And that was actually a mistake. Because it looked like a stretch of lawn ahead of us. A manicured lawn with some leaves and debris scattered around. But it wasn’t.
I was right behind Niko, and suddenly he fell forward and the ground was jerked away from under my feet and I fell backward and I was falling back on Sahalia who was behind me and then we hit the bottom.
We were in a pit and above me I saw Ulysses holding on to some roots or rocks or something.
But he couldn’t hold on very long and he tumbled down and landed with us at the bottom.
It was a trap.
Dean, we fell into a pit trap.
They had laid a tarp on top of part of the foundation for a new house.
Because it was dark, we didn’t see the tarp and now were in a pit.
The walls were cut by an excavator. They had that pressed-in texture, with rocks and roots sticking out in places. The floor was just deep, sludgy mud. It was wet with water on top of the clay and with lots of putrid- smelling, rotting leaves and there was some of that white mold growing against the wall.
We were in one corner of an L-shaped pit.
If Niko had walked 2 feet to the side, we would have missed it entirely.
We were crying, screaming, I don’t know, making the sounds of terror and surprise you make when you find yourself fallen into a dark pit.
‘Calm down, everyone,’ Niko commanded. ‘Calm down!’
Everyone tried to stop crying. I tried to stop crying.
‘We can get out,’ Niko said. ‘We can get out if we keep calm and work together.’
And then there was the light-swipe of a flashlight at the rim of the pit.
Yes, it was a flashlight and it was bopping around.
‘Hello?’ Niko called.
We all joined in calling hello, help, etc.
‘Oh my God, Dad! We did it!’ came the voice of a kid. ‘I knew we’d catch someone! I knew it!’
‘Settle down, Eddie, we don’t know who all’s in there.’
‘Help us!’ Batiste screamed.
Then the flashlight flashed down on all of us.
‘Jesus,’ the man said. ‘It’s a bunch of kids.’
‘We’re just trying to get to Denver. We’re not trying to rob anyone or anything,’ Niko said.
‘Oh yeah? Well, we’re not going to Denver. We’re waiting this thing out, right, Dad?’ the kid named Eddie said.
I hated this Eddie, sight unseen.
He’s the worst person I ever met.
1. He had laid a trap for us.
2. We had fallen into the trap.
3. He still had a dad.
‘Yeah, yeah,’ said the dad. ‘Well…’
‘Give us your food and water and we’ll let you go!’ the boy shouted.
‘We can’t!’ Sahalia shouted. ‘We’ll die without it!’
‘Give it up or you can’t get out,’ the kid repeated.
‘Now, Eddie, I don’t know…’ mumbled the dad.
We couldn’t see them at all. Not with the flashlights shining right in our eyes.
Max started to whimper. ‘The water’s getting in my boots,’ he whined.
‘Look,’ Niko said, his clear, digitalized voice going up to them. ‘Maybe this seems like a game to you. Trying to trap people and take things from them. But we’re going to die if you take our supplies. Do you want to be responsible for the deaths of six kids? Max and Ulysses are 7 years old, for God’s sake!’
They had to let us up.
The lights went out of our eyes and we heard them arguing.
‘Dad, we need the water!’
‘But I didn’t think they’d be kids—’
‘What about Mom? She needs the water! Dad! I’m so thirsty!’
It was clear who the boss was in their family – Eddie. The meanest kid in the world. We couldn’t hear the argument as well then because Max started crying hard. The water was burning his ankles and feet. Then a light shined back down and the man said, ‘I see your point, son. The thing is, if we don’t get your food and water, we’re gonna die.’
Max’s cries turned into wails, but then I heard a vicious shriek. It made me feel elated and sick to the stomach at the same time.
Josie’s war cry.
And the lights went off us and we heard the fight.
She attacked the dad first and had him down and I guess was pounding on him. Then I think the son tried to hit her with something. There was a thwack and then the kid was crying, ‘No, please, don’t.’
And then Josie roared at him, ‘GO ON THEN!’ Her voice sounded like a monster but she let him go. ‘GO!!!’
As much as I hated the kid, I didn’t want him to die. And more than that, I didn’t want Josie to be the one to kill him.
And the dad? Was he… ?
I heard sobbing then. Josie’s voice, ragged and desperate
And then the sound of her standing up in the mud.
‘Josie! Josie, it’s not your fault!’ Niko shouted. ‘You can stay, Jojo. You can stay with us!’
‘I can’t,’ said Josie, dark and tortured above us.
‘Josie!’ Niko cried. ‘I love you, don’t go!’
And then nothing.
She was gone.
After a few minutes, the boy came back.
‘Dad?’ he said. ‘Daddy… Daddy?’
Then the light shined down again on us.
‘You give me an air mask!’ he shrieked. ‘You throw it up right now!’
He started pelting us with rocks and clumps of mud. ‘You give it now!’
The thing is, we did have an extra. We had three extra.
Niko wasn’t speaking or moving or anything.
‘Hold on!’ I shouted. ‘Hold on a minute!’
‘I won’t hold on! You throw one up now so me and my mom can get out of here or I’ll bury you alive!’
That just didn’t seem like a credible threat, actually. He couldn’t have been more than 11 years old and where was he going to get the dirt? But I didn’t blame him for thinking illogically. His father was dead.
‘We will throw one up if you let us out!’ I shouted.
‘What?’
I tried to think like Niko.
‘We will throw up an air mask if you put down a rope for us.’
‘Fine,’ he spat. ‘Throw up two, then.’
‘Okay,’ I bargained. ‘But first the rope.’
‘No way. First, the masks.’
‘How about I throw one mask, you put down the rope, then I’ll throw the second?’
The boy hesitated. ‘Okay,’ he agreed reluctantly.
‘He won’t throw down a rope,’ Sahalia scoffed.
