The Last Orphans by N.W. Harris Page A

erupted across the gym, and the kids returned to their hushed conversations or lowered their faces back into their hands and continued to weep.
    “They were probably hoping for an adult,” Kelly observed. She’d slipped up beside him.
    “Shane!” a familiar voice called.
    Looking at the bleachers to the right, he saw Aaron climbing down. Shane walked over to meet him, the image of Aaron’s mom being ripped up by the dogs fresh in his mind.
    “Where are y’all coming from?” Aaron asked once they met him at the bottom.
    “G ranny’s house,” Shane replied. His insides quaked as he braced himself to deliver the bad news to his friend. Shane’s eyes involuntarily shifted off Aaron’s to the kids in the back of the gym.
    “My mom was out that way . You didn’t happen to see her, did ya?” He sounded so desperate and hopeful that it made Shane’s chest ache.
    “Naw,” Shane replied. It came out before he had a chance to formulate the truthful answer. He felt like total crap for lying to his friend, but he couldn’t bring himself to turn back now so he tried to change the subject. “What’s going on here?”
    “Nothing organized. I was here for practice when the animals went nuts.” Aaron’s lip quivered when he paused. “A bunch of coyotes came across the field and killed Coach Rice. We tried to kick them off, but there were just too many.” He looked down at his shaking hands, and then shoved them in his pockets like he couldn’t stand the sight of them. “The oddest thing was even when we attacked them, they didn’t try to bite us.”
    “Se ems like the same thing is happening everywhere,” Shane said, sick from hearing about Coach’s death. He thought of him almost like a father, probably because Coach was a million times cooler than his own dad was lately.
    Nat woke up, and Kelly lowered her to the floor.
    “Are we at the field trip yet?” Nat asked, rubbing her eyes with her little fists.
    “ Yeah, this is where it starts,” Shane replied. He forced a smile, burdened by the notion that he was dishing another lie.
    “I’m hungry.” The little girl looked from Kelly to Shane with inquisitive, puppy eyes.
    “We can fix that,” Aaron said, tousling Nat’s straight, blonde hair. “A few kids went to the cafeteria to make some food for everyone. Come on, I’ll take you over.”
    Aaron led the way across the gym. Shane saw Joe Baker, Steve Thompson, Tracy Cyrus, and several other kids he went to school with. At least half of the people in the gym were younger, elementary school kids, who he figured must be the little brothers and sisters of his classmates.
    They walked th rough the covered breezeway connecting the gym to the rest of the school, and Shane saw Laura, the quiet Goth girl he sat next to in chemistry class. She sat alone in the shadows on one of the metal benches in the grassy area beside the sidewalk. Just enough light from the breezeway shown on her so he could see tears had smeared her excessive, black mascara down over her cheeks.
    “You guys go ahead,” he said to Kelly. “I’ll catch up in a minute.”
    Kelly glanced over at Laura, and then back at Shane. No one seemed to like Laura at school—she ate lunch alone and drifted through the hallways like a silent ghost. He expected a look of disdain to cross Kelly’s face, but she surprised him with a tender and understanding grin. Shane waited until the others entered the cafeteria, then walked over and sat down next to Laura.
    “ You alright?” he asked.
    “No,” she replied, fresh tears gushing.
    Shane waited for her to say more. Instead, she turned and embraced him, crying into his shirt. He awkwardly petted her coal-black hair and let her weep. She had a floral smell, likely from her shampoo. It took Shane by surprise, not that he expected her to stink or anything, but she was always dressed in such dark clothes, and he’d never seen her smile. The flowery fragrance seemed to contrast sharply with her attire