Salt Pillars

Chapter 9

The 327 teens were mostly quiet, aside from a few whispered conversations and disperse whimpers that seemed to echo against the arched steel walls of the shelter. Even Poochang had curled himself up and sat silently in the warmth of his flashlight. The silence was even worse then the blaring sirens, it held the potential for change within it, giving great contrast to the pandemonium that preceded it.

Then it came. At first there was a jolt as though the ground had shifted, causing a few people fall over from the shock. It was followed by what sounded like massive trains passing directly over them, rising in intensity until it carried the magnitude of a hurricane screaming down violently; a sound so surreal that it paralyzed the room and held it captive in its wretched cry. Many covered their ears and hunkered down into defensive positions. Then suddenly, it was gone, and nobody spoke, buried once more in deafening silence that was now even more demoralizing than before.

2.

Jen looked down at her hands, which were trembling uncontrollably. Joe, who was squatted next her, reached out and grasped her wrist to steady them. Their eyes met and she leaned her head into his chest.

He looked across the room at Poochang, sitting curled up with his flashlight, clicking it off-and-on while staring directly into the center of the lens, mesmerized. Although his facial expression remained blank, he started to moan — a strange, deep guttural whine which grew louder and louder.

Rachel couldn't take it anymore. She was sitting near Travis, but not with him — they were separate and not speaking. She was riddled with shame after watching him walk away from Tony when the time came to shut the hatch. He appeared weak and indecisive, almost impotent in a way. The whole situation was confounded by the obnoxious sounds coming from that disgusting freak Poochang, and he just kept getting louder, and she couldn't take it anymore — cooped up in this hole with these smelly losers — and Travis losing face in front of everyone — how humiliating!

"Will somebody shut that freak up before I shut him up for good!" she yelled out, but nobody acknowledged at her. With his mouth open to its widest, pulling back his lips over those long teeth, Poochang's grunts developed into hysterical wails. Rachel trampled over to him and grabbed the flashlight from his hands, prompting an even more hysterical reaction from him, and she yelled in his face, "Shut up! Shut the fuck up!" but he carried on despite her.

"Give it back to him," a calm voice said from across the room — Ryan's voice.

"What?" Rachel recoiled with offense, "Fuck that."

Ryan rose to his feet and began to walk toward her, "I'm serious." He insisted, "Give it back." Rachel clutched the light to her chest. "No... And who the fuck are you anyway?" she asked.

Ryan didn't waiver in his approach; he walked directly up to her, and ripped the flashlight from her hands, then returned it to Poochang who was soothed by its warm glow back to a gentle moaning.

"What the fuck?" she yelled. "Did you guys fucking see that shit?"

She turned to Travis who didn't raise his head from its slumped position to acknowledge her, so she turned to Tony. "Well?" she insisted with her arms out and eyebrows lifted.

"What? Nobody cares," he said mirroring her body position to mock her with exaggerated inflection, "Well... sit down and shut the fuck up," he said.

"Fuck you! Fuck all of you!"

She stormed off into the crowd to disappear into a dark corner somewhere and sulk.

Ryan sat next to James who was mumbling something inaudible to himself.