The Fallout, page 1
Copyright © 2018 by Lerner Publishing Group, Inc.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Klein, Glasko, 1990– author.
Title: The fallout / Glasko Klein.
Description: Minneapolis : Darby Creek, [2018] | Series: Attack on Earth | Summary: Nina Collier is stuck in a mall with her ex-boyfriend during an alien invasion and must figure out how to find her parents and get to safety.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017046867 (print) | LCCN 2017059773 (ebook) | ISBN 9781541525832 (eb pdf) | ISBN 9781541525771 (lb : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781541526266 (pb : alk. paper)
Subjects: | CYAC: Survival—Fiction. | Extraterrestrial beings—Fiction. | Science fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.1.K643 (ebook) | LCC PZ7.1.K643 Fal 2018 (print) | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017046867
Manufactured in the United States of America
1-44561-35492-1/23/2018
9781541531093 mobi
9781541531109 ePub
9781541531116 ePub
To Ethan and Ryan Gonzalez—keep an eye on the sky, boys.
On the morning of Friday, October 2, rings of light were seen coming down from the sky in several locations across the planet. By mid-morning, large spacecraft were visible through the clouds, hovering over major cities. The US government, along with others, attempted to make contact, without success.
At 9:48 that morning, the alien ships released an electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, around the world, disabling all electronics—including many vehicles and machines. All forms of communication technology were useless.
Now people could only wait and see what would happen with the “Visitors” next . . .
Chapter 1
The Visitors’ ship dominated the sky overhead, but after making quite an entrance that morning, it had remained eerily quiet ever since. Still, they were up to something. The school buses the National Guard brought to the shopping mall to evacuate people had died all at once before the guardsmen even had a chance to load them. At the same time, the phones stopped working and the radio chatter that had been reliably squawking from the guardsmen’s jeeps cut out.
Now one of the high school teachers, Mr. Davidson, was arguing with a guardsman about how to get the vehicles running again. Clearly they both had some strong ideas about the matter. But given that nobody had ever dealt with interstellar weaponry before, it was hard to say who the real authority was. Nina overheard the guardsman insisting it was an EMP, like they were told to expect after a nuclear strike. But Mr. Davidson was unconvinced—he didn’t see any mushroom clouds anywhere. “It’s a death ray—haven’t you ever seen a movie before?” he kept asking.
“If it’s a death ray, why aren’t we dead? And where are the lasers?” the guardsman replied, doing his best to keep his cool.
Nina stopped listening. She was already tired of all the bickering. It had started as soon as the guardsmen announced that the buses were running late and that everybody needed to stay put because they weren’t about to leave the pickup zone to save anybody if things went south. Even though it was still early in the afternoon, it was already easy to forget that the day had started pretty normal.
Nina’s mom had been scrambling some eggs and watching her morning shows. Her dad was running late and looking for his travel mug, which he could have sworn he’d washed the night before. Nina was eating a grapefruit at the kitchen table, getting mentally prepared for another crushingly boring day of junior year. Then the day’s regularly scheduled programming was interrupted by an emergency broadcast. Spaceships had appeared in the sky worldwide—the Visitors had arrived. When the local news anchors announced that school was cancelled, Nina thought it must be some kind of joke, but when they ordered the evacuation a few minutes later, she realized that there was nothing funny about any of it.
That must have been six or seven hours ago. The Colliers, along with the rest of the town, had spent most of that time waiting around in the parking lot of the Oak Grove Mall, where the National Guard was supposed to provide further instructions and transportation to a designated safe zone.
Looking back, Nina thought they should’ve been pretty embarrassed about the whole situation. It really wasn’t a great evacuation plan. And now that it had fallen apart, hundreds of people were stuck here with their hastily packed luggage. Nina had spotted enough rolling suitcases, giant backpacks, and overflowing pillowcases to fill a whole bus all on their own. People were milling around, sitting on top of their bags, or hanging out in their no-longer-working cars: sitting ducks. If the aliens had any actual death rays and felt like testing them on this group, it would be an easy experiment.
The Visitors were doing a good job of ruining Nina’s day on their own, but she was quickly learning that an alien invasion didn’t make her other problems disappear. In fact, it had a way of making them worse.
“Have you heard from Steve at all today, sweetie?” Nina’s mom asked her now.
Nina cringed. She really didn’t want to think about Steve, her neighbor from up the street, childhood friend, and—as of last night—ex-boyfriend. She hadn’t told her parents about the breakup. After all, it was none of their business.
But at that moment, as if Nina’s mom had summoned him by speaking his name, Steve sidled over to them. “Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Collier. Some day, huh?” he offered with an uncomfortable smile.
“Steven!” Nina’s mom exclaimed. “So good to see that you’re all right! We were just talking about you. I’m sure you two have been worried sick about each other.”
