Mrs Johnson started to wave Justin aside but turned to glance around the room. The majority of the students were in grades seven and eight, and she realised that although they’d probably watched gore before in movies, it wasn’t something they should see in real life. She used the remote to turn the screen off and turned to the room and said, “Em, yes, you are correct. Students, I’m sorry you had to see that. Look, I don’t know what is going on and until I do, the TV stays off. I’m going to watch the news on my phone. Students in grades ten, eleven and twelve may do the same, but other students are not to use their phones for any reason except for contacting your parents. Are there any questions?”

  Some of the younger students began arguing, and it took several minutes for Mrs Johnson to take control of the younger students. Justin continued working through possible scenarios and options. By the time the room was quiet and Mrs Johnson looked around, Justin had his bag over his shoulder and was almost out the door. She called out, “Excuse me, Jason isn’t it? What are you doing?”

  Once again, Justin’s stammer was gone, and he said, “Yes, Mrs Johnson, my name is Jason Mullins. I need to check on my sister. She’s over at the primary school, and I’m responsible for her safety.”

  “I’m sorry, Jason, but you can’t just leave school when you want to. Something serious is happening in the city, and I’d like you to sit back down.”

  “I’m sorry, Mrs Johnson, but I can’t do that.”

  At that, Justin left the library and headed for the primary school. He knew Mrs Johnson couldn’t leave the other students and would have to let him go. He doubted she would do anything and his false name was a suitable misdirect. Closing that flowchart in his mind, he moved quickly toward Lily’s school. He’d only travelled about fifty metres when he heard someone calling.

  “Hold up, Justin. My little sisters are also at the primary school. I’m coming with you.”

  Justin turned to see Jacquie jogging to catch up. He was somewhat surprised to know she knew his name, and as a result, her level of importance rose. Instead of being a six and a half, she was now a low six and could end up somewhere in the high fives depending on her reasoning. Without waiting, he turned and continued toward his sister’s school, though he did slow a little. When Jacquie caught up, she walked quietly beside him for a few steps before saying. “What happened to your stutter, Justin?”

  Justin went through options in his head before stammering, “I’m n…n…not sh…sh…sh…sure w…w…w…w…what you m…m…m…m…mean.”

  “I think you know exactly what I mean. You’re good, I’ll give you that. We’ve been in the same classes for four years now, and I’d have sworn you couldn’t string a sentence together without stammering. Even your sister Alice tells everyone about how her retarded stepbrother can hardly say his own name.”

  Justin risked a glance toward Jacquie and could see she was unsure of her statement, and although he was tempted to keep up the ruse, he doubted he’d be able to get Lily out of school without being assertive. Flipping through the options, the flowchart suggested a partial truth with a touch of vulnerability. “I get nervous around people, and the stutter keeps people at a distance.”

  Jacquie didn’t respond and kept quiet. That, and her obvious concern for her sisters, dropped her into the high fives on Justin’s scale. As they entered the primary school, she said, “What are you going to do when you find your sister?”

  “Take her home. The news of what happened in town will get the school put on shutdown, and she’ll be stuck until my mum or stepdad arrive. That will be late tonight at the earliest if they arrive at all, and she’ll be scared. This way, I can make sure she’s safe.”

  “How will you get home? The buses aren’t running today.”

  “It’s only two and a half kilometres to the house so we can walk. I’m still weighing up the options because I’d like to get indoors as soon as I can. If whatever affected the people at the protest is airborne, then with the current wind conditions we’ve less than thirty minutes before it could begin to have an effect here. It was most likely a type of nerve agent, and even if it doesn’t reach here in concentrations sufficient to be lethal, Lily gets both asthma and eczema, and I don’t want to take any chances, especially with humidity being low today.”

  “Both my sisters have asthma. I’m not sure they’ll be able to walk home in that time though.”

  Jason worked through his matrix, then said, “I’ll help. You live only three blocks from us so we can walk most of the way together.”

