Margaret Haddix: Among the Enemy

That was before I became a murderer, he thought.

"Well?" Percy asked, and Matthias had to squint at him, trying to remember what they'd been talking about. "Should we go to Mr. Hendricks, or do you have a better plan?"

Matthias shrugged. "That's fine," he said.

He bent over and picked up Alia, and the strain on his muscles felt good. He deserved the pain in his arms, the ache in his back. He deserved worse.

Behind him, he heard Percy mumble an end to the List of Good Things game: "We're alive. We're together. And God loves us."

Matthias started walking as quickly as he could so Percy wouldn't see the tears streaming down his face.

Later Matthias would remember very little about that l>«day of walking. He and Percy were city boys used to darting through crowds, navigating by the cracks in the pavement, surviving on other people's garbage. But they'd once had to spend several days in a wilderness, and that experience was evidently enough to help them move easily through this woods. Matthias sidestepped the poison ivy without even thinking about it; he ducked under low-hanging branches without breaking his stride.

That, at least, was good, because his mind was elsewhere.

Don't think about the truck, he kept telling himself. Don't think about the other children. You are rescuing Alia. You are taking her to safety.

His arms went numb from carrying her, but he refused to take breaks, he refused to let Percy try to carry her. He wasn't sure exactly how far it would be to Mr. Hendricks's house, but he didn't intend to stop until he got there.

Percy had other ideas. As dusk fell over the woods, Percy asked, 'Are you looking for shelter for the night yet?"

"Shelter?" Matthias repeated stupidly.

"If we can't find a hut or a shed, a cave would do. We've got to find someplace before it's too dark for walking."

Matthias's brain seemed to have gone as numb as his arms. He'd forgotten about darkness, forgotten they had no candles or lamps or flashlights. But he didn't like Percy's notion of huts or sheds, places where people would be — people who might turn them in to the Population Police.

"We slept outside before. With Nina," Matthias said. Nina was a friend of theirs who'd been with them during their other outdoors experience, when they'd been escape ing from a Population Police prison. In the beginning, Matthias hadn't known whether or not he could trust Nina. He hadn't known if she was good or bad.

Am I good or bad? Now that I've done something awful too. ..

He flinched, as if he could physically move away from that question. He forced himself to focus on what Percy was saying.

“was summertime before. It was warm enough to sleep outside then. Remember how Nina complained about the heat? It’s November now, and it’s been getting colder all day long. . I don’t know, but it almost feels like it might snow tonight. And Alia’s just wearing that nightgown. .”

Matthias hugged Alia even closer. He should have taken his sweater off and put it on Alia hours ago. Why hadn't he thought of that? Why hadn't Percy suggested it?

"Let's go out closer to the road and see if there are any houses," Percy finished.

All day long they'd been walking parallel to a paved road. It was their guide for getting to Mr. Hendricks. But they'd wanted to stay far enough away that they wouldn't be spotted from any car windows.

Strangely, now that he thought about it, Matthias couldn't remember hearing a single car or truck go by.

Percy was already tramping off toward the road. Matthias wanted to call him back, to try to come up with a better plan. But Percy disappeared behind a tree before Matthias could put his thoughts together. Matthias struggled to follow the younger boy. In this section of the woods, the road lay downhill, and Matthias was terrified of falling with Alia in his arms.

The ground was wet, and his feet slipped out from under him. He landed hard on his rear.

"Oohh," Alia moaned.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," Matthias muttered.

He didn't think she could hear him, but her eyelids fluttered — once, twice… Then, amazingly, they opened all the way.

"You're awake?" Matthias whispered, not quite able to believe it.

"Hurts," she mumbled.

"I know, I know. I didn't mean to fall down. Percy's off finding us a place for the night. Everything's okay, now that you're awake." Matthias beamed at her.

Alia squinted up at him. She blinked as if the dim light of dusk was blinding and painful.

"I think… I think I was awake before," she whispered. "You… were… carrying me?"

"Yes," Matthias said. "We're taking you to help, because of the tree falling on you."

Alia winced and her eyelids closed again.

"Don't remember… any… tree," she murmured. "Don't remember. . Why aren't we at school?"

It scared Matthias that she didn't seem to remember the Population Police taking them away. It scared him the way her head sagged against his arm again.

"Percy?" he called softly, wanting the other boy there for reassurance, for comfort.

"Over here," Percy answered from far down the hillside. "I think—"

But Matthias couldn't hear what Percy thought. Because that was when the first gunshot rang out.

Matthias reacted instinctively, somersaulting himself and Alia down the hill until they came to rest behind a huge log. Protection. Alia screamed with the pain of being moved so roughly, but even Matthias could barely hear her over the sudden barrage of gunfire.

It took Matthias a few minutes to realize that no one was shooting at him and Alia, that all the bullets were whizzing and zinging farther down the hill.

"Percy," he breathed out, in a way that might have been a prayer.

He dared to raise his head to peer over the log. From this vantage point, he could see a cabin's roof and a swath of empty road. At first it seemed that the gunfire was com' ing out of nowhere — phantom guns firing phantom ' bullets, maybe. But then he saw a rustle of movement on the opposite side of the road. In the uncertain light of dusk, he could make out men in dark uniforms. Population Police uniforms.

They sent that many men after us, with guns? For unarmed children? he wondered.

But — he squirmed around to get a better view — the Population Police weren't aiming their guns even in the direction where Percy had been standing. They were shooting at the cabin.

And someone inside was shooting back at them.

Not Percy, Matthias told himself. When the gunfire had started, Percy's voice had come from a closer spot than the cabin. And, as far as Matthias knew, Percy had never touched a gun in his life. Even if he'd found a gun in the cabin, Percy wouldn't have picked it up and started shooting.

Oh, please, let that not he Percy, Matthias prayed. He could tell: Whoever was in the cabin didn't have a chance against the Population Police.

He was so desperate to find Percy that he raised his head even higher, so he could scan the entire hillside. In the failing light, everything was in shadows, but if Matthias peered hard enough, maybe—

The sound of gunfire stopped suddenly. Matthias froze, his ears still ringing. Down below, the Population Police officers swarmed across the road, surrounding the cabin. Matthias ducked his head down behind the log again, but he kept peeking out. He heard a splintering sound that probably meant the officers had kicked in the cabin door. Then they began dragging out dead bodies. One, two, three, four, five. . How many people had been crowded into that small cabin? The bodies kept coming. Matthias couldn't see all of them, but as far as he could tell, none of them was Percy.