Waking up on the floor of the church in a sleeping bag puzzled me at first, but after blinking a few times, I remembered the events of the day before. I sat up and looked around. The people who prayed the night before were gone, and so was Roger's body. Jadance and Ash played a hand game while Desi, Piper, and Jace were having hushed conversations.
They were already put the sleeping bags back into their go-bags, so I knew they were waiting for me to wake up. "Morning," I stretched, stood up, and put up mine.
"Good morning, sleepyhead," Piper said, walking over to hug me. "From what I can see outside, the ash doesn't seem too thick. Doesn't mean it won't be a pain to travel in."
"At least that's somewhat good news," I said. "Alright, let's go."
Jadance looked at me with pained eyes. "What about breakfast? I'm hungry!"
"Right," I said to myself. "Listen, it won't be what you're used to, but it'll be something."
"When?" she whined, sticking out her bottom lip.
Piper crouched down to her level and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Just give us a minute to figure it out, alright?"
Jadance nodded as Piper, Desi, Jace, and I went over to the side. "What are we going to do? The diner was probably picked clean last night by those guys."
"That's a good point," Desi said, not interested.
"Desi, just go watch Jadance and Ash, will ya?" I groaned. Why did I invite her to come with us? It just means there is one more mouth to feed.
"Sure," she said, seeming more relieved.
Jace didn't say anything for a good second. "We've got stuff in our go-bags. It'll hold them over until we get something else."
"That'll work," I said, "but where and when would we go?"
My brother shrugged, "not here."
"I know that. We could try the diner again. There aren't too many options."
Jace sighed, looking over at Desi and then at Piper. "Jensen and I will go over to the diner. You and Desi can watch the kids. I'm only asking you to stay here for your protection."
Piper nodded, "sure. And someone should at least be here if we need protecting."
"Jace, why don't you stay here as well," I said, catching what she was implying.
"I guess it would be safer if I was here too," he said.
"Believe me, it would be more heroic if you saved us if need be," Piper said as she took his hand. Jace wished me luck as I put on my mask and headed out of the church.
I knew the real reason behind Jace staying behind. He was the crazier one of us two. While we were in the army, Jace would talk about wanting to be commander of his group if crap ever hit the fan. Now that this has happened, Piper and I agreed to do our best to monitor Jace. To him, having power and control was a gold mine. He always saw himself as a leader and not a follower.
As I walked across the street and back to the diner, I realized how dark the sky had gotten and how cold the air was. Snow had fallen, making me extra grateful for putting coats into our go-bags.
Once I was at the diner, I pushed the door open with my foot while holding my pistol at the ready. Even though it was dark, it was still light enough to see. The building was empty, except for the dead bodies of the customers and workers. The gang from last night was gone.
I was still cautious in case I was wrong about the diner still being empty. Nothing was on the tables, meaning someone had to have at least taken the scraps. My first guess was maybe an animal had, but the dishes were fine.
"Sir, please don't hurt me," a young girl said, shaking with fear. Realizing the powdery ash covered the lens of a pair of red glasses sitting upon her nose. Perplexed, I said the first thing that popped into my head, "can you see out of those? Are you breathing okay? Coughing up blood?" I asked these questions without thinking and hoped it proved I would not hurt her.
"I'm okay. I had an old rag around my mouth when the ash started falling." She answered, calmed, but small sobs broke her words. "I'm Mary-Anne Johnson, by the way."
"Jensen Michaels," I said with a gentle smile, "Judging by the ash on your glasses, you were outside during the ashfall. Is there anyone with you?"
Mary-Anne's head dropped as she took her glasses off and began crying. "My dad, but he's dead. He died last night; a group of bandits brought us into this diner after they had tortured my dad. I had hidden in a cabinet, but I could hear everything that had happened. I had even heard your voice and a couple of others."
I guess Roger had distracted me too much for me to have noticed Mary-Anne. "I'm sorry for your loss. Where is your mother?"
"At home with my uncle. I wanted to thank you for trying to save Dad. I saw your twin dump his body outside the church. Just tell me you did everything you could. I know you weren't able to do much since you were in a church, not a hospital."
"We did everything we could. What are you going to do?"
