Chapter Three

Amber expected...

She didn’t quite know what she expected, really. Truth be told, she thought that once the assault was over, things would maybe return to normal. She’d have the rest of the summer to herself, and she’d take care of her dad, and things in Hollowpoint would return to some semblance of normal.

She spent the night in the basement with her dad. The entire time trying to forget what had happened with the boogeyman. The house shook a few times, and when the sun fell the sky occasionally filled with bright bursts of light.

It was in the morning that she learned that everything had ended.

The front door to their house burst open, and for a moment she expected monsters but someone called out from above. “This is the national guard! If anyone is in this domicile, please call out your locations!”

More footsteps around their house, people calling out “Clear!” in quick barks until they reached the kitchen. “Hostile contact!”

More movement, voices talking over each other, then something dragging across the floor.

Amber and her dad had carefully come upstairs to find a squad of men and women in camo gear, guns held at the ready and faces set. She thought they would be shot for a moment before guns were lowered.

The next few minutes were a confusing mess of questions, then they were escorted out to their front yard and an army ambulance came over. Amber fussed a little as she was inspected by a stone-faced woman with a red cross over her arm, but that only lasted a moment.

Then the last vestige of normalcy left.

“Your family will be relocated to camp Chet,” a man in camo said. He didn’t have the vest the others wore, and only carried a taser by his hip. The MPs with him were better armed.

There was no protesting. They were given some time to round up any essentials, then they were loaded into a truck along with a few dozen others. Amber moved in a daze, listening to the orders of the people around her.

The others in the truck looked... awful. Awful and familiar. I know some of them, she thought. They were neighbours and people she’d passed in the street and some she’d gone to school with. One girl was the one that worked at the gas-station a few blocks down.

They were ragged. She imagined the last day hadn’t been any better for them than it had been for her.

She held her dad’s hand as the truck rumbled on through Hollowpoint.

Through what was left of Hollowpoint.

The town was a mess. The truck had to weave through rubble that was being shoved aside by bulldozers, and soldiers were crawling all over the wreckage of homes and businesses. From the smoke rising into the sky, Amber imagined that parts of the town were still on fire even now. Sometimes a gun would rattle in the distance.

“It’s going to take months,” someone said.

She turned, taking in the form of one of the few people she didn’t sort-of recognize. A middle aged woman who looked a little numb. She noticed Amber looking.

“I was in a town that was hit. It took months before they cleared it. The monsters. They hide.”

“Oh,” Amber said.

The truck moved out of the town, but didn’t get far before stopping at a small base of sorts. Boards had been placed over the ditch leading into a field where tents and trucks and all sorts of equipment were laid out.

They were guided out of the truck and brought to a waiting area. Volunteers handed out water and blankets and asked if they needed medical attention. Amber shook her head constantly, only taking a few bottles before staying close to her dad.

And then, some time later, they were asked to present ID to an officious looking person. Amber didn’t have any. Her dad had some. It was enough for the man, who ticked off some boxes and moved on.

Soon they were loaded into busses, given small backpacks with supplies, then they were told to sit down. “Where are we going?” Amber asked one of the men helping them load in.

“Chet,” he said.

She found out what Chet was some hours later. It was nearly evening, the day had passed so quickly that she had a hard time keeping track. They rolled past a billboard with the name FEMA CAMP CHET, followed by some numbers below it.

There was a fence around the camp, but it was short, not a prison fence, just a barrier. The inside was filled with temporary homes. Low, narrow buildings that looked a little like mobile homes. Each one set in tight rows like tombstones in a cemetery.

The buses stopped and they filed out to be met by men and women in blue jackets who gave them another little packet. A map, some keys, a pamphlet with a number on the front. “Occupancy is six per home. Family’s larger than six will be split evenly. If you are a single parent with more than six dependants, please form up to the side here.”

Amber held her dad’s hand and looked about. Some were already filing out towards their new homes, but she didn’t know what to do. Her dad was breathing hard already.

Then she saw a young woman in a lacy dress that was so clean and bright that it stood out from the rest. She almost... no, she did glow a little. People stepped away from her except for a few that bore a passing resemblance to the girl.

One of the agents brought a walkie talkie to his mouth. “We have an MG at Chet entrance. With family. Please advise?”

Amber couldn’t help but listen in to the reply.

“Move the MG and family to the camp headquarters. MGs and their families are above our paygrade.”

“Understood,” the agent said. He moved to the magical girl, and was soon explaining that she, and her family, would be brought to better accommodations. The girl seemed happy enough with that.

Someone came up to her and her dad. “Do you need help finding your new home?” the woman asked.

Amber looked at the map, and at the paper. “I... sure?”

The woman smiled, then peaked at the number she had. “Follow me.”

“Right, thank you,” Amber said. She tugged her dad after her. He looked a little pale, and probably needed to rest soon. They’d find a place. Amber still felt like the rug had been pulled out from under her. “Miss? Do you know when we’ll be able to return?”

