Read Haven for Free Online

one’s picking up.”
    Maybe Harrison thought it would be futile? If no one else was having any luck, then why should he try? That felt flimsy, and I knew instinctively that there was another reason he wasn’t grabbing for the phone. I knew why I hadn’t. There wasn’t anyone I could call. Everyone was dead.
    When Mei was unsuccessful, she retried the number, and retried it again after it failed.
    Finally, she gave in, muttering to herself, “They’re not answering.”
    Beverly sighed. “Like I said…”
    As if she didn’t hear her, Mei diverted her attention back to her phone, doing something other than dialing.
    “What are-”
    “I’m adding an app.”
    “You’re what?” Beverly asked, alarm actually entering her voice for the first time. But then she settled back and smirked. “You don’t have the password.”
    “I didn’t need it,” Mei said, and then she forgot Beverly altogether as her eyes widened and her shoulders rose with nervous tension.
    We waited, hesitantly, as she resolved whatever it was she was doing with the phone. When she handed it back, Beverly’s face shifted into the same foreboding expression as Mei’s.
    Doc stared at Mei uncertainly. “What kind of an app did you download?”
    “The local news.” Her voice was jittery.
    Mei knew before the rest of us had, or were willing to find out, that we weren’t the only ones in trouble. “We need to get to our families,” she said, coming across as rigidly determined as I usually am. “If they aren’t here, which they don’t seem to be, they’ll be at home waiting for us.”
    “Mei is Chinese,” Beverly mentioned with sarcasm thick in her voice.”They live for family.”
    “I want to know what’s happening with my parents, too,” Doc agreed, glancing between us anxiously. “I mean, they could be…” He stopped himself and corrected the line of thought he’d been following. “We can’t…not know!”
    “Mine’s coming for me,” Beverly proudly reminded us.
    Harrison looked pointedly at her but his tone was sympathetically prompting. “You sure about that?”
    Her eyes flickered to the clock hanging on the wall, which showed that she’d been waiting for over an hour now, and in this kind of emergency that was a very long time. Her smug expression fell as she briefly questioned her own statement. She quickly regained her usual frown, but remained quiet.
    “What about you?” Mei prompted. “What’s your name?”
    “Harrison.”
    “Do you want to check on your family, Harrison?”
    It was immediately clear to me why she was urging him. Mei was petite, no bigger than five feet and couldn’t weigh more than ninety pounds. She was also smart, and having read the news reports, she knew she wouldn’t last five minutes outside without Doc and Harrison.
    A lengthy pause followed and I knew then why Harrison hadn’t made any phone calls earlier. He was in the same situation as me. There was no one to call.
    His eyes were downcast. “I live with my aunt, but…” He shook his head and was about to say something more, something revealing when Mei cut him off.
    Apparently, his partial response was good enough for her because she launched into preparations. Eventually, she concluded that the most efficient route would be to check Doc’s house, then Mei’s, and finally Harrison’s aunt’s apartment before circling back to the school, if needed. I, of course, was left out of the equation.
    Leaving Beverly to stare after us, we started for the main entrance, when Harrison came to a stop and turned toward me.
    “What are you doing?” he asked. “You’re not coming with us.”
    I couldn’t tell if the last part was a command or a question. “Yes, I am.”
    His voice lowered and he looked directly at me. “Kennedy, there’s no reason for you-”
    “There is,” I said, taking the few steps to my locker and reaching in for the gun.
    He paused before asking, “How would you feel about-”
    “No,” I replied.