Hungry Independents (Book 2) (18 page)

“All right, all right,” Hunter said, using
his best ‘settle-down’ voice. “That’s one. I’ll clean it and we’ll
keep fishing. How’s the fire coming, Brandon?”

Brandon smiled by the growing flames and
smoke. “It’s getting hotter, sir.”

Hunter shook his head with embarrassment.
“Please don’t call me, sir. My name’s Hunter. I’m just a kid like
you.”

“Yes, sir,” Brandon said, and continued
feeding sticks into the fire.

With a resigned sigh, Hunter retrieved the
panicky fish from the ground. He unhooked it, whacked its head on a
rock, and flipped open his lock blade.

Hunter stopped cold. Dried red flakes stained
the blade. He closed his eye to block out the tainted blade. After
several deep breaths, Hunter opened his eye and stepped to the
pond’s edge to wash his knife. He uncapped his iodine, dousing the
cleansing red liquid over the knife, and returned to the
unconscious fish.

Holding the crappie, he looked at the
multitude of expressions on the faces around him—ranging from
horrified to hungry. He grinned and gutted the fish.

* * *

A full belly later, Hunter sat on the grass
at the edge of the pond, feeling amazingly better. Eight different
kids caught over twenty fish, from white bass, to crappie, to
sunfish, and three nice sized catfish. Everyone was happy, evident
from the smiles and the pile of fish bones.

The brutal sun left its perch high in the
sky, heading toward late afternoon. Gentler rays warmed Hunter’s
skin and danced along the water. Bees dipped into the surrounding
wildflowers and he came close to believing that everything would be
all right. His shoulder had other ideas, as the numbness coursed
down his bicep and back inside to his shoulder blade. He hunched
and tried to pop muscles loose or stretch ligaments without
success.

Barbie dropped to her knees behind him. She
placed firm hands on his shoulders and started rubbing.

Hunter ducked his head and groaned with
relief.

“Is that doing any good?” Barbie asked.

“You have no idea.” A string of drool dropped
into his lap. He quickly sucked in the excess before looking like
an idiot.

Barbie rubbed deeper, tougher, with her grip
as more of the tightness in Hunter’s shoulder released its hold.
“You keep a lot in here.”

Hunter moaned as his eye closed. “I got beat
up pretty bad five months ago. The pain’s been there ever since,
probably always will be, just like I’ll never see out of this eye
again.”

“Losing the sight in your eye and the pain in
your shoulder are different things.” Barbie sat and hooked her legs
around him. The shoulder massage continued. “You’re keeping this
pain in your shoulder. It’s up to you to let it go.”

“That’s bullshit.”

Barbie dug her nails in and squeezed. Hunter
winced and cried out, trying to scoot away from her grasp, but she
held on. He stopped squirming and she wrapped her arms around his
chest and pulled him back—pressing her soft body against him. All
of his concerns melted away in an instant.

“You’re blaming yourself for something and
you’re too important to let it weigh you down. We have a lot to do
before the fight is finished.”

Hunter shook his head like he was waking from
a dream. “What are you telling me?”

“I’m telling you to hang on. Don’t be
discouraged. I’m here for you.”

“But… I have a girlfriend.” He moved her arms
from around him and stood. The guilt he felt replaced the pain in
his shoulder. He turned and regarded her smiling up at him, but it
wasn’t a mocking smile. The sadness in her eyes made the smile
sincere.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“Don’t be. I’m not.” Barbie stood and wiped
the grass from her jeans. She headed towards the shore of the
pond.

Hunter watched her walk away, wondering why
she kept hitting on him.

A loud buzzing broke his thoughts. The cloud
of smoke from Cozad now filled the sky, moving in impossible,
swarming patterns. Then the first grasshopper hit his face.
Startled, he brushed his cheek. He looked up and a hundred more
rained down on him.

This was not smoke.

The enormous cloud filling the eerie sky
transformed into a buzzing roar, thrumming with billions and
billions of insects. From a distance, the long tendrils that fell
from above could have been mistaken for rain, but they raked at the
ground. Vegetation was reduced to chaff where the insects touched.
With haunting realization, Hunter scanned the area for cover. The
bus had all those windows and the size of the swarm made Hunter
believe they needed something more solid. The farmhouse or barn
that lay beyond the windbreak of giant evergreens was their best
option. They would have to run for it.

