Free The Last Orphans by N.W. Harris

behind the wheel. Everyone else crowded in and leaned over him, eager to learn how to operate the big machines. Shane quickly showed them how to start the bus and explained all the controls and gauges.
    “How the heck do you know all this?” Aaron a sked, a bit of awe in his eyes as he gazed over the dashboard.
    “My dad has a contract with the school to do all the maintenance on the buses. He taught me how to drive them when I worked at the shop over the summer. Luckily, they’re automatics, so they’re pretty easy.” Shane’s voice cracked as he spoke. He didn’t know for sure his dad was dead, but the chances were slim he was still alive.
    “Oh yeah,” Aaron replied, his voice quiet like he sensed Shane’s thoughts.
    In the dim light from the security lamps at the back of the school, Shane could see Aaron’s brow wrinkle. He reckoned he must be thinking about his own parents, and he felt like a total jerk for lying about his mother. He knew he’d have to remedy that soon—it wouldn’t be right to keep the truth from his friend forever, but he had no idea how he’d muster the courage to tell him.
    “Everybody cool with driving the buses?” Shane asked , clearing his throat and trying to keep his focus.
    His friends nodded.
    “I’ll lead the way up to Main Street,” he said. “We’d better hurry—it smells like it’s about to rain.” He looked up at the sky and couldn’t see any stars or the moon, but at least the lightning had stopped for the moment.
    Aaron, Tracy, Matt, and Steve filed out of the bus and climbed into theirs. Kelly settled in the seat behind Shane. The diesel engines roared to life one by one. Shane maneuvered his bus out of the parking lot, glancing in the mirrors to make sure everyone managed to get their buses rolling. He led the way up the hill on a narrow, tree-lined side road with fewer accidents on it than highway 72. They came out on the east end of Main Street, right next to what everyone in town called the hardware store but was more of a general supply store, carrying everything from animal feed and coveralls to toilets and hunting supplies. The front doors lay inside in a pile of broken glass, and merchandize littered the entry area. The two other buses pulled in next to Shane’s, airbrakes hissing as they came to a rest.
    “Looks like someone beat us here,” Tracy observed, climbing out of her bus. She put her thumbs through the loopholes of her blue jeans and pulled them up, a look of determination crossing her face as she studied the building. Shane had never seen her wear anything but blue jeans, an army green T-shirt, and paratrooper boots, except on the days when she wore her JROTC uniform.
    “That mea ns there’s another group running around,” Aaron added, scanning the area like he expected to spot them.
    “Shouldn’t we try to find them?” Kelly asked.
    “I don’t think so,” Tracy replied, entering the dark building. “I think we should stick to our plan. At this point, we have enough people to worry about.”
    Tracy sounded a bit heartless, but her logic made sense. Thinking about the kids, sleeping back at the gym, whom they were already responsible for, stressed him out enough. The children in the gym, teenagers and youngsters, could only be a fraction of the kids in town. Worse, there were probably infants in cribs all across Leeville, screaming for their mothers and dying from thirst. What was Shane supposed to do, go door to door and gather all the children incapable of caring for themselves? And if he did, how would he tend to them? Nausea erupted in his gut, the anxiety stirred up by his concern making him ill.
    “We’ ll go to the military base and then send help for everyone else,” Shane answered his own questions with trembling resolve, looking at his friends for approval. 
    No one answered, apparently happy to let the burden of this decision rest on his shoulders. They stared at him for a long moment, their eyes wide with the