The End Boxset: Postapocalyptic Visions of an Unstoppable Collapse Read online

  The problem with assigned seating was that sometimes you ended up sitting in front of people like Mark Nelson who would always ask you the answers for the math questions. It was the third week of middle school, and although Kiya seemed to be adjusting fine, there was one person she couldn't stand. His name was Mark Nelson. He was helpless. He was pathetic. He was...needy. So just because Kiya did her work and studied hard, he expected the answers? Was it because she was a girl and he was a boy? Were girls expected to give boys answers? Had the world gone mad? This was the last straw, if she didn't let Mark know to leave her alone, the charade would continue through the entire school year. She had to put an end to it. She was going to turn around and rip him to shreds. She was going to make him cry right there in class in front of everyone. That would be the price he paid for the way he would talk too loud even when he was whispering. For the way he asked her for answers. For the way that he sat behind her breathing loudly all day, every day.

  At the third request, Kiya turned around to face her opponent. Her mouth was forming the words she was going to say. She took a deep breath when suddenly the lights in the classroom went out. For a moment she was momentarily distracted, but wanted to continue on with the plan to destroy Mark Nelson. Before she could get the words out, a distant explosion rumbled the classroom. A few framed pictures fell to the wall. Then silence. Mrs. Crabtree stood up and walked over to the window to investigate.

  Past soccer field and the trees beyond the school, a gorgeous blaze danced in the sky.

  “My God...,” Mrs. Crabtree said. Some of the kids moved from their desk and to the window. Soon the entire class followed suit. “Whoa,” a boy said causing more interest among the students. Mrs. Crabtree raised her arms as to create order.

  “Children! Children please go back to your desks. It's just a forest fire. Let's all take out seats—”

  “Who turned out the lights?” a red-headed girl dramatically interrupted.

  “Erika, everyone can see just fine. Don't try to start a panic. Get in your seats!” Mrs. Crabtree persisted.

  The class grumbled and moved away from the window and slowly back to their desks.

  Mrs. Crabtree took another look out the window of the classroom, then slowly moved to the front of the class, thinking. Kiya felt that it would be hard to get back to the math exercises after that little interruption. Plus she lost the rage needed to tell off Mark Nelson. Now what was she going to do? Mrs. Crabtree turned to face the class.

  “I'm going to find out what’s going on. I'll need one of you to be the teacher's assistance while I'm gone. Do I have any volunteers?” she asked.

  None of the children raised their hands. They knew better.

  “Okay, well, we'll do this the easier way,” she said as she pointed to a random student. No one within her range was immediately sure if she had pointed at them or not. Every student tried to quickly look away.

  “Shelly,” she said pointing.

  “Shelly Ackerman, come up here and sit at my desk.”

  The little blonde girl had no choice but to move. Any stalling would have made things worse. Kiya took a deep sigh of relief. She was only a few desks from Shelly.

  Mrs. Crabtree looked to the class and continued, “I want you to treat Shelly with the same respect you would show me. She has the right to report any bad behavior to me. And I will take the appropriate action. Now, I'll be right back. In the meantime, continue your math exercises.”

  “But I can't see anything!” the red-headed girl shouted from the back of the class.

  “Erika, don't be smart. Everyone can see just fine with the natural light from outside.”

  Mrs. Crabtree left the room as Shelly nervously took a seat at the teacher's desk. The minute the door shut a paper ball from the back of the class room struck Shelly in the forehead. Laughter followed. Shelly scowled at the boys in the back.

  Mrs. Crabtree walked down the hall and noticed a group of other teachers huddled by the school lockers. “So what's going on with the power?” she asked.

  One of the teachers, Mr. Barone, looked to her as the others murmured among themselves.

  “None of us are really sure. Just seems like a standard power outage.”

  “And the explosion?” Mrs. Crabtree asked.

  Another teacher interjected, “That's what we're trying to figure out.”

  “Where's the principle?” another teacher barked.

  “Probably on the phone with the power company.” Mr. Barone replied.

  “Well let's hope he's doing something. Nothing works. Did you guys try your cell phones?” Another teacher, Ms. Whitten, asked the group

  The group seemed to indicate that they hadn't as she continued, “Mine won’t’ even turn on for some reason.”

  Mr. Barone scratched his scruffy chin. “Hmmm, that is strange.”

  Inside the classroom, Shelly continued to face the barrage of torment from the teacher’s desk. Though she tried to look preoccupied and flip through a magazine, the boys in the back continued.

  “Sheeeeehlly,” they called.

  They repeated it in unison until she finally snapped. “What?!” she demanded.

  “You smell like cat turds,” a boy said. Then they would laugh.

  Kiya felt bad for Shelly and wondered if she should try to stick up for her. But this was risky business. It was only the third week of school and she didn't want to create any first impressions that would stay with her the entire year. She just wanted Mrs. Crabtree to come back so the taunts against Shelly would stop. The chanting continued:

  “Shelly.”

  “Shelly Ackerman.”

  “Butt-sniffer-says-what?”

  “Shelly.”

  “Shelly Akerman the crapper man.”

