’ll find her.”
“I can’t remember what she’s wearing.”
“I saw her sitting with you. I know what she looks like.”
“Isn’t that weird that I can’t remember? I should know. She’s my best friend. Oh, God. What if she’s dead? I’ve got to tell her mom.”
The guy turned and placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked into his eyes, wondering how they could be dark and piercing but friendly and soft at the same time. She tried to recall if she knew his face. He seemed familiar in a vague sort of way. Did they go to school together?
“We’ll find her,” he repeated.
And they did. But by then it was too late.
CLEMENTINE
Outside, the wind pressed against the small town hall, shaking the windows and seeping through the cracks. A major draft blew across the floor, numbing the noses and ears of everyone seated. The room had been built more than a hundred years ago when the town of Glenmore was first established. Wonderful inventions such as insulation didn’t exist back then. No wonder the people looked sad and depressed in the black-and-white pictures decorating the walls.
Clementine sat squished between her mother and father, second row from the back and right by the aisle and entrance. The meeting was for seven, but they’d arrived late; Mom had been desperately trying to reach Heath on the phone, but all the lines were down. Heath was in Seattle getting a degree in computer programming.
A lot of people were dead in Seattle. The earthquake had destroyed most of the West Coast, from California to Alaska.
Clementine didn’t believe for a second that Heath was dead. Mom had one of those built-in sensor detectors that went off whenever her children were in trouble. She’d known immediately when Clementine fell from the pyramid during cheerleading practice and sprained her ankle. When Heath got into a car accident, she’d called him less than a minute after to make sure he wasn’t hurt. Her spider senses tingled w
hen her family was in trouble. If Heath was dead, she’d know.
When Washington got their phone lines working again, they’d receive a phone call or e-mail from Heath, joking about how he was shaking things up in the city and telling them not to worry.
But there was always the possibility that wasn’t true. Who knew how these mother/child instincts worked? Maybe there was some sort of time-zone limitation?
“If we don’t reach him by tomorrow morning, I’m driving to Seattle myself,” Mom said just before they left for the town meeting.
“Come on, honey,” Dad said. “I’m sure Heath is fine. They’ll get the lines fixed and he’ll call. Just give it a few more days. You’ll see.”
But Dad wasn’t confident with his words. As he’d spoken, he’d stared at the ceiling and hadn’t taken Mom’s hand as he normally did when he was trying to be reassuring. So Clementine knew that tomorrow morning Mom would load up the SUV and take the two-day trip to Seattle. She decided now that she’d go too. She’d miss the big game on Friday, but that wasn’t nearly as important as making sure her brother was alive. Part of her was excited about the journey. She’d never taken a road trip west before. The other part of her was terrified and guilt ridden.
Dear Heath, you’d better be okay. You promised me that if I ever made it west to Seattle you’d take me sightseeing. I guess that’s out of the question. In all honesty, knowing you’re safe is more important than getting the chance to see the rock ’n’ roll museum.
The town hall was crowded. Almost everyone was there. Glenmore was small, just under a thousand people, but nonetheless, the tiny building could barely fit all of them. Craig Strathmore, the linebacker, was five rows up from her. He’d waved to her when they’d walked in, a gesture that warmed her stomach. As far as farm boys went, he was one nice piece of cowboy. Up toward the front, Clementine saw Jan and Imogene, other cheerleaders she hung out with. They were sitting with their parents too. It was obvious that neither of them had come willingly. Jan played with a strand of her hair, lazily scanning the crowd with a bored frown on her face. She turned and spotted Clementine, than made a big show of rolling her eyes and shrugging her shoulders. Clementine grinned back.