They concealed themselves as well as they could. Most of the students ran into the nearby cornfields. They crouched low to the ground and waited.
Kayla’s heart felt like it was beating a mile a minute. There’s no way they didn’t see us, she thought. We were a big group of kids standing right in the middle of the road. If we saw them, they must have seen us.
The rumbling came first. Kayla couldn’t see much of the road because of the corn stalks, but she heard the sound of the truck. It was getting closer and louder . . . much louder, too loud. It registered with Kayla that she wasn’t listening to one truck—there were many. She imagined the people who’d stolen their truck coming back with others to take the few supplies the choir had left.
The sound got louder and louder until Kayla heard the screech of brakes. Kayla heard a door open and footsteps on the gravel of the road.
“Who’s out here?” It was a woman, her voice direct and authoritative. “This is Colonel Amanda Lewis of the United States National Guard. If you need assistance come out now!”
Ms. Pollack snapped up from her kneeling position. “We’re here! We’re here! Help—we need help!” She rushed out from the corn field.
Kayla slowly stood up. This seemed too good to be true, and she wasn’t ready to trust it yet. But she saw her friends moving out of the field, so she followed.
As she came out of the stalks, she saw that the woman was telling the truth. She was wearing the camouflage fatigues of the military, and the trucks behind her were filled with men and women dressed identically.
“We walked from McKenzie to the camp you set up south of here,” Ms. Pollack explained to Colonel Lewis.
“We took one of your trucks,” Maddie blurted out. “But someone stole it from us.”
Colonel Lewis brushed off Maddie’s comment. “We left that camp three days ago to assist with a power plant that exploded nearby.”
The explosion we saw in McKenzie, Kayla realized.
“Where are you heading?” the colonel asked.
Ms. Pollack explained while the colonel listened without any emotion. Once she’d heard the whole story, Colonel Lewis nodded. She pulled a radio out of her pocket and started speaking into it. “Unit five-one-seven, pull up to me. You’re gonna be taking a high school choir home.”
Everyone stared at the radio. It had been days since they’d seen working electronics. “Your radios work?” Maddie asked.
“Some of them,” Colonel Lewis answered. “We have a number of emergency bunkers with supplies in them. They were protected from the EMP blast.”
Kayla felt days of tension evaporate from her body all at once. She’d be home soon, home with her family. Some members of the choir hugged each other while Ms. Pollack thanked Colonel Lewis over and over again.
One of the trucks pulled up to them, and everyone hopped into the back.
Kayla leaned over to Steph, who was sitting next to her. “I suppose we can’t blame you for not being able to predict a power plant exploding,” she said with a smile.
“You know,” Steph said, “between us, this could have gone a lot worse.”
Kayla laughed. “Seems like things go better when we can figure out how to work together.”
“Just try not to get in my way,” Steph teased.
They laughed together as the truck took off. Kayla looked over to Luke and Maddie, who were seated across from her. “We’re gonna be okay,” she said.
Ms. Pollack leaned back where she was sitting. “I’m just glad we’re finally getting home.”
“Not quite the field trip you thought it would be, Ms. Pollack?” Luke asked. She just closed her eyes, and everyone else laughed.
Maddie looked around the truck. “I’d still take this over an airplane any day.”