Part 4 - May 20 Pine Ridge Fire station

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Before Tim could leave to make the trip to his house, he and Nancy heard one of the boys yell, “Hey! Look, it’s two guys riding horses.”

Nancy stepped around the corner of the building with the baby in her arms as the children gathered around her. She was indeed surprised—it was two people on horseback riding toward the firehouse. Tim came around the corner of the firehouse, followed by about a dozen more children. The two sets of adults studied each other over the distance.

Sam pulled Jack up and turned to Carl. “We should stop the horses here and one of us walk over and speak to those people. Those kids could spook the horses.”

“You mean I should go talk to the lone woman and keep those kids away from you and the horses,” Carl said with a malicious grin. “I’ve heard you when you come back from one of those show-and-tell visits you’ve had to make to schools. You know, not all kids are brats. So here’s what I’ll do—you go talk with the woman, I’ll stay with the horses, and you can assure that woman—woman-to-woman—that we are here looking for help. I have a feeling that group had the same idea we had, and they came here looking for help too.”

Sam gave Carl a withering look as she dismounted and handed Jack’s reins to him, then turned and started to walk toward the group. She noticed the other adult appeared to be a teenage boy, and at least two dozen kids were scattered behind them. More kids started coming around the building. Sam groaned to herself as the crowd of children continued to expand.

Nancy turned to the children. “Stay back, we don’t know who these people are, and we don’t know if those horses are gentle.” She called the older girls to come and take the baby, then asked some of the older children to take the rest of the group back around the side of the building.

Tim looked at her and asked, “Do you think they’ll harm the little kids?”

Nancy replied, “Who knows, but we need to be careful.”

“Look,” Tim said quietly, “one of them just got off that horse and is coming over.”

Nancy watched the person approach. She could not tell if this person was male or female. The person was slim, not quite six feet tall, but the way they walked did not give any indication as to gender. Their gait was smooth, athletic—almost like a cat. Both people were dressed in jeans and work coats. The one walking toward them wore a cowboy hat pulled forward, shading the face enough that Nancy couldn’t see it. The other person, staying with the horses, wore a plain baseball cap—Nancy could see that he was definitely male.

She felt vulnerable; a woman alone with a group of young children was not a very defensible position. The way the person walked still didn’t give Nancy any clue as to whether they were male or female. Did it really matter? Man or woman, would either be less dangerous?

As Sam walked closer, she was relieved to see that the woman was attempting to direct the children back around the building, leaving only the woman and the teenage boy waiting for her. Several of the children were peeking around the building, trying to see what was going on. The woman looked worried. Carl had been right to send her—another woman—if only to make this person a little more comfortable.

Damned if she’d admit that to Carl, though.

Sam stopped a few yards away and introduced herself. “Hi, I’m Sam Jorgenson. I’m a researcher from the Pine Ridge Research Farm. We’ve had a problem with our electronic systems and were hoping that we could find some help here.”

Nancy had just decided that this person was a female, then the name given was male—but the voice was feminine, and what she could see of the face under the hat seemed female.

“Hey, Sammie girl!” Carl yelled. “Take off that damn hat so the lady can see your face. You look like some kind of bandit.”

Sam rolled her eyes, took off her hat, and frowned back at Carl. She turned to the woman, shook her head, and smiled. “Sorry,” she mumbled meekly.

Nancy smiled in relief to see that the person was a younger woman, but mostly it was her genuine, friendly smile that made Nancy relax.

“Hello, I’m Nancy Jackson. I’m a teacher from Pine Ridge School, and this”—she indicated Tim—“is Tim Nelson. He’s a senior at the high school.” She took a deep breath and continued, “As far as we can tell, all the systems are down all over town and something terrible has happened to the adults and most of the older children. We gathered up the younger children from the school who have not been affected and came here to find help.”

“Let me guess—everyone affected was paralyzed and twitchy?” Sam said.