  “Why don't you idiots just shut up?” she yelled. But her anger would just make them laugh harder. Suddenly Mrs. Crabtree entered the room, much to Shelly’s relief. Behind her trailed the principle of the school, Mr. Wright. He was a strange, fickly man, with a dated flattop haircut. He wore glasses at the end tip of his nose. The glasses themselves had a string connected that rested around his neck. This was the first thing Kiya noticed about him as he carefully made his way to the front of the class, surveying the children.

  “You can take your seat now, Shelly, thank you,” Mrs. Crabtree said as she motioned towards the other students. Shelly scurried back to her seat as Mrs. Crabtree continued, “Class, let me have your attention please.” The talking and laughing of the class slowly faded. “Our principle, Mr. Wright, wanted to say a few words about today’s events.”

  “Did you guys forget to pay the power bill again?” Thomas Cassie, a troublemaker, bellowed from the back of the class. Collective laughter followed almost immediately. “That’s enough. Now, quiet!” Mrs. Crabtree demanded. The students did as they were told. Mr. Wright stared at the large eraser board with the day’s lesson on it in and then turned around to address the class.

  “I wanted to speak to this class first, because most of you are the youngest of all the children in the school. Well, at least those of you who haven’t been held back for one reason or another.” Mr. Wright’s quick glance met Thomas Cassie, causing Thomas to shamefully look down at his desk. “There are a few things you should know about today’s events. I want to make it very clear, as clear as can be, that there is to be no panic or disorderly conduct permitted for the rest of the day.”

  Not a child in the classroom knew what he was talking about at this point. The bored stares of children rested on Mr. Wrights continual pacing in the front of the class room.

  “There will be no panic because there is no reason to panic. As long as you are at the school, you are safe. It seems that there has been a major power outage that has taken out the main power to the school. We can’t, at the moment, figure out why our backup assistance hasn’t sustained operations—“

  “Mr. Wright, remember this is a sixth grade class.” Mr. Wright turned to Mrs. Crabtree clearly annoyed. “I�
��m sorry?” he said. “What I’m saying is that I think you’re confusing them,” she responded while trying to keep her voice at a whisper.

  Mr. Wright looked to the class, then back to Mrs. Crabtree. “Oh, I see. Very well.” He slightly paused to get his thoughts together. “What I’m trying to say is that there is nothing to worry about and we have everything under control. Isn’t that right, Mrs. Crabtree?”

  “Yes, that’s right,” Mrs. Crabtree declared with a nod.

  “The main problem is that we don’t know exactly what is going on, and we certainly don’t want to put our students in any danger. What we’re going to do is keep everyone in the school until we get more details from the authorities.” Loud groans filled the classroom. Mr. Wright attempted to continue, “Hold on class. Please, it’s only temporary and standard protocol for your own safety.”

  “What’s the fire outside from?” Betsy Hamilton, a straight-A student who sat in the front row asked.

  Mr. Wright glanced outside to see the flames and shifted back to Betsy. “That? It could be a forest fire, or it could be something else, we don’t know for sure.”

  “This sucks, I want to go home!” Thomas Cassie shouted.

  “Me too,” another boy chimed in.

  The objections started to grow more loudly, irritating Mr. Wright to no end. He rubbed his forehead then unleashed a furious tirade.

  “That’s quite enough! I don’t want to hear another word. The next child that speaks out of turn receives an automatic suspension from school. Period! The school is officially on lock down. No one gets to leave, no one gets to come in, got it?” The class sat stunned following the outburst. Mrs. Crabtree wasn’t sure of what to say either, as her curious expression indicated.

  “And if you don’t believe me, try me. I dare you. Go ahead and try me. Because if I hear of a single incident happening in this classroom, it’s an automatic suspension. Are we clear on that?”

  The class was still silent. No one was really sure of what they were clear on.

  Mr. Wright continued, “Okay good. Now just remain in your classroom at your desks and make sure not to give your teacher a hard time.” Mr. Wright looked at his watch then shook it a few times. It didn’t appear to be working. He tried to conceal his anger with the watch malfunction as he provided his closing remarks. “Everything will be fine, just hang tight for a little bit.” Mr. Wright walked to the exit, nodded at Mrs. Crabtree, and waved to the children. “I’ll be back to check-in with your classroom in a little bit. Be good.”

  The door closed. The full weight of what Mr. Wright said started to sink in among the children. Groans became louder, rising to the level of a hundred conversations going on at once. Kiya looked around the class in full confusion. She did not like her principle, having met him for the second time, the first being on orientation day. He seemed to be in over his head, and not very good with children. How he became principle of a middle school Kiya was unsure of.

  Mrs. Crabtree raised her arms to signal the class to order. “That’s enough, class. You heard what Mr. Wright had to say. Remain in your seats until you have permission to leave. As soon as we can, we will contact your parents to come get you.”

  Lock down? What were they taking about? Could a school do this? Were they prisoners now? Kiya tried to figure out these questions with the same ease as her math assignments. Only this time there were no easy answers, only more troubling questions.

