“Everyone calm down!” Ms. Pollack was trying to regain control of the choir. The students were calling out and running around the camp, searching for any sign of another person. Some of them had even broken down into tears. “Please, everyone just come back here and sit down! We need to decide what we’re going to do.”
Kayla stayed close to Ms. Pollack, pulling open the flap of the closest tent. The space inside was bare. No sleeping bags, blankets, or pillows. No personal items. Whoever had been here had clearly packed up and left. And if anyone else was still here, they would have heard the group by now.
It’s like they vanished, Kayla said to herself. Then she thought about the Visitors. Or they were abducted.
Orlando gathered everyone and brought them back to Ms. Pollack. “This is no time to panic,” he kept saying. But Kayla couldn’t help thinking that this was the perfect time to panic.
Once they were back in a group, Ms. Pollack addressed them. “We have to decide if we want to keep going or head back to the airport.”
It was going to be a close vote if they took one. Half the students clearly hated the idea of going back the way they came, but the other half were enthusiastic about it. People started shouting their opinions almost all at once. It got louder and louder until the teacher cut them all off.
“Sleep on it. We’re not going anywhere tonight. At least the tents are set up, so we’ll stay here until morning, but tomorrow we choose. Everyone pick a tent. That’s where you’re sleeping tonight.”
Maddie, Luke, and Kayla picked a nearby tent and dropped their bags in it.
“You guys want to look around?” Maddie asked.
“Beats staying in here,” Luke said.
They walked up and down rows of identical green tents, occasionally poking their heads into one to see if any supplies had been left behind. They didn’t find anything. They found Orlando seated on a crate, reading a newspaper that someone must’ve left behind. The headline read: unidentified lights: threat or phenomenon?
“Nobody had any idea what those things were when this went to print,” he said as they approached. “There’s an interview with some scientist in here. He said they were aliens, but everyone probably thought he was jumping to conclusions at the time.” He folded the paper and tucked it into his bag. “Who’s jumping to conclusions now?”
“Why save it?” Luke asked.
“It might be the last newspaper ever printed,” said Orlando.
“Oh.” Luke looked down. “Right.”
“What happens if we decide to go back to the airport?” Kayla said. “Would you come with us?”
Orlando shook his head. “I’ve come this far. My brother’s still farther down the road, and I figure I can get there in a day or two. I think you all can handle yourselves on the way back if that’s what you decide to do.”
“I’m not so sure,” Kayla said. “Everyone’s about ready to crack.”
“Yeah,” Luke said. “And there’s no way to know where we should go. We can’t even look up where we are!”
“Sure, you can,” Orlando said, pulling something out of his coat. “That store we stayed in last night had a whole rack of maps.” He tossed it to Luke. “You know, when I was a kid, we didn’t have smartphones to tell us everything. Being out here,” Orlando gestured around him, “in the middle of nowhere with all the lights out, it’s not so different from when I grew up. No internet, just the world around you.”
“Wow,” Maddie said dryly. “Did you have to walk to school uphill both ways too?”
“No,” Orlando chuckled. “Just one way, and I didn’t complain about it.”
“Cars worked when you were a kid,” Kayla said.
Orlando shrugged. “True enough. You know, I tried to rig up one of the shuttle buses at the airport to run. I could have done it too if the thing weren’t so modern. Everything was wired through a computer or switchboard. I would have had to rip most of it out and start from scratch. It would’ve taken forever and I didn’t have all the tools I would’ve needed for a job that complicated.”
Kayla looked off toward where the others were setting up. Behind them, she could see the silhouette of a large truck with an open back designed to transport big groups of soldiers. “What about one of those?” she asked.
“Huh?” Orlando looked at her.
“What about one of the military trucks?” She turned to face him. “The shuttle buses are designed for comfort, right? Military trucks would be designed for efficiency. There’s probably a lot less stuff in there that you’d have to rip out or rewire.”
Orlando stood up, looking at the truck. “It’s still got a battery, but if I can get it running in the first place, all I have to do is . . .” he trailed off.
“Orlando,” Kayla said, “do you think you could get one of those trucks running?”
He smiled. “Give me a couple hours.”