“Yes, that describes what we’ve seen.” Nancy nodded. “Have you seen anyone else—any adults—who are not…” She paused, searching for the right word. “Frozen?” she asked.

“No, you and that young man, and those kids are the first people we’ve seen who are not affected by whatever this is,” Sam replied. She motioned toward Carl. “That’s Carl Lowery, my friend from the biology research center. We were concerned that the kids would spook the horses, so he stayed back. We weren’t sure how the kids would behave around the animals.”

Nancy looked over at the man patiently waiting with the horses, then turned back to Sam. “I have over 180 children on the other side of this building, and they don’t get to see horses every day—plus, this has been a very unusual day—so keeping the children and horses separated is probably a very good idea.”

Sam raised her eyebrows, and with a slightly higher voice exclaimed, “Over 180 kids? Just you two are taking care of 180 kids?” She pointed at Nancy and Tim. “Lady, you’re made of better stuff than I am.”

Nancy smiled at the younger woman. “I’ve had a little time and practice. Most children are willing to step up to help, especially in an emergency, and want to earn the praise of adults. You just have to give them time and a chance.”

Nancy watched carefully for this woman’s response as she slipped in the suggestion of giving it time. Would this person stay and help with the children or disappear to look out for herself and her friend? She wanted help—damn, she needed help—but could she trust these people to really care about her children?

Sam looked at the kids peeking around the corner and sighed. “Carl and I will need to find a place to leave the horses, and then we’ll come back and see if we can help figure out what to do next.” She was sure she saw the woman relax—that looked like relief on her face. Wow. This woman had taken on the responsibility of caring for all these kids practically by herself. She was probably trying to figure out what she was going to do with them for the rest of the day, let alone the next. Crap, what a weight to carry.

“I’ll fill Carl in, and we’ll get the horses settled and be back as soon as we can,” Sam said, then turned and jogged back to Carl.

Nancy watched the younger woman hurry away, then turned to Tim. “I think we need to talk to the children again.”

Nancy and Tim walked back around the building and called for the children to gather around and sit down. She looked over the faces and noticed that the belligerent girl was nowhere to be seen. As she continued to scan the group, she asked Tim, “Do you see that girl I asked you to keep an eye on?”

Tim looked around in dismay. “No,” he groaned. “I don’t see her.” He frowned. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Jackson. I came around to see those two people—I thought you might need help. She must have taken off when I wasn’t watching.” He looked abashed. “I’m sorry.”

“Tim,” Nancy said apologetically, “I can’t watch this many children all at one time—and I’m trained to—and neither can you. It’s not your fault. Plus, that girl was absolutely determined to take off and do what she wanted. I’ll see if I can talk to the other girls and find out where she lives, then go find her. But right now, we need to talk to the rest of the children first. We just can’t put this off any longer. The children have seen what’s going on, and it’s time they know just how serious the problem is. They’ll need to cooperate, because we’ll have to come up with a plan for tonight—and who knows how long.”

Nancy watched Tim’s face as he, too, finally grasped the gravity of their situation. “I keep thinking that everyone will just snap out of this any minute,” he said, looking at Nancy in horror. “If all these people don’t snap out of this in a day or two…” He left his thought unfinished. Tim thought he saw tears in Nancy’s eyes as she met his gaze and just nodded.

“Yes, in a couple of days we may be the only people left to care for all these children.”

Nancy had avoided this long enough and decided that it was now time. She turned and looked around at the children.

The children’s eyes were on Nancy. They already knew the situation was serious, but Nancy carefully explained most of what she and Tim had seen in the school. She did not go into the grimmest details and tried to make the explanation as clinical as possible. She told them about going into the houses across the street and how she found the baby.

As she expected, the youngest children were confused or frightened, and many started to ask about their own families. Nancy had prepared a plan.

“First,” she said, holding one finger up to clarify each point she was about to make, and in her firmest, calmest voice, “we will need to find a place to eat. We can’t go back to school, and these homes are too small for all of us. We need to find a place with enough food and room for all of us to at least eat supper.”

