The brakes of the bus resonated a muffled squeak upon the snowy parking lot of the school. Scarfs of the children flew behind them in the frosted wind as they ran to the open doors. I saw a woman greet them at the front with rosy cheeks and a warm smile. The kids ran inside while Mr. Ellis spoke with the woman—her expression deadened when the bus driver pointed to our vehicle. She looked over his shoulder and I saw a slight nod, but a sigh of icy breath left her lips as well.

Mr. Ellis waved his arm over and Ralph turned off the engine to the SUV.

“I wish I was back home already,” I groaned.

“It’s either this or the biker bar a few miles back,” Ralph smirked.

I rolled my eyes and stepped out of the car, the blistering cold was already biting through my clothes. Freddy’s tank clung to my arms while Ralph dragged our suitcases through the snow. From 20 feet away I could see their raised eyebrows and muttering under their breath.

“Are you carrying around a fi—”

“Where are we staying?” Ralph bluntly asked.

The woman stuttered and beckoned for them to follow her. “You’ll be staying in the teacher’s lounge, if you don’t mind,” the woman said. “There’s a private bathroom and carpeted floors, so you should be able to manage for the meantime.”

She pushed up her thin rimless glasses while her long auburn hair trailed behind her. Judging by her appearance, she seemed to be in her late 20s or early 30s.

“We appreciate it,” I said. “My name’s Sage, by the way. And this is Ralph.”

“Yo,” he responded.

“A pleasure,” she said, “The students call me Miss Hawthorn, but please, just call me Sarah.”

In her brown peacoat, Sarah guided us through the halls of the school. The front office sat dark and empty while the few lights above reflected off the white vinyl flooring. I could tell this place was bare, spare for the hollering of kids in a classroom across the school.

“How many people are here?” I asked.

“Six adults—now eight, and 37 children.

“Jeez,” Ralph muttered.

“You’re telling me. And we’re finding more almost every day. It takes a village to raise them, but I fear it’s going to be a village of children that will raise us,” she giggled.

The thought of all those kids running around worried me, “As long as you don’t trap them on a deserted island or start raising pigs…”

Before Sarah dropped us off at the lounge in the far corner of the school, a man and a child sprinted by us. The man, dressed in sweatpants and a t-shirt, ran into our guide. He almost knocked her down but his sneakers dragged against the floor in time.

“I’m so sorry! I caught Kyle sneaking in the cafeteria again!”

“Well, you better go catch him,” Sarah giggled.

“Right,” he nodded. The man continued his run through the school, I heard his sneakers squeak from the halls and shouts for the child to return back to him.

“That was Coach Varner, our physical education and history teacher,” Sarah said. “And this is your room,” she said, unlocking the door with her mass of keys.

Dark blue carpet lined the floor, tall white vertical blinds covered the glass walls. It seemed nice for what it was; there was even a couch and a half-empty water cooler. Ralph unzipped his luggage and got out the blankets and pillows while I placed Freddy on one of the mahogany desks.

Sarah leaned against the doorframe, “Mr. Ellis told me you two were looking for someone,”

“It’s my brother,” I muttered. “Has anyone other than us stopped by?”

“You’re our first adult visitors,” she said. “But we expect more people to come here in the coming weeks, either to find their kids or be a part of our community. So maybe there’s a chance you’ll run into him?”

“I appreciate it, but I doubt my brother would ever go back to school,” I snickered.

Sarah’s gentle green eyes narrowed while a smile formed on the edge of her lips. “I understand. I never thought I’d”—she checked the leather watch on her wrist, waiting a few seconds before a loud shrill of an electronic bell rang through the school—”have dinner at school!”

“Fantastic, I’m starving,” Ralph said.

“Didn’t you just eat a whole box of Elder Mints?” I said with a furrowed brow.

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“Yeah, and? I know you’re still hogging those Batter Bites in your pocket!”

I stuck my tongue out to him and followed Sarah through the open halls again, I could hear the screaming of children and the laughter of adults in the cafeteria.

Ralph and I were in the middle of a line of students, waiting for our slop with empty trays. The kids hounded us with questions about our origin, age, jobs, favorite color, and whether a triceratops could beat a stegosaurus in a fight.

Before I could offer my input in the heated debate, I was interrupted by the lunch lady. Plastic gloves scooped a colorful variety of vegetables, garlic bread, fresh lasagna, and cinnamon apples on my tray. However, the carton of milk and juice I was forced to grab conflicted with the beautiful meal.

“See, kids, even grown-ups have to drink their milk,” the cafeteria lady said.

The students groaned and Ralph glared at the server with a tilted head, “Are you the same Mrs. Gladys from Lubland High?”

Pale wrinkles formed on her cheeks as she produced a great smile, “I am! It’s nice to see a previous student still around!” Envy grew within me as I witnessed an extra large portion of sugary apples fall onto his tray.