Mary-Anne smiled as she hugged me. "I'll go back home, I guess. I don't care if I make it or not. And there is food in the kitchen. It was too much for me to take all of it. See you around, Jensen." She released me from her hug and walked to the door.
I followed but headed to the church to get help with the food. "I need your help to get all this extra food from the kitchen. And Jace, we need to talk." The six of us walked back to the diner and into the kitchen.
"What is it?" Jace asked as he began rummaging through the cabinets.
"Remember Roger from last night? His daughter, Mary-Anne, was hiding in a cabinet. She saw you dump her father's body, but she thanked us for trying everything we could. But seriously, you dumped his body?"
"I couldn't do much!"
I sighed, "it doesn't matter now. Just hope those other people didn't see you."
"Why does it matter if they did?" He said as he stuffed cans of peaches into his go-bag.
"You'll want to keep everyone on your good side if you expect to have a following," I said, rolling my eyes.
Jace slugged my shoulder and laughed. "So now you're finally letting me loose after all these years?"
"No, I was just seeing if you were still stuck in that crazy fantasy of yours, and you still are."
"So you never thought we would be better leaders than those old scumbags we had?" Jace stopped, placed a hand on my shoulder, and faced me fully. "You never thought of leading our own organization?"
I scoffed and pushed his hand off my shoulder. "We? Never once was there a "we." It was always you. How many times do I have to tell you that, Jace?"
Then it seemed as if my twin brother had taken a pair of scissors and cut the rope of our brotherly bond as he stormed out of the diner. Piper started going after Jace, but I held up a hand to stop her. "Piper, just let him go. He's gone."
I stood there in shock. Was Jace leaving me and our brother and sister? I also wondered if he realized it was going to be impossible for me to take care of them practically by myself. I couldn't protect the others and do other tasks like getting food at the same time.
Shaking my head, I put on a fake smile. "Jace just went to find Mommy, Daddy, and Danny, alright?" I asked Jadance and Ash who were smothering my girlfriend with questions. I sure hoped it was true. It would make things easier on us anyway, and he probably didn't tell me because he didn't want me to follow him.
The rest of us finished gathering food in silence as Jadance and Ash quietly shared a can of peaches. About thirty minutes later, we continued walking to Piper's mom's house. Even though it took us days to get to our destination, it was nothing, since we never ran into anyone else.
What we saw as we arrived wasn't what I had expected. A tree had fallen into the house, and even though it was dangerous, I entered the destroyed building hoping to find Colombe and Peter at least alive.
After realizing Colombe had probably been in the living room, she had less of a chance of being alive. If Peter was in his room, then he should be fine. As I thought, the forty-year-old woman was dead. Groaning from Piper's bedroom caught my attention, so I carefully headed toward the broken door.
Peter lay on the floor in his sister's room, holding his leg, blood stained the carpet. He had pulled the object that used to be stabbing his leg out, but it had caused some damage.
"Peter, it's Jensen. You'll be alright."
Through gritted teeth, the fifteen-year-old boy asked, "what happened? Is Mom okay?"
I shook my head, "your mom's dead. The roof crushed her skull. A tree fell into the house. I'll be back in a second. Don't move." I gave him a small smile.
Walking to the laundry room was simple. I got the sewing supplies from the cabinet above the dryer. They weren't the medical type of sewing needle or thread but, it would have to do because, without these stitches, he would bleed out.
My eyes watered as the thought of me telling Piper about her mother's death came to mind. All I needed to focus on right now was keeping her younger brother from dying, too.
I stumbled back to Piper's bedroom and sighed. "This is going to hurt." I threaded the needle and stuck the needle into his skin. Of course, Peter screamed but eventually passed out. Soon enough, I was done and tied it off.
Carefully, I carried him out of the house, and Piper instantly ran over to me. "Peter," she said, shocked. It took her a moment to realize Colombe wasn't with me. "Mom?" She asked, voice cracking. Again, I shook my head and told her the news.
Piper cursed in French under her breath but looked at Peter in my arms. "At least Peter is alive."
