Monument 14

^{CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX} “EVACULATION”

After breakfast the next morning (Chloe was my helper and she said, “Just do whatever, Dean. I want to hang out with Robbie!”), Josie and Alex gave Robbie a tour of the store. All the little kids went along, shining their flashlights all over the place.

I was getting lunch on the table when Jake wandered into the Kitchen and slung himself down at a booth.

He looked worse than he had the day before, if such a thing was possible.

“You okay?” I asked him.

“Dean. Dude. Is there any coffee?”

“Sure, Jake,” I said. “You take cream and sugar, right?”

He nodded and his low-hung head began to bob. He was crying, I realized.

I put my hand on his shoulder as I set the coffee down.

“It’s gonna be okay,” I said.

“It’s not. It’s never gonna be okay again.”

I just stayed standing where I was. I felt like if I sat down, he’d stop talking.

“I keep taking these pills. But everytime, they’re working less. It’s like I squeezed all the good feeling out of my brain and now I’m out. I drained it all out and I’m done.”

“Jake, you gotta lay off the pills.”

“I know. I know,” he mumbled. “I’ll stop today.”

He turned to go, just as Sahalia came over.

She was wearing leggings, a tank top, and some kind of blazer.

“Have you guys seen Robbie?” she asked.

“He’s with Josie and Alex and the little kids,” I said. “They’re touring the store.”

“Sweet,” she said. “See ya.”

Robbie was definitely the big man on campus.

As I was plating the food, Mr. Appleton walked in. He was definitely looking better.

“Mmmmm,” he said, eyeing the steaming-hot orange chicken I was dumping into a bowl. “Chinese?”

“Yup,” I answered. “I’m serving fried rice, too.”

“Have you seen Niko?” Mr. Appleton asked me. “I want to start packing up.”

That was interesting to me. I had sort of assumed that Mr. Appleton wanted to stay, as Robbie clearly did.

“LUNCH!” I yelled.

Mr. Appleton jumped.

“Sorry,” I said. Then I hollered again. “LUNCH! Come and get it!”

I heard the sound of the hungry hordes moving toward the Kitchen.

“You’re feeling like you can travel?” I asked Mr. Appleton as I set out the plates, forks, and napkins.

“I want to honor our agreement,” he said. “And, yes, I guess I am anxious to get on the way.”

“Why?”

“Well, we need to have another meeting,” Mr. Appleton said. “So I can tell you about Denver.”

The kids swarmed in.

“Mmmm! Chinese!” Max said.

“I love Chinese!” chirped Caroline.

“Wait,” I said to Mr. A. “What about Denver?”

Niko came in. He had his arms crossed over his chest.

He stood behind Batiste on line.

“Oh, Niko,” Mr. Appleton said. “I want to talk to you about our departure plan.”

“Really?” Niko said. “Okay. Good.”

“And I realized we haven’t told you about Denver yet.”

“What about Denver?” I said, shooing Ulysses and Max off to a table.

“What’s this now?” Robbie said, ambling up.

“They’re evacuating people,” Mr. Appleton said to Niko and me. “If you can get yourself to the Denver International Airport, you can be evacuated.”

“What do you mean ‘evaculated’?” Chloe demanded, cutting into the line.

By now most of the kids had their plates and were seated.

Mr. Appleton turned to face them. It looked like a class set in a Pizza Shack. Weird.

“Well, children,” Mr. Appleton said. “When there is a crisis in an area, the government comes and evacuates the people living in that area. Evacuation is the transfer of large groups of people to a safer place.”

“What do you mean?” Batiste interrupted.

“Many people in this area are making their way to the Denver airport,” Mr. Appleton explained. “It is rumored that the government is flying people out by helicopter and taking them to Alaska.”

Caroline raised her hand.

“Do you mean like our mommy?” she asked. “Like our mommy might be going to Denver to go away in a helicopter?”

“Possibly,” Mr. Appleton said.

All at once everyone was talking, screaming, shouting: Denver, Denver, Denver. We had to go to Denver. We could drive the bus to Denver. We had to leave today for Denver.

Niko was shaking his head, already imagining the chaos this news was going to create.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Mr. Appleton said, holding his hands up. The kids gradually fell silent though Henry had the hiccups. “It’s not at all feasible for you kids to make it to Denver. Absolutely not. It’s too dangerous out there for you.”

“But we want to find our mommy!” Caroline said.

Her freckled face was so sad. It was hard not to just sweep her into a hug.

“I understand that, Caroline,” Mr. Appleton said. “And that is why Robbie and I are going to Denver. We will be airlifted to Alaska, and then we will find your parents and tell them where you are so they can come for you.”

The little kids started smiling. They started clapping and grinning, wiping their tears away.

Niko was grinning.

This was the happiest I’d ever seen Niko and I understood why: The men were leaving; he hadn’t had to make them leave, so he didn’t look like the bad guy anymore; and on top of it all, now there was a prayer we might be rescued.

Hope. It was a real glimmer of hope Mr. Appleton had just given us.

Everyone talked with excitement. Niko, Alex, and Mr. Appleton started talking about what supplies the men would need.

Only one person looked unhappy: Robbie.

I could tell that he really had wanted to stay with us.

He stalked away.

Sahalia watched him go, then started after him.

I thought she was probably going to beg him to take her along.

I didn’t think about it too long, because Mr. Appleton said, “Now, if you kids will please go to your school area, you may each write a letter to your parents for Robbie and me to deliver.”