“Pays to know people,” Ralph smirked.

I responded with a tsk and searched for a spot to sit. I didn’t look for long before the teachers waved us over while music played through the intercom speakers. Soft jazz filled the air while Ralph and I joined Sarah, Mr. Ellis, Coach Varner, and two other adults. One looked similar to Sarah, although much older with darker hair, another teacher I presumed. The other seemed to be in his 40s, tanned skin hid under his blue overalls while he shook my hand.

“Tony,” he said with marinara covering his black mustache.

“Sage,” I responded back.

“I’ve had a few Sage’s in my classes before,” the woman said. “Have you ever taken my AP Music Theory or Marching Band classes?”

I gave a wry smile as I sat down, “Sorry, I was never musically inclined when I was younger.”

The woman huffed and continued eating without giving her name. Sarah tilted her head my way and whispered in my ear, “That’s Mrs. Cescov.” She gave a shrug and rolling eyes that insinuated I should avoid this music teacher as much as I can.

Ralph stuffed his face with bites too big for his mouth, moans and praises resonated from his mumbled mouth. “This beats anything my mom or Don could’ve made,” he spewed.

Coach Varner nodded repeatedly, talking to each member of the table and pointing with his fork to emphasize. “Now that the administration has all zapped away, we can actually feed everyone real food.”

“We’ll use the frozen spaghetti and hamburger patties when we get desperate,” Mr. Ellis laughed.

“Aren’t you afraid the power and water will shut down soon?” I asked.

They all shook their heads and talked over one another before Tony was left to answer. “We got generators and enough fuel for a few months. If we run out before we find some solar panels then we’ll siphon from cars if need be.”

“And what about people?” I asked. The table turned quiet while the adults looked at one another in nervous anticipation for whoever answered. I could tell just from their faces that this had been a heated topic between them. The answer might’ve had more nuance than the battling of dinosaurs but fortunately, it was answered carefully by Sarah.

“We’ll take them as they come,” she smiled.

“Just like we did with you two,” Mrs. Cescov scoffed.

“What do you mean?” Ralph asked, sneakily eating the apples from my tray.

Mr. Ellis cleared his throat, “I talked to everyone over the radio before I drove here.”

I felt an ounce of stinging rejection from the knowledge that they needed to approve of my entry like some border guard but it made total sense in my head. The world had changed, and so had the people’s demeanor.

I finished what was left of my tray and put it on the cart of dirtied dishes. “Do you want us to help at all?” I asked Gladys.

“That would be a pleasure!” she exclaimed. “Can one of you take out the trash and the other clean the dishes while I wipe down the tables?”

Ralph and I looked at one another.

“I’m not cleaning dishes,” I said.

Ralph laughed, “And you think I am!?”

We each prepped an open palm and a closed fist on top of it.

“On shoot,” I said.

“Rock.”

“Paper.”

“Scissors.”

“Shit…” Ralph muttered. His lowly rock was shadowed by my gleaming paper. He groaned his way all the way to the back of the kitchen while I started my rounds of collecting trash in the cafeteria. It smelt worse than the dishes, but it beat getting scorched by hot water.

I rolled my trash can from one doorway to the other, stopping when I saw a kid sitting alone against the wall. He wore black gym shorts and a neon green long sleeve shirt. He was hunched over, scribbling away on a piece of paper. I remembered the box of chocolate-covered cookie dough candy in my pocket and offered it to him. The child snatched it from my hands and continued drawing.

“What are you making?” I asked. I could tell it was a figure of some sort, but the colors were too smeared together. “Is it you?”

The child shook their head and pointed to the poorly written name in the top right. “I’m Jessie. This is my friend Brandon.”

He then stood upright and fast-walked around the corner of the hall. I followed his small stride and saw him pin his finished portrait to a corkboard in the classroom. He then grabbed another piece of paper and rushed back to his drawing spot.

I looked over the corkboard and had to take a step back. Hundreds of drawings were pinned atop one another—all crude drawings from Jessie and other students. None of them matched the children I saw throughout the school. My eyes teared when I mumbled the names to myself.

“Brandon. Isayah. Ashley. Daisy. Adam. Beth. Harper. Steven. Olivia. Flynn. Morgan.” The more I read, the more my voice quaked and tears streamed down my cheeks. I hadn’t thought of the children stolen from this world, but I prayed they were sent to a better place.

I wiped the tears from my face and rolled the trash bin outside toward the dumpster. The cool breeze brought instant relief to my puffy face. I let my breath escape into the cold air while the smeared blues of the twilight sky turned to a dark purple above me. I threw the heavy trash out and walked back inside.

My boots hit the vinyl flooring three times before a knock came from the side door. My muscles tensed. My heartbeat thumped in my ears. My mind raced. I figured that it had to have been a kid that snuck by me and got locked out. I opened the heavy metal door and was not presented with a child. But a man dressed in black with a flashing white grin.