Chapter Three: Assessing the Situation
The next morning we decided to leave the museum. We washed up in the bathrooms, changed our clothes and packed a couple of meals from the food court. Mom told us to walk along the side of the buildings. Keep our eyes open and if we see anything to duck into the nearest doorway or down the closest subway.
We had no planned destination; we were just scouting the surrounding blocks to see if there was anything new to learn about our situation. Mom told us that there was magic at work, and that's why the city was asleep. When we asked her why we weren't affected she just pursed her lips and told us that she wasn't sure. I knew she was holding back. Whatever the reason, it had to be a good one.
After a while we decided to take a break. I don't know much about NYC, so our current location was a mystery to me. I tried to keep track of all of the different turns that we took, but after a while the scorching summer sun did a number on my senses. It was just too much, I really wanted to jump into a pool of water, but knew that was impossible.
Mom decided the safest place for us to hide out for a while would be a church. We entered the closest one. The air-conditioning kissed my cheeks and I paused to let it wash over me. Trent pushed me across the threshold and commented, "We need to stay out of sight, remember?"
"Yeah, I know." I gloomily admitted. For a change Trent was acting like the older sibling and I was the little kid that needed to be dragged around by the hand.
While we ate our lunches, mom and I discussed what we should do for the rest of the day, head back to the Met, or find a hotel. Despite being tired, Trent could not sit still. He decided to check out the perimeter of the interior of the church. Mom kept her eyes on the door and I kept my eyes on Trent. He cautiously moved along the wall and peered into the alcove. He must have seen or heard something because he was in super stealth mode. His back pressed against the walls and he crouched down as he slowly moved into the alcove. Whatever it was must have realized it was being stalked. It jetted out of there so fast that all I was able to make out was the rippling fabric bolting toward the door.
"Hey! Come back here!" Trent followed, "I'm not going to hurt you, please wait!"
We dropped our lunches and ran down the aisle to follow my brother. The hallway beyond the interior of the church was lit rather dimly. At the far end of the hall a girl was trying desperately to pull open a locked door.
"Stay away from me!" She cried out in frustration.
"I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just a kid. I know things seem scary right now, with everyone asleep and all..." He knelt down on the ground in a cautiously nonthreatening way.
I tried to join my brother, but my mother placed her hand on my shoulder to hold me back. I glanced behind me and my mother just shook her head. Mom must have sensed that the girl was feeling cornered enough, and if we joined my brother it would make her feel worse.
"What do you want from me?" She sobbed as she pulled on her ragged mop of red hair. Tears of frustration left dirty smudges down her sunken in cheeks. She looked as if she hadn't bathed or changed her cloths in over a week. Her knees gave out and she knelt on the floor rocking herself back and forth. "I don't want to go back, I'll never go back, and you'll have to kill me first!" She started to breath heavily and let out another sob.
Trent hesitated, and then carefully said, "Look whatever has happened to you in the past, you don't need to worry about it right now. See, I don't know if you have been outside or not today, but the city is in danger. I don't know how or why, but everyone is asleep." He turned his apple green gaze back over his shoulder at us. "This is my mom and sister. We weren't affected, and neither were you. Let's work together to figure this out."
She rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands. Her chest dramatically lifted and fell several times as she tried to fight her fears and face us. Her head tilted slightly as if she were still listening to someone whispering in her ear.
"Why don't we go back into the church? We left our lunches out there, there's some extra if you want it." Trent held out his hand toward her as he stood up.
The girl hesitated as she calmed herself down and thought about her options. Reluctantly she whipped her hand on her jeans and then took my brother's hand. "Thank you," She whispered as she cast her eyes downwards. I couldn't see her expression since her hair was now coving her entire face leaving only a few strands clipped behind her head.
I couldn't imagine why she looked the way she did. Where was her family? Why was she so thin and dirty? Had someone hurt her? A million questions ran through my mind as I postulated the answers made me angry. I did my best not to show it for her sake. The last thing she needed was for me to ask her something stupid and get her upset again.
After we lead her back to the pews where we were first sitting, my brother offered her his sandwich. It was the nicest thing I have ever seen him do. My mom and I were so used to trying to protect him and help him out that maybe he was starting to grow up?
We introduced ourselves to the girl, and waited for her to say something back. Her mouth was kind of filled with food, so we waited patiently until she finished licking her fingers. She thanked us and told us that her name is Zillah. That's it, no last name, just Zillah. She had a slight twang to her voice so I could tell that she wasn't a local, but beyond that she kept her personal information to herself.
Mom decided that we needed to get to the closest hotel, wash up and rest up. I couldn't argue, my brother smelled like oily suntan lotion that had been left out in the sun too long. And Zillah... well, let's just say she smelt of decaying flowers. You know the kind that you get your mom for Mother's day and she doesn't have the heart to throw out until the flowers are all dead and molding.
Along the way we stopped in a Walgreens to pick up some necessitates, and then we raided a clothing store. Zillah seemed to lighten up. She told us to pick out dark colors and to find a dark colored hat. When I asked her why she pointed to her hair.
"Red hair makes you a target when you are trying to blend in. So does being a blond." She pointed towards my mother's sun kissed blond hair. "You on the other hand are okay, for the most part." She shrugged, "Your blond streaks might give you a way." She shook her head and said to herself, "mom would never have let me do that to my hair..."
"Oh these are natural." I said as I ran my fingers through my chocolate brown locks. "Whenever I start at a new school, the kids always make fun of my blond streaks by saying that I'm going gray or something stupid like that."
Zillah frowned; I guess she didn't realize she had made her comment out loud. "There are worse things in life..." She shrugged again, "Kids used to make fun of my hair too... They would call me a ginger, but I normally pointed out that I don't have freckles and I can stay in the sun as long as I want without ever getting sun burn." She smirked, "That normally shut them up."
After we picked out an outfit to change into we went over toward the register to pay for our cloths. Mom let me swipe her credit card since she was low on cash.
We found a hotel along one of the main roads. It didn't have five star accommodations, but it was good enough for what we needed. Mom went behind the check in counter and she hacked into the system's computer. She found two adjoining rooms a couple of floors up and borrowed the keys to let ourselves in.
After showering and eating again we were able to get a couple of hours of sleep before all the noise jarred us awake. Mom and Trent were in the connecting room next to Zillah's and mine, but the doors were open and we could see that they had woken up as well.
I cautiously pulled the curtains back from the window. The setting sun blazed in the distance casting off red and purple streaks across the sky. Shadows stretched across the city, as darkness began its decent. I watched as the street lights that were programed by timers began to blink on. Whatever was moving into the city must have been huge. The windowpane vibrated violently from what felt and sounded like a thousand stomping feet.
"Grab your gear; we got to get out of here before we're over run!" My mother shouted. Apparently she didn't want to stick around to see what was making all of that noise.
None of us argued, we knew something big was coming and we did not want to find out what it was.
"We need weapons!" Zillah looked half crazed as if her senses were going into overdrive.
"Whoa, I got an idea!" Trent got excited, "let's borrow the cops' guns. No one will dare harm us with those!"
"I don't think those types will do anything to what we're going to be faced with." Zillah made her way out the door and started toward the stairs.
"She's right." Mom hastened behind us. "We need to get back to the Met!"
