The Darkness - Part Two

She turned to the children and rushed them inside. The fear on their faces was evident.

"How about a game of quiet ball?" she asked.

The class was immediately excited. Quiet ball was their favorite game and they only played it when it was rainy or too cold outside for recess. As they entered the classroom, she walked to her desk and closed the blinds. Then she reached into her drawer to produce the bright pink quiet ball.

"Zack." She stated as she threw it to him across the room. The class played about four rounds of quiet ball. She tucked herself secretly into the hallway and to the computers. Then she found a radio station. The dark cloud was moving across town in a southwest direction. They were about as south as you could get, but they were smack in the middle of town from east to west. She called a meeting of teachers. They all converged in the hallway desperate to discuss their options.

"There are only four of us in this building. What about the other one?" There are over 600 kids in there." The sixth grade teacher was obviously shaken.

Suddenly, Mrs. Johnson received an ominous feeling.

"Mrs. Larsen - gather a dozen or so of the strongest sixth grade girls. They need to help clear out the classrooms in the other building. Mr. Green, take a dozen of sixth grade boys, your strongest ones and collect all the emergency packs around the school. Miss Anderson, I need you to help clear out the Junior high and get them in here. When they come, they need to bring their emergency bins and help you get ladders, trash bags - all of them and cleaning supplies from the janitor's closet. I need duct tape and lots of it. I know there are three or four rolls in here. I'll get them. Grab the radios from the work room. Pay attention. I'll take some of the kids and we'll start to double seal all the windows and doors. We will seal the doors at the south end of the building in thirty minutes. You all only have thirty minutes to complete your tasks. I will not wait for anyone."

She examined the group to be sure each understood. They walked to the workroom, each took a radio and they went to complete their tasks. Mrs. Johnson began taping up the north door and windows. Then, she covered them with black butcher paper. She wasn't sure why she did. After that was done, she had two of the classes move their desks into the end of the hallway to make room for the incoming children.

There were four regular classrooms, one small classroom, the teacher workroom, and the curriculum room in this building and they had to fit 750 kids in this building. She began taping up the east windows and saw the cloud had reached them. It was starting to creep up onto the gym.

She grabbed her radio. "It's here and it's infiltrating the gym. Get those younger elementary kids out of their. Make sure they bring their backpacks and coats. It may be all they have for warmth."

Quickly, she moved all the fifth and sixth graders into the two cleared out rooms. Then she handed the tape off to two other instructors to continue taping up windows, instructing them to raise the blinds and apply black butcher paper as she had on the doors and then close the blinds. Most of her instructions didn't make any sense to her. But she followed her instincts.

Some students moved more desks into the end of the hall until you couldn't see the doors anymore. The chairs were stacked where backpacks and coats used to be. Then the junior high students began to filter in the building. She asked them to start stacking the emergency bins in the teacher's workroom. As she held open the door for them, she saw the cloud begin to drift over the roof of the gym.