Jake turned his body, and as he did, the image on the monitor panned across us.
The light was dim. It was hard to make us out totally, but there we were. Dirty, I noticed. We all looked a lot dirtier and scrawnier on camera than we did to my eye.
Maybe I’d just gotten used to our level of grime.
“This is awesome,” Jake said.
He bounced up and down and the image bounced up and down on the screen. He got all up in Max’s face and the image on the screen zoomed in on a very happy Max, sticking out his tongue and making a silly face.
“Okay,” Alex said. “Say something.”
“What up, what up?” Jake said. “I am broadcasting to you live from the Greenway on the Old Denver Highway in Monument, Colorado!”
The volume was way too low, but we could hear his faint, tinny voice coming out of the walkie-talkie.
“See if you can hear me,” Alex said.
Alex sat on the ground next to the walkie-talkie.
“Can you hear me, Jake?” he said into it.
“Yes. Jesus, it’s loud in my ear,” Jake complained with a grin. “Man, this is awesome. I feel like an astronaut!”
Niko stepped forward.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Niko said. “We know it’s dangerous out there, Jake.”
“Dude,” Jake said. “I got it all under control, Niko Knacko.”
“Niko Knacko,” Max echoed with a smile.
Jake was back. Fun-loving Jake.
This was what he had needed, I thought to myself. Jake needed a chance to be a hero again.
Astrid appeared.
“Brayden’s temperature is rising,” she said. “I don’t like how he looks. He’s thrashing around.”
“Then there’s no time to waste,” said Jake. “Let’s get this thing going.”
Astrid looked away.
“I’m going to go sit with Brayden,” she said.
“I’ll keep you company,” Sahalia said.
Sahalia seemed subdued and quiet now. The two girls went off together.
Astrid couldn’t meet Jake’s eyes.
“See you soon, Astrid,” he said.
“Yeah,” she said.
“Let’s get your head wrapped,” Niko said to Jake.
Alex and Niko had figured out a system of an air mask, with several of those fleece ski masks with the eyes and nose cut out, over the top of the whole thing.
Niko brought the heavy rubber air mask down over Jake’s face.
Jake put his hand up and futzed with the earpiece and the microphone, getting them in a comfortable place under the mask.
“Jake, can you hear me?” Alex asked as Niko began putting the ski masks over Jake’s head. It was hard to get them over the air mask.
“It’s okay,” Jake said, trying to wave Niko off.
“No,” Niko said. “Just give me a second.”
So Jake stood still while Niko fitted the fleece balaclavas into place.
“Can you say something?” Alex repeated.
“Testing, testing, one-two-three,” Jake said. His voice came muffled—both through the mask and through the small speakers of the walkie-talkie.
Alex looked at all of us.
“It’s a go,” he said. “We’re a go.”
“Okay, let’s go,” Niko said.
Everyone started to walk toward the storeroom to see Jake off.
“Wait!” I yelled. “You guys can’t all go back there.”
“Why not?” Niko asked.
“There’s
“Oh yeah,” Jake said, the sound muffled through the mask.
“And the compounds.”
“You’re right,” Niko said. “Alex can help Jake up onto the roof.”
This meant Alex needed to outfit himself with a gas mask and a couple of layers of clothing, too.
“Guys,” Chloe said to the kids. “Let’s get chairs and popcorn and treats for the show!”
The other kids ran, giggling and excited, to go bring over comfy furniture from the Living Room.
Ulysses was the only one of them who still seemed sad about Robbie and Mr. Appleton. The rest of them were psyched to be watching TV.
“Good luck, Jake,” I said, while we waited for Alex to gear up.
Jake shook my hand, then Niko’s.
“Hurry back,” Niko added.
The kids were still off foraging for snacks, when, on the screen, Jake walked past Robbie’s body on the air mattress. I stood in front of the monitor to block it, just in case one of them came back.
On the bigtab, I saw as Jake and Alex walked up the metal staircase leading to the hatch.
Alex pulled a big metal pin out of a socket and the hatch swung down.
Jake must have gone first. Then on the monitor, I saw Alex’s masked face. Alex handed up to Jake a bundle of chains and rungs. The safety ladder, I realized. Then Jake extended his hand and helped Alex onto the roof.
Just the thought of Alex being up on the roof scared me.
Jake clipped the safety ladder to the side of the building and then the rungs fell down away from the camera, into darkness.
Jake turned back to Alex and shook his hand.
“Hey, little man, don’t worry.” Jake’s voice came through the walkie-talkie. “I’ll be fine.”
Alex said something we couldn’t hear.
“You got it,” Jake answered.
The kids came running back with pillows and beanbag chairs. Chloe came from the opposite direction with a big bag of popcorn, a bag of miniature candy bars and a six-pack of Mountain Dew. Yikes.
The image moved as he went rung by rung, down the ladder, but it was very dark.
“I can’t see anything!” Chloe complained.
“Me either,” echoed Max.
“Make it lighter!” demanded Chloe.
She moved to touch the walkie-talkie.
“Nobody touches that but Alex!” Niko shouted.
Chloe jumped.
“Where is he, then?”
“He’s pulling the ladder back onto the roof and then he has to wipe down. Now shut up and watch!”
I’d never heard him so stern. But I was glad. I just wanted to watch Jake TV.
It was hard, actually, to make anything out. Every step Jake took made everything shaky, and it was so dark.
“Can you stand still for a moment so we can see what you’re seeing?” Niko asked softly into the walkie- talkie.
“All right, what you’re seeing here is the sky and the horizon.”
Jake stopped and we saw, well, not much, really. A dark sky and a dark ground and a glowing strip of light between them.
