The door to the game room was still so far away, and Elna was running so fast, she felt dangerously close to flying apart. Her breath ached in her lungs, and she’d developed a pounding headache from all of the shooting.
We have to slow them down somehow, she thought. They’ll be faster than us, and this passageway is long. If they catch up, we’re done for.
They were passing an intersection with two other passageways, both of which were crammed with debris. Elna dared to stop. The others didn’t notice and kept running. Grabbing a large wooden crate, Elna dragged it out of the corridor on the right and shoved it behind her. Then she added some large pieces of machinery, scattering them on the floor to create obstacles for their pursuers.
When she looked back down the corridor, she saw the wildly bobbing flashlight beam, shapes caught in the middle of it casting long shadows in her direction. She dragged a final large plastic tub out of a cross-path. It was full of rusted equipment, and she kicked it over, letting all of the contents gush out onto the floor. She heard a gunshot then, heard the bullet ping off the debris, and she instinctively dropped to her knees. She aimed Malin’s gun and pulled the trigger before she remembered that the magazine was empty.
For good measure, she dragged one more large wooden crate out of a side corridor and flipped it on top of the pile. This, at least, created a bit of concealment for any more gunfire. But she’d wasted too much time. Turning back, she saw Malin and Selene far in the distance. Bearing George in his arms had slowed Malin down, but it was better than letting her dad shuffle along on his own. Elna made sure she still had the detonator in hand as she started after them.
Elna ran flat out, tucking her arms in against her sides, lowering her head, and concentrating on taking long strides. It didn’t take long to catch up to Malin and the others. She’d only gone another twenty yards or so when she heard the soldiers barreling into the debris. Glancing over her shoulder again, she saw them kicking and smashing through the pile she’d made. Then she looked back in the direction of the bunker door. Another hundred yards or so.
“We’re not going to make it,” she said.
When Malin kept going, she reached out and grabbed his shoulder.
“Malin, we’re not going to make it,” she said. “They’ll catch up to us before we reach the door.”
He looked back at her, grimacing. His blondish hair was plastered against his skull, sweat streaming down his face. He looked past her to the soldiers, then to the bunker door.
“You’re right,” he said. “Not enough time. We won’t make it.”
And with that, he set Pop down and let out a long, world-weary sigh. Elna turned to face the approaching soldiers. Angry faces in harsh white light, all guns and black clothing, the sounds of their boots like hammers on the metal floor.
Well, this is it, then, Elna thought.
26
The soldiers were maybe fifty yards away, but when they saw Elna and the others stop, they slowed down. Maybe they thought it was a trap. Indeed, it was, wasn’t it?
If you’re willing, Elna told herself.
She turned and pulled the flashlight out of Malin’s hand, giving it to Selene.
“Take this,” she said. “You and Pop keep going.”
Selene seemed reluctant to take the flashlight, and when she did, she held it lightly, as if Elna had handed her a weapon. Elna motioned for her to keep moving, but she hesitated, a pained look on her face.
“Don’t do anything crazy,” Selene said finally.
“We’re past the point of discussing it,” Elna said, giving Selene a little push. “Get going.”
“Elna, maybe we can reason with the mercenaries,” Pop said. “We’re only civilians, after all.”
But Selene snagged his arm and pulled him down the corridor. He made an exasperated sound but didn’t resist, and soon the two of them had resumed their too-slow retreat to the bunker. Elna scanned the wall back the way they’d come until she spotted the last of Fish’s explosive charges. He hadn’t planted any near the bunker door.
How strong will the blast be? Elna wondered. Will the shock wave kill us? Will it bring the whole island down on top of us? There was no way to know without pressing the detonator button.
Roughly forty yards away, the advancing soldiers marched quickly in their direction. The corridor wasn’t quite wide enough for them to walk side by side, so they were staggered, creating a zigzagging line of four black-clad bodies that seemed to be snaking toward them.
“We’ll keep moving toward the bunker,” Elna said.
“We won’t make it,” Malin replied.
“Maybe not.” She glanced at him. “What’s the alternative?”
He hesitated, then said, “I trust your judgment.”
Not quite what I wanted to hear right now, she thought, but I should have expected it.
She wasn’t really conflicted about what to do. It was crystal clear, but she was scared. More scared than she’d ever been. Still, she resumed moving down the corridor, this time at a slow jog.
“I don’t know where you think you’re going,” one of the soldiers said. She recognized the slurring voice. It was the same drunk who had confronted them at the cellar door. Apparently, he hadn’t been fatally wounded, if he’d been wounded at all. “There’s no escape that way. It’s like shooting fish in a barrel, so why don’t you put your hands up and live a little bit longer. Just tell us what you know about the bunker, and we’ll let you live. We can see you’re desperate civilians. Come on, now.”
Have they noticed the explosive charges? Elna wondered. Do they know the danger we’re all in?
If so, they hadn’t given any indication. Still, Elna wanted to buy Selene and Pop just a
