Botanicaust

” He urged her into the box. She sat with her hands wrapped around her knees. Both girls joined her, taking up the remaining room. Even so, she worried a hand or foot might show enough to alert the search parties.
    Levi squatted in front of her, a solid spot against the shadows of full night. She tried to squeeze tighter, to make more room. The beating of the helicopter grew louder. Pressing his lips to hers, he caressed her face. “ Don ’ t move, Tula. God keep you safe. ”
    It took her a moment to realize he was gone. “ Levi? ” At first her voice was soft, a whisper to avoid detection. Then it rose to a wail. “ Levi! Leeeeeviiiiiii! ”
    A small hand covered her mouth, and Tula could only sob.

L evi catapulted over the edge of the old foundation and crashed through the brush. He planned on being as far from Tula and the girls as possible when captured. Tula ’ s heart-wrenching wail cut off abruptly. He fumbled, reminded himself the girls had probably quieted her, and kept running. They ’ d keep each other safe.
    In the sky, two disparate lights flashed on and off the hills. They ’ d doubled their efforts.
    Levi doubled his.
    He dropped into another rectangular hole. Clouds blocked most of the sky, allowing only a handful of stars to give light. His feet crunched over uneven bits of old plastic and metal, but nothing large enough to shield him. He swung up over the opposite edge and hurdled a row of boulders lining what had once been a driveway.
    The searchlights reached the plateau. They circled the flat area, sometimes on, sometimes off, as if they might surprise their prey with sudden light. One light continued along the road while the other changed course toward the rotten foundations. Lowering his head, Levi plowed through the scrub oak and nearly sprawled face first on a tumble of bricks. In the darkness, the lumpy shape of a fallen chimney gave him a flare of hope.
    He searched for the hearth opening, found the depression where a fire would be laid. Only a shallow, metal-lined box. Not a real fireplace. No way to fit.
    He squinted into the darkness. Running blind would get him nowhere. But one direction was as good as another at this point. Turning left, he picked his way through the bricks. The ground beneath one foot flexed, making a metallic popping sound. Another step, and the metal popped again.
    Crouching, he felt along the surface; his hands traced the regular pattern of corrugated aluminum. Several of the houses back home had roofs like this from before the Botanicaust. Skimming fingers over the metal, he located an edge buried in dirt. If he could only get under it …
    As he searched for a grip to pry the sheet loose, he watched the searchlight meander closer. How far away could they see him? One corner of the aluminum curled upward, out of the soil and Levi strained to pull it free with all his strength, all his hope. The metal had been buried a long time, and the earth did not want to give up its hold. Slipping his hand into a pocket in the backpack, he located the knife. He forced the blade between the sheet and the dirt, loosening the curl enough to get his fingers underneath. In a shower of sand, the sheet loosed halfway.
    Glancing toward the dancing light in the sky, Levi shimmied out of the pack and dropped to the ground. He put his feet beneath the metal and kicked the plate up. The musty smell of earth and the tang of aluminum settled on him as he curled under the thin layer of aluminum. For extra coverage, he pulled the pack close to the gap at his head. An insect skittered up his calf and settled behind his knee.
    It was going to be a long night.

    Waking cramped and cold, Tula shook her head to remember where she was — inside a tipped chest freezer. Outside her shelter, cloud-filtered light spilled into the rectangular pit with a drizzle of rain. Even the pale illumination hurt her eyes, pounding into the back of her skull. She stretched her legs and then realized the twins were gone.
    “ Eily? Ana!! ” She crawled into the rain. “ Levi! ” Had he survived the night? She rubbed her temples, unnerved she ’ d fallen so soundly asleep. Mercifully, the hallucinations had subsided, replaced by a dizzying headache.
    Rustling shrubbery caught her attention and she turned to see Levi emerging through the straggly limbs. “ Oh, Levi! ”
    He hopped down to meet her. “ Tula. ” His embrace circled her with comfort and peace.
    “ Where are the children? ”
    He