Gabe in the After by Shannon Doleski

Author:Shannon Doleski
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Abrams
Published: 2022-06-28T00:00:00+00:00

They woke up on the fifth day with seventeen miles to go. If they hurried, they could be at the base by nighttime. And then they could maybe sleep in a bed or cot. Or whatever they had. It was better than a barn and a pond. Gabe daydreamed as he walked. He imagined the base was exactly like the world used to be, but better somehow. He played out entering the gates, the soldiers delighted there were more survivors.

The people cheered for Gabe and Wynnie, and they marched through the streets like celebrities. Gabe smiled.

“What are you thinking about, nerd?” Wynnie asked. They poked Gabe in the shoulder. “Is it Relle? Because if it is, then I don’t want to know.”

“No,” Gabe said. Not that he hadn’t also thought of Relle forgiving him when he returned a hero to the island, having found a doctor, a hospital, medicine. He didn’t know if he should worry about that. Was it okay to want to be a hero? “I’m thinking about the base.”

“Me too,” Wynnie said. “I miss school. Maybe they have a school. I know we kind of have school, and I was never really into middle school when the real thing was around, but I miss the stupid stuff like Spirit Week and snow days and worrying about tests. I never thought I would miss tests, but I do.”

Gabe understood. “Remember complaining about the ferry?” he asked. His mother ranted about it. Constantly. It made traveling for games and really everything incredibly difficult. And when they missed it, they had to wait hours for the next one.

Wynnie laughed. “And now it takes us four days, if we’re lucky, to make it a few hours by car. Man, the end of the world sucks.”

The farther they got from Maine, the more congested the world seemed. There were cars everywhere. Tractor trailers. Minivans. Motorcycles. They were so tight together in spots, Gabe and Wynnie had to crawl on top of the vehicles.

The houses got closer together as more sprouted up like colorful weeds along the route. And then they spread back out and grew bigger and bigger.

“I want that one,” Wynnie would say. “No, that one,” to each mansion they passed. They were yellow or brown or white wood. They were simple and huge and expensive. Some were still perfect. Some had caved-in roofs or shattered windows from the big trees in the yards.

Then they were turning down a road that had office buildings with medical names. Soon the offices fell away, and a national park and old fences that Gabe could barely make out under the tall grass took their place. Gabe pulled up his binoculars.

A little way down, the road ran straight into a fence. A different fence from the split logs of the park. This fence was metal and menacing. It was as tall as the trees in the forest. Behind the closed gate was a small building, a guard station.

Gabe felt a flutter in his stomach. Of nerves and excitement and potential.

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