Steve turned to Nina and made eye contact, which somehow managed to make things even more awkward. “Hi, Nina,” he said. “How are you doing?”
Nina ran a hand across the back of her neck, pulling at her hair. “Hey, Steve, I’m fine,” she said, trying to hold in an irritated sigh. “Just waiting to get out of here.”
“Do you think they’ll do something else, or are they just gonna sit there?” Steve asked. “The Visitors, I mean. I can’t see why they would come all this way just to hang out in the sky doing nothing, but what do I know?”
Nina’s mom let out a nervous laugh and said, “Well, whatever they want, I hope they’re friendly.”
“If they are, they sure have an odd way of showing it,” said Nina’s dad.
“Can we please not talk about this?” Nina asked. She spotted one of the National Guard soldiers approach a small group of others. “I wonder if they know anything new. Steve,” she said, turning to him, “you should go find out.”
It had struck her as a decent way to end the situation before it could get any more uncomfortable. Unfortunately it backfired stupendously. “That’s a great idea!” Steve said. “Would you, um, mind coming with me to ask them? You’re better at talking to people than I am.”
Steve might as well have held up a sign that said Can we please have a private conversation? Somehow he hadn’t figured out that now was not the time to discuss their relationship status.
“I—should probably stay with my parents,” she stammered.
“Oh, it’s fine, honey, go ahead,” said her dad. “And while you’re at it, see if they have any idea when they’ll get those buses running again. I’ve about had it with standing around.”
“Yeah, but shouldn’t we stick together? I mean, it seems like a bad idea to risk getting separated, and we really don’t know what’s going on,” Nina said, doing her best not to sound desperate.
“Oh, I’m sure your dad’s right,” said Nina’s mom, letting out another nervous chuckle. “I think it would do you some good to stretch your legs a bit—we’ve been waiting around here all day. And it’s not as if you’re going that far. Your dad and I will be right here.”
Nina decided she could diffuse the situation better without her parents listening, so she allowed herself a light sigh and put on her best imitation of a happy face. “Okay, thanks, Mom. I might feel a little better if I go for a walk.”
She grabbed Steve by the arm and led him toward the cluster of guardsmen by the truck. The sooner she got him out of her parents’ earshot the sooner she could have a word with him about how not cool he was currently being. He didn’t offer any resistance, and they started making headway through the crowd. But a moment later Nina’s mom called out from behind them.
“Nina!”
Nina turned and saw her mother following them, waving the small canvas bag filled with Nina’s diabetes supplies. Nina always hated how her mother took such an active role in managing her condition. Nina was the one who had been living with it since she was twelve years old, and at almost seventeen she knew a thing or tw
“Mom, no,” Nina said as her mom reached them and began to catch her breath.
“Honey, I just want to make sure you have your things with you—”
“Mom.”
“—just in case you need it, I mean wouldn’t you rather have it with you? Really honey, sometimes—”
“Mom!” Nina shouted, turning a couple of heads among the other families huddled nearby, then turning them right back with a 360-degree icy glare. “It’s fine. We’re just going to be a minute. You’ve got to start letting me take care of myself sometime.”
Nina’s mom let the bag drop to her side. “I’m sorry, it’s just . . .” she started, but instead of finishing she flung herself at Nina and wrapped her in a bear hug. “I just worry sometimes. And this hasn’t been the easiest day.”
Steve alternated between looking at his shoes and the shoes of everyone around him. Nina slowly gave in and returned her mother’s embrace, taking the bag from her. “Mom, it’s fine. We’ll be right back. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”
Chapter 2
“Hey, I’m sorry about your mom,” Steve said as soon as Nina’s mom had retreated back into the sea of idling evacuees. “I know how you hate that.”
Nina shoved the canvas bag into the crook of her arm and walked along the edge of the crowd on the mall side of the parking lot. “Steve, there’s a whole lot more that you have to be sorry for,” she said.
He followed along after her. “Hey, hold on.”
Nina wished she had worn layers. She was starting to get warm, despite the mid-October chill. She ignored Steve and continued on toward the mall’s front entrance. She just needed to sit in the shade for a minute, and Steve just needed to leave her alone. She could see where he was coming from, but he never was good at timing. That had been the problem. As soon as they started dating, he went in full force, and they went from being a will-they-won’t-they sort of thing to being basically married.
At least that’s how Steve made it seem at school, at home, and pretty much anywhere else where there were other people around. At first it had been kind of cute, but pretty soon she got tired of being Nina and Steve, a single unit, instead of just Nina and Steve, who lived down the street from each other and were always hanging out.
The glass on the mall doors felt cool on the back of her head as she leaned up against it in the shade. She pressed the back of her palms against the door, and they left streaks of sweat behind when she took them off.