“I don’t, sorry.”

“Oh,” Amber said. “Do you know if there’s a pharmacy here? My dad needs some medications.”

The woman nodded. “Main administrative building. Bring any prescriptions you have and they can order the medication. Some medications aren’t allowed. Anything that’s an opioid.”

Amber didn’t know how much they had, if it would last long enough, but if they could get more eventually that was good. “Thanks. What’s going to happen to that girl?”

It’s none of my business. Still kind of curious.

“The magical girl?” the woman asked. “I think it’s the first time I’ve seen one at Camp Chet. She’ll be transferred over to New York, I imagine. Magical Girls are a big deal you know?”

“And her family?”

The woman laughed. “You don’t mistreat the family of your saviours,” she said before gesturing to one of the rectangular buildings. It looked just like all the rest. “This one’s yours. There should be guards posted all around if you need help with anything. Don’t hesitate to ask. And... you’re under eighteen?”

“Yes?” Amber said.

“Then you’ll probably have to sign up to the camp’s school. It’s a G.E.D. equivalent thing.”

Amber nodded and watched the woman go before turning to her dad. He was breathing heavy. “Are you okay?” she asked.

He waved her question off. “Just starting to feel my age.”

The door to their little house--a thin-bit of tin, with a plastic window at head height--was already open. There was a family there already, a couple of younger kids--a boy and a girl--a mother bent over the stove, and an older man sitting on the ground, knees up and phone in hand.

Amber felt like she was barging into someone’s house as she walked in and snooped around.

It was small. Three bunks on one wall, with two beds in each, then a small table with four chairs squeezed around it, and finally a little kitchen with a stove with a single element and a tiny oven. A door at the end was left open, revealing a toilet squished in next to a stand up shower with some paper taped to the front of it.

It would have been a nice, if plain, place to stay while camping. She couldn’t imagine living here.

The woman at the stove looked up, curious and confused for a moment before something flashed by her eyes. “Are you the new ones here?” she asked.

“I... yes?” Amber said. She raised the little packet with the number, as if it were proof.

The woman nodded. “That’s fine dear. There are two beds left for you and your pops. I’m making beans right now. We can share if you want.”

“Thank you?” Amber said.

“We need to watch out for each other,” the woman said. “Get settled in. Mark here won’t bother you any, and if the kids are annoying just let me know, alright?”

One of those kids looked up from a table. “The wifi here’s awful.”

“Right,” Amber said. She helped her dad over to one of the beds. He was panting a little, looking a bit paler than her had just moments before. “Do you need your inhaler?”

“I’m fine, sweetie,” he said. “Just... I think I need a nap.”

She nodded, giving him a smile as she helped him settle onto the lower bunk and tucked him in with the thin, scratchy blankets folded atop the mattress. She sat on the edge of his bunk as he winked off to sleep.

“Are you from Hollowpoint?” one of the kids asked.

Amber nodded.

“Ah, man, that’s where Ellida was deployed! Did you see any of the girls?”

Amber tried on a smile. She was usually more than eager to talk with kids. They were fun, but she felt... not tired, but something achingly close to it. “I did, actually. This one girl with a sword that was on fire saved me.”

“Really?” the girl asked, stars in her eyes. “That’s so cool! What happened?”

“Uh,” Amber said. “I was almost squished by a truck, but she grabbed me and moved me out of the way, I guess.”

“You touched her?” the girl squeaked.

“Darcy, that’s enough,” the lady said. “Sorry about that dear, she gets excited.”

“You’re not from Hollowpoint,” Amber guessed.

“Nope, we’re from Franklin. I’m Rosa, by the way. Lead accountant for a company that doesn’t exist anymore. That’s Mark.” She gestured to the man sitting on the ground. “He’s a friend.”

“Sound technician,” Mark said. “Not something that’s really needed now.”

“Oh,” Amber said. “I’m Amber, this is my dad. David, he’s a mechanic.”

Rosa nodded. “He could find some work. They need lots of mechanics right now.”

“He’s sick,” Amber said.

The woman shrugged. “When he gets better then. You want some beans?”

“Sure?” Amber tried. She noticed the bag next to the stove for the first time. It was brimming with cans of all sorts, but mostly beans. “I guess we’ll have lots of those?”

“We try to have them when we can. Better than MREs,” Rosa said. “Here.” The woman poured some beans into a tin bowl and added a plastic fork to it and a slice of white bread from a bag. “It’s not much, but it’s something.”

“Thanks,” Amber said. Her dad was still fast asleep. I’ll make more for him later, I guess.

“I’m Tim,” the boy said.

Tim’s sister looked up from her phone. “I’m Darcey!”

“Pleased to meet you,” Amber said. She tried on a smile, if only for the kids. “So, what do we do here? At the camp, I mean?”

“Here?” Rosa said. “We wait. And we pray.”

***