A Visit To Chemical Valley

By Erin McDuff

Somewhere In Michigan, October, 2005

Wind whipped through the leafless trees. Birds that had not flown south for the winter hopped along the ground, searching for a bite to eat. Chipmunks scurried about, squeaking every now and then for no particular reason. Suddenly, the whole scene is sent in to a panic as the sound of approaching footsteps comes to their ears.

Two girls pass by, one struggling to keep up with the other. She is slowed down by a large, heavy black case she carries in her left hand. Her friend bolts ahead of her.

"Hey, wait!"pants the girl carrying the case, struggling to run.

"God, you're slow!" exclaims the running girl, as she stops and waits for her friend to catch up.

"Well, it's kinda hard to run when you've gotta lug around dead weight!"

"You're the one who insisted upon playing alto saxophone in marching band, so it's your own fault! You should have played a cute, little piccolo, like me!"

"Right...shut up, will ya!"

"Don't you tell me to shut up, Megan Thomas!"

"I wouldn't have to tell you to shut up if you weren't always saying stupid things, Miss Priss!"

My name is NOT Miss Priss, so stop calling me that! My name is Amy Smith!"

"I know what your name is! I am not..."

"Hey, why don't you both shut up? I know it'd be a whole new experience for you two, but why don't you try it?"

The two girls looked up to see the marching band's most sarcastic member holding the door for them, Josh Stevens. In the hand not holding the door was his alto saxophone (in its case, of course). Megan and Amy stood staring at him, annoyed that he had had the gall to chastise them.

"And why don't you just mind your own business?" snapped Megan, as she and Amy walked into the school, followed by Josh.

"It'd be easier for me to mind my own business if you didn't broadcast yours to the whole world!" retorted Josh.

"Ya know, Josh, why don't you and your attitude go and...," began Megan.

She stopped herself short as she saw the band director, Mrs. Perry, walking towards them. "Are you all ready to compete tonight?" she asked, with a smile.

"Oh, yes!" Josh chirped, with an answering smile.

"That's good. I know we're going to do great tonight!" Mrs. Perry replied, returning a pride-filled smile to Josh.

As Mrs. Perry turned to walk away, Josh shot Megan and Amy a crap-eating smirk.

"Suck up!" grumbled Megan.

"Oh, you're just jealous!" whispered Josh, as the three entered the band room. "You know you are. You want to be like me, and you can't!"

"Sure, right, that's exactly what the problem is...," she whispered, rolling her eyes.

Later that day, the entire Pondage High School marching band loaded their instruments on a truck, and then loaded themselves onto 2 buses and headed off to Tarsville.

It was nearing dusk when the band reached Tarsvile High School. As the banders stepped out of their buses, a strong chemical odor came to their noses.

"Boy, you can really smell Canada tonight!" commented Megan.

"How can you smell Canada?" questioned Amy.

"The strong smell in the air– it's from the factories in Chemical Valley across the river," answered Megan.

"And...?"

"Chemical Valley is the smell of Canada!"

"Sure ... whatever...," Amy said, walking away to follow the rest of her section to start her stretching.

"Seems your logic went right over the little blonde one's head," observed Josh, as he walked past Megan.

"I thing the logic of up and down would go right over her head," mumbled Megan.

"And this is the person you call your friend?"

"Yeah...,"

"That's sad,"

"Yeah, ...it is,"

The analyzing of Megan's sad life was interrupted by the angry shouts of a crowd gathered around the high school's front door.

"What do you mean, we can't get in?" yelled one bander.

"What's going on?" gasped Megan, running up to the crowd after getting her instrument off the truck.

"The doors won't open, we can't get in!" replied a bander from Eisenhower High School.

"What?!" exclaimed Megan. "I have to get in there to finish putting my uniform on and put my instrument together!"

"So do the rest of us!" yelled back the Eisenhower bander.

"Well, this is just perfect!" yelled someone. "The stupid door won't open because the computer system crashed! Why did we make all these schools computer operated and protected?"

"It was supposed to make life easier and schools safer. If you don't have the password, you can't get into the school after hours to cause trouble," someone yelled back.

With all the commotion, no one noticed the thick smog approaching the school from across the river. It wasn't until the shrill whine of the civil defense siren cut through the autumn evening air that banders and others realized that their situation had just gotten worse.

"Oh, God!" screamed someone.

"Smog warning! Please, if you are outside, get inside your house or another building immediately!" a shrill loudspeaker could be heard blaring out.

"I remember when we didn't have these sorts of things happen! Now, with all this new-fangled technology and manufacturing creating so much pollution, our air quality is just down right awful!," griped some old crone.

"Outta my way, old man!" shouted Josh, as he lunged past the old crone for the door, and tried to knock it down.

The whole crowd was sent into a panic. Except for Megan, Amy, and Josh- they were proceeding to break into the school. No one had thought of this because they thought that they couldn't outwit a computer. Some people tried to get someone to let them in to their homes, but no one would. The smog grew thicker, and soon no one could see where they were going. People began to run into each other, as well as in to other objects.

"M'kay! I know this looks bad, but try to stay calm!" yelled Mrs. Perry, but, of course, no one heard her. One by one, the people and their screams went silent. A soft wind blew away the cloud of death. Bodies littered the ground.

Inside the school, a breeze drifted in through a high window that had been broken. In the school' main office sat Megan, Amy, and Josh. Amy was at one of the windows of the office, looking out at the death and destruction.

"Man..., we're the only ones left," whispered Amy.

"Thank God, Josh was tall enough to reach this high window, break the glass, and we were all able to scramble in," replied Megan.

"See? I am good for something, after all!" commented Josh.

"I wouldn't exactly be proud that my claim to fame is that I can be used as a human step ladder." Megan comments.

Josh glares at her and mumbles under his breath, "Sarcastic bitch..."

"So, now what do we do?," Megan wonders out-loud after a long silence (evidently, she didn't hear Josh's mumble or at least chose to pretend lik she hadn't).

"Well, since everyone else is gone, I get to be drum major!" exclaimed Amy. "And, Megan, you can be section leader and Josh, you can be rank leader! This' ll be great!"

"Amy?" Megan said.

"Yeah?" responded Amy.

"Shut up!!!" yelled Megan and Josh together.