(song: "River" - Oh Be Clever)
I grab hold of Serena's hand, we collect our backpacks and bolt from the room. Alo's family is already rushing to grab their things and get them down in the basement. The two twins cry loudly in confusion as the sounds grow louder and more frequent.
"Alo! Wait!" I call out to him.
Alo hefts a backpack over his shoulder and glares at me "What? There is no time to talk."
"We're not staying, we're going to go," I say hastily.
Alo hisses through his teeth. "Are you insane? These meteors are much bigger than the ones we dealt with yesterday. You both could die out there."
"Please, we just really need the gas," Serena says.
"You'll find the cans in the garden shed, but go now. It doesn't sound like there's much time left before one of those meteors hit here," Alo advises.
"Thank you, thank your family too. You all have been great!" I say on my way for the door.
Once we're outside we can see the streaks in the sky. They're no longer burning lights in the distance, they're waves of fire, smoke, and heat. When these meteors land the cliffs far ahead of us crumble and clouds of dust and fire shoot out like water geysers. Boulders and large rocks tumble down mountainsides and the ground shakes beneath our feet.
We don't let go of each other, even if it means we stumble for balance. With each meteor that lands, the small garden shed trembles. I can hear clay pots and tools falling over inside it. I throw the door open and one of the shelves inside is tipped over with the contents rolling on the floor. Just past it, I can see the red gas cans.
I grab one side of the shelf. "Help me lift this!"
"Is leaving here really the right thing to do?" Serena asks as she holds the other end for me.
I shake my head and begin to lift up the shelf. "I don't know. It might be safer to stay here. These people are nice and their basement might be secure enough, no one knows. At this point asking you to get into the car with me is putting your life at risk. I just know that I can't stay here and I can't ask you to come with me."
"Logan, no matter how this ends, I'm not leaving you," she stresses.
The shelf is finally upright and I can reach the gas cans with ease. She takes one and I keep the other. I hold out my free hand to Serena to see if she'll take it. She doesn't even wait for a beat before locking her fingers with mine.
"Okay, then. Let's go!" I shout.
We run across the dirt and leap over the small garden rows. Flaming large meteors shoot above us aiming for the canyons and rivers we drove past yesterday. My car is disguised by bushes and branches near the ledge that overlooks Alo's home. Serena tosses our things into the backseat and sweeps the dry foliage off the hood of the car while I fill the tank as fast as I can.
"That's good enough, we can save the rest for later!" she yells so I can hear her above the destruction.
A meteor the size of a basketball slams into the ledge near us. The force of it is strong enough to knock us off our feet and onto the ground. The earth shakes and the rock bed begins to crumble and tilt. Serena tries to regain her footing but the ground gives away under her and she screams, clawing at the sand as she slides towards the ledge. I throw my whole body forward and desperately try to grab hold of her hand before she slips away completely.
Our hands touch and I pull her up with all the upper strength I have until she's in my arms. She hugs me, scared and grateful all at once, but there's no time to waste. We get into my car and just as the tires sputter across the sand, the rest of the ledge breaks off.
I watch Alo & Aya's home from my rear-view mirror. Fire rains down from the heavens and dust surround everything. Their house is fine though, maybe they'll make it. Please let them make it.
After an hour we reach the Four Corners rest area. It's completely abandoned. No cars and no one working their job. Trash cans are turned over and the garbage has been raided by hungry, misplaced wildlife. I can see the sign for New Mexico and it's a relief; we just have to make it through and we'll be in Texas.
We take turns driving over the next several hours, especially since Serena seems to get the hang of it now. When she goes to sleep she rests her head against my shoulder and holds my hand.
I love her. The more she looks at me or smiles at me, the more I love her.
She stirs from a nap and rubs at the corner of her eye. "Where are we?"
"South of Albuquerque," I answer.
Serena wipes her face with her fingers and ties off her hair into a bun. "Let's see how the world is doing." She turns on the radio. We avoided listening to it because we didn't want to know what was going on, but now we needed to know.
"—this is Jon of the Jon and Ron hour, not that it even matters anymore. Ron is somewhere with his family trying to find safety. No one is left in our studio, just me. I refuse to leave because I feel you—the public—have a right to know what's going on. Since phones aren't working, those of you out there with HAM radios can still reach me. Anyway folks, here's what I know—the airlines have stopped operating, the borders have closed and several major cities have experienced increased meteor activity and these cities were in the so-called 'green zones'. Ladies and gentlemen, there are no green zones. Seek underground shelters and if you have the means to go south, do it. Go as far as you can—"
Serena turns it off. "My dad's in Mexico City and my mom is with her boyfriend in southern Florida. Do you think they're safe?"
"Safer than we were in Washington state."
She leans back into her seat and stares at the sky longingly. "Logan, after we find your family, I need to find mine."
"I'll help you find them."
"You don't have to do that."
"I know, but I want to," I say.
Serena turns back on the radio. The only stations left are news stations, there's no more music and no advertisements. They report looting and riots in cities across the northern hemisphere of the world. There is reported damage to the hoover dam, damage to the needle in Seattle and fires all across the nation. We keep hoping to hear news about Fullerton, but it's too small of a town for them to mention. The President being in Peru is confirmed and it fills me with disgust. How could they have known this was going to happen and leave us all here to just hide in libraries thinking we'd be safe?
"Turn it off," I say irritably.
She follows my request and places a hand on my arm to comfort me. "I hope they're okay too."
"I shouldn't have left them behind." My mood is too heavy to pull out of.
"What could you have done? They wouldn't have believed you and you couldn't have convinced their families to leave."
"I should have tried. I'm a horrible person and an even worse friend," I say, swallowing down the lump of emotion in my throat. "You know, Peter and I were really close until my grandmother died. I became really depressed and he didn't know how to deal with it. Everything in his life was great and everything in my life felt. . . less than great. During that time he started hanging around the more sporty kids at school like Cory Kinner while I escaped into horror movies. He became popular and I became a problem. He could have completely cut off from me and chose not to deal with me anymore, but he didn't. I mean sure he'd ignore me at school most of the time, but when I really needed someone he was there."
I focus my eyes on her briefly. "I understand why I saved you, Serena, what bothers me is why I didn't do more to protect Peter. I'm so selfish that I disgust myself. I'm no better than those wealthy people that fled the country."
Serena places her cheek against my shoulder and strokes my forearm. "We're both selfish. There isn't going to be a positive outcome from this, Logan. It's a lose-lose situation."
"You're literally the only positive in my life right now."
"Ditto."
"No one says 'ditto' anymore," I say with a smile.
She smiles too. "I do."
I see a bent-over sign ahead stating that we're 90 miles from the Texas border. There are several burnt craters littered all over the roads and desert. An over-turned, ash-blackened bus is at the side and everything ahead is just an obstacle course of terror.
It's a lose-lose situation.
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