  “You know where I live?”

  “We’ve been in the same classes for four years. Of course I know where you live.”

  Jacquie didn’t know what to say and stayed silent as Justin led the way into the primary school’s library.

  Chapter 2

  Inside the library, Justin walked confidently up to the head of the primary school who was watching the news on her iPhone. He waited for a moment, then using a modified example response from his flowchart, he said, “Excuse me, Mrs Bailey, my name is Justin Waters, and this is Jacquie Conner. Our parents are waiting outside to take us home. They couldn’t come in because they’re listening to the news on the radio. Could I please sign out Lily Waters and Matthew Larson? Jacquie is here for her sisters Kelly and Katie Conner.”

  Mrs Bailey looked confused for a moment then said, “Where are your parents?”

  “They’re waiting outside on the road. I can go get them if you’d like. It’s just that they’re wanting to hear what is going on. My mother is so scared. One of her sisters was going into the city to protest.”

  Mrs Bailey considered for a moment then said, “No, that’s all right. I do hope your aunt is OK. I’ll go get the children.”

  As she walked away, Jacquie grabbed Justin’s arm and whispered angrily, “You lied to her! And how do you know my sisters’ names?”

  Justin didn’t like being touched and shrugged off her hand. He said, “I pay attention. Kelly is in Lily’s class, and they’re friends, well, at least Lily thinks Kelly is her friend. Katie got the top achievement award at last year’s awards’ night for her grade. Now, please try to look relaxed. Not too relaxed because there is a terror incident happening but don’t show any concern about us leaving or Mrs Bailey will ask more questions.”

  Jacquie was in shock at the change in Justin and his awareness of her family, but she tried hard not to look ruffled. It was only a few minutes before she saw Mrs Bailey returning with the four children. As soon as Lily saw Justin, she ran and gave him a hug. Before Lily could say anything, Justin said, “Hey Peanut, do you have everything? Time to go home.”

  She looked at him in surprise. Justin never spoke normally in front of others, and he’d never used their code word before. She had to take a big breath before grabbing Matthew’s hand and saying, “I have everything. Come on, Matt, let’s go.”

  Matthew was looking at Justin oddly but allowed himself to be dragged away by Lily. Jacquie’s sisters had started to quiz her about why they were leaving, and she was trying to answer them without causing a scene. Justin flipped through the charts in his mind until he found the general situation, then after looking through the possible responses stepped in between the girls and grabbing Jacquie’s hand said, “Come on babe, we’ve got to go. Everyone’s waiting.”

  Jacquie and her sisters were in shock but followed Justin as he led them out of the room. As soon as they were outside, he let go of her hand and said, “Jacquie, I’m sorry about that, but we have no time for questions.” Turning to Lily, he said, “Lily, you did great. You remembered the code word brilliantly. We have to get home quickly. Can you walk quickly the whole way home, or not?”

  “I can, but Kelly can’t. She has bad asthma today.”

  Justin thought for a bit, then turned to Kelly and said, “Kelly, we need to get you home. Would you be OK if Jacquie or I give you a piggyback most of the way?”

  Kelly nodded shyly, and Jacquie said, “I’ll go first.”

  Justin nodded and took their bags. He said, “Lily, you set the pace. Walk as fast as you can, or even jog if possible. Give me your backpack as well. Jacquie, you go behind Lily, then Matthew and Katie. I’ll be at the rear. I want you all to keep looking around. If you see or feel anything strange, I want you to tell Jacquie or me. Now, let’s go.”

  As Lily led the group towards home, Letnan Kolonel Dharmokusumo was watching the various news feeds and the pictures from cameras his teams had installed around the city centres. Almost all the protesters had been caught by the gas, and everyone who had come in contact with it was either dead or dying. The wind was carrying the toxin to other parts of each city, and in each case, it seemed to have lost none of its potency. Emergency services were just starting to respond, and he could see police and other first responders donning hazmat suits and beginning to work their way through the dead looking for survivors. He estimated he had another ten minutes before Stage 2.