"There is that," I smiled the most forgiving smile I could. "We can take him to the hospital after he rests a bit." I turned to Desi. "We'll be staying in the cars for a couple of days until Peter gets better. Get into Colombe's car with Ash and Jadance. Piper, Peter, and I will be in Piper's." Desi stayed quiet and didn't complain. Maybe she now realized there was nothing she could do, and we were being nothing but nice to her.
We spent the next couple of days searching the destroyed house for supplies. The only real things we could use were bottles of water, cans of food, a few things of medicine, and sewing needles and thread.
As soon as Peter could walk, we began walking to the hospital where I hoped to find Mom, Dad, Danny, and Jace. A week and a half later, the hospital came into view.
Holding up a hand, I motioned everyone else to stop as I pulled out my pistol and looked down at the sight. A small group of bandits was close by. Taking a deep breath, I aimed for one of their legs and squeezed the trigger. Another shot coming from the top of the hospital sounded as another bandit dropped. So now I knew they had a sniper stationed in one window. The last bandit took off running but still dropped into the snow as the sniper shot them in the back.
I held my hands up to let them know I wasn't planning on robbing the hospital. Jadance, Ash, Piper, Peter, and Desi all followed suit. We slowly headed closer to the building, and I just kept hoping they wouldn't shoot us.
Once we were close enough, someone said through a megaphone, "Jensen, come on. I know it's you." I started grinning because the voice belonged to Jace. The first thing I asked when we were inside the hospital was if Mom, Dad, and Danny were there. "They were here, but Danny died weeks ago. He accidentally breathed in the ash. Mom and Dad died of the flu yesterday. Let's get you guys checked for frostbite."
Those were two things I hadn't thought of. Jace noticed how tired Jadance was, so he grabbed a wheelchair. I did the same thing for Ash and we pushed them with the others following to one of the exam rooms.
"Jace, where have you been living?" I asked, peeling layers of socks off.
"With August Hayner," Jace said, looking over Ash's feet. I nodded. She was a student of both our parents. Back then, Mom was August's preschool teacher and Dad was her high school teacher. All of August's siblings once were students of our parents, so it made sense why Jace was living with the Hayners instead of somewhere else. I assumed August was at the house because she was in a wheelchair because being paralyzed from the waist down. This happened after falling off her uncle's horse when she was six.
"They won't mind if we move in too?"
"They won't. They already knew that you guys were coming this way."
"So you told them my plan? What about when you left us at the diner? We thought you had left to start your own group." I asked.
Jace shook his head and hugged me. "I thought about it and it seemed stupid. Especially during a time like this."
This time I stared at him long and hard, trying to process what he had just said. "That's... good," I intoned. That's what I've been telling you for years, so of course, I don't believe you. Taking a deep breath, I began mentally preparing myself to wake up or just turn around and not see Jace standing there.
Once all of us were free of frostbite, Jace and August's siblings helped us get to their practical mansion. We could all have our rooms. It was that huge. They gave us clean clothes to wear after we wiped off the ash with damp rags. I knew I felt fresher even though ash still clung to my hair.
As I finally laid on a mattress with Piper at my side for the first time in weeks, I realized it was the beginning of December. The normal thirty-minute drive had turned into a month-long trip. I couldn't believe Colombe, my parents, and my cousin were all dead.
"Hey, sorry about Laura, Tyler, and Danny," Piper said as Ash and Jadance slept by us for comfort. My girlfriend wrapped her arms around my chest. Tears rolled down my face as I croaked out a thank you. I ended up crying myself to sleep, only to be woken as dinner was ready.
Thirteen of us sat at the table, and there were several more seats open. There were cans of fruit and bowls of stale dry cereal on the table. It wasn't much, but it was food. "Thank you." My group said as we practically inhaled everything.
"You're welcome," August's mother smiled. "Why don't we introduce ourselves? I'm Brianna Hayner."
Brianna's husband was clearing the dishes off the table but stopped for a second. "Alex." August's brothers were Tony and Jack and August had two sisters, one older, Olivia, and a twin named Laya.
"If there are only seven of you, then how come you've got a table this big?" Desi asked after she introduced herself.
