Page 145 of Hell Hath No Fury
“Good. Then go ahead and get home, and please be safe. Take the side roads and be sure to let me know once you’ve arrived. If you run into any trouble, you turn around and come back, okay?”
There were mutters of agreement among them.
“Okay then, be safe. And, Harold, I’ll see you at 7:00 a.m. sharp.”
Mr. Mejia looked as if he was going to put up a fight for a moment, then his shoulders slouched, and he joined the others as they moved toward the rooms near the back of the gymnasium to exit the door closest to their parked cars.
We didn’t ever see any of them again.
CHAPTER THREE
What I knew to be the sounds of war from movies likeSaving Private RyanandBlack Hawk Downthundered from beyond the gymnasium walls that whole first night, never getting close enough to completely alarm Dr. McCormick, Mr. Malcolm, or lead to us to being in any real danger, but the unknown left us all unable to sleep. We tossed and turned all night while the two adults kept up on the latest news from their cots in the coach’s office. There was a glass window partition that separated the office from the basketball court, but we couldn’t see the TV. McCormick had strategically placed it so that we couldn’t. She didn’t think it was good for us. Better to be left in the fucking dark, I guess.
The violence continued around the city, and presumably, if the little bit I did hear of the news was any indication, around the country as a whole. When no one showed up the next day, Dr. McCormick entered full panic mode. I could hear her arguing with Mr. Malcolm from the coach’s office later that next morning.
“This is unacceptable. They aren’t answering their phones, their texts, what the hell are we going to do?” I could see her body shaking through the partition as she worked herself up. She peered nervously over her shoulder, catching the lot of us watching them argue, then she grabbed Mr. Malcolm by the sleeve and pulled him toward the locker rooms.
I looked over the room, glad Carvill’s had gotten rid of their last infant a couple years ago as the crying would’ve made the experience so much worse. Kammie and Juliana’s cord were atthe other end of our row—a strategic pick by them, no doubt and something I was thankful for. Juliana was a couple years younger than Kammie but almost as large. They both were formidable, and I worried about what might come between us if our time in the gymnasium was extensive. Scattered on cots between us were the twins, Alex and Alexis, eight-year-old, blond-haired, blue-eyed beauties who were often mistaken as my siblings because of the similarities in our appearances. They were still scarred and scared after nearly being killed by their father after he had already killed their mother. There wasn’t any family willing to take them in, and as cute and docile as they were, they still wore diapers and would often last only a few months before foster parents got sick of the clean up and their inability to make it stop. The twins shared a cot and hadn’t stopped holding each other since all this began.
Next to them was a red headed devil who reminded me of that kid from thoseProblem Childmovies. Jamie was a ten-year-old terror whose mom gave him up to Carvill’s when his rambunctiousness became too much for her partying ways. He became our problem then, and a problem he was. At that moment, he was whipping his blanket at his friend, a.k.a. his punching bag, Ryker, who took up the cot beside him. Ryker was a quiet boy with a sweet soul who happened to like fire awholelot. At least one shuttered room in that residential building was thanks to his exploits. Rumor had it that he got sent to Carvill in the first place for setting his elementary school bathroom on fire and causing tens of thousands in damages. Ryker was only nine, but he was smart as a whip and carried the manners and respectability of a grown ass adult … when he wasn’t trying to burn shit down. So patient he was, he just continued to read hisGoosebumpsbook as Jamie snapped the blanket at him, using it every now and then as a shield against the onslaught.
* * *
It had been several days already, five by my count, but they seemed to run together by that point. They no longer played the news on the only TV we had, which was a relief, but there weren’t many options on basic cable, so everyone was getting restless, especially the younger kids. Even if we had gotten a straight answer from Mr. Malcolm or Dr. McCormick, none of us could’ve understood the implications of everything. I wouldn’t have either had I not snooped on Malcolm and Dr. McCormick late one night. The gunfire had subsided a few days before, but the eerie silence peppered with police sirens and fire alarms left in its wake were nearly as scary. It was particularly bad at night. The other kids had finally started to sleep at night thanks to some gym activities Mr. Malcolm had started making them do—dodgeball, soccer, basketball—but not me. I still laid wide awake and nerve-racked most of the night, catching some sleep only when my body wouldn’t let me stay awake anymore. That night, Malcolm and McCormick thought I was sleeping like the rest of the kids. I wasn’t. I had heard them begin arguing and having nothing better to do and being quite curious as it were, I slinked toward the coach’s office, scaling the wall on my tiptoes as to not alert them. I made it to the doorway then leaned my ear closer.
“You can’t leave, Malcolm. What about the kids?” Dr. McCormick pleaded, her voice hoarse, weary.
“What aboutmykids, Kathleen?” Mr. Malcolm matched her desperation with some of his own. “You know Tonya’s brother is a four-star. He can’t say much, but what he has told her isn’t good. MacDill Air Force Base is a target, Kathleen. Do you understand? CENTCOM’s there, SOCOM, and it’s only 30 minutes away. Temple Terrace not five minutes from here is a war zone. This chaos going on everywhere in the US right now,it’s weakened us. It’s made us a target. And I think this is only the beginning. He thinks it too. China, Russia, North Korea … they’re watching what’s going on here. They’re planning.”
“That doesn’t answer my question… What am I supposed to do about the children? I can’t take care of them on my own.”
Mr. Malcolm hesitated, taking in a deep breath. “What about yours?”
“They’re with their dad. They’re fine.”
“Well, my kids need their dad. And my wife needs her husband. It’s been five days. Five days with no relief. I’ve done my duty here. I’m sorry.”
“Malcolm, please. Ineedyou.”
“My family needs me too, and I’m sorry, Kathleen, but they’re my first priority. My only priority if shit works out the way I think it will.”
“I just don’t understand how you can do this. How you can just—“
“Go, go, go!” a shrill voice called out from behind me, spiking my adrenaline. I fought to regain composure as I backed away from the door of the coach’s office and into the darkened corner of the gym.
As I crept into the shadows, I saw Jamie heading for the gymnasium door across the room, the three Harrison brothers close behind. Mr. Malcolm and Dr. McCormick had made it out of the office by that point, but there wasn’t enough time. As Malcolm flipped on the lights, the four boys reached the door. They pulled at the one board nailed into place as Mr. Malcolm jogged toward them.
“Hey! What are you doing?” he called out.
The three brothers pried the board loose as Jamie looked at Mr. Malcolm with a wicked grin. “Fuck you, old man!” He glanced over toward the cots. “Ryker, what the fuck are you doing? C’mon, dude!”
Just as Malcolm picked up the pace, the brothers swung open the door, and the four of them darted out into the dark night. I looked across the room at Ryker who was standing and appeared to be having a deep internal dilemma.
Malcolm chased after the four, running out into the darkness as Dr. McCormick reached the doorway. She put a hand up toward the kids on their cots, all of whom were calling out questions or murmuring amongst themselves, their interest piqued by the commotion.
“Settle down, kids. Settle down. Stay right where you are!”
As she took a step out of the open doorway, I took the opportunity to get back to my cot undetected. I nearly made it.
