The Tempest by A.J. Scudiere (story read aloud .txt) 📗

“I don't know, man.” Dev looked up at the sky.

Somehow, neither of them had noticed before this that the daylight was growing fainter and fainter. Cage didn’t care. “I can't turn back.”

“You promised.”

“I didn't,” he said. “I agreed to search until dark. I didn't say I'd quit then. But, look, it's Joule.”

This time, Dev didn't try to deny it or offer up a theory that some other local JM was leaving signs. “I don’t know. What could we even do? It's already getting dark.”

It wasn’t yet, but it would be soon.

Cage pulled Dev’s cell phone out of his pocket and powered it up. He flicked on the light at the front of his bike and the one on his helmet and motioned to Dev to do the same. They checked each other over while there was still light to repair anything, but the helmets, rear flashers, and high beams were all still working fine.

Better to turn them on a little early than get sideswiped by a car on the side of the road. The last thing they needed was to add their names to the already high toll of injured or missing.

Though they hadn’t seen anyone since arriving at the roadside, they’d watched a truck go by while they were still standing in the woods. As they'd followed it, attempting to flag it down, Cage decided that that must be exactly what his sister had done. Either that or she had veered a little off track while going through the woods, but the obvious point where someone had scrambled up the other side of the bank was almost definitely hers, now that they’d found another sign she’d left.

The JM on this one—made of bricks and sticks—was faint, but because he knew where to look, Cage had found it relatively easily. He wasn’t going back, no matter what his friend said or did. “There's pavement here. We're not walking through the woods anymore. We’ll stay on the road.”

Now that it was powered up, the phone readily told him the time. It wasn't quite summer hours, with the long days that carried the sunlight until after eight. But it wasn't winter yet, either. They'd managed to make a good portion of the trip with daylight. Now that they had a road, he could keep going.

Cage was turning to say something but noticed as the screen changed slightly. “Holy shit, Dev!”

“What?”

“Bars!” He started to dial Sarah and realized nothing was in the right place because it wasn't his phone. He handed it over to Dev to call, and even as he did that, the phone began pinging.

He wished he could turn it off. Each sound heralding a little more battery being sucked away. But messages poured in, the next ping starting before the last one had finished. Most came in from Sarah, though there were others from the Helio Systems main line, and a handful of county alerts.

Dev reached over and readily hit the screen, pulling up Sarah’s chain almost before Cage could even see what the options were. But he moved in close and the two huddled, straddling their bikes at the side of the road as they got their first taste of civilization in hours.

Cage wasn’t even sure if Dev had scrolled all the way back to the top of Sarah’s long list of messages. She’d clearly had cell service for a while now.

—they found Radnor. He went to the hospital but he didn't make it.

Cage heard Dev let out a weary sigh of sadness as he felt the same thing happening in his own chest, but Dev scrolled to the next one, more messages dinging in even as they tried to read this chain.

—nothing from Izzy and Joule.

Then she added —Leslie, Melinda, Jeremy & Kevin have checked in and are safe. I told them I was good and you were too.

Then another text came through.

—heard from Doug. He and his family are good.

—no word on Izzy and Joule.

She listed more names, every third or fourth text punctuated with “No word from Izzy and Joule.”

When they got to the last new message, Deveron quickly tapped back. “We found Micah. He didn't make it. We'll report in when we get to the community center.”

Once they’d read through the incoming messages, Cage carefully pulled the phone away and took a deep breath. He dialed Joule’s number.

Dev watched solemnly as Cage heard a sound of connection and prayed for his sister’s voice. Instead he got the digital notification that the line wasn’t in service. He hit the button off and told himself it didn’t mean anything.

Then there was a pause as the two of them looked at each other. Cage knew there was a decision to be made. There was a cell signal now, and they had one phone between them. If they split up, someone would be left completely alone, without communications.

There wasn't much going on out here. Though they hadn’t been on the road long, only the truck they had missed had gone by. Though he had hoped they would see other people, they hadn’t yet.

Cage was calculating what he would do if Dev decided to turn back and take the phone with him. But Dev instead seemed to interpret the phone and the link to humanity as more of an indication that it was okay to be out in the dark searching.

“If we're connected, I'm not as worried,” he announced.

Cage didn’t wait for him to change his mind. He hopped back on the bike and let Dev follow along. However, he once again regretted believing he'd gotten in good enough shape from the work. Everything hurt as he pushed on the pedals, knowing what he was looking for was just ahead. He wasn’t going to lose anyone else.

He'd eaten another granola bar while they picked their way through the woods, but it wasn't really enough. He thought about shoveling a huge bowl of pasta into his face. He imagined it drenched in Alfredo sauce, maybe with mushrooms and thin slices of