They went a little ways away, but we could still hear them.
And we could see them, too, now that the store was fully lit.
It seemed indecent, somehow, to have the whole store lit that way.
“I have to do it for Brayden,” Jake said to Astrid. “It’s my fault that he got shot. If I hadn’t been using, it wouldn’t have happened.”
“You’re going to die, just to try to save him,” she said.
“Please,” he said softly. “I want to do something. I want to do something right. For once.”
They embraced and I looked away.
She loved him and he loved her. And that was how it was. I could wash her hair from here to Grand Junction—she loved Jake.
I glanced up and saw my brother looking at me with pity in his eyes.
Just what I needed.
It was at this moment that Ulysses appeared at the door, rubbing his eyes.
“I want Robbie,” he said.
The kids were awake.
It was the morning.
DAY 12
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
JAKE TV
Niko, Alex, and Jake went away to prepare Jake for his trip.
Astrid volunteered to go take care of Brayden.
Which left Josie and me to lie to the kids.
“What happened?” Max said, as he came to the door.
The little kids came out cross and sullen and unforgiving. They blinked and looked dazed in the full light of the store.
And Josie and I pulled ourselves up and lied and lied and lied.
“Kids, some bad stuff happened last night,” Josie told them. “Mr. Appleton took a turn for the worse after you all went to sleep, so Robbie said he wanted to go out and get help, right, Dean?”
“That’s right. And then Brayden went to get the men’s guns from where we had hidden them and he fell…”
“Yes, that was the shot you heard.” Josie stepped in. “Brayden shot himself in the shoulder. Fortunately, he’s okay. He’s going to be just fine.”
The kids looked so puzzled, you could almost see question marks spinning in their eyes.
“But there were two shots,” Max protested.
I looked at Josie.
“No,” she said. “That was just the ricochet.”
“The what?” Chloe asked.
“A ricochet,” Josie repeated. “Like an echo.”
“I don’t think so,” Max said, crossing his arms.
“Where’s Robbie?” Ulysses asked.
“Well, that’s the thing,” I said, bending down. “Robbie left. He wanted to go and find our parents as soon as possible.”
“And get help for Mr. Appleton,” I added. I just didn’t have it in me to tell them he’d died.
I looked at Josie and my look conveyed: Let them accept the bad news about Robbie first, then we’ll tell them about Mr. Appleton later.
It must have conveyed that, because she said, “Yes, Mr. Appleton is sleeping now. A very deep sleep. We must not disturb him.”
Caroline and Henry started crying. Ulysses was already dissolving in tears.
“But there is good news,” I said, scrambling. “Robbie left Luna behind. He said he wanted Ulysses to have Luna, because he’s such a good boy.”
Ulysses buried his face in Josie’s shirt.
“Let’s call her now,” Josie said. “Luna! Luna!”
The kids started calling Luna in their sweet little voices.
Josie looked up at me.
“Breakfast,” she said. “Something with a lot of protein.”
By the time I had fed the kids their breakfast of egg-and-cheese Hot Pockets, Niko and Alex had Jake all geared up. I brought a tray with food on it to them, where they were getting ready, in the Media Department.
Jake wore layer upon layer of sweatpants and sweatshirts—M through XXL. He looked like a padded dummy. They hadn’t wrapped his head yet so he sort of had a pinhead effect going on—this very round, puffy body with Jake’s regular-size head poking out and grinning at us all.
“What are you doing?” Max asked.
The kids all laughed at Jake. He looked so silly.
Niko shot me a look that said, You didn’t tell them?
I sighed and shrugged my shoulders. We’d had plenty to tell them, already.
Jake had a backpack, which I saw was stocked with jerky, trail mix, and water, as well as two extra flashlights.
I knew he also had one of the guns.
God, I hoped it was enough to keep him safe.
Alex was finishing the hookup of the video walkie-talkie.
The walkie-talkie was strapped to Jake’s torso by layer upon layer of duct tape. This gave the chest section of Jake’s ensemble a weird, girdled look. The camera side of the walkie-talkie pointed out. An earpiece was wired up Jake’s neck, taped down to his skin, as if he was a narc going on a drug bust, or maybe an FBI guy.
“How do I look, booker?” Jake asked me.
He looked like a fat super-gadget-oriented exercise fanatic.
“You look tough, man,” I answered.
“Liar.” He laughed.
It was good to see him with some purpose again. He still looked pale and bedraggled, but at least he was smiling.
All the kids gathered around, but still gave us space to work. Josie patiently explained what was about to happen.
The kids were amped.
Chloe squeezed Luna hard. That dog was going to have to get used to a lot of love.
She was a good dog, just licked Chloe’s face until Chloe released her.
Alex switched on the walkie-talkie and then crossed to a bigtab. It was one that had been in a box, so it hadn’t been damaged at all by the quake. Now, it was plugged in to the power system and had a cable slotted into its AV IN port, which ran to the other walkie-talkie.
Alex turned it on, and suddenly an image came up—it was Caroline and Henry, who happened to be standing right in front of Jake, huddled together and sucking their thumbs.
“Hey!” they said in unison, seeing themselves on the bigtab.
We all cheered.
