Free Going Gray by Brian Spangler Page B

was clouded by the dust in the air, making him seem further away than he was. Peter waved a hand, pitching his thumb up above his head. “We’re checking this end if you can go check that end. Come back in ten to meet up.”
    “Will do,” Emily found herself calling out. She looked to Peter, and added, “Let’s be quick though… I need to go check on Justin.”
    “I think it’s just us and the twins down this far,” he answered her. She wondered if another explosion would come though. How many things had been left on, running? How many power plants? How many factories or industrial plants were crying out like babies, having been left alone, unattended. And if that was just a tantrum, how bad would the next one be? Like her house, the world around them could explode and collapse a little bit at a time.
    Emily and Peter only needed to walk the length of a few stores before finding death. One of the twins had fallen from the second level, landing on the mall’s concrete and stone floor. The twin was flat on her back; one of her arms pinned beneath, disappearing, as if it never existed. Her legs were spread apart, clean of any blood, but Emily could see bone jutting under the skin of one leg, just beneath the twin’s knee; broken, nearly piercing through her skin. A halo of blood circled above the twin’s head, creating a crown of red spray against the bright stone. As Emily knelt beside the twin, she placed her hand on the girl’s middle, soft and attentive. Hopeful. A whimper from above them grew into a shallow cry.
    “I tried to hold her, but she slipped,” the girl’s twin told them. “Is she… is she dead?” Emily saw no movement. The fallen girl was completely still. She moved her hand, laying it on the girl’s chest and waited, hoping to see a sudden breath erupt like you sometimes see in the movies. The blood from the back of Fen’s head continued to pool, and Emily realized that even if Fen were alive, she’d need a hospital, a brain surgeon or something, anything more than what they could possibly have had in the food court.
    “What should we do?” she asked, whispering. “Should we just leave her here and get help?”
    “I’m not sure,” Peter answered, kneeling down and pressing his fingers against Fen’s neck. His hands were like those of a football player, big, thick, and next to Fen’s slender neck; they looked giant. “Not sure if I’m doing this right, but I think I’m feeling something.” Emily rested her hand on his, pulling it away.
    “Here let me try,” she said. Her hand was shaking, but it steadied when she touched Fen’s neck. No thumb and just a soft touch , she recalled, hunting for a pulse. Fen’s skin was warm, and didn’t feel dry and papery like the others had: dead.
    Peter and Jin waited for her to say something. They stayed quiet and still, leaving only the song of falling debris to tick along in a solo chorus.
    A bump.
    Emily’s heart leaped: encouraged.
    A second bump. Faint. Nearly missed.
    Unsure, Emily thought it could have been her own heartbeat. She lightly readjusted her fingers. Another bump came, and then another.
    “Fen’s alive! Her pulse is really weak though, but I can feel it!” Emily brushed back Fen’s hair, clearing the girl’s eyes.
    Jin shrieked, and she took off without another word, running to the stairs, her shoes clapping on the floor. In the empty mall, the sound waned but never quite disappeared. They heard her coming down the stairs, and then running toward them, her shoes clapping louder, until joining them next to her fallen sister.
    “Can you help me take her to the food court?” Jin asked, huffing her words as she tried to catch her breath. “We’re light—really light.” Jin motioned to her own body, implying that they should carry her sister.
    “Should we move her?” Peter asked.
    “I don’t think we can just leave her here,” Emily answered but was still uncertain. She glanced at the bloody crown and noticed