The Last Orphans Read Free Page B

torturous eternity. Pacing back and forth on the other side of the car, his aunt dialed again and held the phone to her ear. Shane tore his eyes away from the dead animal. The metallic smell of blood mixed with the chemically smell of the car’s fluids started his head spinning. He stumbled to the rear of the car and put his hand on the trunk. Leaning over so he wouldn’t get any on his clothes, he waited for the vomit to come up.
    “Are you sure you’re okay, sweetie?” His aunt walked around and put a trembling hand on his shoulder, the other still holding the phone to her ear. Her voice had a hysterical pitch, like she was about to lose control.
    “ Yeah,” Shane lied. Too dizzy to stand, he squatted down. The hot, tar smell rising from the asphalt didn’t help his nausea. “I’m fine. Just a little shaken up.”
    “ 911 isn’t answering,” she said worriedly. “I’ve tried three times, and it just keeps ringing and ringing.”
    “Maybe we should call the poli ce station directly,” Shane suggested, pulling out his phone.
    “ You have the number?” she asked, incredulous.
    “Granny made me put all the emergency numbers in my phone,” he replied.
    “Sounds like her,” she said with a weak grin and leaned back against the car’s trunk, putting his handkerchief up to her nose.
    Shane dialed the number for the police. After twenty rings and no answer, he tried the fire department. No one there either.
    “That’s so odd.” His aunt crossed her arms over her chest and hunched forward, looking ill.
    “A tornado might’ve struck town,” Shane said, studying the horizon to the west. The sky was still the eerie lime color, and the wind blew even harder now.
    “You may be right. We should get to Granny’s house .” His aunt surveyed the front of the car, its tires twisted out at opposite angles. “I don’t think we’ll be able to drive.”
    “It’s only about a half mile from here,” Shane replied, trying to keep his eyes from drifting back down to the twisted carnage. “We can walk.”
    He hooked his arm through his aunt’s . They started down the road, leaning forward and shielding their faces against the dirt and dust the wind whipped up. She looked so awkward and delicate with her fancy, black dress, high heels, and expensive purse tucked under her arm. Being a city person, she seemed as skittish and out of place here in the middle of nowhere as a horse in a henhouse.
    They passed the sprawling walnut tree Granny said her father planted when she was born, and the wind died down. The electrified quiet made Shane worry a twister would strike at any second. He eyed the drainage ditch, knowing they could take refuge in it if need be, or even crawl into one of the large, concrete pipes running under the road if things got really bad.
    “This is way too creepy,” his aunt said and walked faster. “This is why I’ll take New York over Georgia any day.”
    “Do you hear that ?” Shane asked. A deep humming caught his attention. He glanced back, but he didn’t see anything.
    “Yes, weird. But at this point, I don’t care to find out what it is.” She kicked her shoes off and started jogging on her panty hose-covered feet. “We just need to get to shelter.”
    Shane jogged beside her, and the humming grew into a near-deafening drone. Off to the left, he saw a dark cloud moving straight toward them, hovering a few feet above the dry, brown grass in the pasture. Horror gripping him, his skin tingled from head to toe.
    “ Hornets!” he shouted.
    “What?” his aunt asked.
    “Run!”

 

     
    Shane grabbed his aunt’s hand and pulled her along as fast as he could. The dark cloud closed in, and he saw individual insects buzzing ahead of him. He noticed more than hornets in the swarm. He saw several kinds of wasps, yellow jackets, and honeybees as well—like everything with a stinger and wings joined forces to chase them.
    “I’ve been stung !” His aunt screamed and slapped at her