I was throwing away the remains of our meal when Alex came back. He held a small storage bin with some electronics in it.

“Can I show you something?” he asked me.

“Of course.”

I was happy he was even bothering to show me anything. We weren’t getting along like we should be.

Alex took two video walkie-talkies out of the bin. One of them had an extra-long antenna attached and some extra wiring, all held together by some blue electrical tape.

“It’s a video walkie-talkie but I amped up the transmitter with this antenna,” he explained. “I’ve been testing it and, so far, it works pretty well in the confines of the store.”

“That’s cool,” I said. “Are you thinking we could use it as, like, an intercom?”

“No,” he said. “I thought maybe Mr. Appleton would take it with him. That way we could see what’s going on outside.”

Again, again, again, like always, I was bowled over by my brother’s brilliance.

“That’s incredible, Alex,” I said. “That’s such a great idea. They’re going to love it.”

He went off to show it to Niko and Mr. Appleton.

I sat down to write my letter to our parents.

I tried to tell them what had happened to us. I wrote that Alex and I were taking care of each other and that I’d make sure to keep him safe, no matter what.

I had to do a better job of that.

But it’s hard to take care of someone who doesn’t want or really even need your help.

Mr. Appleton and Robbie came to the Kitchen with Niko and Alex a little while later.

I had seen the four of them in the bicycle aisle. They had picked out two sturdy high-end mountain bikes. Now that their success was linked to our dreams of finding our parents, we wanted them to have everything they wanted. They could take the whole store, if they wanted. Just get us our parents back.

“Dean,” Niko said. “Have you given some thought to the food we can send with these guys?”

I had.

I had a plastic storage bin filled with stuff:

I had also set out four gallon bottles of water and six liter bottles of Gatorade. I don’t know, that seemed like the most they’d be able to carry.

“You guys can take as much dog food as you want,” I offered.

Robbie shrugged.

“Luna does pretty well for herself,” he said. He seemed down. He was looking at the floor.

He didn’t want to leave. That was clear.

Mr. Appleton started rummaging through the plastic box.

I went over to Alex.

“Are they going to take the walkie-talkies?” I asked him.

“Yeah! They thought it was a great idea. Mr. Appleton said I am very ingenious.”

His serious face looked proud.

I put my arm around his shoulder and kind of gave him a hug. He shrugged it off and went to stand next to Niko.

They were best buds again, I guess.

I tried not to care.

Mr. Appleton lifted the tub, and seemed okay with the weight. Going through it, though, he discarded the RavioliOs.

“Do you have any beef jerky?” he asked me.

“Sure,” I said. And I turned to go get it for them.

“I’ll go with him,” Robbie said.

Robbie and I went back toward the snack food aisle.

“I feel like I can trust you,” Robbie said to me, putting his hand on my shoulder. “I’m in a bind and I don’t know what to do.”

“What’s wrong?” I said.

“Craig wants to leave right away. But I don’t think he’s well enough to go.”

“I know that Niko had said you guys could stay at least another day,” I said.

“Yeah! And now Craig wants to go today. He wants to go right now and I’m just not sure he’s up to it.”

We had reached the jerky and he skimmed his hand over some packs.

“I think he’s afraid he’s gonna die. He wants to try to get to Denver before he dies.”

Robbie turned to me.

“I think the longer we stay, the better. I mean, I want to get your letters to your folks. I do. But I don’t know what kind of chance we have with him the way he is.”

I had to agree.

“I feel really bad, Robbie,” I said. “But I don’t know what to do. Truthfully, I think before we all knew about Denver, most of us would have wanted you to just stay. Like forever.”

Maybe it was too much to say that. Maybe I had crossed a line, but I felt bad. To have to go back out there after everything he’d been through, when it was safe in the store and we all wanted him to stay. It was rough.

“But I also have to say”—and this was the truth in every way—“if you can go to Alaska and find our parents, you would be our hero forever and ever.”

Robbie sighed.

“That’s true,” he said. “I would like to help you kids.”

When we got back, Niko was helping Mr. Appleton pack up two large-frame backpacks and two bicycle saddlebags. I saw on the ground two small camping stoves—the kind that are just a can of fuel and a metal thing that goes on top. Also two thermal sleeping bags—the very thin space-blanket kind. And a bunch of matches and some Ziploc bags. Ponchos, flares, camping stuff from the Sports Department. Alex’s video gear was in a heap next to the clothing. Most key: a Ziploc bag containing a list of our names and our letters.

Niko and Mr. Appleton were methodically packing the stuff up.

“Mr. Appleton, I was just wondering.” I had to try, on Robbie’s behalf. “I mean, it’s fine with us for you to spend some more time here. We all want you to make it to Denver with our messages, why don’t you just wait until you feel a little better?”

“I have already discussed this with Niko,” he said stiffly.

“We don’t know when the evacuation began,” Niko said. “So if they wait too long, they might miss it.”

“Besides, we’ve hit on the right antibiotics and I’m already starting to feel better,” Mr. Appleton added.

Okay. Those were sound arguments, but why wouldn’t he meet my eyes?

“We’ll have dinner with you and then we’ll go,” he said.

Robbie was staring at Mr. Appleton with irritation and maybe anger on his face. When Robbie saw me looking at him, he gave me a weak smile.

^{CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN} THE BIG SEND-OFF

Batiste and I really went to town for the farewell dinner.

