Emmy Laybourne - Sky on Fire

‘No,’ he protested. ‘Alex hauled it up after me. I’m not stupid and neither is your brother.’

‘Well, there’s someone up on the roof now. And they want in.’

‘Who are you?’ Jake hollered through the hatch. He had insisted Astrid take the kids to the Train. She had agreed, much to my surprise.

The hatch was padlocked, thank God. I had checked it the day before.

‘We’re just some kids,’ the voice said.

It did sound like a kid.

‘Please let us in. It’s scary out here.’

Now, that sounded a little like sarcasm. Jake and I exchanged a look. We stood on the metal staircase, crammed together, under the hatch.

‘How did you get up there?’ Jake hollered.

‘What?’ the voice said. ‘We can’t hear you.’

Whoever he was, it sounded almost like he was laughing.

Jake and I shared an uneasy look.

‘How the hay’d they get up there?’ Jake murmured.

‘We need to talk to you. We have a message from your other friends.’

‘What other friends?’ I shouted.

I’d put on a mask, of course, in case we decided to open the hatch.

‘What other friends?’ Jake repeated.

‘The ones with the bus.’

I stared at Jake.

‘You have to let us in!’ the voice demanded. ‘We have Brayden with us!’

Jake and I scrambled to open the lock.

Not for a second did we think it might be a trick.

‘Brayden!’ Jake screamed. ‘How did you find Brayden?’

We pushed open the hatch, and three guys were standing in the beam of our flashlight. They had guns.

They wore dark uniforms. Dirty and ragged. Their faces were uncovered. One of them wore a beret and had some gold cords going under his arm. He was the leader, there was no question.

‘Hi!’ he said, cheerful as could be. ‘Thank you so much for letting us in!’

Then he kicked Jake in the chest.

WE SET OUT AGAIN.

Max had to be carried. He had blisters on his feet that had burst. Niko had given him his extra socks, but apparently, Max’s feet still hurt too much for him to walk.

I was sick of all the crying and whining.

I had blisters, too. Mine had burst, too. Every step was like little knives stabbing in my heels and I was hot in all the stupid layers. It occurred to me that I could just take them off. But then the little kids would whine even worse that it wasn’t fair that I didn’t have to wear layers, etc.

I had already paid the consequences of my blood type. I would never be able to have kids and I guess I would never be able to have sex. Wasn’t that enough?

I was in a bad mood.

We trudged along.

Maybe a mile an hour? Maybe?

I was in a very bad mood.

It was less dark than usual and I realized maybe it was midday. It was almost as light as a night with a full moon. Or maybe it was that our eyes had adjusted to the light. But I could actually see, sort of. Everything was greenish, but I could see.

And then we stopped.

Niko crouched down, letting Max slide off his back.

He motioned for us all to get down, and as Sahalia and Ulysses crouched down, I saw why we were stopping.

Up on the road, under one of the floodlights, there was a soldier.

He was wearing lots of gear, including a machine gun.

Some equipment hung off his belt – 2 bright-orange air masks and some vial-shaped things in a holster. Flares, maybe?

Niko was whispering to us to stay put, but Sahalia lurched to her feet and started running toward him.

‘Help us!’ Sahalia cried. ‘Hey, mister, please help us! Our friend is on a bus!’

‘Wait!’ Niko hissed, but Ulysses and Max started running toward him, too. ‘Wait!’

The soldier turned and at first I thought he was smiling at us. He took off a hat he was wearing and threw it aside, his arms open wide.

Then he brought up his gun and I was running then, too.

He fired it at Sahalia!

It just went CLICKA, CLICKA, CLICKA.

And then he roared.

The soldier was O. Definitely O.

Sahalia skidded to a stop. She tried to back up but Ulysses crashed into her and then they were all scrambling backward, away from the soldier. He swung his gun free from his shoulder and started coming at Sahalia with it like it was an ax.

He said something. It came out a dry grunt.

He lifted up his gun and brought it down again.

Said the word again.

Niko grabbed Sahalia and hauled her back. Josie grabbed Max, and Ulysses and I ran.

I ran by Batiste, who was frozen in horror, and grabbed his arm and shouted, ‘Run!’

The O soldier was right on us.

He kept grunting his word. And sometimes he would laugh this horrible, low guffaw that sounded like a cry of pain, but was his laugh all the same.

And then I understood what the word was.

He was saying, ‘Kids.’

All I had in my mind was to get away. I’m embarrassed I didn’t take more care of the younger kids, but all I did was run.

So, my mind wasn’t working in a logical way but my theory, looking back, is that the Os who had been out the whole time since the compound leak were worn-out. All that rage had drained them.

The O soldier was still vicious and strong and deranged, but he looked thin and thirsty. The bloodlust must make them stupid, is my idea. Too angry to eat or drink properly.

The O soldier stumbled on the underbrush as he chased us.

His slowness was good for us because we started to get some distance on him.

Tall, thin shapes rose up through the dark air in front of us and I realized it was an aspen grove. The skinny trunks stood white and it was very still between them.

Now we dodged away from him like rabbits, going in different directions, and he got very frustrated.

Josie grabbed me and pulled me with her behind a stand of three trees.

The little kids headed for Niko, who started boosting Ulysses up into the thin branches of one of the trees.

Good idea, I thought.

The O soldier headed toward Max.

Sahalia, who was behind a different tree, shouted, ‘Over here, dummy!’ and waved. The soldier lurched toward her.

‘Max!’ Niko hissed, calling him. Niko was now helping Batiste into another tree.

Max moved toward Niko, but his boot got stuck in a root, I think, and the boot pulled halfway off. Max screamed and I realized his blisters were worse than I’d thought. I could see blood on his socks and the O soldier headed back toward him. Max couldn’t get his foot free.

‘Here!’ Josie yelled, waving. ‘You stupid jerk!’

She threw a stick at him but the soldier didn’t turn.

‘A KID, A KID, A KID!’ the soldier repeated, his voice deranged and happy and disgusting.

He was descending on Max’s cowering form. Max screamed.

And then Josie stepped in front of me, and as she moved toward the soldier, she took off her mask.

Just pulled it off and threw it to the side, like it was nothing.

As she ran, she breathed in big, loud breaths.

She launched into the air and landed on the soldier’s back.

The sound she made as she flew at him was horrible.

It was loud and jagged and throaty. It was also joyful. Liberated. Pure rage: ‘WRAAAAAAAAAAUGH!’

It seemed like something she’d wanted to say for a long time.

Josie landed on his back and I think she sunk her teeth into the back of his neck. He made a motion to swipe her off and the motion toppled him to the side.

Max finally pushed back, away from them, scooting back through the dead leaves and dirt.

The soldier threw Josie off him. She rolled back in the leaves and hit her head on a tree.

‘You gonna kill us?’ she growled as she rose, her voice thick with hatred. ‘A bunch of kids?’