Alex laughed, "oh, I've got three siblings myself, and between them, they've got eleven kids." My eyes went as wide as dinner plates hearing this. Mom wasn't lying when she once said something about how big the Hayner family was.
All of us headed to bed after they took the dishes off the table and washed them. If I was being honest, everything felt normal despite Yellowstone's eruption a month ago and the power outage.
The sky was the same gray as it was weeks before, if not darker, as I woke up the next morning. The Hayner House felt slightly bigger as I walked to the dining room and saw everyone else sitting there except for Peter and Jace. "What's going on?" I asked, now fully awake, realizing they weren't there.
"Jace and Peter left last night," Piper said, with a hint of annoyance in her voice. "I knew he was being too sudden, saying he thought it was stupid after fighting with you for years about it."
I shook my head. "It makes sense my brother left, but why would Peter go with him?"
"I wouldn't have a clue," Piper said as she closed her eyes and clutched the Star of David charm she wore around her neck, and said a prayer in Hebrew. As I watched her lips move, I remembered she hadn't properly prayed in the four years I had dated her. My guess was the Star of David used to belong to her mother, who was now dead, and praying was the only way Piper could stay connected with her.
The second Piper's lips stopped moving, a knock on the door sounded. I walked to the window and peeked through the blinds. "August, it's Cayler. Wyatt is missing from the hospital." I pulled the door open and yanked my best friend into a hug.
Cayler was silent for a few seconds, not expecting me to be there. "J-Jensen," he stuttered as he stepped back to examine me. "What are you doing here?"
I sighed and told him about my parents, the diner, the hospital, and Jace leaving. Suddenly, I remembered Roger's bag, so I told Cayler to follow me and to keep talking. Going to Jace's room, I began searching for the green backpack since my brother was the last one who had it. When I couldn't find it, I punched the desk and thought Jace had probably given it to Peter.
"Jensen, I need your help. Kenneth is with his mom, trying to keep her from starving herself. I don't know how much longer she'll last." Cayler said as he reached into his coat pocket for his cigarettes. Clearing my throat, Cayler placed the cigarette into his mouth, but he didn't reach for his lighter. "What? I know smoking will be the death of me."
I shook my head, "you're an idiot. We can trade those."
"I won't light it," Cayler said.
Rolling my eyes, I held my hand out so he would give me the carton. "Still, no one wants cigarettes that have been in your mouth. Can you hand them over? Please?"
Cayler sighed, "fine." He slapped the carton into my hand. "Of course, I'm keeping my lighter since I might need it later."
"I'll go with you, and I need to talk to Piper about it. Just come inside for now. We'll leave as soon as we can." I slipped the carton of cigarettes into my pocket as I walked over to my girlfriend, who was still sitting at the table.
"Can I see you for a moment, Piper?" I asked with my warmest smile.
Her green eyes looked me straight in the face, making shivers go down my spine. "What is it? Judging by that look on your face, I will not like it."
"I'm leaving to help Kenneth. Cayler and I should hopefully be back in a couple of days."
"Alright," she said as she planted a kiss on my cheek. "You better come back." With a smile, I said I would, pecking her cheek.
"You said something about Wyatt having left the hospital," I said as I walked back over to Cayler. "So, what are we doing? Helping Kayla or looking for Wyatt?"
Cayler opened the door, and we stepped into the ash and powdered snow. "I thought that while you helped Kayla, Kenneth and I could go look for Wyatt. It would kill two birds with one stone." He had a point, and he probably wanted Kenneth away from his mother in case she died.
We arrived a day later to see Kayla laying on the tile of the kitchen floor. Kenneth was hovering over her, crying. His tears landed on the woman's cheeks as her limp body lay in her son's arms.
Instinctually, I dropped onto my knees and checked for a pulse. Danny used to faint a lot when he was younger, so I was used to it.
"Her pulse is fine," I sighed, relieved. Then Kayla said something, but her speech was so slurred I couldn't understand her. "You fainted. Listen, I'll be here to take care of you. Kenneth and Cayler will look for Wyatt since he has apparently left the hospital."
I smiled at my best friend and his boyfriend as if to say farewell. Both of them stood by the front door, said goodbye, then stepped into the ashen world, leaving me alone with Kayla.