After the men left, I was going to ask Niko if Batiste could just become my permanent helper. He really had a way with food and I think everyone was getting tired of the ridiculous meals my other helpers picked (for one lunch Ulysses had picked only foods with cherries in them—Cherry Pop-Tarts, cherry pie, black cherry ice cream, etc.)

Batiste and I oven-roasted the last of the fresh-frozen chicken. He made a corn soufflé using Egg Beaters and frozen corn, with some other stuff. For dessert we made three cakes: yellow with chocolate frosting, devil’s food with marshmallow icing, and a pink cake with vanilla frosting and sprinkles, for novelty effect.

It was a really good meal. Everyone said so, except for Jake, who took a plate and slunk away to eat by himself, and Astrid, who was still MIA.

Mr. Appleton and Niko had joined forces, clearly. They sat together, discussing the trip. Alex sat with them, listening in, and happy, I imagine, at being allowed in on this important conversation.

After dinner Mr. Appleton gave a speech.

He stood up and dabbed his forehead with a napkin.

“I want to thank you all for taking us in and taking such good care of us,” he said. “You are some of the brightest and most determined children I have had the pleasure of knowing. I am proud that you are in my school district.”

He swabbed his head again. Why was he sweating so much? It wasn’t warm in the kitchen. It was chilly, like the rest of the store.

“Robbie and I will make it our mission to find your parents and tell them you are here.”

The kids cheered.

“Can you please ask my mom to tell Mr. Mittens that I miss him?” little Caroline asked Mr. Appleton.

“Sure,” he said. Then he closed his eyes. He put a hand out so he could lean on the tabletop.

Niko stood up. At his signal, Alex handed out plastic flutes filled with sparkling apple juice.

“And, Mr. Appleton and Robbie, we are very glad you came. It has been our honor to prepare you for the journey ahead and we thank you very much for taking our letters to our parents. To Mr. Appleton and Robbie!”

We toasted with our faux champagne.

“Okay,” Mr. Appleton said. “I think it’s time we headed out.”

The kids groaned.

“I don’t get it.” Chloe pouted. “At least wait until the morning. Nobody travels at night.”

“It doesn’t really matter,” Mr. Appleton said. “It’s night all the time out there.”

“And less people are out at night. So there’s less of a chance we’ll run into dangerous people,” Robbie added.

Chloe shivered.

Ulysses was sitting on Robbie’s lap. Robbie kissed him on the top of the head. Ulysses snuggled into him and wrapped his arms around Robbie’s neck.

This was going to suck for Ulysses, their leaving.

“Come on, Robbie,” Mr. Appleton said. “It’s time.”

Mr. Appleton stood up.

“Thank you again,” Niko said.

“It’s our duty and our pleasure,” Mr. Appleton said. His color was not good.

He seemed to squint at Niko, reaching out to shake his hand. But he couldn’t find it.

Mr. Appleton put a hand out to steady himself against the tabletop, but the hand missed.

Slowly, sideways, Mr. Appleton crumpled to the ground.

Niko, Robbie, Brayden, and I carried him back to their sleeping area.

“I knew he wasn’t feeling up to it,” Robbie said. “He has this sense of duty toward you kids. Wanted to get those letters to your parents.”

They set Mr. Appleton down. His head lolled back. He was out.

“Do you think he’s okay?” I asked.

“Someone go get smelling salts,” Niko ordered.

“I’ll go,” Brayden volunteered. He took off for the Pharmacy.

“We need to get him to the hospital,” Niko said. He turned to Mr. Appleton. “Do you think you could get him there, if we made some kind of sled for you? It’s not too far…”

“No, no, no,” Robbie protested. “The hospital’s closed. It was one of the first things to go. There were like hundreds of people trying to get in. It was mobbed.”

Niko thought about that. I saw him look to Robbie. He didn’t trust him.

“Believe me, I swear to God above, this is the best place for Craig. This is the only place he has a chance.”

“Great,” said Niko. His hands were in fists.

Brayden came back after a while with smelling salts. A little bottle from the Pharmacy. I’d never seen them before.

Niko expertly uncapped the bottle and held it a hand’s length away from Mr. Appleton’s nose. He wafted the fumes toward him.

Mr. Appleton recoiled. He was super-groggy.

“My gun,” he said, and he grabbed for Niko’s shirt, then he groaned, a long, bull-like sound, and he fell back to sleep.

“He must have overexerted himself,” Niko said on the way back to the Kitchen.

“He’s sick,” I said.

“Dude, his leg is rotting off,” Brayden said, always one with words.

“I don’t know,” I said. “He almost seemed stoned to me. Maybe he overdid it on pain pills.”

“That’s possible,” Niko said. “I gave him a lot of them to take along.”

Niko exhaled.

“Now we’re stuck with them,” he murmured darkly.

“Don’t worry, Niko,” I said. “Robbie’s not so bad.”

We assigned watches for taking care of Mr. Appleton. Niko would watch from bedtime until midnight. Robbie insisted on taking the second shift. And I volunteered for three to six a.m.

When Niko told the little kids that the grown-ups would be staying for a few more days, they were delighted.

Ulysses started break dancing, which was just funny enough to break the grimness of the moment.

Even Niko had to smile as Ulysses jigged and jagged and did ye olde robot. The chubby kid really had some moves.

^{CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT} THE BIG SEND-OFF: PART TWO

Everything was quiet and dark in the store when we woke to the sound of Luna barking and Astrid yelling her head off:

“JAKENIKODEANBRAYDENGETOVERHERE!”

