Chapter 1

The alarm blared. Alex stumbled across the room, eyes closed. He found the clock by feel and switched it over to radio mode. He'd known it was a mistake to go out with the team after the game the night before, but Bobbi-Jo had gone and he couldn't resist the chance to be near her.

The radio blared as he went down the hall to the bathroom. The DJ said something about the rioters in New York or LA or some big city. From the way he laughed it must have been a joke. By the time Alex got back, dripping on the hardwood floor and drying himself with a towel, the station had switched over to music. He pulled on jeans, work boots and a t-shirt, then grabbed a black and gray flannel and headed downstairs. He stopped a moment at the open front door. It was still dark outside, but not so dark he couldn't see his dad's truck parked on the front lawn.

He shook his head and went into the kitchen. There was still some orange juice, that and generic pop-tarts ought to hold him until lunch. It would have to, there wasn't anything else in the house. Dad had promised to buy groceries after work yesterday, but there was nothing. He sighed and pulled on the flannel shirt.

As he suspected, his father was asleep on the couch. He reeked of stale beer and sweat. He'd been in a fight again, there were bloody tooth marks on his arm and his shirt was torn. Alex unfolded a blanket and spread it over him. It wouldn't do any good to wake him up, with luck he would recover before his next shift. If not there was always the settlement money. He didn't blame his father for crawling inside a bottle, not really. Alex didn't have nightmares any more, not very often anyway, but dad's had gotten worse, not better. It had been three years since the accident. He'd been thirteen, asleep in the backseat when it happened. The impact woke him, he was hanging upside down, watching the blood drip from his mothers hair onto the ceiling.

The phone rang, yanking him back to the present. He shook himself and went back to the kitchen. "Hello?"

"Hey Alex, it's me, Jenny. My mom's going to take us to school today, so you don't need to pick us up." He usually picked up Jenny and her little brother, Jeremy, on the way to school every day. They went early most days, the church had a scripture study program in the mornings. This year it was the New Testament. Sunday it had been canceled 'until further notice' and church members had been asked to stay home as much as possible. Alex thought it was probably because of the flu. The president had announced the same thing, but didn't close the schools, so it couldn't be too bad. "Anyways, you want to come over and ride in with us? Save some gas?"

"No, I'll need my truck after school. I'll see you guys there."

"Okay, see ya. Hey, you're going on that field trip, right?"

"Yeah, gets me out of class, and..." He hesitated, not wanting to come out and say it.