James Patterson - Two Schools Out - Forever

"They said if we didn't find you, they would never come get us. We'd be lost in the swamp until something killed us." The girl was shuddering now, calmer, though tears still dripped off her chin. "I'm sorry. I had to." Her face crumpled again.

I understood. They were trying to survive, just like us. They'd chosen themselves over us, which was exactly what I would have done.

I turned to Fang. "Get our stuff. We're gone."

The flock hurried off to dismantle our rough camp. I put my fingers under the girl's chin and raised it so she'd have to look at me. "I understand," I said levelly. "The transmitter will bring them here to find you. But we'll be gone, and you won't be able to tell them much. Now I'm going to ask you one more time: I need a name, a place, a logo, something. It's the difference between them picking you up alive and them finding your bodies. Get it?"

Her eyes widened again. After a moment, she barely nodded. She shot a glance at the boy, and he gave her a nod. "Itex," she whispered, then sank down on the damp ground. "The company was a really big one called Itex. I don't know anything else."

I stood quickly. No doubt people were on their way to the transmitter's coordinates. We had to get the heck out of here. The two kids, filthy and exhausted, lay on the ground like bodies at Pompeii. I reached into my pocket and dropped some protein bars and hard candy on the ground by their heads. They stared up at me, but I was already gone, flashing through the woods. I met up with the flock and then we were airborne, on the run.

Again.

An hour later we were almost a hundred miles away. I had no idea what would happen to those kids.

"So, Itex," I said to Fang.

"I told you it was like a deer," Angel said.

"That's ibex," said Nudge. "And they're more goatlike than deerlike."

"Whatever," said Angel.

"It's not ringing a bell," said Fang.

"They have long horns and live mostly in mountains," Nudge explained.

"No, I mean Itex," Fang said. "They said it was a big company, but I've never heard of it. Which doesn't mean anything."

"Yeah, I guess your education has a few gaps in it," I said. Except for the past two months, none of us had been to regular school, ever. Thank God for television.

"Can we look it up somewhere?" Iggy asked. "Like at a library? Are we close to a town?"

I looked down at the incredibly flat land below us. I saw the tiny buildings of a small town, about fifteen minutes away. "Yeah. Good plan. Twelve points west, everybody."

So it turned out that Itex owned, like, half the world. It wasn't just a company. It was a huge multinational, multifaceted conglomerate that had its fingers in virtually every type of business there was, including food, medicine, real estate, computer technology, manufacturing, and even book publishing-so heads up, whoever's reading this.

The more info we found on the Web, the more I started remembering the Itex logo. Now that I recognized it, I realized I'd seen it on a million things in my life, going all the way back to the School where we were created. It had been on test tubes, pill vials, lab equipment-you name it.

I logged off the computer and stood up. "Let's get out of here."

I'd seen enough.

"No."

"Please, Max," Nudge begged.

We were airborne, heading south. On the Web we'd found an address for Itex headquarters. It was roughly between Miami and Everglades National Park.

"No way. It's too risky. The whole place is fenced in. There's a million people there. We'll be in crowds."

"Fang?" Nudge wheedled.

Fang shrugged, as much as he could shrug while flying. He held up his hands as if to say, Talk to the boss. I'm just the hired help.

That wiener.

"Pleeease, Max?" The Gasman added his voice.

I stared ahead stoically, refusing to look down at the tall water tower wearing mouse ears. Of course, we had to pass right over Orlando.

"Max?" Nudge said.

I didn't respond. I knew what she was trying to do.

"Oh, come on!" said Total, from Iggy's arms. "We're not going to the Magic Kingdom? How lame is that?"

I glared at him. It didn't faze him.

"A couple rides?" Angel asked wistfully. "Splash Mountain?"

"Maaax?" Nudge said again.

I made the supreme mistake of looking at Nudge. Shoot! I winced and looked away but not quickly enough. She got me. She had given me Bambi eyes. Now I had no choice.

I gritted my teeth. "Fine. A couple rides, some cotton candy, and we're out of there."

Everyone cheered. Fang gave me a look that said, You sap.

"Who let whom have a freaking dog?" I responded.

He chuckled.

And we were on our way to the land of the Mouse.

"Disney World?" Ari felt like his head was about to explode. "Disney World?" His gravelly voice rose into a harsh shriek. "They're not on vacation! They're on the run! They're running for their lives! Death is following them like a bullet, and they're on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad?"

He snapped his teeth shut so hard the impact jarred his skull.

This was the end.

He would show them what a freaking Small World it was. There was about to be a rain of destruction on Main Street, U.S.A.

Disney World. You've probably been. I'm assuming that most of America has been there, because you all seemed to be there the day that we went. All of you at the same time.

When the gates opened, we poured in with the rest of the crowd and found ourselves on Main Street, U.S.A. It was, well, adorable. I admit it freely. Old-fashioned storefronts, an ice-cream parlor, a trolley line in the middle of the street-all painted bright, cheerful colors. Everything was pristine, everything in perfect shape.

"I want to go in every shop," Nudge said, awed. "I want to see every single thing."

"Don't these people have jobs?" Fang muttered. "Why aren't these kids in school?"

I ignored him. If he had backed me up, we wouldn't be here.

"We need to pick the most important things," I said, as we headed toward Cinderella's Castle. "In case we can't stay too long."

"I vote for Pirates of the Caribbean," said Total. He was wearing a small leather halter and a special vest that said "Guide Dog at Work. Do Not Pet. Thank You." We'd bought sunglasses for Iggy, so the two of them had quite the team costume.

"Ooh, Swiss Family Treehouse!" said the Gasman.

"Yeah!" Angel agreed.

Nudge stopped and stared up at the castle. "It's so... beautiful."

"Yeah," I said, smiling at her. Inside, of course, I was wound tighter than a yo-yo. All these people-we were horribly exposed and yet contained within a crowded space, so I was twitching like a water drop on a hot skillet.

Avoiding the worst of the crowds, we headed for Adventureland.

"Yes! Pirates of the Caribbean!" Total said. If he could have made a fist, he would have punched it.

Being in a dark, enclosed, watery place with a bunch of strangers sounded like a nightmare to me, but as usual I was in the sensible minority. We got in line, and actually, it didn't take too long to get onto a boat. I was trying hard to keep it together for the younger kids, but my heart was pounding and sweat broke out on my forehead. I glanced at Fang and saw that he was just as twitchy as I was. Because we were the only two who had any freaking sense.

Please, I begged silently, please do not let my last moments on earth be me crammed into a tiny boat in the dark, surrounded by mechanical singing pirates.

Yes, that would be cruel, my Voice said snidely.

I ignored it.

"I want my own treehouse like that," Gazzy said around a mouthful of cotton candy. "I mean, for all of us. Wouldn't that be so cool?"