Sky on Fire

Jake and I walked them toward the Food aisles (and away from the House).

My every agonized step was a prayer for Astrid to get the kids and hide, hide, hide.

The cadets whooped and started tearing into the cookies and chips and crackers.

Jake and I thought we were forgotten for a moment. I took my mask off and rubbed at my face. My whole body was covered in a cold sweat.

It was stupid, but I was almost glad my glasses were lost and broken, somewhere outside near the palette loader. Maybe I looked cooler and tougher without them.

Instinct told me coolness and toughness had suddenly become survival qualities.

A cadet came and stood watch over us.

‘Dude,’ Jake said to the cadet. ‘Aren’t you hungry?’

The cadet clearly wanted to be eating but had his orders.

‘Shut up!’ he growled.

‘We’re not going anywhere,’ Jake said, as friendly as could be.

‘I said shut up before I have to put an end to your chatter with the end of my Smith and Wesson!’ the kid snarled. He was shorter than us, with camouflage grease paint all over his face and through his hair. He also had a lame, scraggly mustache.

I nicknamed him Greasy.

We watched them gorge themselves, eating and drinking and spraying one another with soda.

If we hadn’t seen the kids by now, there was a very good chance that Astrid had gotten them all into hiding, wasn’t there?

Jake and I glanced at each other from time to time and that seemed to be what he was saying to me. It was definitely what I was trying to tell him.

And how the hell had Astrid managed to keep Luna quiet? I remembered reading something about mothers in World War II who’d had to smother their own babies to keep them from crying and revealing the position of the family to the Gestapo. I felt sick. How was she keeping Luna quiet?

‘You guys made out like bandits!’ Payton said, coming to stand with us. He held an open box of Chex mix. He offered it to us. ‘You want some?’

‘No, thank you,’ I said.

‘No, thank you…?’

‘No, thank you, sir.’

‘That’s more like it. Listen, you don’t know anything about us so let me elucidate for you. I am a second- class cadet. The rest of these losers are doolies. Fourth year. Like freshmen. That means I outrank them. That means they do whatever I say and then no one gets hurt!’

He threw his arm around me and I saw stars. I whimpered a bit and Jake shot a look at me.

‘You know what I realized,’ Jake said. ‘I never asked how you guys met Brayden.’

Payton looked blank for a moment and then he laughed.

‘Effin’ Brayden. Oh Lord. He wants to know how we met Brayden!’ he shouted to the gorging cadets. ‘We met him on the bus.’

I felt my insides turn to ice.

‘What bus?’ Jake asked, bluffing.

‘We ambushed the bus, Jake, don’t play stupid. We ambushed the bus and that’s how we found out about this place. One of the little squirts told us exactly where to come.’

Oh my God, he was about to say that he’d killed my brother? What would I do? What would I do if he said that?

‘We told them not to leave,’ Jake lied.

He was sweating. Jake was shaking and sweating.

‘Stupid idiots! Why would they ever leave here?’ Payton agreed. He munched another handful of Chex. ‘Oh, I know. They wanted to save Brayden. Well, he died.’

‘Yeah?’ Jake asked.

‘To tell you the truth, we killed him. He kept moaning and moaning. Oh Lord, it was driving me crazy. So I had to ask one of my guys to smother him. I couldn’t take that moaning anymore. I hate moaners.’

Payton looked sidelong at Jake, assessing his reaction indirectly.

Jake nodded. ‘Me too.’ He looked grey.

‘They never would have made it to a hospital anyway,’ Payton continued. ‘Nope, we kicked those losers off the bus. I believe they were going to try to make it to Denver on foot. Idiots.’

My brother, Niko, Josie, and the rest were now on foot. Or had been, whenever this ambush had happened. I felt sick to my stomach.

‘But you know what, I made a mistake when I let them go,’ Payton said. He looked around the Food aisles, and saw that Anna was drifting away toward the nuts and trail mix – out of ear shot. ‘I should have kept that sweet little girly on the bus!’

Payton elbowed Jake.

‘I bet you miss her right?’ he said to Jake. ‘Did you have yourself a little goodbye party before she set off?’

He was talking about Josie or Sahalia.

So he hadn’t killed them and he hadn’t messed with them.

That was good.

Okay, okay, Astrid had to have the kids hiding by now. She was very good at hiding away. They had to be safe from this sicko. I was starting to think he wasn’t crazy from the compounds. He was just crazy on his own.

‘Mr Payton, sir,’ I stammered.

‘Cadet Lieutenant Colonel,’ he corrected me. ‘What?’

‘I’ve been meaning to ask. How’d you guys get up on the roof?’

‘Old-fashioned grappling hook, Dean. That Zarember can climb anything. Then he found a ladder and threw it down for us. Real thoughtful of you to leave it up there,’ he said, clapping me on the shoulder.

I should have kept my mouth shut. I almost fainted from the pain.

‘All right, doolies,’ Payton said, addressing the group. ‘Spread out and give me a report. I want full recon on this here Greenway superstore. Exits, entrances, assets, liabilities, weapons…’

Payton winked at us.

I hated those mean, malicious winks.

‘Also be on the lookout for any alcohol! Daddy could sure use a drink!’

The cadets cheered.

‘Hey!’ Jake said, as if suddenly remembering something. ‘Where are my manners? Do you guys want to get high?’

16 ALEX

EVENTUALLY, WE SAW A development. Most of the houses were dark, but there were lights in a few.

‘Can’t we try one?’ Sahalia asked. ‘Maybe they have food.’

Niko didn’t answer. He started to skirt the complex.

‘Niko, please, can we rest?’ Max said, starting to cry.

‘Please?’

‘Okay, okay. Let’s try that one,’ Niko whispered to us, pointing to a unit at the side of the development. Two windows had lights on in the first floor. The light was diffuse, like it was coming through sheets of clear plastic.

‘Stay close,’ Niko said.

So we all came in close up behind him.