For two weeks, everyone they had met had tried to kill them.
It felt more than a little strange to be around a large group of people, even if there were probably less people here than he had once seen at school every day. Thirty, maybe forty, not counting the six men in army uniform stood at the checkpoint.
Andy stayed close to Lauren.
Although he knew Lauren was hoping, the chances were low they would ever find their parents again at whatever evacuee camp they were taken to, even if they were taken to the same one. There must be thousands of people displaced, hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions.
The normal family life they once lived had been smashed to pieces.
She was all he had now, and he was all she had.
There seemed to be some argument going on at the checkpoint. It was a mother and a boy a bit younger than him, maybe ten or twelve, who were arguing with the soldiers. The boy had green roots growing through in his hair.
At last, one of them waved the mother through. She stood patiently on the other side while the soldiers took the boy to the edge of the freeway, maybe to collar the fucking mutie freak-
The bang was deafening in the sudden silence.
The wails of the mother filled the air.
He felt Lauren stiffen at his side and squeezed her hand. "He was just a mutie."
The mother continued to scream, howling like an animal at the soldiers. "My baby, my baby!"
"They-" Lauren whispered as though the words were stuck in her throat.
"I guess they're only letting the humans through." He flashed her a grin. "Serves the mutie freaks right. Let them lie in their own muck."
She dropped his hand. "Andy, he was a child!"
"He was a mutant!"
They took a few steps closer to the checkpoint.
"And a child!"
His heart pounded in his chest and his palms were sweating, but he wasn't sure why. He had nothing to be afraid of.
"And look what the mutants have done to the world!"
"Hear hear!" grunted an older man a little way behind them. "You tell her boy!"
Lauren said nothing. Two men in leather jackets were let through to the other side.
"I can't do this," Lauren muttered.
"What? Lauren, they're just keeping everybody safe!"
"No, I mean-"
"Being evacuated isn't something you can protest because you feel sorry for the monsters forcing us to be evacuated in the first place."
"Andy, I-"
"Can't show 'em no sympathy girl, fucking freaks," called the man behind.
A man with two small children was let through to the other side, where the mother was still screaming, shrieking for them to let her back to her baby, that he needed her. One of the men in leather was now trying to drag her away, shouting for her to stop making a scene.
"It's not like he was-" Andy started, and then stopped.
Lauren was gone.
He spun around, sure she must have just changed sides- but she wasn't there either.
She wasn't anywhere.
His heart thumped faster. She was all he had, he couldn't lose her too, not now, he can't have lost her now!
"Did you see where my sister went?" he asked the woman behind him. She didn't seem to hear him. "Did anyone see where my sister went?"
The teen behind her shook his head.
Andy glanced around frantically as one of the soldiers ushered him forward. "Lauren!"
Fuck, she couldn't be gone.
They'd been fighting before, she'd never left him then, never even seemed to consider it.
So where was she?
"Kid," called the soldier, waving for him. He shook his head and the woman behind him cut past, taking his place.
"Lauren- Lauren! Did anyone see where my sister went?"
Another of the soldiers touched his arm. "You're up next kid."
"My sister-"
"Was that her went through already?"
"No, she was the blonde with me a moment ago. Did you see where she went?"
"I didn't, but maybe one of the others sent her through. We just need to scan you and you can wait for her on the other side."
He pulled away. "I can't, I'm sorry, I have to wait for Lauren."
"Look, kid, I'm not going to beg with you-"
"Then help them and leave me alone!"
He pushed back through the crowd, which seemed so much bigger now, struggling back the way they came.
"Lauren!"
He had to be dreaming.
This was a nightmare, they were still asleep in the car, any moment now he would wake up and she'd be there with him-
Except he wasn't waking up and he was still on his own.
"You haven't seen a blonde girl coming this way have you?" he asked a woman nearby. She shook her head. He tried another man and then a woman with three dirty faced small children gathered around her feet.
"In the blue jacket? She went that way," she replied, pointing.
His heart skipped a beat.
"Thank you so much."
He pushed his way to the back of the crowd, past all the people they would be behind after Lauren's freakout, but she was still nowhere to be seen.
"Lauren!"