  After five minutes at a fast walk, Justin reviewed the options and decided they needed to move faster. He stopped the group and said, “Jacquie, you take Lily because she is lighter. Kelly, you can sit on my shoulders. Matthew and Katie, I want you to jog. Jacquie, set a fast pace and let Lily direct you. She knows the fastest way to our house. We’ll stop there and check the news before you head to your place.”

  As he’d been talking, he stuffed Lily’s backpack in his and Kelly’s in Jacquie’s. Then putting his on his back, he looped Jacquie’s in front of him, and lifted Kelly onto his shoulders. Jacquie hadn’t waited for Justin and had started off at a jog. Even so, it only took Justin a minute to catch up. Justin knew from his reading that people performed better with encouragement, so he began praising Matthew, Katie and Jacquie as they jogged.

  Jacquie was starting to feel puffed from carrying Lily on her back. She was also a little miffed that Justin didn’t seem to have any trouble breathing even though he was carrying more and kept up a constant flow of encouragement. Five minutes into the increased pace, Justin noticed Jacquie was starting to slow and said, “Jacquie, have a break. Let Lily run for a minute. She can keep this pace for a few minutes before she needs a rest.”

  As he said this, he heard what sounded like cracks of thunder off in the distance, coming from the direction of the city. Stage 2 had just occurred, and Letnan Kolonel Dharmokusumo looked out over the devastation caused by the exploding shrapnel bombs hidden in the backpacks of his suicide agents. Other explosions came from bombs his team had placed throughout the central area the night before. The operation had been months in the planning, and the bombs had been disguised as waste bins, cement benches and even large numbers on the sides of buildings. Thousands of emergency responders were either wounded or killed, and the Letnan Kolonel had a satisfied smile as he considered the almost total success of the operation so far. Another twenty minutes and Stage 3 would launch.

  Justin made assumptions about the thunder and quickly escalated the event in his mind. Opening a different folder from his memory, he reworked the timing. Turning to Lily, he said, “Lil, take the special shortcuts.”

  Lily nodded and halfway along the next block, she turned into someone’s driveway and going through their side gate she ran through and into their back yard. The house only had a short wire fence at the end of their block. Justin helped Lily and the others climb over it before Lily led them through that house’s yard and onto the parallel street. Altogether the shortcut had cut two hundred metres off their journey. Twice more, Lily led them through people’s yards to cut time off their trip. Finally, less than twenty minutes after they’d left the school, Lily, once more being carried by Jacquie, led them to her front door.

  Justin opened the door and led them in. He said, “Jacquie, you don’t have time to go home before the wind reaches here. Are you OK to stay here and wait for your parents?”

  Jacquie was really worried about being on her own at home with all this going on and was impressed with Justin’s actions under pressure. Having no negative vibes about him, she said, “We would appreciate that.”

  Justin nodded as if he really hadn’t thought any other response would have made any sense. Reviewing a checklist in his mind, he said, “OK. Jacquie, please close every window on the ground level. Katie and Matthew, I want you to go with Jacquie and help her. Lily and Kelly, you both need to go to the kitchen and get a drink ready for everyone. I’m going to close the upstairs windows.”

  Without waiting for replies, Justin took the stairs to the bedroom level of the house and went through all the rooms closing every window. Grabbing a folder from his room and a small pencil case from his desk, he rushed downstairs and double-checked that each of the windows was shut. When he’d finished, he called each of the others to the kitchen and made sure they had a drink. Opening the pencil case, Justin removed a small digital radio with an earpiece attachment. Tuning into a news channel, he put the earpiece in and let it play in the background as he opened the folder and quickly found the procedure for a chemical attack. He visually rechecked the list to make sure he hadn’t forgotten anything. Jacquie moved close and started reading over his shoulder. After glancing at what he’d written, she said, “You have a plan to protect the house from an airborne chemical attack?”

