It had been ten days since the buses brought everyone back to West Ham. Ten days of parentless debauchery, parties, and fear. Nina woke up that morning with the last drop of hope in her mind. Today was the day that the students were supposed to come home. Maybe, just maybe, their parents would come to pick them up, Nina hoped. For the first time in years, Nina prayed. Still in her pajamas, she knelt at the end of her bed and clasped her hands.
Jesus, or God, or whoever. If anyone is listening… we're here. We're still here. Please, come back for us.
Nina's phone chimed. For a split second, she let herself wonder if it was her mom. She picked it up and tried not to be disappointed that it was only Allie telling her about the weird ceremony taking place in the park. She tossed her phone back on the bed and clasped her hands together again.
I know I haven't prayed in a while and I probably should have but… well… if you are out there, thank you for listening. Please… call me back, God. Or Jesus. Or whoever. Whomever? Whatever, that's not the important part. Amen.
Nina stood and made a mental note to ask Helena for prayer advice while she got dressed. She'd heard Grizz leave earlier that morning, probably to go to the grave site. She took the last swig of orange juice from the fridge and the last poptart from the cabinet before joining her friends at the park.
"And I thought my prayers were weird." Nina joked as she walked up to Helena and Allie in the gazebo. Helena gave her an unamused smile
"Useless." She said, looking away from the group.
"Never would have pegged Lexie for a conduit of the heavens." Cassandra commented.
"You have to admit, they're fair questions, given the circumstances." Allie said.
As if their prayers were being answered, the sky suddenly darkened. Everyone stared up at the sun, which looked as if it were being swallowed by the moon.
"We asked for a sign." Lexie said loudly.
"What does it mean?" One of the praying boys asked. Gordie scoffed from his seat in the gazebo.
"It doesn't mean anything." He said loudly enough for everyone to hear. "It's a fucking solar eclipse. It's not a sign. It's a predictable astronomical event. Just don't stare at it and we'll be fine."
Everyone kept staring at it anyway until eventually, the moon moved away and the sun was shining brightly again. Nina quickly got bored of watching Lexie and her friends pray. She went to look behind the church for her brother and saw him sitting next to Emily's grave. Her friends had set pictures and flowers around the grave as a makeshift headstone and vigil. Grizz visited it every morning, no doubt blaming himself for not being able to magically cure her snakebite. He startled when Nina sat beside him.
"Hey." She greeted quietly. Grizz nodded a greeting, not taking his eyes off Emily's picture. "Uh, I was going to go to the old studio… then stop by the store before going home for lunch. We're running pretty low on food."
"Are you gonna go with Elle?" Grizz asked.
"Maybe." Nina said. She and Elle had danced in the same classes for years before Nina switched to cheer leading.
"Do you want me to go with you?" Grizz asked.
"No, it's cool. I was just letting you know. Do you have any plans for the day?" Nina asked. She knew the best way to keep herself from getting depressed was to keep herself distracted. She figured her brother was the same.
"Uh, yeah. There's gonna be a game of Fugitive after it gets dark. You wanna join?" Grizz asked.
"Being chased around town by a bunch of jocks in sports cars sounds like literal hell, so no. Thanks though. I'll meet up with you at Harry's party." She said. Grizz gave her an anxious look and she nudged his arm with her shoulder. "Stop worrying so much."
"One of us has to worry. I don't want you to have another seizure. You could like, bite off your tongue. Or worse. And there's no doctors." Grizz worried.
"It was one time. I know better now. Less beer, more food. And I still have those sugar pills the doctor gave me in case I pass out." She said. Grizz didn't seem to relax at all. Nina sighed. She knew her brother was probably traumatized by Emily's death but she had no idea what to do to fix it. "Call me if you need anything, or if you have any special requests from the store. I'm pretty sure everyone stocked up on cheetos and Gatorade and left all the real food."
Grizz nodded and Nina stood, leaving her brother at Emily's grave. She found the dance studio unlocked and the CD player in the same place it had always been. She started stretching and warming up, and eventually dancing. She danced until her stomach started growling and her bangs were stuck to her forehead with sweat.
By the time Nina got to the grocery store, her hands were shaking with hunger. She chided herself for not leaving the dance studio earlier and ripped into a bag of tortilla chips to munch on while she 'shopped'. She groaned in delight at the taste of the salty chips and shoved another handful in her mouth when she heard voices. Nina nervously peaked around the corner of the aisle but relaxed when she saw Kelly and Will staring at her.
"Jesus, I thought you were a wild animal." Will joked. Nina popped another chip in her mouth and walked closer to them.
"I'm starving. What are you doing?" She asked.
"Uh... Food census." Kelly answered.
"Minus one bag of tortilla chips." Nina said. Will sighed and scrolled through his spreadsheet. "Is it cool if I take some food? We're out. I can help with the… counting thing, too."
"Yeah. Just tell us what you took so we have an accurate list." Kelly told her.
"If you really want to help, you can start at the warehouses. I'll send you the form." Will said.
"Sure." Nina agreed. Will slid his computer towards her and she typed in her phone number. "I'll just take my stuff home and grab my laptop."
"Oh, and don't tell anyone." Will said. "We're trying not to… you know, cause a panic or whatever."
