Monument 14

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT THE BIG SEND-OFF: PART TWO

Everything was quiet and dark in the store when we woke to the sound of Luna barking and Astrid yelling her head off:

“JAKENIKODEANBRAYDENGETOVERHERE!”

We ripped through the store, scrambling over each other in our half-asleep state, but awake as soon as our feet hit the linoleum.

We ran toward her voice and the dim light of a lantern.

I rounded the head of the aisle and I saw an air mattress, half covered by a twisted sheet. And Robbie, lying on it in his underwear. And Astrid.

Astrid stood above Robbie, holding a handgun, aiming at his chest.

Luna was standing like a fireplug and barking her head off.

Then I saw Sahalia.

She was crying and basically naked. Just wearing a thong. She sat on the floor, clutching her nightgown to her chest.

Sahalia and Robbie had been…

Sahalia and Robbie had been…

Sahalia and Robbie had been… what?

“What the hell?” Jake said.

“Take the gun,” Astrid said.

Jake took the gun from her, pointing it at Robbie’s midsection.

“This is intense. This is too intense,” Jake said, and I saw his hand was trembling.

“What happened?” Niko asked.

“Nothing!” Robbie protested.

Sahalia was weeping, clinging to Astrid as if she was a life raft. Astrid was making calming sounds and trying to both cover her up and gather her from the floor at the same time.

“It’s okay,” Astrid said. “You’re fine. You’re fine. Just get up.”

Sahalia clutched her nightgown to her chest and Astrid moved her toward the Train.

“Guys,” Robbie said. “It’s not what you think. I was just lying here sleeping, and I woke up and she was on top of me. She said she wanted me to take her with me and she could be my girlfriend. I said no!” He held his hands up.

“You’re a liar!” Niko said.

“I’m telling you the truth,” Robbie continued. “I know how bad this looks, but really, I said no. Really. Te lo juro!”

Luna was still barking and growling.

“Come here, Luna.” Robbie called the dog over to him.

He scratched her ears and petted her, calming her down.

Trying to calm us all down.

“It’s all a misunderstanding,” he said to the dog. “These kids would never hurt anyone. It’s a big misunderstanding.”

I looked at the guys. Did they buy it? Did I buy it?

“She’s crazy, that girl,” Robbie said. “She kept talking about how none of you think she’s a grown-up but how she is, and she wanted to prove it to you, and honestly, I was trying to get her to put back her nightgown on when that other crazy girl came with the gun.”

“All right!” Niko shouted. “That’s enough! Just don’t talk. Let me think.”

Robbie murmured soothing sounds to Luna.

“You guys stay here and keep the gun on him,” Niko told us, gesturing to me, Brayden, and Jake, who still held the gun. “Keep the gun on him no matter what he says. I’m gonna go talk to Sahalia. I’ll find out what happened here and then we’ll know what to do.”

Niko sprinted down the aisle.

“Oh God,” Jake said. The hand that held the gun was shaking violently. “I think I’m gonna be sick.”

He bent over.

“Give me the gun,” Brayden said, moving toward Jake.

But then Robbie was reaching up. Lurching up.

I was too slow. A beat behind.

Robbie grabbed the gun from Jake, just as Brayden reached for it.

“No!” Brayden shouted. He snatched at the gun and in the scuffle the gun fired with a deafening BANG.

Brayden slipped down to the floor, looking confused.

“Brayden!” I shouted.

Jake lurched toward Robbie and tried to get the gun away.

Niko came vaulting back down the aisle and launched himself at Robbie and had him around the neck, and the three of them went toppling backward onto the floor.

Robbie punched Jake and elbowed Niko to the head and grabbed the gun out of Jake’s hands.

I rushed to Brayden. He looked at me with shock in his eyes.

When I looked up, Robbie had the gun right at Niko’s head.

“Get back!” Robbie shouted. “I’ll shoot! I’ll shoot him! I will!”

Jake scooted away, hands up.

Robbie cursed in Spanish, rising to his feet. He wiped blood from the corner of his mouth.

“Maldita sea! I told you it wasn’t me! She wanted to be my girlfriend. Why couldn’t you just believe me? You,” he said, turning on Niko, “you had it in for me from the start!”

Robbie lashed out and struck Niko across the face with the barrel of the pistol. Niko fell.

“You don’t get to decide who goes and who stays!” Robbie screamed at Niko’s fallen form. “Who lives and dies!”

He raised up his gun.

And BWAM!

A gunshot murdered my ears.

Robbie was flung backward, led by his head.

He hit the shelving unit behind him and slumped to the ground.

He was shot.

* * *

There was Josie, holding the other handgun, coming out of the shadows down the aisle.

On the ground just behind her lay the two-gallon Ziploc bag that Niko had stored the guns in.

Had the other gun just been laying there on the floor the whole time?

Josie dropped the gun, shaking her arm out.

She sank to her knees, covered her face, and howled.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE BLOOD, BLEACH, AND LIES

The little kids came screaming over to see what had happened, and I grabbed Max and Ulysses and pushed them all back toward the Train.

“Go back to the Train!” I shouted. “This is an emergency! Go! Go! Go!”

They could not be allowed to see what had happened.