Part 26 - May 21 - It’s the Colony

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When all the tuckered-out little pets had been returned safely to their clean kennels and fed, the adults and children started to walk back toward their dorm. Nancy considered the time; it was too late for the children to stay outside to play, but far too early for them to go to bed. She decided to get some of the games that Carl and Sam had brought back from the store and try to organize some activities to keep the children busy until bedtime. She monitored the children as they floated in and out of varying levels of depression. Nancy determined that the best thing she could do was keep them busy and distracted from thinking about their losses full time.

“Mrs. Jackson, I think Tim wants you,” Mike said, pointing toward the library.

Nancy looked up from her own thoughts; Tim was standing on the top step in front of the library, waving his arms over his head to get everyone’s attention.

“Everyone!” Tim shouted. “Over here!” He waved to the group, indicating for them all to come to the library steps.

Once everyone had gathered around the bottom of the steps, the group looked up at Tim expectantly.

Smiling, Tim stepped back and bowed to the girls, giving them center stage.

Rachel stepped forward and announced, “We have a surprise for everyone. Tim actually came up with the idea, and Chloe, Kaelyn, Jaylene, Kelsey, and I helped.”

Everyone in front, who had heard the girls, whispered excitedly about the announcement, and the anticipation washed back through the crowd as the news was telegraphed to the rest of the group.

“What kind of surprise?” someone called from the crowd.

Rachel smiled. “Tim, with Mr. Lowery’s help, has set up a movie for everyone to watch. And we”—Rachel indicated herself and the other girls—“found a popcorn machine and made popcorn for the movie.”

Nancy watched as some of the children actually smiled, and most were interested in the announcement. She smiled to herself. He did it again—Tim had come to my rescue, helping with the children just when I was at my wits’ end about what to do next. She watched the boy—young man, she corrected herself—as he answered the barrage of questions from the crowd of children swarming around him.

Rachel called out, “Everyone follow us.” The girls led everyone to the door of the auditorium, where they passed out a bag of popcorn to each person as they entered and found a seat.

Tim had made his way through the mob of children to the projector station, where he stood ready to start the movie. Nancy followed him to ask for a few moments on stage before the movie to make a few announcements.

Nancy stood in the center of the stage, waiting for everyone to be seated. “Good evening, everyone,” she started, and in a few seconds, the children became quiet. “First, I want to thank every one of you for being very brave during this very frightening time and helping each other to get through yesterday and today.” She gestured toward Carl and Sam. “I think we should all thank Carl and Sam for coming to our rescue at the fire station and finding a way to bring us here where we can be safe.” She waited while many of the youngsters applauded for Sam and Carl.

“Frank and Helen, thank you for being here and for all your help and support.” Again, the children applauded. Nancy knew the applause was aimed at cutting short whatever she was going to say. She chuckled to herself, Won’t work.

“And last, but not least, thank you, Tim, for all your help from the very start, and finally—” Nancy hurried on before more applause could start, “—to Tim and these young ladies for this popcorn and movie tonight.” Nancy then applauded all the people mentioned and the six youngsters on stage. Her applause was vigorously joined by nearly 200 smaller pairs of hands.

She smiled at her little army and held her hands up for the applause to stop so she could continue. “We also have some new members to help us.” Nancy indicated the two new adults. “Dr. James Henson and Miss Janet Morgan. Dr. Henson will assist anyone who may need medical assistance, and Miss Morgan is here to help as well. We will have to continue to work together, cooperate, and take care of each other.”

“When do we get to go home?” a lone voice called out.

Nancy sighed and looked down at the floor. Then she looked up at all the faces watching her. “I don’t know.” The room was silent. “I wish I could tell you that this will end tomorrow and we’ll all go back to normal. But I can’t.” She heard some sniffling but mostly silence.

Tim stepped up beside Nancy. “Look, you all saw what happened at school, and as far as we can tell…”

Nancy placed a gentle hand on Tim’s arm and cut him off. “We haven’t heard from or found anyone else who has not been affected,” she finished.

“What about them?” another voice in the dark demanded, referring to the two new members of their group.

Dr. Henson stood up and turned to speak to the group. “I was affected by the internet crash the same way your teachers were. But the two pre-med students, Amy and Geoff, were able to disconnect a doctor, who was then able to help disconnect us.” He indicated himself and Janet to the children. “And they are working with the doctors at the hospital right now to revive as many people as they can.”

Some whispering ran through the auditorium.

“Can they wake up our parents?” a small voice beseeched.