We ripped through the store, scrambling over each other in our half-asleep state, but awake as soon as our feet hit the linoleum.

We ran toward her voice and the dim light of a lantern.

I rounded the head of the aisle and I saw an air mattress, half covered by a twisted sheet. And Robbie, lying on it in his underwear. And Astrid.

Astrid stood above Robbie, holding a handgun, aiming at his chest.

Luna was standing like a fireplug and barking her head off.

Then I saw Sahalia.

She was crying and basically naked. Just wearing a thong. She sat on the floor, clutching her nightgown to her chest.

Sahalia and Robbie had been…

Sahalia and Robbie had been…

Sahalia and Robbie had been… what?

“What the hell?” Jake said.

“Take the gun,” Astrid said.

Jake took the gun from her, pointing it at Robbie’s midsection.

“This is intense. This is too intense,” Jake said, and I saw his hand was trembling.

“What happened?” Niko asked.

“Nothing!” Robbie protested.

Sahalia was weeping, clinging to Astrid as if she was a life raft. Astrid was making calming sounds and trying to both cover her up and gather her from the floor at the same time.

“It’s okay,” Astrid said. “You’re fine. You’re fine. Just get up.”

Sahalia clutched her nightgown to her chest and Astrid moved her toward the Train.

“Guys,” Robbie said. “It’s not what you think. I was just lying here sleeping, and I woke up and she was on top of me. She said she wanted me to take her with me and she could be my girlfriend. I said no!” He held his hands up.

“You’re a liar!” Niko said.

“I’m telling you the truth,” Robbie continued. “I know how bad this looks, but really, I said no. Really. Te lo juro!”

Luna was still barking and growling.

“Come here, Luna.” Robbie called the dog over to him.

He scratched her ears and petted her, calming her down.

Trying to calm us all down.

“It’s all a misunderstanding,” he said to the dog. “These kids would never hurt anyone. It’s a big misunderstanding.”

I looked at the guys. Did they buy it? Did I buy it?

“She’s crazy, that girl,” Robbie said. “She kept talking about how none of you think she’s a grown-up but how she is, and she wanted to prove it to you, and honestly, I was trying to get her to put back her nightgown on when that other crazy girl came with the gun.”

“All right!” Niko shouted. “That’s enough! Just don’t talk. Let me think.”

Robbie murmured soothing sounds to Luna.

“You guys stay here and keep the gun on him,” Niko told us, gesturing to me, Brayden, and Jake, who still held the gun. “Keep the gun on him no matter what he says. I’m gonna go talk to Sahalia. I’ll find out what happened here and then we’ll know what to do.”

Niko sprinted down the aisle.

“Oh God,” Jake said. The hand that held the gun was shaking violently. “I think I’m gonna be sick.”

He bent over.

“Give me the gun,” Brayden said, moving toward Jake.

But then Robbie was reaching up. Lurching up.

I was too slow. A beat behind.

Robbie grabbed the gun from Jake, just as Brayden reached for it.

“No!” Brayden shouted. He snatched at the gun and in the scuffle the gun fired with a deafening BANG.

Brayden slipped down to the floor, looking confused.

“Brayden!” I shouted.

Jake lurched toward Robbie and tried to get the gun away.

Niko came vaulting back down the aisle and launched himself at Robbie and had him around the neck, and the three of them went toppling backward onto the floor.

Robbie punched Jake and elbowed Niko to the head and grabbed the gun out of Jake’s hands.

I rushed to Brayden. He looked at me with shock in his eyes.

When I looked up, Robbie had the gun right at Niko’s head.

“Get back!” Robbie shouted. “I’ll shoot! I’ll shoot him! I will!”

Jake scooted away, hands up.

Robbie cursed in Spanish, rising to his feet. He wiped blood from the corner of his mouth.

“Maldita sea! I told you it wasn’t me! She wanted to be my girlfriend. Why couldn’t you just believe me? You,” he said, turning on Niko, “you had it in for me from the start!”

Robbie lashed out and struck Niko across the face with the barrel of the pistol. Niko fell.

“You don’t get to decide who goes and who stays!” Robbie screamed at Niko’s fallen form. “Who lives and dies!”

He raised up his gun.

And BWAM!

A gunshot murdered my ears.

Robbie was flung backward, led by his head.

He hit the shelving unit behind him and slumped to the ground.

He was shot.

There was Josie, holding the other handgun, coming out of the shadows down the aisle.

On the ground just behind her lay the two-gallon Ziploc bag that Niko had stored the guns in.

Had the other gun just been laying there on the floor the whole time?

Josie dropped the gun, shaking her arm out.

She sank to her knees, covered her face, and howled.

^{CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE} BLOOD, BLEACH, AND LIES

The little kids came screaming over to see what had happened, and I grabbed Max and Ulysses and pushed them all back toward the Train.

“Go back to the Train!” I shouted. “This is an emergency! Go! Go! Go!”

They could not be allowed to see what had happened.

I yelled at them every step back to the Train.

I pushed them inside and pulled one of the futon sofas in front of the door.

“You stay in there until it’s safe!” I shouted. “We’ll come and get you when it’s safe.”

They cried and sobbed inside, banging on the door.

Astrid and Sahalia were curled up together on the other futon couch in the Living Room.

Astrid was singing to Sahalia.

Robbie was dead. Brayden had been shot, and now Astrid was singing to Sahalia. I had to keep the facts straight or I might go crazy. Those were the facts.

