Chapter Two

That night, the alarm went off all through the plastic dome. The lights went on. Something had failed. Probably something small, but when Izabel woke, the back of her throat already hurt.

She heard Kaito moving through the house, having woken before her, quicker to gain his bearings. He came back into their room with her mask. His was on.

As soon as she’d taken the mask from his fingers, he was off to Cami’s room with her small mask, and Izabel followed.

Cami was still asleep.

Kaito put the mask over Cami’s face, moving her black hair to put the straps around her ears. Izabel looked out the sheer plastic window of Cami’s room. No other houses were lit up like theirs.

Izabel coughed, which made Kaito move faster. He picked up Cami in his arms and they rushed to the front of the house. Izabel pressed a button on the wall and a thick plastic sheet dropped down, ruffled and bent. She pulled it to the floor, straightening it, making sure it reached. And then, carefully, she began to seal it around the edges. She had to push some of Cami’s toys out of the way.

While she did this, Kaito turned on the small air filtration unit that was strong enough for the new, small room they’d created. He also tried to wake Cami. The unit turned green to show that the air was safe.

A voice came through the intercom system. “A mobile unit is two minutes away for repairs. An ambulance is on the way as a precaution. Have you all reached the safe room?”

“Yes,” Izabel said. She watched Kaito trying gently to wake Cami.

“I can cancel the ambulance if it’s not necessary. Is it necessary?”

“I don’t know.”

“Excuse me. Can you speak up?”

“I don’t know!” Izabel took off her mask and put her face close to Cami’s. She was warm and her skin was its normal color and her chest was moving up and down with her breath, though Izabel couldn’t feel it through her mask. Cami looked like a sleeping princess with her black hair against her emerald green mask, a princess from a strange new kingdom.

“We need the ambulance,” Kaito said.

“Of course,” said the voice.

Izabel put her mask back on. They waited for the sound of the sirens to come and replace the sound of the alarm.

“Are you okay?” she asked Kaito.

He nodded. “My throat hurts.”

“Mine, too.”

Kaito reached down and ran his hand over Cami’s head.

“Do you think she could be sleeping through this?” Izabel asked, knowing it was a stupid question.

They could hear the sirens now.

“We should clean up this space,” Kaito said.