‘What’s he got now? Burns?’ the man asked Niko, who was carrying Max.
Max was whimpering with Niko’s every jostle.
‘Blisters,’ Niko answered.
The old man was hurrying as fast as he could. But old people walk slow. He led us toward a house. It was that pretend-English style, with the wooden beams. Trying to look like a Shakespearean house.
I thought we were going inside, but instead, he kept on going.
He went across his back lawn to a little building. It looked like a garden shed. A little too big for a garden shed, but that’s what it looked like.
We went in and there were tools hanging all along the walls.
‘Come in,’ he crabbed at us. ‘Shut the door behind you, for God’s sake. This is a secret place.’
I couldn’t read Niko’s expression through his air mask, but I was worried. Did the old guy think we would be safe in a garden shed?
Then Mario bent over and picked at the edge of a rubber mat on the floor. It looked like a welcome mat, sort of, but old and scuffed up.
He lifted it and there, underneath it, was a metal handle sunk into the floor and a seam.
He pulled up on it but he was winded.
Sahalia and I stepped in to help.
‘Hold on, hold on a minute,’ he said. He addressed us. ‘When the door opens, go right on down the stairs. They’re steep, so mind you don’t fall. Keep going so you’re out of the way for the next person. All right. Go,’ he told Sahalia and me.
We pulled up on the handle.
It was really heavy for the first moment, then a hydraulic lift kicked in and it rose up by itself.
Up above, everything was grimy and dirty and dark, but pure white poured up from below that door.
It was blinding, so used to the dark were our eyes.
‘Go on now!’ Mario ordered. ‘Get below.’
We did not worry for a second that he might be tricking us or trapping us. He had so clearly not wanted to help us. Why would he be tricking us now?
And he wasn’t.
As crabby and crotchety as he was, I trusted him right away. I think everyone did.
And we were right to.
He saved our lives and his name was Mario Scietto.
17 DEAN
‘I GOT A PHARMACY FULL of Robitussin,’ Jake bragged to Payton. ‘We had some whiskey, but I drank it.’
‘I like you more and more, Jake. I am glad you’re considering entering the academy. You should do it,’ Payton asked. ‘I’ll get you in my squadron. Would you like that?’
‘Sir, yes, sir!’ Jake responded.
Payton turned to the cadets, who were still awaiting his orders.
‘Well, you heard me. Fan out! Use your lights and be thorough.’
So how much respect did I have for Jake? Before this… meh. Not very much. I
But with the drugs and the way he just got so lost and depressed and the fact that he’d left us? Well, he’d fallen really far in my eyes.
Now, seeing him play this game with Payton and watching him carefully bluff and negotiate his way through this nightmare – he was kind of my hero.
My shoulder was out. Every step was agony for me. I wasn’t going to be able to fight these guys. If we were going to make it through this alive, Jake would be the one saving us.
‘Too bad you have no lights,’ Payton said. ‘Kind of grim in here, all dark like this.’
‘Yeah,’ Jake said. ‘But we got a lot of flashlights. And, hey, you should see our campfire!’
Jake led Payton to the Kitchen.
I got his strategy. With the fire going, it looked right. It looked cozy and cheerful. You could believe that it was our campsite. As long as they didn’t look for our beds.
The cadets started coming back, listing what they’d found. Greasy found the chainsaws and the patched hole in the wall. A thin, twitchy guy they called ‘Jimmy Doll Hands’ reported in on the water and remaining drinks near the Food aisle (and, yeah, his hands were weirdly small). They were fairly thorough. Zarember even found and reported on the oil stain on the linoleum and the tyre marks from where the bus had stood before it left.
But somehow, they didn’t see the House.
The last cadet came back to report, a strong, burly black kid named Kildow. He looked like the most menacing of the cadets and carried a semiautomatic. At least, I think it was a semiautomatic. I’d only ever seen them in adventure movies.
Was he going to say he’d found the House? If he did, Jake could still play it off – like he was going to tell Payton, but hadn’t gotten around to it.
Were Astrid and the kids hiding there?
I hoped they were up in the roof tiles by now…
‘Anything to report?’ Payton asked Kildow.
‘Nope,’ he said. ‘Except a lot of crap in Tupperware in the back corner. I mean crap, literally.’
‘Aw, sorry about that,’ Jake said. ‘That’s the Dump.’
‘You sure you don’t have a girl or two around here?’ Payton asked.
‘You saw our girls,’ Jake said sadly. ‘They went and left us.’
‘Well, all right.’ Payton sighed, throwing himself down in a berth. ‘Let’s party, I guess.’
How do you throw a party for five crazy air force cadets and their mascot little girl in a superstore with no electricity?
Rekindle the fire in the fire pit.
Cook up some Jiffy Pop on the flames.
Crack open a couple dozen bottles of Robitussin.
That is what we did.
‘Your arm’s all wrong,’ Payton observed, examining me across the fire.
‘I hurt my shoulder when I fell,’ I said.
‘Let me see that,’ Payton said. He got up and came over to me. I was sitting in a booth, my back to the wall. ‘I can set it for you.’
‘No, no, please. I’m okay,’ I said.
I tried to catch Jake’s eye. He was off telling Greasy and Zarember about what the earthquake was like in the store.
‘Don’t be a sissy,’ Payton said. ‘It’ll only take a second.’
‘It’s fine,’ I lied.
Dear God, I prayed, please keep this thug off me.
I was scared he’d make it worse and it already hurt more than anything I’d ever experienced.
‘Come on, it’s just a little pop. Zarember, Kildow, get over here.’
‘Please, please, please no!’ I shrieked.
Payton grabbed my hair and brought his forehead up to mine.
‘Look, Dean. I know you’re scared. I respect that. And you think I’m going to hurt you. But I’m not. I’m going