I raced back to my friends.

“This is bad, this is bad,” Jake kept repeating. It must have all felt like a very bad trip to him.

Josie was crying on the floor, the gun lying next to her on the linoleum.

Niko had Brayden lying on the floor and was pressing both his hands down on Brayden’s shoulder. Blood was all over Niko’s arms and shirt. Brayden was soaking with it.

“I’m trying to stop the bleeding but I don’t know what to do,” Niko said, looking up at me with pure panic in his eyes.

I ran to the Pharmacy.

Alex was there, scrambling to gather as many bandages in his arms as he could.

It was dark. It was hard to find anything because the store was so dark.

“Bring those to Niko and then go turn the lights on, okay?” I said.

“But the power!” he protested.

“We need light!” I answered. “We need to see what we’re doing.”

“Okay.” He gulped and ran off to obey.

I needed something to stop the bleeding. I knew stuff existed because once our neighbor fell off a ladder and opened up a huge gash on the back of her head.

The EMTs had sprinkled a powder on it. Some kind of powder to stop bleeding.

I jumped over the pharmacy counter. The place was a mess.

What the hell has Jake been up to back here? I thought.

The lights came blinking and twittering back on.

I squinted, at first.

Then I started scanning the shelves.

I grabbed the pain pills Jake had given me. Those would help Brayden.

I couldn’t find that bleeding stuff. I didn’t know what it was called or anything.

I grabbed some of the antibiotics Niko had given to Mr. Appleton and I ran back.

The crime scene looked much, much worse with the lights on.

“We gotta get this body out of here!” Jake was nearly crying.

“We will, Jake. We will,” Niko said tersely. “Shut up about it.”

Robbie had been pushed backward by the force of the bullet and lay slumped against the shelves.

Blood and clumps of tissue (brain) were spattered over the decorative steering-wheel covers behind him.

And under his legs an oil slick of blood was spreading slowly.

Niko had made a square pad of bandages out of the supplies Alex had brought and was pressing down on Brayden’s shoulder with all his might.

“I couldn’t find that blood stuff,” I huffed, out of breath.

“It’s slowed,” Niko said. “I think the bleeding’s slowed. But he’s lost so much blood.”

I took Brayden’s uninjured arm and tried to find a pulse.

“He’s cold,” I said to Niko.

“I know.”

“Where’s Josie?” I asked.

“Astrid came and got her.”

“We have to do something about the body, guys!” Jake wailed. “It’s freaking me out.”

Niko looked at me.

“Can you get rid of it?” he asked.

“You don’t need my help?” I said.

“Alex will be right back,” Niko said.

I turned to Jake.

“Okay, I’ll get rid of the body,” I said. “But you have to help.”

Jake was crying now, tears streaming down his face.

“It’s my fault, it’s my fault,” he moaned.

“Stop, Jake. I need your help.”

“I can’t do this,” he said.

“Yes, you can. Just… just don’t look at him,” I told Jake.

I grabbed Robbie’s hand.

It was cold and heavy. Like clay. A clay body.

I took the one hand and Jake took the other.

“Oh God,” Jake groaned.

We flopped Robbie onto the air mattress. His body landed with a sick, wet sound.

I picked up the comforter, which had been lying on the floor, and covered the body with it.

“Come on,” I told Jake. “Pull.”

We pulled the air mattress back to the storeroom, leaving a grisly trail behind—blood running in parallel lines—as if the air mattress was a flat paintbrush trailing firehouse red.

Jake had blood all over the center of his body and his arms. We looked like we’d just butchered a cow.

“I’m scared,” Jake said.

“I know, Jake,” I said.

“I don’t want Brayden to die,” he said, breaking into sobs. “Christ! I have to get myself together.”

He wiped the tears away with his forearm, which was spattered with blood.

Jake and Alex were assigned to cleaning up the blood, while I helped Niko to bandage Brayden.

We cut Brayden’s shirt off. Niko swabbed him down with that orange stuff and then asked me to hold the bandage down hard while he wrapped the whole shoulder with gauze.

It was wet and disgusting to do this. The bullet had taken a chunk off the shoulder. The flesh was raw meat, horrible and messy. I could see white bone under the torn meat.

I tried not to black out.

“Keep the pressure on!” Niko commanded.

I closed my eyes and pressed down hard.

Niko didn’t think we should move him too much, so I went and got a new inflatable mattress.

Me, Niko, Jake, and Alex lifted him, as carefully as we could, onto the air mattress.

Niko sent Alex for space blankets and Gatorade.

Niko continued to attend to Brayden while I helped Alex and Jake finish cleaning up.

By the time we finished, there were eight trash bags filled with blood-soaked paper towels, dirty wet wipes, empty bottles of bleach, etc.

After what felt like hours and hours of hard, gruesome work, the kind of work nobody ever, ever wanted to have to do, Niko finally said:

“I think he’s stabilized enough.”

“Stabilized enough for what?” I said. Maybe he was in good enough shape that we could wash up and change clothes. We looked gruesome beyond belief.

“Stabilized enough for us to go talk to Sahalia.”

Sahalia was still lying with Astrid on one of the futon couches. They were just lying together, spooning, their bodies curled together in one doubled S.

Neither of the girls was asleep. Their eyes were wide-awake, staring forward.

Josie was curled up on the butterfly chair, staring ahead. Someone (probably Astrid) had thrown a blanket over her.

