What Comes After | ✔️

Chapter 21

September 10

We were careful on our walk there, Mira in the front, Dad in the back, Mom right behind Mira, making sure that I didn't get close to the gun holstered on her waist. Without Grandma and Grandpa slowing us down, we moved pretty quickly, staying close together as we approached town hall.

Unfortunately, there was a ton of fog this morning, just blanketing the skies and air around us, though for a second, I thought it was one of those ash blizzards, and we could barely see more than ten or so feet in front of us, so we creeped forwards, one step at a time.

As we walked towards city hall, there were more blobs of dark figures, and Mom held me awkwardly close as we filed into city hall, sticking ourselves to the back wall as people filled out the front rows and clumped together in the middle. People were carrying signs, some professional looking and illustrated while others were just crude markings on cardboard, and the angriest people congregated around the front, near the two hapless security guards. They had their hands on their guns holstered alongside a bottle of mace spray on their hips.

It took me a while before I realized that everyone in the room was armed. There were no metal detectors, and I noticed that people were carrying crowbars and had knives strapped to their boots. But most of all, there were guns everywhere, from small handguns that almost every clustering of people had to the rifles of some of the older, white men that were sitting near the sides.

Where did all these guns come from? I've never seen any guns before in public, and everyone here hates guns. Or that's what I thought. Maybe they hated guns, but then changed, just like Dad with guns because he was talking with Mira about them.

"If the worst comes, give me the gun," Dad said. "And you make a run for it."

"No," Mira said. "I'm the only one trained to do it. I'll do it to keep us safe."

"We're going to do neither," Mom said, butting into the conversation. "We all run, unless we want to end up in a shootout."

So then I added something, "Mom has a good point. Being a hero is good and all, but it's not going to work, and we might only get hurt or targeted."

Mom nodded approvingly. "We need to keep ourselves safe, especially with the hospitals down."

I saw Mira open her mouth, so I interrupted before she could speak. "And to keep other people safe too. If you fire a gun into a crowd like this, you'll only get another innocent person killed, and we can't afford this, not with the vigil you saw in the hospital."

"It's for everyone's good," Mom said, understanding my message. "We're keeping everyone safe."

And then Mira stood down a bit, her eyes softening. "Okay. We'll get out into the open first. Then, it'll be better for me to make the shot to take them down."

"I'll make the shot," Dad said. "I'll do it."

"But Dad—"

"I'll do it," Dad said again, firmly. "I don't care, but I'm not going to let you do it. I've played enough video games to know how aiming works, and I'll make the shot if we need it. You just run."

"I can't run," Mira said. "And it's my life, and I get to choose whether—"

"Maybe you'll help someone else in the future," Dad said. "But not this type of help."

I don't know whether Mira was going to say something or not, but I was surprised by Dad. I guess I never knew he cared so much, but I guess that's not so surprising either because sometimes he cares too much, and I think this time, it might actually be for the good. All of a sudden, there was this unusual quiet that swept throughout the room as the mayor stepped in, flanked by the announcer guy.