The Surge by Roland Smith

Author:Roland Smith
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780545388320
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Published: 2011-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

06:24 AM

John found Cindy and Mark sitting on a cot with towels around their necks, drinking coffee and eating donuts. Mark had the precious TV station camera in his lap.

“How’s the truck?” Mark asked.

“Beyond our ability to repair without new parts. We were lucky to have gotten this far.”

“Did you try to reach Chase again?” Cindy asked.

John nodded. “His phone’s working, but he didn’t answer. A girl picked up, Rashawn. She was on the bus with them. I spoke to Marco’s mother too, but only for a minute or two. The phone battery was going dead, but it sounds like there are some other problems on the farm.”

John went on to explain what Rashawn and Mrs. Rossi had told him. Cindy and Mark stared at him in complete silence.

Mark shook his head. “I’m sorry,” he said slowly. “I don’t understand. You mean like an African leopard, spotted, with fangs and claws?”

“It could be an Asian leopard,” Cindy said. “They have them too, although not as many as they have in Africa.”

Mark looked at Cindy. “Thanks, Mother Nature.” He turned to John. “There’s a leopard running around this farm your son is on, and it’s carrying a dead monkey in its mouth?”

“That’s right.”

“And your son is running around looking for gas so that the elephant that lives on this so-called farm doesn’t have to give birth in the dark?”

John nodded. “That about sums it up. Except Marco was out looking for the kids and didn’t make it back home. I promised his mother I’d try to find him.”

“Does he know that he doesn’t have a home?” Cindy asked.

“I doubt it. Mrs. Rossi said he left before the wind took it down. She barely made it out herself before it collapsed. I have to get back to the farm. Tomás is trying to find someone to lend us a vehicle.”

“You really think someone is going to give you their wheels to drive around in a hurricane?” Mark asked.

“We’ll pay them of course,” John said.

“Pay for what?” Richard Krupp appeared as if out of nowhere. “Aren’t you that construction guy Cindy was interviewing on my news show?”

John turned to the news anchor. He was shorter and thinner than he looked on television. “I’m that guy,” he said.

“Did you drive Cindy and Mark here?”

“My partner Tomás and I did.”

“Why?”

“We were headed in the same direction. How did you get here?”

“A television van. We would have made it all the way to Palm Breeze if we hadn’t been turned back at the roadblock. I live in Palm Breeze. My wife’s the principal of Palm Breeze Middle School.”

Cindy rolled her eyes. “What do you want now, Richard?”

“The video you shot on the way here, for one.” Richard looked at Mark. “And the camera on your lap. I just got off the phone with your boss.”

“He’s your boss too,” Mark said.

“Whatever. He was surprised to hear you two had quit, but he wasn’t upset. He already has people in mind to take your places. I think his exact words were: ‘No big deal.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.