There were no sounds from inside the Train, but the futon I had put in front of the door had been removed, so I gathered that everything was okay inside.

“Sahalia,” Niko said gently, kneeling down beside the futon. “We need to know what happened.”

Sahalia simply closed her eyes.

“Come on, Sasha,” Jake tried. “We have to know.”

“No one blames you at all for what happened,” I said.

“Robbie was lying to us and we need to know the truth,” Niko said.

“He said he would take me with him,” Sahalia said quietly. “He said we were just alike and we could make it together. I thought it would be, like, as a team. But then… he…”

Tears were sliding down her face. She made no move to wipe them away.

“He said that I should be, like, his girlfriend. And I guess I thought I could, you know, do what all he wanted me to do. But then I didn’t want to and…”

“I was keeping an eye on him,” Astrid said. “I didn’t trust him. She said no. And he wouldn’t stop—”

Josie grabbed my sleeve, pushing her way through to the center of the group.

“So I was right. Right? He was bad. He was bad?”

She was breathing fast, tears pooled in her eyes.

“He was a bad guy and I had no choice but to do what I did. Right?”

“Yes.” “Of course.” “Absolutely.” We answered, but she didn’t seem to hear us.

Niko took her by the arms and looked right into her eyes.

“Josie,” he said. “Robbie was bad. You saved my life by shooting him. You did the right thing.”

Josie swooned, her knees buckling out from under her. Niko steered her down onto the futon, next to Astrid and Sahalia.

Astrid put her other arm around Josie and now she had Sahalia on one side and Josie on the other.

“I heard the shot and I came running,” Josie said.

I understood she needed to tell us all her story.

“There, in the middle of the aisle, was the bag on the floor and the second gun just laying there. I took it. I wasn’t going to shoot anyone. I just thought… a gun shouldn’t just be laying on the floor.”

She wiped at her eyes.

“I didn’t even want to pick it up. But I did. And then I saw Robbie hurting Niko. I didn’t even think,” she whispered. “I just shot him. It felt so natural. As if shooting people is something I do all the time.”

“You did the right thing,” I said.

“Because he was going to hurt Niko, right? He was going to shoot Niko.”

“He had already hit me with the gun,” Niko said. “And I think he was going to shoot me.”

“Yes,” she said. “I did the right thing. I did.”

Josie pulled her head back and looked at us all of a sudden. Niko, Jake, Alex, me. My shirt and my arms.

“Are you guys covered in blood?” she asked. “You have to get cleaned up,” she said, staggering to her feet. “What will the kids think?”

^{CHAPTER THIRTY} A KISS

As bone weary as we all were, only Sahalia, Jake, and Alex could sleep.

Sahalia was curled up on the futon couch.

Alex on the butterfly chair.

Jake had lain down in front of the futon on the floor. “Just to rest my eyes for a sec.” And soon he was snoring away.

“I’m ready to work,” Josie said. “I’ll take the first watch over Brayden and Mr. Appleton while you guys get some sleep.”

Astrid stood up. She walked over to the door to the Train and looked in, scratching her head.

“Do you want me to show you where your bunk is?” I asked her.

“I guess you’re pretty tired,” she said, looking at me.

“Why?”

“I think I might have lice.”

“Yeah,” I said. “You probably do.” I explained to her that we’d all had lice and that Josie washed our hair.

“I can wash yours for you,” I said.

“You’re not too tired?” Astrid asked me.

I had been totally wiped out just a moment before, but talking to Astrid. Just the idea of… well, the idea of washing her hair, made me feel really, very awake.

“No,” I said. “I can always spare a moment to delouse a friend.”

She smiled.

We walked over to the Dump. Astrid darted away near Office Supplies.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

She came back holding a pair of scissors.

“I have four brothers,” she said. “I’ve had lice three times. And there’s no way to get them out of long hair like this. You’re gonna have to give me a haircut.”

“You know I’ll suck at it, right?”

“I would be shocked if you didn’t,” she said.

And there—she smiled at me.

The same smile I’d been seeing in my dreams since I was a freshman.

The hair-washing stuff was still set up in the Dump, complete with extra towels and everything.

“Cut away,” she said as she sat on one of the stools.

“God help me,” I said.

I took a towel and wrapped it around her.

I started chopping. The golden tresses that had absolutely transfixed me were now drab and mousy. They were almost like dreadlocks. One big clump was all fused together and I just hacked at it with the scissors until I had cut the whole thing away.

Astrid shivered.

“Does it feel weird?” I asked her.

“Light,” she said. “My head feels free.”

I cut and chopped until it was mostly gone. It looked god-awful. Down to the scalp in some places, wispy in others. Matted down in places and kookily long in others.

“I think I need to wash it so I can make it look… uniform… somehow… or better… maybe…,” I said.

She laughed.

The most elegant way to wash someone’s head over a basin, Josie had figured out by the end of the delousing episode, was to have two stools set together. The washee sits facing away from the basin and the washer sits closer to the basin, sideways. Then the washee leans back so that they are lying down, their torso resting on your knees. You put the basin under their head and you have a bottle of water and the shampoo at an arm’s reach.

I explained this to Astrid, so she sat down facing away from me and then leaned back onto my lap.

And there she was. So beautiful, laid out on my knees. She had her eyes closed, and for a moment, I just looked at her. Dirty face. Lips drawn together, chapped and rosy. Eyes red rimmed. The rise of her cheekbones. Eyebrows and lashes golden honey–colored. Some brown, dried freckle-dots that could be blood on her jawline.

