Doomsday

1. The Accident-2

She calmed enough for him to unlock her seatbelt and catch her. He reached overhead and manually opened the sliding door. “Are you okay?”

Kelly trembled with relief. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “I…I think so.”

“Good. Get out. I’ll lift Travis up to you. Take him to a safe place, okay?”

Kelly climbed out the side door which was now on top.

“Here,” said Jon from below. “Don’t drop him.” He lifted Travis up through the door. Kelly took the little boy and set him beside her on the van. Jon frowned. His baby brother was utterly still, arms and legs dangling listlessly. “Is he all right? Is he, you know…alive?”

“He’s still asleep.”

“He really can sleep through anything! Can you see what happened to us?” Jon looked up and watched his sister scan the area.

“We were in a’ accident.” With a six-year-old’s vocabulary, she described the surrounding scene. The top of the van had jammed against a telephone pole. Smoke rose from somewhere inside the engine compartment and fluids leaked all over the street. About thirty feet away, a huge dump truck rested with its front partially smashed in. Steam rose from its engine, but she didn’t see anyone inside the truck.

“Go,” said Jon solemnly. He climbed through the door, poking his head into the night air. From there he kept a cautious eye on Kelly as she did her best to climb down the luggage rack to the street without losing her hold on Travis. She made it and carried her brother to a safe spot. Satisfied, Jon dropped back into the van. Two down, two to go.

He stepped over and around the captain’s seats until he got to his mother. Mrs. Bishop lay curled up on the passenger door, still in her seatbelt. He released the seatbelt and bent to pick her up. Jon was strong, and his mother was tiny, so he thought he could handle her weight. But her limpness made her heavy. It was everything he could do just to move her. Luckily, the windshield was completely gone, broken and scattered all over the street. He climbed through the opening and carefully took his mother under her arms. With all his strength, he dragged her out of the vehicle.

Kelly put Travis on a patch of damp ground and ran back to help. Broken glass crunched under their shoes as they dragged Mrs. Bishop to where Travis was curled up, sucking his thumb.

“Jon, you’re bleeding!” Kelly touched the edge of his forehead. A two-inch wound bled freely down the side of his face.

It explained why his head hurt. He turned away from her. “Don’t. I gotta get Dad.” He was about to go back to the van when he noticed Kelly staring oddly at their mother. Jon looked down. Something about her neck didn’t look right. It had an unnatural bend to it, as if snapped to one side.

Flames rose from inside the engine. They both jumped back.

“Jon!”

Jon froze. Was this really happening? He wanted to act, but his feet wouldn’t move. The van could explode at any second and all he could do was watch.

Jon! Hurry!

Jon! Hurry!The words shouted inside his head. He recognized Kelly’s voice, but somehow her mouth hadn’t moved when she said it. The urgency in her eyes made him jump. He raced to the van.

“Dad! Dad, wake up!”

Fire spread over the van like a hot flood. The front license plate read BISHOP 5, but the letters curled and turned black in the intense heat. In the flickering light, Jon saw his father more clearly than before. His head and face were bloodier than he’d realized. Jon fought off a wave of terrible thoughts that his dad might already be dead. No! Not dead! He has to live!

Jon tried to crawl through the windshield. Scorching flames shot up and blocked the way. The fire was everywhere. How could he possibly save his father? He went toward the windshield opening again. The heat was intense. Flames licked at his face. He drew back in near panic. All at once he cried. He couldn’t help it.

“DAD!” he screamed. “DAD! WAKE UP!” Jon had never felt so helpless. Frustration gave way to desperation.

“DADDY! PLEASE, WAKE UP!”

His father never moved. But the fire responded with the roar of a hungry beast. Desperation gave way to madness.

Ignoring the danger, Jon broke through the wall of fire and got inside the minivan. Flames licked at him from every angle, but it didn’t matter anymore. He’d rather die with his dad than live without trying to help him.

Hot smoke filled the van. Jon tried to recall the fire safety tips he’d learned at school. But those lessons had only covered being in a burning house. This was completely different. The toxic fumes of melting plastic and burning fuels were suffocating. It didn’t seem to matter whether he stood tall or kept low. Either way, he inhaled scalding, poisonous gases. He groped around and found his dad.