  “Yes, and the first step is to close the vents, windows and doors. After that, we need to block entry around and under the doors. Lily, take Jacquie to my room. Under my bed is a storage box with orange tape framing the lid and each side. The box needs to be brought downstairs. While you and Jacquie do that, I’m going to go get Oliver from Mr and Mrs Ridley’s house. If you see me fall over or lying on the ground, you are not to leave the house. Jacquie, make sure she does not leave the house. Kelly, Katie, and Matthew, you three are to stay here until I return.”

  Without waiting for a reply, Justin hurried to the next-door neighbour’s house to get his half-brother Oliver.

  Chapter 3

  Jacquie followed Lily up the stairs to Justin’s room. When she walked in she was surprised to find that it was extremely tidy. It was a large room, at least twice the size of hers, and almost one entire wall was a bookcase filled with different coloured folders just like the one Justin had taken. As well as folders there were numerous books and magazines interspersed with dozens of small storage containers. Jacquie could see the empty space where the folder had come from. Another wall was hidden behind rows of stacked large plastic storage boxes, each of them carefully labelled, and they were all colour coded using duct tape on the sides. Some were also tinted instead of the more ubiquitous clear container.

  The room also had a treadmill, a stack of free weights, a bed, a desk and several inbuilt clothes cupboards. Lily bent down and pointed to a storage box under his bed with orange tape surrounding each side. Jacquie dragged it out and carried it downstairs with difficulty. There was a label on the top which read ‘BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL ATTACKS’.

  As soon as she got downstairs, she opened the box. On top, there was a list outlining the contents. Jacquie turned the list over and saw several diagrams. Each was a different level of the house with the windows labelled. Most of the space in the box was taken up by neatly folded pieces of thick plastic. Jacquie picked up the top one which was labelled, ‘LIVING ROOM - WINDOW A’. Looking back at the list, she read the top two lines:

  1. Close all windows and doors

  2. Tape plastic to the inside of every window as labelled - start with the windows facing the attack. First, tape the corners then tape along the top, sides and bottom of the plastic.

  Underneath was a diagram showing how to tape the plastic correctly.

  Jacquie checked inside the plastic container and found three fifty-metre rolls of orange duct tape. After taking another look at the map, she decided to begin in the kitchen. After finding the two pieces of plastic labelled ‘Kitchen’, Jacquie grabbed one roll of duct tape and a pair of scissors Justin had stored with the tape. She called Katie to help her and headed to the kitchen to begin sealing the windows.

  While Jacquie was doing this, Justin ran to the house next door and knocked sharply on the door, ringing the bell. After almost thirty seconds, Mrs Ridley opened the door and said, “Why hello Justin. I didn’t expect you to be home this early. I’ve just put Oliver down for a nap.”

  Justin carefully pushed past her and closed the door behind him. He decided changing his speech would slow things down more than stuttering, so he said, “M…M…Mrs R…Ridley, I n…need to t…t…take Oliver h…h…h…h…home now. H…H…H…Have you or M…Mr R…R…Ridley been w…w…w…watching the n…n…news?”

  Mrs Ridley led Justin to their spare room where they kept a cot for their grandchildren who visited occasionally, and for Oliver. As she walked, she said, “We haven’t been watching the news today. Why do you ask?”

  As Justin picked up his sleeping half-brother, he said, “Th…Th…There w…w…was an attack d…d…d…during the p…p…protest. P…P…People were k…k…k…k…killed. Also s…s…some explosions. C…C…Close your w…windows and s…s…stay indoors. I h…h…have to g…g…g…go.”

  With that, he pushed past Mrs Riley and ran back to his house. He arrived just as Jacquie was starting to hang the plastic. As soon as Justin was inside, he handed Oliver to Matthew and said, “Everyone listen, all of you except Jacquie, Katie, Matthew and I are to go sit in the playroom. Matthew, go put on a kids DVD without looking at any TV channels and then come and help Jacquie and Katie.”

 

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