Astrid Heyman. I tried to memorize how beautiful she was.

“Okay,” she said. “I’m ready.”

“I’m sorry,” I told her, “it’s going to be cold.”

I poured the water over her head.

“It’s freezing!”

I put the pitch-smelling shampoo into my hands and started rubbing. I moved my fingers in small circles over the surface of her grimy scalp.

“Mmmmmm,” she said and it was all I could do not to bring her to me and kiss her.

A trickle of water had run over her forehead to her eye. I took the edge of the towel and dabbed it away softly.

In the ruse of brushing away water, I ran my thumb over her eyebrow. It was a marvel of God, how perfect it felt under my thumb.

Brayden shot and Mr. Appleton dying and all I could think of was that perfect eyebrow.

I rinsed the shampoo out.

She shivered and I saw goose bumps go up on her forearms.

After it was done I put my hands under her shoulders and helped her sit up.

She towel-dried her hair and put her hands up to feel her head.

“Oh my God,” she said. “I’m bald!”

She turned and looked at me, her blue eyes shining.

Her hair was fluffy and standing up in all directions.

“You look like a baby chick!” I said.

She let me trim it some. I cut away the long, draggly tendrils.

In the end, she looked not so much like a baby chick, but maybe an orphan boy from a Charles Dickens book.

“It’s cold,” she said, shivering.

And I realized I had a hat! It got cold sometimes in the early morning in the Kitchen so I’d taken to keeping one in my back pocket.

It was an orange knit ski cap with a band of blue around near the edge.

“Thanks,” she said and she put it on.

“There’s like a dozen different styles in the Men’s Department, if you want a different one,” I said.

I didn’t want her to feel some kind of pressure to wear it. And if she replaced it, it would have made me feel better to know that I had given her the idea.

“I like yours,” she said.

I didn’t know what to say to that.

“I’m going to go check on everybody,” I told her.

“I’m gonna go change,” she said. “I smell, don’t I?”

“Yes, you do.” I told her. “Also, you have a terrible haircut.”

She gave me a smile. A shining golden smile, flashing in the center of our dark, lost world.

We had moved Brayden near Mr. Appleton to make it easier to take care of them.

Josie and Niko were looking at Brayden.

“Can’t sleep?” asked Josie.

“Not so much,” I answered. “How is he?”

Brayden looked ashen and weak.

“If the wound doesn’t become infected, I think he’ll be okay,” Niko said.

“And if it does?” Josie asked.

I guess I expected Niko to say something about antibiotics.

“Maybe I could take him in the bus.”

“To where?” Josie asked.

“The hospital,” Niko answered.

“You know what Robbie said. It’s shut down. There is no one there.”

“But think about it,” Niko said. “Robbie wanted to stay here. He was probably lying. The hospital might be open.”

“We can’t risk it,” I said.

“I know,” he snapped.

“Brayden’s going to be okay,” Josie said. She pressed a damp washcloth to his forehead. “You gotta pull through, Brayden. We need you to pull through.”

Brayden’s breathing was shallow but steady. Maybe he’d be okay…

“Now you two go to sleep. And I mean it,” Josie said.

I was following Niko back to the Train, only he didn’t go to the Train. He went to the bus.

“Hey, what are you doing?” I asked.

He came out with some supplies—caulk guns, some spackle, some rags.

He set them down and then headed off toward Housewares.

“What are you doing?” I called to his back.

He went to the Storage section and took a stack of big plastic bins.

“Can you get the lids?” he asked.

“Sure,” I answered. “But, Niko, don’t you think we should sleep? At least for a few hours?”

“You should. I’m going to stock the bus.”

“You don’t really think you’re going to get to the hospital.”

“Don’t you remember my motto? Always be prepared.”

He laughed. A dry chuff of a laugh.

“Get it?” he said. “It’s a Boy Scout joke.”

It wasn’t much of a joke, but I got it all right.

We were going to stock the bus.

I got us some carts, which we definitely needed.

We filled them with water. Cases and cases of water. That was the first thing we loaded.

Then we put in the plastic storage bins, which we had filled with food.

Trail mix, beef jerky, protein bars, nuts, cookies… All the things you’d think to bring on, say, a hike. Then Niko also added canned soup, oatmeal, tins of tuna and chicken meat, and I realized he was preparing for us to survive for a long, long time, from the food he was bringing.

“In case we get to DIA and have to wait,” he explained.

And that’s how I came to understand what we were packing the bus for.

It wasn’t to take Brayden to the hospital.

It was to make it to Denver.

“What about the tire?” I said. “Isn’t there one sketchy tire?”

Niko shrugged.

“Robbie fixed it the best he could. And it’s coupled with a tire that’s okay…”

After a few more minutes of quiet packing, I said, “I bet Brayden’s fine.”

“Yeah,” Niko answered. “He has to be.”

We got all the food and drinks we might need for two weeks or so onto the bus.

Niko told me to go get medical supplies.

He was going to finish caulking the roof of the bus.

When I came back with my four big tubs of antibiotics, pain medicine, bandages, Bactine, Benadryl, hydrogen peroxide, and the like, Astrid was there, helping Niko.

“Hey,” she said, with a nod of her head.

“Hey.”

She had on a pair of jeans, new sneakers, and a pink fleece.

I noticed she was still wearing my hat.

