"Please take your time coming down the stairs. Stay calm, because everything's gonna be all right." Coach said as they descended the stairs and Noodle pulled his phone out of his pocket seeing if he had service as he walked into the shelter.
"What are you doing here? Mom and Dad didn't say you were picking me up." Nik heard Mary say to her brother as they walked into the shelter. Grover nodded his head towards Violet and Mary laughed "You're pathetic."
"My mom was at the plant and said that there was some kind of explosion." A random girl said and Nik pulled out her phone and tried video calling her 'parents'. Her 'dad' picked up after two rings. "Nik...oh thank goodness!" he cried as relief washed over his face with she was paying more attention to what was going on behind him. "What's going on?" She cried tears streaming down her face "I'm sorry sweetie..." there was aloud boom and a lot of shuffling on the other end but then the phone dropped to the floor with the camera positioned on the unmistakable mangled image of her now dead adoptive father. She stared at the screen in horror as everyone talked and she drowned them out as best she could but could still hear them.
"Did she say what caused it?"
"My dad said it was a huge fire." A sob escaped Nik and Noodle who was sitting next to her followed her gaze to the phone screen that was still trained on the same grotesque and horrible image. His eyes widened at the sight and he took the phone from her and ended the call. The room shook and Noodle pulled Nik towards him and she cried into his jacket as the shaking continued and people screamed.
"Hey, let's keep it together, people." coach began tryin to calm everyone down. Noodle pulled Nik closer to him as she kept crying. "Now, this shelter was built a long time ago to withstand just about anything. We're gonna be safe no matter what happens down at Keller. We could last in here for weeks if we had to." he reassured and Nik looked up.
"You really think we'd be here for weeks?" She asked in a scared tone. Noodle kept his arm around her waist the same way Leshaen does with Zoey which made her blush but her face was already red from crying so no one noticed.
"Of course not." he said looking at Nik sympathetically which she usually hated but her emotions were to weak to argue.
"I said we could be here, not that we will be." said coach trying to fix his mistakes wording. "I'm sure they have everything under control." He said.
"The news says that there's reports of a spill." Natalie said walking towards the coach.
"Let me see that." he said taking her phone and looking at it.
"What you doing with my sister." asked Leshaen suddenly angry as he saw the way Noodle was holding Nik.
"I don't see you comforting her." Noodle replied so harshly he almost growled. Nik glared at Leshean.
"Go away." she said to him and he moved away from Zoey towering over her as she was sitting on the bottom bunk of one of the rusty old beds.
"You better watch your tone." He said sternly.
"What are you gonna do if I don't?" She asked him wrapping her one arm around Noodle's waist. Leshaen glared down at her and then whispered.
"Same I did last time" he smiled cooly and she looked at him fear evident on her face. He pulled his hand back like he was gonna hit her and she flinched out of habit.
"You touch her and it'll be the last thing you ever do."Noodle says and stands up in front of Nik holding her one hand in his behind his back.
"No ones touching anybody." Coach said breaking them up.
• • •
"Yo, what you lookin' at?" Leshaen asked Barrett who was giving him the death glare. "Nothing." he replied and continued to glare the Noodle pipes up.
"Hey, you're that kid that sold your app for a million dollars, but didn't share it with the guy you made it with." he scoffed "a**hole." Barrett sighed.
"That matter was settled, and it wasn't a million dollars." He replied.
"Oh, so it was less than a million dollars? Okay, that's cool." Leshaen said. Barrett continued.
"I didn't say it was less." he finished glaring at them both.
"Hmm, two alphas in a d*ck fight. Good times." Violet said and walked away. Nik curled back into Noodles chest as the room rumbled again with a small squeal escaping her lips.
"All right, all right." coach says trying to calm us down. Diesel sighed.
"Yeah, I'm not staying here." They all looked at him like he was crazy.
"Where do you think you're going?" coach asked him irritated.
"Out. I can't be stuck in here with all these losers." he said and began walking away.
"I take offense in that" Nik called after him. Everyone looked at her "I'll get him" she sighed and stood.
"be careful ok" Noodle said to her and she nodded.
"You can't leave here unless I say you can." coach said. He still wasn't getting it.
"Watch me." She replied and exited the room running to catch up to Diesel.
"What? Hey! Hey! That's gonna be an extra week of detention for you two!" She heard behind me as we ran towards the front.
• • •
"Diesel! Nikoli! For future reference, you don't leave the shelter until I say you leave the shelter." coach said but they weren't paying attention. They were staring out the window.
"What the actual h*ll?" coach questioned seeing what the two were looking at.
"The whole place is gone." said Grovers little sister.
"That doesn't make sense." Violet said. There was a loud explosion and she backed up into Diesel and they looked at each other with that distinct 'oh crap' look. He walked towards the doors when a second explosion happened and Nik fell back just in time to be caught by the wonder Noodle who always seems to be there when she needed him. People were screaming.
"Let's keep it together." coach said and the screaming ceased.
"Yo, I can't get any service." Noodle says and Nik pulled her phone from her pocket.
"Nothing wants to work anymore." She said and threw her phone on the ground.
"Whatever happened, it must have knocked out the system." Barrett said simply.
"Mine's ringing!" Mary cried "I'm getting through." She put it on speaker phone and the line went dead. "It was ringing." she said
"You guys heard it. It was ringing." Nik smiled and nodded showing her she believed her. Then people started leaving. Nik heard bits and pieces of conversations. People telling other people to stay and to not go out there.
"Keep 'em dry and high, huh?" Lyle said.
"You know I will." Diesel replied and they fist bumped.
"Whoa, hey, are you just gonna let him go outside like that?" Grover asked him in disbelief.
"Just got his truck." he said simply. "Can't just leave it out there." Nik nodded in understanding. Lyle LOVED his truck.
"People, stop! You cannot go outside!" Natalie cried.
"She's right. My dad works at the plant.
He said that when in doubt, don't go out." Mary said.
"The news said it was a chemical breach. We have to stay inside, keep the windows closed, and we cannot breathe that air." Natalie finished. "Don't even think about it." She yelled at her friend Addie who's hand was on the door handle.
"I know you only boss me around because you care about me." Addie said.
"I'm bossing you around because you're about to do something stupid." Natalie said back.
"You should take care of yourself." Addie said walking out.
"What you doin'? You're kidding, right?" Noodle asked Nik as she began to walk to the door.
"I have to make sure my mom's okay." She said but Noodle grabbed her hand.
"You heard what she said." Leshean.
"Stay out of this!" She yelled at him and he glared at her.
"I'm not letting you go." Noodle said with sad eyes.
"Oh, says you?" She asked in anger tears streaming down my face.
"Please" Noodle said barely louder then a whisper and she caved and he pulled her into a hug.
"It's moving." Grover said.
"What is that?"
"Everybody get away from the doors!"
"Come on!"
"Move!"
"Let's go!"
"Come on!"
"Go, go, go!"
"Stop! Guys, okay, Diesel, I need you to go into the Tech room and try to get the news on the TV. You, go try to get online. Everybody else, spread out. Get your cell phones out.
Try to get a signal." coach said and we all fanned out around the school.