The grasshoppers crashed from above like a
hailstorm. Kids batted at their hair and the sky as insects pelted
them. Henry sheltered his little sister, waving his arms with his
eyes closed.

“Everyone run to the barn!” Hunter pointed in
that direction and a group of kids broke ahead of the crowd. Others
were more preoccupied, struggling under the assault. Hunter ran to
where he was needed. He stomped and slapped his way to two kids
that swatted the air.

“You have to run to the barn.”

“They’re all over me,” the girl said.

The boy pinched his face tight with his eyes
barely open to keep the bugs out.

“It’s going to get worse,” Hunter said.
“There’s a lot more coming. You have to follow the others to the
barn.” He grabbed their hands and put them together. The boy
chanced a look in the direction everyone was running. Hunter
squeezed his shoulder. “You have to get her there.”

The boy nodded and dragged the girl. They
picked up speed as they broke into a grasshopper-free pocket.
Hunter searched for more stragglers.

Barbie prodded and pushed other kids toward
the barn. Hunter locked eyes with her, seeing they shared similar
fears, and then they rounded the rest of the kids together and
trailed the group while the thunderous buzz from the swarming cloud
bore down. Running for their lives through the eerie darkness made
everything that much bleaker.

“What’s going on, Barbie? This isn’t natural
is it?”

Barbie narrowed her eyes, mouth pressed in a
firm line. She kept her legs and arms churning in the direction of
supposed safety. “Are you always the master of understatement?”

“Why? Does that turn you on?”

“Now? You want to flirt with me now? You have
terrible timing.”

“I like to think of it as a rhythm.”

One of the boys they were following tripped
and took out two other kids on his way down. Barely slowing, Hunter
grabbed two of the skinny kids as Barbie scooped up the third.
Everybody regained their feet and continued running. Hunter took a
second to check the cloud’s progress and his stomach dropped. The
black mass crested like an enormous crashing wave.

They hit the windbreak and Hunter cut
through, breathing hard. He paused to help the others between the
heavy boughs. The swarm rose in a crescendo of incessant humming as
billions of wings strummed together. The final five kids broke
through the giant hedge, showing scratches for their efforts.
Barbie was the last one when the swarm bounded into the evergreens.
For an instant they had shelter from the storm, and then the
insects broke over the top and tumbled down.

“Run for it!” Hunter urged them on, waving
his hands to herd them along. Something bit his back underneath his
shirt and he swiped at a grasshopper, squishing it in his palm and
throwing it to the ground. Dozens of insects twitched in his hair
and more fell onto him. The others had their share of grasshoppers
going for the same ride, but at least everyone still moved towards
the barn.

Another fifty feet and they slid into the
giant doors. Hunter pulled on the handles, but they wouldn’t open
because the others had locked them out. He pounded on the wooden
boards. “Open the door!” He hoped that someone inside could hear
him over the swarm. He pounded harder and the others joined in.
Panic showed in their wide eyes and more of the bugs rained down on
them. One boy turned to fight, slapping and stomping everything
around him. One of his wild slaps caught Barbie in the side of the
head and knocked her to the ground. Hunter threw the kid against
the door where he fell next to Barbie, struggling to regain her
feet. The barn door opened and Hunter hurled kids inside. Barbie
slipped in next and then he pulled the door shut and slammed the
board down to keep it locked.

The smell of smoke caught Hunter’s boggled
senses first. Someone had decided to light a fire inside a steel
drum filled with trash. It provided some light, but that wouldn’t
last long. The smoke had nowhere to go except for small cracks in
the walls and roof of the barn. Hopefully they wouldn’t asphyxiate
waiting for the killer bug storm to blow over.

Hunter turned on the kids huddled around the
burning barrel in the middle of the barn and erupted. “What dumb
ass locked the door? You nearly got us killed!”

Henry held up his hand—the other cradled his
sister. “I thought everybody had made it.”