Niko had apparently sent her to get blankets and sleeping bags and now she had a big pile of them.

“Put two sleeping bags and two blankets under each seat, okay?” Niko asked her.

“Sure thing,” she said, and started bringing them on board.

“What’s next?” I asked.

He sent me to Home Improvement, for flashlights, battery-powered lanterns, and some assorted tools he thought we should have.

I came back and Astrid and Niko were sitting, resting against the side of the bus, discussing what else we needed.

“We have gas masks for each person. Food, water, first aid stuff. Do we have Benadryl?”

“All of it in the store,” I said.

He continued his list.

“Rope, matches, tarps, backpacks, oil, knives… We have two guns and some bullets…”

He rubbed his eyes.

“What about some money? Or some jewelry? Stuff to barter, maybe.”

“I’ll get it,” Astrid volunteered.

“Niko!” Josie came stumbling into our clearing.

Niko jumped up. “What? Oh God, what?”

“It’s Mr. Appleton. Not Brayden. Not Brayden. Brayden’s okay,” Josie said, tears streaming down her face.

She stumbled toward Niko and fell into his arms.

“Mr. Appleton’s dead,” she said.

Niko held her to him, encircling her dark shoulders and pulling her into his body.

She looked up at him and he looked at her and then they were kissing.

Astrid and I didn’t look at each other, but we each knew to walk away.

We left them alone, together.

^{CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE} RECONNAISSANCE

Mr. Appleton’s still body lay on its air mattress halfway down the Automotive aisle. Josie must have tried to drag him away from Brayden, when she realized Mr. Appleton was dead. He looked waxen and fake in death. Like a model of his own self.

Jake was sitting there next to Brayden. Jake’s eyes were glazed over and he stared blankly ahead, rocking back and forth.

Luna was lying next to Jake. She raised her head at me and gave her stump of a tail four weary thumps.

“Hey, Jake, how are you doing?” I asked him.

“Bad,” he answered, waving the question away.

I put my hand on Brayden’s forehead. It was clammy.

His eyelids fluttered and he seemed to recognize me for a moment.

Astrid knelt down next to Brayden and tipped his head up a bit. She poured a little water into his mouth.

He sputtered, choking on it.

“If only we could get him to the hospital,” Astrid said.

“If only we knew if it was even open,” I said. “We just don’t have enough information.”

Suddenly I had an idea.

“Alex’s video walkie-talkies!” I said, standing up.

“What?” Jake said.

“I’ll be right back,” I told them. And I ran for Niko.

“Niko!” I shouted as I hurdled through the store.

I came into the clearing where Niko was with Josie. They jumped apart. As if it mattered that I saw them together!

“Alex’s video walkie-talkies!” I said, breathless. “Listen, Brayden’s got to get to the hospital. We don’t know if it’s open. I can put on the walkie-talkie and go to the hospital. That way you guys can see what’s going on out there. You can see if it’s safe.”

“What?” Niko said.

I explained it to him again as we hurried to the Train.

I wanted to wake Alex up and ask him if it was possible.

“I’ll wear the transmitter and you guys will be able to see what’s out there,” I said as we came to the Living Room. “I can even go to the highway and see if it’s clear.”

“But it’s not safe to go out!” Josie protested.

“What do we know?!” I nearly shouted. “Can we trust anything those guys told us? Robbie didn’t want us going out. He wanted to stay here. He could have said anything to keep us here. Maybe the hospital is open!”

I was raving a little. It was possible that exhaustion had pushed me over some kind of edge, but the idea seemed so smart.

“Reconnaissance!” I said.

Alex was awake now. And Sahalia was stirring.

“I’ll do reconnaissance! That’s what it’s called.”

I turned and addressed Alex.

“Would it work for me to take the walkie-talkies out and go to the hospital and see if it’s safe?”

“No,” came Jake’s voice. “It wouldn’t.”

I turned to stare at Jake.

“But it would work for me to go,” he said.

Niko shook his head, but Jake kept on talking.

“I know, I’ve been a screw-up. I got… messed up. But I’m fast. I’m in good shape and I’m type B. No blisters, no hallucinations, no rage.”

“I don’t think you can handle it,” Niko said. “I’m sorry. It’s too dangerous.”

“You gotta let me do something for Brayden. He’s my friend. He’s my best friend, and if he dies because I let Robbie get the gun…”

He looked at us.

“Please, let me go.”

Astrid had come over during this speech.

“I don’t understand this plan,” she interrupted. “Jake is going to go out?”

“Yeah, and you’ll be able to see what I’m seeing,” Jake answered.

“What if you’re attacked?” she asked.

“He could take a gun,” Niko said.

She hung her head, backing away. Jake rose and went to her.

They went a little ways away, but we could still hear them.

And we could see them, too, now that the store was fully lit.

It seemed indecent, somehow, to have the whole store lit that way.

“I have to do it for Brayden,” Jake said to Astrid. “It’s my fault that he got shot. If I hadn’t been using, it wouldn’t have happened.”

“You’re going to die, just to try to save him,” she said.

“Please,” he said softly. “I want to do something. I want to do something right. For once.”

They embraced and I looked away.

She loved him and he loved her. And that was how it was. I could wash her hair from here to Grand Junction—she loved Jake.

I glanced up and saw my brother looking at me with pity in his eyes.

Just what I needed.

It was at this moment that Ulysses appeared at the door, rubbing his eyes.

“I want Robbie,” he said.

The kids were awake.

It was the morning.