“Where are the birds?” Georgia asked. Her tall frame was sitting on the curb. She stared at the sky. “There are no seagulls, no bugs. Where is everything?”
“Seagulls are starting to come back to the beach,” Elle stated. “Everything else is dead.”
“Are we breathing poison right now?” Jay asked.
“The probability of that scenario is slim,” Pix piped up, pulling her red beanie around her forehead. “More likely than not, Omega launched chemical rockets at the city that killed the population with Sarin gas. It kills on contact with the skin, but it doesn’t linger in the air.”
“One and done,” Georgia deadpanned, pulling a cigarette out of her jacket pocket. She lit it with a match, took a drag, and puffed the smoke into the air. “Omega knows what they’re doing, you can’t argue with that.”
Elle nodded.
“Yeah,” she said. “Besides, Omega wouldn’t have come back to the city if they were going to be poisoned by their own weapons.”
“You sure about that?” Jay asked.
“Pretty sure.”
“Maybe we just haven’t been affected yet.”
Elle rolled her eyes. “I would be dead by now if that was the case,” she said. “Come on. Follow me.”
“Three cheers for Follow the Leader,” Georgia drawled.
Elle led them away from Nadia’s Market, two blocks backward. The sky was cloudy today. It looked like it might rain again.
“Where do you live?” Jay asked.
Elle gave him a look.
“Okay, okay.” Jay threw his hands up. “I was just asking a question, kid.”
Elle didn’t like being called kid. In fact, she didn’t like talking to Jay at all. He didn’t seem to relish being given tips by a girl that was about half his size. But he needed her to survive, and that gave Elle a little bit of satisfaction.
“There,” Elle said, stopping. “We’re here.”
They followed Elle into an alleyway. She paused at a garbage can halfway down the street. She pushed it aside, revealing a small door. It was rusty and looked abandoned.
The kids looked confused.
Elle opened the door.It creaked. She stepped down. It was cold and damp. She descended down a flight of steps, stopping in complete darkness. She grabbed a flashlight from her backpack and flicked it on.
“That looks dangerous,” Flash whispered.
He wore wiry round glasses that balanced on the tip of his nose. He pushed them up and looked at Elle. “Is this secure?” he stated from the opening.
“It was the last time I was here,” Elle said. “Come on.”
“What is this place?” Jay asked. None of the kids were moving.
“It’s a cache.” Elle shined the flashlight in Jay’s face. “Are you going to make me do this alone, or do I have to drag you guys down here?”
Jay grimaced. He hesitantly climbed down the steps. Georgia, Flash and Pix followed suit. Elle handed Jay her spare flashlight.
“Stay quiet,” Elle whispered.
The room was wide, packed with stacks of pallets on which were canned goods and packaged containers of food, like ramen noodles and fruit cocktail.
“Oh, my god,” Georgia muttered. “How did you find this place, shortstack?”
“A few weeks ago,” Elle explained. “It was somebody’s hidden cache, and I’m guessing they’re dead, because they haven’t been back.” Elle paused. “I’ve been adding to the supplies myself. I won’t eat anything unless I can replace it.”
“Is it safe?” Pix asked.
Elle gave her a look.
“Of course not,” Elle replied.
Elle slid between two rows of pallets, next to Flash. The boy was staring at a pile of canned vegetables.
“Why do they call you Flash?” Elle whispered. “Are you a fast runner or something?”
The boy touched one of the cans, a glazed expression on his face.
He was starving. Elle could see it.
“No,” he replied. “Flash. Like the flash drive for a computer.”
“You’re good with computers?”
Flash grinned slightly.
“Yeah. A little.”
The silence was cut by the sound of Georgia’s piercing scream.
Chapter Five
Elle’s head echoed with Georgia’s shriek. She sprinted to the other side of the basement storeroom. The girl was pressed against the wall, grabbing Jay’s arm. They were staring at something on the ground.
It was a dead body. A woman. A puddle of dried, pungent blood had pooled beneath the base of her skull. She’d been shot in the head. Her body was just beginning to smell.
“What the hell kind of a place is this?” Georgia breathed.
Elle spun around and held a finger to her lips. Hadn’t she told these idiots to be quiet? But did they listen? No.
Elle took a cautious step forward and peered at the woman’s head. She was middle age, salt-and-pepper hair cut to the chin. There was a small red dot in the center of her forehead. A perfect kill shot.
“Somebody’s been trying to steal my stuff,” Elle whispered.
“I say we get out of here,” Georgia replied.
“And do what? Let whoever shot this lady take all of this food?” Elle shook her head. “No way. I need this food to stay alive — and so do you, now that you’re here.”
Something rustled at the far end of the basement. Elle dropped to the ground, behind a pallet stacked with food. Flash and Pix huddled close to her, with Georgia and Jay right behind them.
“What is it?” Jay hissed. “Elle?”
Fear coiled in the pit of her stomach.
“Someone’s inside,” she whispered.
She nodded toward the other side of the basement, where she’d heard the noise.
“Let’s go,” Pix said. Her tiny voice was trembling. “Please.”
“And leave the food to someone else?” Elle demanded.
“Is it worth dying over?” Jay pointed out. “We should go.”
But Elle was already moving. She crawled on the floor, hiding behind pallets. She drew her bowie knife from her hip sheath, keeping a firm grip on the handle. She flicked her flashlight off, listening, controlling her breathing. The kids still had their flashlight on, illuminating a shred of the basement. She saw a flicker of a shadow on the far back wall.
Ah, there you are.
Whoever was inside was trying to stay hidden, too. At some point Jay recovered from his shock and realized that his flashlight was like a beacon, leading the invaders in the basement straight to their position. He flicked the light off, and all was dark, silent.
Elle didn’t move. She strained her ears for a noise, a tiny indication of human presence. She sat there for several tense minutes, sweat running down her forehead. She heard a shuffling noise, like someone was slowly moving around the far side of the pallet a few feet in front of her. She gripped her knife.
Bam!
The stack of canned vegetables collapsed next to Elle’s shoulder, toppling over her head. She covered her neck with her hands as the tower rained down, leaving bruises. The metal cans hit the cement. It sounded like something had exploded inside the basement. Elle felt her body being shoved aside. It took her just a split second to realize that someone was touching her.
She instinctively grabbed at the figure. She couldn’t see anything, but she felt a leg. She tightened her fingers around the material of a pant-leg and slashed up with her knife. There was a yelp of pain, and the figure collapsed on the pile of scattered cans. Elle slashed again. Whoever it was — a man, Elle guessed — kicked back, slamming Elle’s small body against another pallet. More cans fell down.