CHAPTER 14: Where Is Everyone?

     * Above the silhouettes of the pines, the sky is so clear and black and bright I can see the tiniest pinpricks of stars, see where they cluster and form the milky way, see every constellation shining eagerly. I reach out to touch them. I'm drawn to one star, hot and blue. It burns my hand as it draws nearer, heading straight down towards me. I turn to the person beside me. He or she, I can't tell, but we're both naked. The person looks at me and the face is a bloody red mush that swirls and starts to form. It's me. My face.*

     I awake to the sound of my box lid opening. I look up in surprise. Against the deepening blue of the evening sky, all I see is a silhouette of someone up on the lip of the container, using his body to keep the plastic lid up. I hear him grunt in exertion.

       “Zero?” I say.

     “No, brother. It’s Derek!” he says.

     “Derek? What... what are you doing here? Is Beta here?”

     “Yeah, she’s back there keeping an eye out for Miranda. Come on man, let’s get you out of here. Take my hand!”

     “But...wait...” I struggle to get my thoughts together. We could all escape right now... “No,” I say, “No it’s too dangerous. If you get caught, she’s going to kill you!”

     “Don't worry, we have a plan. Everything is going to be fine. Trust me. Look, Beta wants to talk to you. At least come up here and talk to her, aight?”

     “Oh... okay.” I reach up and grab his arm. “Just hurry, you can’t get caught here.”

     “No worries,” Derek says. He pulls me up and I put my leg over the lip to steady myself. But then he yanks on my arm, sending me over the lip and crashing down into a heap on the table painfully.

     “What the f... ow, God. Where...” I look around, rubbing my head. The table is long and empty. I squint as it reflects the first light of the setting sun. “...is Beta? Zero?”

      There’s a thud behind me, and in the shadow just beyond the light of the window I can vaguely see Derek walking towards me.

      “We never really got a chance to know each other yet, have we?”

      “Huh? Where is everyone?”

     Derek leans forward, his smirking face slipping into the orange light.       Something feels wrong. I start to realize how alone I am here with him.

     He sprouts a tooth-filled grin. “Hey, I brought something brother. You... you want to see?”

     Slowly, I get to one knee. “Just... hold on a sec, man.”

     “Hmmm. Nah,” he says. From behind his back he produces a large nail, and before I can duck he smashes it into my skull.