The sweat. And the irritability, and the uncomfortable too-warm feeling. All the signs.
It had taken her longer than it should have to figure out what was happening, but it always did. To be fair, today had certainly been packed with distractions. But Visitors or no, her blood sugar had been low enough times in her life that she still felt like she should have noticed before her lips started to tingle.
Steve trotted up beside her. “Do you need something?” he offered, snatching her bag of diabetes supplies and clumsily unzipping it.
“Steve, look,” she said, “I appreciate it, but I really just need to sit. Can you give my bag back to me?”
“Sure!” He sheepishly handed it back. “Sorry, I just worry about you, babe.” When he said the ‘b’ word a sudden tightness shot through her shoulders, which was definitely not related to low blood sugar.
Nina slid against the glass to sit down and took her test kit out of the pouch. “Please, can we just be quiet for a minute,” she said. “Let me deal with this.”
“Sorry,” he said again. “Look, I know this is weird with what happened last night, but . . . I guess I felt like this whole alien invasion kind of changes things.”
There was a mechanical click as she pricked her thumb to test her blood sugar. “Yeah Steve, it does—it means there’s a lot of stuff we could be worrying about right now other than our relationship status. I mean, this might be the end of the world.”
“Right, but that’s my point. This might be our last chance to end things on a good note.”
Nina pressed the blood onto a test strip, then put it in her meter. She waited for the beep, followed by the bad news, but there was nothing. The Visitor’s death ray or EMP or whatever must have fried the thing, but it didn’t matter. By now she didn’t need the test to tell her what she already knew—she definitely had low blood sugar. “Is this really a good note though?” she asked him.
Steve suddenly became interested in his shoes once more. “Well, maybe they’re not here to destroy us,” he said. “Maybe they just want to talk. See if we can all get along.”
Nina started rummaging in her bag for some glucose tablets. “If that’s what they wanted, I doubt they would have made such a dramatic entrance.”
“Maybe they just didn’t know what else to do,” Steve said. He sat down next to her against the doors, though to Nina’s relief he managed to keep an appropriate distance. Perhaps he was starting to get the picture. “Maybe they’re misunderstood and thought they were running out of time.”
She sighed and caught herself starting to feel bad for him again. Actually, she was starting to feel just plain bad, and there weren’t any glucose tablets in her bag. “Steve, the problem was never that you aren’t sweet enough, and I appreciate the gesture, or whatever this is supposed to be,” she said. “But right now, I just really need a soda or something.”
“Right,” Steve said. “Sorry. Do you think we can make it back to your mom and see if she has anything, or should we check out the mall?”
“If my mom had anything, she would have given it to me when she gave me my supplies. She must not have realized I’m out of glucose tablets,” Nina said, thinking about how terrible it would be to pass out or have a seizure in the parking lot in front of everybody.
But maybe they’d all forget when the Visitors came back and annihilated them in the west parking lot of the mall.
“There are some soda machines in the mall,” Steve suggested, getting to his feet.
“I don’t have any change,” Nina said. “And besides, if the buses don’t work and my meter doesn’t work, what makes you think the soda machines will?”
“I’ve shaken a few prizes out of a few soda machines in my time. I think I can manage it again.” Steve rolled up his sleeves in a mock demonstration of his toughness.
A few months ago Nina would’ve been amused by his goofiness, but now she just ignored it. Focusing on keeping her balance, she shouldered her bag and slowly stood up while Steve opened one of the doors. She didn’t know why she was expecting them to have been locked—the mall had been open earlier this morning.
Regardless, she was relieved to see the doors opened with no trouble. Steve and Nina both stepped into the cavernous, darkened halls of the Oak Grove Mall.
Chapter 3
“Wow, it’s weird to be in here when it’s so empty,” Steve said. He and Nina paused just inside the entrance to allow their eyes to adjust. It was mid-afternoon, but inside the mall they may as well have been in the middle of the woods during a lunar eclipse.
Nina’s face felt like it was buzzing and she was starting to get dizzy. “Is it? Nobody goes to the mall anymore. You can just buy whatever you want online,” she said, brushing him off. She spotted the silhouette of a bench just up ahead and shuffled unsteadily toward it through the darkness, focusing on keeping her balance.
“I suppose. I guess I thought of the mall as, like, our . . .” Steve trailed off. “Never mind. Hey, I’m gonna go find the soda machines, why don’t you just sit tight.” He took off without waiting for a response from her. It seemed he’d slipped into a sulky mood, one of his less-than-desirable qualities.
The edge of the bench pinched Nina’s knees, but she was too preoccupied with everything else that had gone wrong today to be concerned with the pain. At least it was cool here in the darkness. She couldn’t think of another time she’d been glad to be in the mall, other than her first date with Steve a few months back, before everything got so screwed up.