Beside him, Mr. Bishop hung from his seatbelt, unconscious—or worse. His face and head were b****y.

“DAD!”

Jon tried to undo the seatbelt. The buckle was hot. It burned his fingers just to touch it. A strip of molten plastic dripped off the door and landed across his left forearm. It seared the flesh instantly.

Jon screamed in agony, but he never stopped fighting the seatbelt release. He pressed the release button with all his strength. It stayed locked tight.

“I can’t get it open!”

“Jon! Get out of there!” Kelly had moved closer to the fire.

“I’m not leaving him! Get away!”

Jon fought furiously with the seatbelt. His fingers burned every time he touched the hot buckle. He pulled and punched and even chewed on the belt. Nothing could open it. Any second now the van was going to blow up. If it did, he would die with his father.

Fine! he thought. Then I’ll die, too!

Fine!Then I’ll die, too!NO! cried Kelly inside his head. You can’t!

NO!You can’t!Jon looked up, stunned. It sounded like she was in his mind again.

“I can’t get it open!” He coughed, desperate for clean air. Tears poured out of his eyes. He needed to get away from the fire—but not without Dad.

Suddenly, Jon got the feeling he wasn’t alone. He looked back.

An older man in blue jeans and white running shoes also risked the flames. He stooped over the dashboard and reached out his hand. Resting in his palm was a Swiss army knife, the longest blade pulled out.

“Here, kid!” cried the man. “You’d better hurry!”

Jon took the knife and quickly sawed through the seatbelt. His father landed hard on top of him. Luckily, the man caught some of the load. Together they dragged and tugged Mr. Bishop out of the van. By now, several other people had arrived to help. Moments later, the van exploded in a ball of fire.

“I called the police and the rescue squad,” said an old woman who stood beside the man with the pocketknife. “An ambulance is on the way.”

Jon coughed uncontrollably in deep heaves. The man patted him on the back to help loosen the nastiness in his lungs. His face, arms, and hands were burned and b****y. The old woman started slapping his right leg just above the ankle.

“Your pants are on fire!” She quickly put it out.

“Kid, that’s the bravest damn thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” said the man with the knife. “Or the stupidest. But I understand why you did it.” The man looked at the Swiss army knife and shook his head. “It’s strange. I didn’t own a pocketknife until a half hour ago. Some guy I didn’t know came up to me and put it in my hand. He told me it was a good knife and might come in handy sometime.”

Jon barely heard him. He looked down at Kelly, who sat beside their mom and little brother. She leaned close to her mother’s face and whispered to her.

“Mommy! Wake up, Mommy! Are you okay? Can you hear me?”

Their mother opened her eyes ever so slightly. She half smiled at her daughter. Then her fading gaze settled on Jon as she let out a long, last breath and lay still. Kelly jerked and cried out like she’d gotten electrocuted. She grabbed her own head with both hands and sobbed.

“I love you, too, Mommy! Oh, Mommy, please don’t leave us!” Kelly looked up at Jon. “She said goodbye. She said she loves us all. It hurts my head so bad!”

Jon stared at his mother in total shock and disbelief. “No! She’s not dead! I saved her! They’re just hurt!”

“No….” Kelly wailed in spastic throbs. “They’re…dead!”

Kelly flopped across her mother’s body and pressed her face into her breast. Jon looked down at his mom, then at his dad. Dad hadn’t stirred the entire time they moved him, and he clearly wasn’t breathing now. It finally struck him like a bolt of lightning. Kelly was right. Their mommy and daddy really were dead. Jon collapsed from the shock. The man caught him by one arm and set him on the ground.

The old woman checked Mrs. Bishop’s pulse. After a while, she bit her lip and went to Mr. Bishop. She shook her head sadly. “Little girl’s right. I don’t know how she knew, but she’s right.”

All at once Travis sat up, thumb in mouth, looking dazed. He smiled groggily at the woman. Then the boy curled up in the crook of his dead mother’s arm and went back to sleep.