The Last Handful of Clover - Book 3: The Stone in the Stream

3.42 The President's Circle

June 16, 3:25 pm

Billy reached the southern end of the University of Utah campus in a matter of minutes. On the way, he saw very little of the living. But there were plenty of the dead, littering Foothill Drive. In fact, the wide thoroughfare was impassible by anything bigger than a bicycle, and even on foot Billy had to bounce and weave between burning cars, downed telephone poles, and massive pileups. It was clear that a huge number of frightened people had tried to find their way out of the city via this route, likely hoping they could get far enough south to head up either Parley's Canyon or Emigration Canyon. Some of these cars still held the faces of frightened families, who had locked their doors and were hoping to ride out the storm at the spot where their cars could go no further.

And a heartbreaking number held families of the dead, the interior of their car windows splattered with blood or shattered completely, leaving a halo of diamonds around the car like some primitive shrine.

Just as he reached the university itself, Billy heard and then saw the three military helicopters, as they crested the spine of the Wasatch. Moments later, he was surprised to find that a platoon of soldiers had blocked off the campus entrance on the southern side, and about a dozen soldiers stood at a roadblock near the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, which was one of the main entryways into the central campus. They nervously scanned the empty street in front of them, fingers on their triggers, although not a living soul could be seen. Even though Billy knew the soldiers couldn't see him, he watched them warily as he darted through their lines. Men with guns were, at best, a mixed blessing, and it would likely be only a matter of time before roving angels turned their guns against them. Billy rushed past the guards just as the helicopters passed over his head and began to descend.

When he reached the center of the deserted campus, he stopped to look around. He was standing in the main pedestrian walkway between the Marriott Library and the Olpin Student Union. Since Keith worked at the library, Billy's best guess was that this would be the route they would take on their way to Red Butte Canyon, and safety. But there was no one in sight.

Have they already passed by here? Should I go up toward the canyon? Or should I head back down, hoping to catch them closer to South Temple?

The one question he refused to ask himself was if it was all for naught, and whether the two men's bloody bodies were even now draining themselves into the nightmare tomb that the tunnel on South Temple had surely become.

Wait, he thought, suddenly realizing exactly how alone he was. The campus really is deserted! That was a big crowd on South Temple, and it was heading this way. So where is everybody? Maybe they're blocking access from the west as well.

He found the idea frustrating. If they were stopping people on the lower end of campus, maybe Pil and Keith were stranded there. Or maybe they were holed up somewhere nearby, or trying to find a way around. Billy wanted to scream, desperately trying to decide what to do.

The helicopters appeared to be heading for a landing just down the hill, perhaps on the President's Circle itself, just past the campus Administrative Center. Making a quick decision, he darted after them.

He was almost there when he heard the first gunshot ring out, and his ghostly body went cold. He whipped past the corner of the Park Building just in time to see the two helicopters spinning down upon the lawn, and to their left, the body of what appeared to be a young man, sprawled out and face down in the grass, motionless. An impressive crowd was shouting and milling on University Street, just past the President's Circle.

He started to run toward them, but what he sensed in that moment caused him to trip on his own feet, and sprawl hard onto the concrete in front of the Park Building.