Nancy held up a second finger. “Next, we have to find a place where everyone can sleep. The two people who just rode in on the horses said they would come back and help us, so there will be two more adults to help all of us.”

One of the children asked, “Where did the people go with the horses?”

“Well,” Nancy said slowly, “they said they needed to find a place to leave the horses where they would be safe.”

“I bet they sneak off and don’t come back,” someone grumbled.

Nancy directed one of her withering that’s enough of that looks toward the surly little voice. She held up a third finger. “Whatever happens, we—all of us”—she motioned with her other hand to encompass the group—“must stay together. Which brings me to my next new problem. A few of the older girls have left; I need to know who they are and where they went, because now I have to go find them.”

Nancy looked over the group and waited for an answer. Three girls in the back shyly put up their hands. Nancy motioned for them to come to her. She asked quietly, “Do you know who those girls are and where they went?”

The girl Chloe—still holding the smiling baby, who had both small, pudgy hands tangled in Chloe’s brown curls—nodded. “Shelby was the girl who talked the other girls into leaving. She thinks this is all some joke, and she said she’s going home to tell her mom.”

Nancy asked, “Do you know where she lives?”

Chloe nodded. “Her house is over there”—she pointed—“one block over on Hopkins Avenue. Her house is the yellow one on that street.”

“Okay, do you understand why we have to all stay together?” Nancy asked the girls.

The girls scuffed their feet and looked down. “Because we have to take care of the little kids?” the brunette, Sarah, said.

“Partly,” Nancy answered. “But if we don’t take care of each other, who will figure out how to help all the people who are…”

“Frozen?” Sarah finished somberly.

Nancy paused. That term would work as well as any to explain the condition of the people affected—the children’s parents, siblings, and friends.

She smiled weakly at the girl. “Yes, frozen. Maybe we can find help, but we have to stay together. If I have to spend my time running around searching for children who won’t cooperate, then we won’t have time to help the frozen people.”

The girl nodded her understanding.

Nancy checked the baby and asked the girls, “Do you need a break from taking care of the baby?”

All three answered simultaneously, “Her name is Mia.”

Nancy had to smile. “Mia?”

The girls smiled and explained, “We had to call her something, so we all picked our favorite name—Mia. So we can talk to her, you know, like you can’t keep saying, ‘Hey, you.’”

Nancy smiled. “That’s a great idea, girls, but you let me know if you need any help. You’re doing a great job, but taking care of a baby can be very tiresome.” She smiled as she watched the baby intently play with Chloe’s hair.

“Oh, we take turns, Mrs. Jackson, so no one gets tired,” the third girl said.

Nancy looked at her. “I don’t remember your name, dear.”

The little girl answered, “I’m Elizabeth.”

“Nice to meet you, Elizabeth. I have to get going—keep everyone here and help Tim with the little children.”

Chloe looked up at Nancy with a startled expression. “Mrs. Jackson, what if our parents wake up and want to find us? How will they find us?”

Nancy nodded. “That’s a good question. That’s another reason we have to stay together—it will take all of us to figure out how to solve each problem, and in some cases, just see what problems need to be solved. I want you girls to think up some possible solutions for that problem. I’m going to go get those girls and bring them back.”

Nancy turned to Tim, who had been listening to the entire exchange. “Well, you’re in charge again,” she said with a weak smile. “Sorry.”

Tim just grinned and nodded. “As soon as I get back, we need to think about feeding this horde of children. See if anyone has any ideas. And if those two people get back before I do, just tell them I went to the little girl’s room. My gut feeling is that we can trust them, but let’s be very careful.”

Tim nodded. “I hear you—I’ll play it safe. I have my eyes and ears,” he said, nodding toward the sixth- and seventh-graders engaged with groups of younger children.

Nancy turned and hurried off down the street posted as Hopkins Avenue.