Free Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne Page A

wake up in the middle of the night surrounded by blood-thirsty kindergarteners,” Brayden said.
    “We definitely need to keep our air supply shut off from the outside,” Niko said.
    “Hey,” Sahalia said, “are we going to, like, suffocate if we’re cut off from the outside?”
    “Not with this quantity of air,” Alex said. “The volume of air in a space this size is substantial.”
    “Maybe we could like set some air filters,” Jake said. “In case some of that outside air is coming in…”
    “I wonder if there are any plants inside,” I said. “Or maybe some seeds. If we had plants, they would filter the air and give us oxygen.”
    “I’m more worried about power,” Niko said. “I’m worried the blackout cloud is going to affect the solar harvest system on the roof.”
    “Great,” moaned Brayden. “That’s all we need. To be shut up here in the dark!”
    “I’ve been thinking about it,” Alex said, standing up. “The blackout cloud is what will determine how the power goes. Right before my brother attacked me up on the roof, did you see how the light went green?”
    How screwed up is it that; me trying to kill Alex had now become a common reference point in all of our lives.
    “If the light really did go green,” Alex continued, “or even yellowish, then the blackout cloud is designed to block blue and red spectrums, which are the ones that allow for plant life. The solar panels will take any spectrum. So if only yellow gets through, that’s okay. They can still run.”
    He was pacing now. Something he does when he gets really excited.
    “God, you’re a geek—” Sahalia moaned.
    She looked so much older than my brother. It was hard to believe they were both thirteen.
    “I’ve been thinking about food,” I said, cutting her off. “There’s a lot of fresh stuff we should eat before it goes bad.”
    “What we really need to do is clean up,” Niko added. “We need to put everything back on the shelves and throw away the broken things, so we can fully take stock and prepare our—”
    “Nobody’s thinking about getting out of here?” Astrid interrupted. “We’re just going to live here now? All one big happy family, like for the rest of our lives?”
    We stopped talking.
    Astrid was slung on a beanbag chair, one foot rhythmically tapping an overturned display case.
    “Not for the rest of our lives. Just until things kind of get somewhat normal out there,” Jake answered.
    “What about our parents?” Astrid asked.
    There was a long quiet. I studied my hands. The skin was dry and I had some cuts I hadn’t even noticed. My hands looked rough.
    “They’re dead? We just assume they’re dead, now?” There was an edge in Astrid’s voice. An unhinged feeling.
    “We’ll just hide in here and eat candy when they could be dying outside. My mom could be getting attacked by a monster like the guy out front. Or my dad is paranoid and hiding comfortably under our kitchen sink.
    “Or maybe my dad has my mom locked in the basement, because maybe she’s type O and she went after him with her favorite chef’s knife. Or maybe she’s got him locked in the basement. No, wait. We don’t have a basement. I guess they’re dead. I guess they’ve clawed each other to death by now. And my brothers…”
    Her voice caught in a sob.
    “Eric’s only two and a half. Probably don’t need to worry about him. He’s probably dead already…”
    Jake stood up and walked over to her. He put a hand on her shoulder.
    “It’s okay, Astrid,” he said.
    She melted into his arms.
    “Don’t you care?” she choked out. “Isn’t it driving you crazy to think of what is going on out there?!”
    He held her in his big football-player arms and she wept.
    I was up on my feet. I had propelled myself to my feet and I started walking to the Home Improvement aisle, without even knowing where I was going.
    Alex followed me.
    I stormed off into the Pet aisle, kicking some fallen doggie treat boxes out of