rested her forehead against his. He kissed her once and then again.
“Do you think I could wait until tomorrow to man up? Tonight, I’d kind of like to just lay here. Is that okay?”
“Yeah.” She slid off him, lay back on the bed, and held her arms open. “That’ll be okay.” He lowered himself beside her, draping his arm and his leg over hers, pressing his face into her neck. They lay still for a long moment, their breathing falling into the same relaxed rhythm. Guy snored softly and Ellie was just beginning to dream when the explosions started.
CHAPTER FIVE
The iron grating rattled in the windows as the glass absorbed the shock of the nearest blast. Guy was out of bed in an instant, reaching for the radio that came alive in between the second and third explosions. It sounded like gibberish to Ellie, but Guy barked back a series of answers as he grabbed a set of riot gear stowed behind the door. He was holstering his weapon by the time Ellie could think.
“What’s happening? Why do you need a gun?”
“You’ve got to get out of here.” He snapped his vest in place and then stopped. “No, stay here. Ellie, listen to me. I don’t know what’s going on out there, but you’ve got to stay inside. Lock the door. Don’t touch anything. Don’t let anyone in. Don’t answer the phone or the radio, do you understand me?”
Ellie nodded, the sounds of sirens growing, only barely drowning out the rising sound of people screaming. Guy yelled into the radio once more and headed out into the night. Not thinking about his orders or the fact that she had no pants on, Ellie followed him as far as the top step of the power station. The night burned red with harsh black ribbonsof smoke that tore into her throat and made her eyes tear up. Sirens wailed so loud and so close her eardrums vibrated and she could just hear Guy swearing as he fought his way through a panicked crowd that was rushing to get away from the blaze shooting from the building at the end of the street. He made a point of fastening the power station gate, although Ellie doubted any of those fleeing the explosion would want to linger so close to the blast. A terrible sound, like a monster exhaling, rolled down the street, and Ellie saw the fire trucks had gotten the first wall of water onto the flames.
It was a storage depot for the maintenance division. Whatever had exploded hadn’t taken out much of the building, and the steady stream from the fire hoses replaced the red and yellow flames with a puffing cloud of vapor and chemical stink. Someone had the sense to turn the sirens off, but the throbbing still lingered in Ellie’s ears. From where she stood, she could make out flashes of emergency lights pulsing through columns of smoke coming up from across Flowertown. People stopped rushing and herding and began milling about outside the power station gates, trying to see the rescue workers at work. Realizing she was half naked, Ellie ducked back inside the station and fished around the floor to find the cell phone in her pocket.
She dialed Bing but heard only a busy tone. On the screen flashed the message “Network Unavailable.” Just her luck. She tried dialing twice more. If one of those explosions had interrupted the relay tower that serviced the spill zone, it would wreak havoc on all communications. Ellie searched around the desktop for the remote to the flat-screen TV mounted on the wall. The cable was on. ESPN, of course.One time she had come in on Guy and Fletcher watching Golden Girls and had never let them live it down.
She flipped through the channels, looking for the local news channel to see if they would break in with a story about the explosions. Dalesbrook was not a large city, and although technically Flowertown existed separately, surely the news of an explosion in the contaminated zone would raise some eyebrows. She flipped through channel after channel, seeing nothing but TV dramas and sitcoms. On one station she caught sight
“Do you think I could wait until tomorrow to man up? Tonight, I’d kind of like to just lay here. Is that okay?”
“Yeah.” She slid off him, lay back on the bed, and held her arms open. “That’ll be okay.” He lowered himself beside her, draping his arm and his leg over hers, pressing his face into her neck. They lay still for a long moment, their breathing falling into the same relaxed rhythm. Guy snored softly and Ellie was just beginning to dream when the explosions started.
CHAPTER FIVE
The iron grating rattled in the windows as the glass absorbed the shock of the nearest blast. Guy was out of bed in an instant, reaching for the radio that came alive in between the second and third explosions. It sounded like gibberish to Ellie, but Guy barked back a series of answers as he grabbed a set of riot gear stowed behind the door. He was holstering his weapon by the time Ellie could think.
“What’s happening? Why do you need a gun?”
“You’ve got to get out of here.” He snapped his vest in place and then stopped. “No, stay here. Ellie, listen to me. I don’t know what’s going on out there, but you’ve got to stay inside. Lock the door. Don’t touch anything. Don’t let anyone in. Don’t answer the phone or the radio, do you understand me?”
Ellie nodded, the sounds of sirens growing, only barely drowning out the rising sound of people screaming. Guy yelled into the radio once more and headed out into the night. Not thinking about his orders or the fact that she had no pants on, Ellie followed him as far as the top step of the power station. The night burned red with harsh black ribbonsof smoke that tore into her throat and made her eyes tear up. Sirens wailed so loud and so close her eardrums vibrated and she could just hear Guy swearing as he fought his way through a panicked crowd that was rushing to get away from the blaze shooting from the building at the end of the street. He made a point of fastening the power station gate, although Ellie doubted any of those fleeing the explosion would want to linger so close to the blast. A terrible sound, like a monster exhaling, rolled down the street, and Ellie saw the fire trucks had gotten the first wall of water onto the flames.
It was a storage depot for the maintenance division. Whatever had exploded hadn’t taken out much of the building, and the steady stream from the fire hoses replaced the red and yellow flames with a puffing cloud of vapor and chemical stink. Someone had the sense to turn the sirens off, but the throbbing still lingered in Ellie’s ears. From where she stood, she could make out flashes of emergency lights pulsing through columns of smoke coming up from across Flowertown. People stopped rushing and herding and began milling about outside the power station gates, trying to see the rescue workers at work. Realizing she was half naked, Ellie ducked back inside the station and fished around the floor to find the cell phone in her pocket.
She dialed Bing but heard only a busy tone. On the screen flashed the message “Network Unavailable.” Just her luck. She tried dialing twice more. If one of those explosions had interrupted the relay tower that serviced the spill zone, it would wreak havoc on all communications. Ellie searched around the desktop for the remote to the flat-screen TV mounted on the wall. The cable was on. ESPN, of course.One time she had come in on Guy and Fletcher watching Golden Girls and had never let them live it down.
She flipped through the channels, looking for the local news channel to see if they would break in with a story about the explosions. Dalesbrook was not a large city, and although technically Flowertown existed separately, surely the news of an explosion in the contaminated zone would raise some eyebrows. She flipped through channel after channel, seeing nothing but TV dramas and sitcoms. On one station she caught sight
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