Hunter bowed his head, hit by a wave of
shame. Barbie glaring at him didn’t help. Outside, the raucous
noise rose now that all the bugs had finally made it to the party.
Hunter breathed deeply then released it in a long hiss. Another
grasshopper bit into his back. He ripped off his shirt, swiped all
the hoppers off, and stomped them into the dirt floor.

“Okay, everybody look around and see if we’re
missing anyone else.” Hunter finished shaking the bugs out of his
hair.

Everyone started counting and looking for
friends among the forty-two kids that formed the final census of
Cozad. Barbie took charge of the headcount.

Hunter walked over to Henry. “Sorry about
yelling like that. It was a little messed up out there. Is she
okay?”

Henry nodded, working a strand of blonde hair
from his sister’s brow. “She’s been through a lot today. She just
needs rest.”

“I’m all for that. I think we’re safe here
for a while.”

Henry bent down and wrapped his other arm
under his sister’s knees, lifting her up. “You think it’s safe by
the walls?”

The roof rattled and popped from the
intensive onslaught, but the barn was holding. The incredible noise
of angry insects had everyone watching the walls in fear. Mold and
stale air mixed with smoke as dust shook out of the rafters and
drifted slowly down, switching places with the rising smoke. Anyone
with asthma was screwed.

Stalls lined the sides of the barn: one
filled with lumber, old rusted tools hung in another, while horse
tack and other farm implements occupied other areas.

“I wouldn’t sit right next to the walls.
Maybe next to these support beams would be best. That way, if these
bugs bring the barn down you’ll probably be all right.”

Henry’s jaw dropped. His sister’s eyes popped
open.

“I’m just teasing. Sorry, that was kind of
dumb to say. We’re safe in here.”

Henry shook his head and kissed his sister’s
before guiding her away from Hunter. He slid down one of the
structure beams and held his sister protectively while they watched
the ceiling rattle.

Hunter mentally punched himself in the face
and told himself that once everyone was safe, he’d do it for
real.

Barbie walked up, her face muscles tight.
Hunter waited for the bad news.

“Brandon isn’t here. He’s the only one. He
was working on the bus when the bugs hit.”

“Nobody saw him running for the barn?” he
asked.

“The bus was too far away. He probably didn’t
even know we were running before they were on top of him. Hopefully
he’s safe inside the bus.”

“Hopefully the windows will hold.”

The trash in the barrel burned down along
with the light. The kids held one another as the approaching
darkness threatened to strip away the last of their bravery. Hunter
grabbed some lumber out of one of the stalls and laid an
eight-foot, two-by-four over a cinderblock. He jumped, snapping the
board in half and he handed the pieces to Barbie.

“Put those in the barrel.”

She smiled at him, patting him on the bottom.
He jerked with embarrassment. “You’re so handy to have around.”

He regained his composure and smiled as he
dropped another board on the block. “You have no idea. Better hurry
before the fire burns out.”

“Why? Are you afraid to be with me in the
dark?”

“Yes,” he said, and cracked another board in
half. “Here, two more.” He placed them lengthwise into her arms on
top of the first set.

She plopped them into the barrel, sending
sparks of ash up from the trash. They lazily floated in the air.
Hunter held his breath, hoping they would settle on something
nonflammable.

Once the fire raged harmlessly in the steel
drum, and the smoke found the high ceiling of the barn where it
filtered out, Hunter leaned on the beam across the stall from Henry
and his sister. They had relaxed some after the blunt dose of
Hunter’s honesty. She slept peacefully with her head in Henry’s
lap. He stroked her hair and Hunter smiled.

Henry looked up. “Thanks again for saving
her.”

“Thank Barbie. I just went along for the
ride.”

Barbie turned her head from the fire and came
over. “Thank me for what?”

“For saving Sophie. I hope one day I can
repay you.”

Barbie leaned down and kissed Henry’s
forehead. When she stood up, Henry’s eyes were closed, and a huge
smile stretched to the corners of his lean face.

“You just take care of her,” Barbie said.
“She’s very special.”

“I know.” Henry returned to admiring his
sleeping little sister.