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Joby was right.
The place I knew, once a lush green patch of shrub, forest and field, now looked like a barren wasteland, full of nothing. I felt my heart hit the ground. Never had I seen such a beautiful place turned to such misery. Surely I was asleep and about to wake up.
Blake elbowing me snapped me back to the truth. This was reality. He looked as sad and distraught as I felt. His normal carefree manner was gone. He had become his worst nightmare�John.
�I told you it was gonna get worse.� We both looked at John as he crossed his arms. Joby read our minds and smacked him across the back of the head. He turned to Joby, rubbing the spot, but Suzie stepped between them before the fight broke out.
�Stop,� she said. �Watch and listen okay? This is part of the harsh reality we�re going to have to deal with.�
I swung my attention back to the landscape. Now that I looked at it closer, I could tell a fire, raging out of control and headed for only God knew where, had burned and scorched the ground. Blake looked up at the sky and sighed. He had always been one for a clear cloudless sunny day and now, as he saw this, I knew he wouldn�t be the same till he saw another day. And we all knew that would be a long time from now. The only tracks around were the ones Joby made the day before and he was right. It was so quiet, it almost spoke to you. Like that deathly quiet that comes about when you let your imagina-tion get to you and run away with you.
My Dad was standing off to one side, hands on his hips; head down, shaking his head in disbelief. He had told me once that the reason he settled in this place was be-cause, not only did his term run out, he liked the weather, people and area. He usually was a nature freak.
�Radar,� Suzie spoke quietly, but loud enough for all of us to hear her. �We should break. I�ll take Blake and John. You four scout the area to the North.�
North? Which way was North? I looked at Joby, he shrugged. And so we fol-lowed our respective adults in the separate directions and went on our way. I looked back at Suzie to see her boys hitting each other and John get in trouble for punching his brother.
It was intense. As far as I could see, there was nothing but ash and gray. No noise, not a single hint of color anywhere. �What are we looking for?� Joby asked as he tripped over a burnt tree stump. He fell face first into the ash, sending up a light gray cloud that choked us all.
�Nothing.� Dennis answered in-between coughing fits. �We�re just scouting the area to see if anything�s left.�
�Dennis.� We all turned to my Dad. He was standing on the cliff that over looked the town. He flagged us over and we all went. The town was even worse. Fires still burned in the piles of ruble, nothing moved anywhere. Cars were still parked in drive-ways at some ruined houses; their owner�s perished a long time ago. We were so far away and still our area was greatly affected. How much worse were the coast cities? Or even worse; Africa? I tried not to think about it too much.
�We�ll go down tomorrow then.� Dennis looked at Dad. �Sound good Radar?�
He nodded silently. �Let�s go tell Suzie and her boys. They should know about this as well before we all just march down there.