  Chapter 10: Brian and Tobias: In the Woods

  Tobias and Brian came to a clearing in the road, at least a mile past the school. They stopped for a moment as if thinking the same thing. “Why are all these people standing outside their cars?” Tobias asked. It looked like a mild traffic jam, but there was no accident. Cars were just stopped on the road, the passengers outside, befuddled and annoyed. Tobias looked to Brian.

  “Holy crap, your face!”

  “What? What’s wrong with it?” Brian asked.

  “It’s—I don’t know—messed up.” Tobias answered.

  Brian felt the lumps on his face. Tears welled in his eyes, but he tried to hold back from completely bawling in front of both Tobias and the people who were wandering around. The fire still illuminated in the distance. “I don’t know exactly what’s going on, but we need to get some place safe. If a cop sees us or something, they’re going to take us right back to school and call our parents,” Tobias said.

  Brian could hold back no more and started uncontrollably sobbing. “Dude, no,” Tobias said.

  But the emotion was beyond Brian’s control. He tumbled to the ground weeping and just sat there, as tears rolled and the sobs continued in full force. Tobias placed a hand on Brian’s shoulder. “Come on man, we have to get moving.” “I can’t—I can’t help it, okay?” Brian shouted back. “Everyone in school saw it. How can I ever go back there? And my mom? Of course she’s going to know what happened. Why—” Brian stopped for a moment, “Why couldn’t you just throw your trash in the garbage like everyone else?”

  Tobias took a step back. “So it’s my fault then?”

  “That’s not what I’m saying.”

  “I agree. It probably was my fault. But if you expected me to jump in there or do something, you’re insane. What could I have done? It would have been both of us with lumps on our faces,” Tobias said.

  From a distance, people began conversing about their inoperable cars and how nothing was making sense. A couple was talking to another, while a man next to them opened the hood to his Ford Taurus trying to investigate the problem. Every single person seemed to have their cell phone out, examining them deeply, as if they were foreign objects. Foreign only because, this time, they didn’t seem to be working. “Forget it. I’m not going to argue with you. I just want to go home,” Brian said wiping his tears away. Tobias extended an arm to help Brian get off the ground. Brian took his arm and rose up. “Okay,” Tobias said nodding, “Okay, you want to go home? Call your mom or whatever and have her come get you.”

  “I don’t have a cellphone,” Brian answered.

  “Huh?” Tobias remarked in disbelief.

  “I don’t have a cellphone. She told me I’d have to wait until my birthday.”

  Tobias dug into his pocket, pulled out his cell phone, and handed it to Brian.

  “Here, use mine.”

  Brian took the cellphone, it was blank. He tried to turn it but nothing happened.

  “It’s not working,” Brian said.

  “Did you dial the right number?” Tobias asked.

  “I mean its dead or something. There’s no power,” Brian quipped.

  Tobias grabbed the phone. “Let me see.”

  Tobias looked at the screen, perplexed. He tried to turn it on as well, but nothing. “Maybe I forgot to charge it,” he said. He started to put the phone back in his pocket, but couldn’t resist trying again. “This is insane, man,” Tobias said holding the phone out in front of him. He gave up and placed it back in his pocket. He looked to Brian. “The first thing we need to do is get away from all these people. We can go to my place if we cut through the woods. When my mom gets home she can drive you home. You’ll get home and no one will know anything happened.”

  “What about my face?”

  “We’ll put some ice on it.”

  Brian thought to himself. He wasn’t sure what move to make. His day was rapidly going down the toilet, and it didn’t seem that things were going to get much better from here on out.

  “Hey boys!” an elderly woman called from a distance.

  Startled, Brian and Tobias turned to face her. She was walking away from her Buick, currently parked in the middle of the road. She was wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt and seemed old enough to be their great-grandmother. They remained in place as a result of their curiosity as she neared.

  “I was wondering if either of you had a phone. I need to call a tow truck,” she said.

  She apparently wasn’t the only person having car trouble that day, as about thirty other
people littered the road hovering around their cars and viewing the blaze in the distance.

  Tobias spoke first, “Sorry ma’am, my cell phone doesn’t work. It’s dead.”

  Her eyes went from affectionate to disappointed almost immediately.

  “Oh,” she said, “I see.” She walked away from the boys back to her car to presumably wait for help that would never come.

  Tobias leaned within an earshot to Brian. “I’m telling you man, we need to cut through the woods.”

  The road ahead went on for miles. These were miles of uncertainty the two boys didn’t want to risk. All they could make out were people and cars. Cars that weren’t moving. It’s like everyone just stopped driving and decided to walk instead. Brian had a quick thought about all the crap his mom had been talking about through the years. He remembered her talking about the end of times. How she was always planning and planning and trying to teach them how to grow food and all that other stuff. This couldn’t have been what she was talking about. This looked more like one big traffic jam.

  Brian followed Tobias as they veered into a path towards the woods. Once they became concealed behind the trees and bushes Tobias sighed in relief. “So far so good, man. We’re away from all those people. Just follow me and we’ll be at my house in no time.”

  “How do you know the way?” Brian asked, trying to keep up. All he could see was his friend’s back. “Huh?” Tobias asked while looking ahead.

  “I said how do you know the way?”

  “I’ve went through these woods before. This isn’t the first time I skipped school.”