Nina nodded and said goodbye to the pair before stocking up on food she and Grizz needed. She took it home and took a shower to wash off her dance sweat and walked to the warehouses. She figured she had a few hours to work before Harry's party.
The warehouses were seriously creepy. Nina regretted not asking Grizz to come with her before reminding herself that she was a strong ass woman who didn't need her brother to protect her. She did, however, keep a crowbar she'd found close by.
The warehouse was easier to take stock of than the grocery store. At least, after Nina was able to estimate how many of each item were in a crate. Her numbers weren't exact, as she didn't want to crack open each crate to make sure, so she low-balled it. Better to have more food than too little. She worked until her old iPod died and made it through almost two rows of food. Her main concern was how they were going to get the food down from the shelves. Maybe someone knew how to use a forklift. Bean could probably figure it out.
She was halfway home when a cop car with it's sirens on screeched to a stop less than a foot away from her. The window rolled down and Clark was grinning at her from inside the car.
"Clark, what the fuck?! You could have hit me." Nina shouted.
"But I didn't." Clark pointed out. "Now, get in. We've got fugitives to catch."
"I'm not playing Fugitive." Nina said. She got in the car anyway, making sure to buckle her seat belt since she knew how Clark liked to drive. "Drive me home?"
Clark stomped on the gas pedal, forcing the car to squeal it's tires against the wet asphalt before peeling down the street. Nina gripped the seat belt, her knuckles turning white.
"You used to love playing Fugitive with us." Clark said. He glanced at Nina but thankfully kept his eyes mostly on the road.
"Yeah. I loved Fugitive before I hit puberty." Nina explained with a laugh. "Then it stopped being Fugitive and turned into 'Grope Me In The Moonlight'."
"Don't be like that, Nina." Clark jokingly complained. "You know I'd grope you any time of the day."
"Oh, really? How does Gwen feel about that?" Nina asked. Clark's smile dropped for a second but he plastered on a careless look.
"Honestly… I don't think she'd really care." He said quietly. To counteract the mood drop, Clark took a sharp turn and the tires slid across the road. Nina swore and Clark laughed. Thankfully the drive to Nina's house was short, and made shorter by Clark's insane driving. He screeched to a stop outside Nina's house and she ripped the door open.
"Want me to wait for you?" Clark asked.
"Nah. I'll meet you at Harry's. You have fugitives to catch." She said. She shut the car door and Clark peeled out again. Nina never understood boys obsessions with driving recklessly.
She put away her laptop and changed into party appropriate clothes. She barely made it to Harry's house before the light rained turned into another thunderstorm. The inside of the house was much cheerier. People had already started drinking and were packed inside the kitchen and living room to avoid the rain. Nina found her brother and his friends sitting on the kitchen counter and joined them. She took the beer Jason offered her and forced Grizz to make space for her on the counter top.
They all sat around talking for a while but the conversation died down when the lights started flickering.
"Hey, what happens when they go off for good?" Gwen asked after a particularly long flicker. "Who fixes them? I'm serious. Who turns them back on?"
"Maybe they never go back on." Grizz said.
"Hey, got any flashlights?" Jason asked Harry.
"I don't know. Maybe somewhere." Harry answered. He held up his phone. "And iPhone ones."
"Those'll never last." Jason pointed out.
"Alright. Expedition to the hardware store for flashlights!" Clark announced. "Who's in?"
The lights dimmed again.
"Oh, shit. We should get home before it gets really bad out there. Before the streetlights go out." Olivia said. Nina tried not to act like a baby but she reached for Grizz's hand in the dark.
"Well, you can all stay here if you want." Harry offered. No one seemed very keen on the idea. The lights turned back on.
"Well, I'm going home." Helena announced. A few of the girls followed Helena out but Nina lagged behind with her brother. Most of the guys, including Grizz, went out to get flashlights and the party quickly died down. Nina hopped off the counter and joined Harry, who kept glancing nervously at the lights.
"Hey… if you don't want to stay here you can always stay with me and Grizz." She offered.
"Why would I want to do that? I have my own house." He said. Nina rolled her eyes.
"Whatever. Forget I offered." She said. She turned to Allie who was watching both of them with a weird look in her eye. "Wanna walk home together?"
"Uh… I think I'm gonna stay for a while, actually." Allie said. Nina looked between Allie and Harry, the two of them sharing the same weird energy.
"Okay." Nina said awkwardly. "See you around, then."
She started the walk home in the pouring rain, taking mostly side streets until she heard a huge bang and shouting. She veered towards Main Street and stopped in the middle of the road when she saw what was happening. People were looting all the stores. A car had been set on fire and was burning in front of the hardware store. That must have been the explosion she'd heard. She ducked under an eave when a group of kids ran past her, their arms filled with stolen loot. She couldn't wrap her mind around the chaos. In fact, her only thought was 'fuck this shit. I'm going home'.
As Nina walked home in the rain, dodging broken glass and rioters, she thought about her parents. She thought about God. And she thought about the writing on the wall. Mene mene tekel upharsin. You've been weighed in the balance and found wanting. She hoped it was wrong. Because if things didn't calm down quickly, they'd all be wanting. Food, water, shelter. It was all being destroyed and soon, there wouldn't be anything left.