Chapter SixteenThiago
I pulled Cameron behind the kitchen door and motioned for him to stay silent as I looked around desperately for a better place to hide.
“I told you there was no one in here,” I heard a voice say. It was the same guy who had been chasing Cameron and me before.
“I heard something,” someone else said.
How many of them were there?
“We should go to the library. I’ll bet there’s all kinds of people in there.”
“Jules told us to look everywhere. And that’s what I’m going to do.”
I peeked through the crack in the door and saw them clearly. One was chunky, the other had red hair, and they had rifles slung over their shoulders and pistols in their hands. I looked at the terrorized kid next to me and I knew I had to get him out of here, but how? Without a ladder, there was no way of making it to the roof, and the only one I could think of was in the utility room, all the way on the other side of the school. How the hell would I get there and back without anyone seeing me?
You need a distraction, a voice in my head told me.A distraction that won’t endanger the seven-year-old boy next to you.
It was then that I heard one of them say: “Go look in the kitchen.”
I had to think fast. Faster than I’d ever thought in my entire life.
I took Cameron’s hand and walked him into dry storage. All around us were canned foods, bottles of sauce, bags of potatoes, and industrial-sized packs of seasoning.
Think. Think.
I looked up. Everything was stacked on industrial-strength steel shelves. They were bolted to the wall and would hold our weight, but we wouldn’t be able to stay there in silence for long.
“Cam, buddy, climb up there,” I told him as I looked around for something to cover us. When my eyes landed on a pile of towels and aprons, I knew it was our only hope. I grabbed as many as I could, hoisted myself up on the shelf, and spread them over the top of us. It wasn’t much, but it was our only hope. Realizing this, I pressed my back tight into Cameron. If they did find us, maybe they wouldn’t see him behind me, and at least one of us would live. I whispered, “Listen, buddy. We’re going to be OK. But I need you to be absolutely quiet until I tell you it’s all right to talk again. Don’t cough, and try as hard as you can not to make any noise when you breathe.”
I couldn’t see him, but I felt his little head nodding.
They were in the kitchen now, but it was big, and they were taking their time. I couldn’t believe it, but it sounded like they were unwrapping the granola bars meant for the elementary school kids’ snacks and eating them. I knew Cam was scared, and I knew he’d soon get antsy, so I reached back very slowly, being sure not to shift any of the fabric on top of us, to pat him on the knee.
I heard a creaking sound. The door opening. We were trapped. For some reason, they started pulling things off the shelf and ontothe floor, kicking the flour bins, tossing aside a bag of onions. But then one of them said, “There’s nobody here,” and the other responded, “Yeah, let’s get a move on. You heard Jules read the list out. There’s still a bunch of them left.”
The horror of discovering they’d already killed some people on the list made my stomach turn. My brother and Kam—were they still alive? Had they been killed in cold blood like so many others?
I waited a few extra minutes, then got down as quickly and quietly as I could. Cameron crawled to the edge of the shelf and held his arms out for me to grab him. I shook my head.
“You need to stay up there, buddy,” I told him.
“No! I want to go with you!”
“Cam, you can’t. It’s dangerous. You saw what these guys are capable of.” He started crying, and I continued, “Listen to me. Stay here. I’m going to go find a ladder so we can reach the skylight. You’re safe here. They’re not coming back, and once I can get us out on the roof, we’ll be safe.”
At last, he nodded, silent tears still streaming down his face. “Are you scared?” he asked me.
My heart aching, I told him honestly, “Hell yeah, I’m scared, pal. But everything’s going to be OK. I’m getting you out of here.”
“What about Kami and Taylor?”
“Them, too. We’ll all make it to the roof. We’ll all be safe.”
He nodded, and I smiled at him as best I could. Then I thought of something and said, “Cam, hold on. I’ll be right back.”
I went to the kitchen, looked around in the drawers, and took out two knives. I walked back into the pantry and found Cameron looking a little calmer. “Here,” I said, handing one to him. I was worried about what I was about to tell him—I didn’t want to traumatize him further—but this was no time for speeches, so I spit it out: “Use this if you have to. If anyone tries to hurt you, stick it straight in their eye, OK?”
I pointed out the exact place, and the boy nodded, scared and serious.
“I’ll be back for you. I promise.”
I covered him up again with a couple of aprons and stuffed the other knife I had grabbed in my back pocket.
Now came the hard part.
