Part 8 (1/2)

'Abbas and Joshua were in their house when the first rock struck. They knew they couldn't go out, so they climbed down a ladder into a cave. There was a secret tunnel from the cave that came out beyond the city walls. But while they were still in the cave, a really big rock hit directly above them!'

Joshua took a sharp intake of breath. His eyes were huge, staring at Abbas, waiting for what happened next.

'The cave collapsed all around the two boys. They were trapped.'

'What happened then?'

'Then . . .' Abbas began, but he couldn't go on. His mouth trembled and he felt tears start in his eyes. 'Then . . .'

'Then Charlie Rabbit came back,' said Joshua, eagerly taking over the story. 'Charlie Rabbit smelled the boys in the tunnel, and he dugged them up. Then Charlie Rabbit jumped over to the giants and he kicked them with his big foots. Wham! Wham! Wham! Wham! Wham! Wham! Wham! Wham! Wham! Wham! The giants ran away and everyone was happy and Charlie Rabbit ate a carrot.' The giants ran away and everyone was happy and Charlie Rabbit ate a carrot.'

Abbas nodded.

'Yes . . . that was what happened.'

'I'm going to sleep now,' announced Joshua. He dragged one of the old blankets out of the box and curled up on it. 'Wake me up when Charlie Rabbit comes to dig us out.'

'I will,' said Abbas. He felt truly helpless. If only there were a secret tunnel, or a real Charlie Rabbit . . .

Secret tunnel. Another way out.

Abbas remembered what his father had said. There was was another way out. The shelter backed onto the old ice chute, which had been used long ago to slide the ice blocks from the street down to the cellar. another way out. The shelter backed onto the old ice chute, which had been used long ago to slide the ice blocks from the street down to the cellar.

Abbas took a deep breath, then coughed it away. There was too much dust for deep breaths. Or maybe the air was running out. He took a shallower breath and edged around Joshua to the back of the shelter. The wall there looked just like the hard clay of the other walls.

Abbas tapped it and was rewarded with a hollow sound. He let out a sobbing half laugh and started to sc.r.a.pe. There was a wooden hatch behind the clay, one so rotten that it crumbled at his touch. Abbas attacked it eagerly, pulling at the wood in a frenzy, ignoring the splinters.

There was a narrow chute beyond the hatch. Abbas crawled a little way up it, then looked back at Joshua, marveling at his little brother's ability to sleep. Should he wake him? Or should he make sure the chute was clear all the way to the street? Abbas hesitated, then edged back down. As he backed into the shelter again, he heard Joshua sit up. And there was another noise, something rustling in the debris. A sound he couldn't quite place.

'Abbas! It's wet!'

It took Abbas a second to turn around in the confined s.p.a.ce. By the time he could see, he could already feel the water around his ankles. It was freezing cold, and rising very quickly.

Broken water pipe. Maybe a big one. A water main. We have to get out!

'It's okay, Josh,' Abbas said quickly. He picked up the lantern and showed Joshua the entrance. 'I've found the tunnel. The secret tunnel. You go up first. Quickly.'

Joshua scrambled up into the ice chute. Still sleepy, he didn't pick up Charlie Rabbit. Abbas started after him but at the last moment grabbed the rabbit. Joshua would want it for sure, later.

Water burbled around Abbas's knees as he climbed up into the chute. It was rising very quickly, far too quickly. Abbas pushed at Joshua's legs to make him go faster.

'Hurry up!'

They crawled up at least thirty feet, with the water always lapping at Abbas's feet, sometimes even catching up to his knees. Joshua's speed varied, and Abbas had to keep pus.h.i.+ng at him.

Then Joshua stopped altogether and let out a howl of protest as Abbas shoved at his legs.

'What's wrong? Keep going!'

'Can't,' said Joshua.

Abbas shone the light up. He could see the top hatch. But it was broken and hanging down, and where the open air should be, there was a huge slab of concrete, its reinforcing wires hanging down like severed tree roots.

It was the roof of the bus shelter from across the street. It must have been blown off and come straight down on the ice chute exit. Now there really was no way out.

Abbas twisted around. The water was slowly swirling around his thighs. Cold, dark water, constantly rising.

'Lie on your side,' instructed Abbas. Joshua rolled over, and Abbas crawled up next to him. They could both just fit that way, though it was a squeeze. Charlie Rabbit was once again between them, and Joshua gratefully grabbed his ears.

Abbas worked the lantern around and shone it on the concrete slab that blocked their way. There was a small gap in one corner, not much larger than a softball. Abbas reached out and tried to crumble the concrete edges, but that only made his fingers bleed.

'Can . . . can you fit through there?' Abbas asked his brother hopefully. The water was up to his knees again, despite the extra yards he'd gained by moving next to Joshua.

Joshua shook his head. The gap was far too small.

Abbas put his hand against the wall. He couldn't feel any explosions. The missile strike must be over. The civil defense teams would be out. But how could he attract their attention quickly enough? They'd be drowned in ten or twenty minutes.

'Help!' he shouted, the word leaping out of his mouth almost without him thinking about it. Joshua flinched at the noise. 'Help!'

The sound echoed back from the concrete and the rising water, but Abbas knew it had not penetrated aboveground. No one could hear him.

'I'm cold,' whimpered Joshua. 'It's wet.'

'I'm trying to get help,' said Abbas. 'I'm trying- 'Charlie Rabbit-'

'Shut up about Charlie Rabbit!' screamed Abbas. He grabbed the rabbit and pulled its ears apart, trying to rip it in his desperate anger. 'Charlie Rabbit is a toy!'

Joshua started to sob again-deep, wracking sobs that shook his whole body.

Abbas stopped pulling Charlie Rabbit's ears and stared at its big-eyed, long-nosed, furry face. Charlie Rabbit was a toy. A very fancy toy.

'Ssshhh, it's okay,' Abbas said more gently. 'I'm sorry. Charlie Rabbit is going to help us.'

Joshua's sobs became a sniffle.

'He is?'

'He is,' confirmed Abbas. He tore off a long piece of wood from the broken hatch and propped it against the gap in the concrete block. Then he opened the panel on the back of Charlie Rabbit. 'Only we have to sit in the dark for a while, because Charlie needs the batteries from the lantern. Can you be brave for Charlie Rabbit?'

'Yes . . .'

Abbas set Charlie down between them, turned off the lantern, and took out the carefully h.o.a.rded batteries one at a time.

One slip now, one battery dropped down the chute . . . I must concentrate . . . this has to work . . .

He got the batteries in, slid the switch to 'maximum,' and closed the panel. Would Charlie still work? Even if he did, would it help? The water was up to his waist now, and it was so cold, he couldn't feel his legs anymore.