“We’ll know more in the morning,” Dr. Henson answered. “But for now, I think you need to listen to Mrs. Jackson.”

Nancy waited to see if any more comments were coming her way. “Alright then, as I started to say, to remain safe we will need some rules that everyone must follow.” She leveled the look at three boys as they tried to slide down in their seats as low as they could to hide. “If we stay here on campus…”

“The Colony,” someone in the crowd called loudly.

The call was echoed around the room by other voices: “The Colony.”

She scanned the crowd. “Alright, the Colony. Does everyone agree?” Nancy knew she had to allow the children some small say in their lives. If they wanted to make the campus their own by giving it a name, so be it. There were many murmurs and calls of agreement from the children seated in the lecture hall.

“So, as any new colony, we must have rules. Rule one: you must clean the pets before you play.” This brought low groans of tacit agreement. “Second: everyone has to clean the dorms, make their beds, and then—there will be laundry in your future.” This brought a louder groan from the crowd. “And for now, and this is most important: NO ONE is to wander off without telling an adult where you are going!”

This rule was followed by some confused looks from a majority of the children, as if questioning why they would need such a rule—wasn’t that a standard rule anyway? But several of the children turned to look in the direction of Randy, Ryan, and Jayden, who were trying to slide even further down in their seats.

“I can’t express how important it is for all of us to be safe, and if anyone wanders off without letting someone know where they are going, that puts that person or persons at risk. None of us can help you if we don’t know where you are,” Nancy finished. “Well, that’s all I have to say at this time. I’m sure I’ll think of much more to say later.”

She tried to give the children her most reassuring smile. “Tim, will you do the honors and get this show started?”

Everyone clapped again when Tim walked back onto the stage and announced the title of the movie they found in the holo-video library. It turned out to be a rather new movie geared toward the younger age group. As the audience watched, silence dominated the lecture hall.

Sam, Nancy, Helen, and Janet were quietly talking as they sat in the back of the hall, watching the large group. The movie was one of the newer versions of a holo-vid. The women smiled as they watched the children react to the movie characters walking and talking around them.

Nancy had been dwelling on the little girl Cyndy, who had sat alone in that store beside her unconscious mother all night. What would have happened if Sam and Carl had not brought her back? And what about all the other children out there without conscious adults to take care of them?

Sam repeatedly told her, “Nancy, there is nothing you can do—there is nothing any of us can do, really.”

“We have to try. There are enough people now that I could go out looking around the houses and homes in this area at least, the way you and the children did while you were waiting for the bus to come back to pick you up,” Nancy stated.

“How would you travel?” Sam asked. “Walk?”

“Carl is going to try to get some of the solar cars running, then I could drive to areas and check,” Nancy answered. “Unless you could teach me how to ride the horse.”

Sam looked at the woman in surprise. “Have you ever ridden a horse, Nancy?” she asked.

“Well, no. Is it hard?” she replied.

Sam chuckled. “Depends on the horse. They have personalities like people. Would you send one of those three boys that took off on you today to do an important errand, or Carl?” Sam asked. “My buddy Jack would go along with you for a while, but as soon as he figured out that you didn’t know what you were doing, you’d find yourself sitting in the road while he went trotting off. Now, Rusty would not even move until you proved to him that you could make him move. There are horses out there that you could ride, but we don’t have one here.”

They sat quietly for some time and watched the children.

“I’ll take Jack and make a trip into South Bend tomorrow. Carl will be going up to the hospital to check on those two lab rats, Geoff and Amy. He said he and Frank are going to prepare the store so you can take the kids in there. I’ll get Carl to hitch the trailer up, and Jack and I will go for a ride.” Sam paused as some holo-vid characters ran past her. “Nancy, these kids need you here with them. I can’t do what you do. I don’t know these kids, but you do. So, I’ll go out and look for the lost kids and bring them back to you.”

“You shouldn’t go alone, Sam,” Nancy said. “What if I go with you? You could teach me to ride as you go along, couldn’t you?”

“No, not a good idea. If either of us needed help, I’m the only one who can handle the animals. No, if anyone comes with me, they need to know at least the basics of handling a horse. Besides, I’m used to working alone. I’ll be fine,” Sam answered.

“Let’s see what Carl has to say. Maybe he’ll have some ideas,” Nancy said solemnly.

They sat quietly through the rest of the movie.

While the women were talking, three sets of eyes watched them very closely. Randy turned to Jayden and demanded, “What did you see inside?”