the leader jammed the butt of his rifle into the glass. "they're killing people at dia! don't you idiots know that?" he shouted. "they're sorting them into groups and killing people who saw it go down. they don't want any witnesses!"

i looked at niko.

sahalia was behind us.

"he's crazy," she said. "he's paranoid."

three other cadets had come to stand around their leader.

"he might be crazy," i pointed out. "but what about the rest of them?"

they were all wearing camouflage fatigues. none of them wore gas masks. i guess the rest of them were either type ab or b.

"where's the girl?" i wondered aloud.

then there was a bang and the little kids were screaming.

i turned to see a cadet climbing in one of the back windows. he'd hacked it down with some kind of hatchet.

one of them started kicking in the door.

niko got up and grabbed his backpack, which i know had the gun in it.

but before he could get the gun out, the cadet got the door open and they were inside.

"jesus h.!" the leader shouted. "this bus is stocked!"

he let out a crazy, happy whoop and picked sahalia up and kissed her on the mouth. she squirmed away as niko shouted, "get your hands off her!"

the leader smacked niko across the face.

niko's mask came off a little bit and the guy grabbed it, holding it off his face.

"stop it!" i screamed. "he'll die!"

i kicked him and he let the mask go and turned on me.

he grabbed me by my jacket.

"i tell you what, you tell me everything i want to know and i'll let your driver keep his gas mask. how's that?"

niko was gasping through the air mask. sahalia was on the floor in the aisle. she started pulling josie out of the aisle, away from us.

the other cadets were coming up the steps now. they were high-fiving one another, happy about their conquest.

"first off, what's with him?" the leader asked, nodding at josie.

"him?" i stalled. my mind hiccupped-he thought josie was a boy-okay, i would go with that. "he's type o and we had to-"

"and that guy?" he cut me off, nodding toward brayden.

"brayden? he got shot," i said. "we're taking him to the airport to find a doctor."

"jesus christ!" he yelled and i saw his cadets jump. "didn't you hear what i said? they're killing people at the airport. they're out to get us all. brayden here is dead. he's as good as dead."

was that true? i didn't think so. this guy was clearly crazy.

sahalia started to sob. i do not know why she did that. it drew the leader's notice.

"aw, did you have a little something for brayden? don't cry, baby. payton will watch out for you."

he put his hand down and touched her on her face.

"i'll take good care of you, honey. you can be my special girl."

niko tried to get forward so he could, i don't know, jump on the guy, but the cadets near the door stopped him.

"how'd your bus not get skunked?" payton demanded.

"skunked?"

he rolled his eyes.

"the white fuzz. it grows on rubber. eats the tires. where'd you get the bus?"

"we were locked inside a store with the bus," i said. "we sealed in the air, so it wasn't exposed-"

"so you left a big sealed-in store, filled with food and water, to try to get brayden here to denver?"

"yeah." i shrugged.

"and how long you been on the road?"

"what do you mean?"

"how many hours you been on the road? after twenty-four hours, tires start to skunk."

"we left the store around 10 a.m. yesterday-"

"sweet! they still got some play left in 'em. last question..." he said, turning back to me. "where's the store?"

i caught niko's eye and he shook his head just a bit.

"the king soopers," i lied.

"which one?"

"in castle rock."

"which. effin'. one?"

"the one ... the one..."

"you're a liar!" he shouted.

then he ripped me across the face. i don't think it would have cut me if he hadn't been wearing a ring.

it felt like fire across my face and then there was blood on my gloves and running down my neck.

batiste shouted it out: "we came from the greenway in monument," he yelled. "the greenway in monument, colorado."

payton laughed. "now that i believe!" he smiled at batiste. "all right, boys, we're going to monument!"

"brayden will die!" sahalia screamed. "he's going to die if we don't get to denver!"

payton pulled her to him.

"you give me a kiss and i'll get him there, honey."

her eyes got really big and scared. she leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed his filthy cheek.

i was afraid he'd grab her and kiss her hard. or worse.

instead he put his hand up to his cheek.

"mmmmmm, sweetness," payton said. "you're nothing but a little thing, aren't you?" he put his finger under her chin and made her look up at him.

sahalia is some kind of magnet for jerks, i think.

"for you, little girl, i'm gonna save brayden! doolies!" payton shouted. "we have to save this boy."

"sir, yes, sir!" the cadets shouted.

"we're gonna take him to denver."

then he grabbed me by the jacket and shoved me into the aisle.

"now, get out. you all get out. we're going to take brayden to denver now."

"what?" the little kids were crying.

"get out!" payton shouted. he pushed sahalia toward the door. "even you, my little sweetmeat. you have to go, too, so daddy payton can get the job done."

it happened so fast. he was kicking us out of the bus and we didn't have a moment to think or anything.

"hey, we have to get brayden to denver and we can't achieve our mission with a bunch of pukey, crying sissies loading us down!"

i didn't even have my backpack but i looked back and saw max grabbing all the backpacks he could find. ulysses started grabbing stuff, too.

payton reached over and snatched the backpacks away from max.

max let out a cry and the leader picked him up and threw him down the aisle, toward the door.

"this stuff is ours now! you get me? this bus and everything on it is ours! so you better get off if you don't want to be ours, too!"

a short, greasy-looking cadet grabbed the water bottles away from ulysses and kicked him down the stairs.

sahalia was trying to get back to brayden now and one of the cadets was holding her back. he sort of wrestled her out the door and down the steps.

"brayden! brayden!" she sobbed.

niko was still in the driver's seat. it seemed like he didn't know which way to go or what to do.

"hey, driver boy," payton called to niko, nudging josie's hip with his boot. "you'd better come and get this comatose kid if you want him!"

i wonder whether payton would have let niko take josie if he'd known she was a girl. but with all the layers, who could tell?

niko got up and went down the aisle toward josie.

payton leaned down and sniffed brayden. "ooof, man, brayden smells ripe. we'd better get to denver right away to get him to a hospital!"

niko picked up josie and half carried, half dragged her off the bus.

i noticed he had his backpack on.

i noticed it because i was right behind him.

"brayden!" sahalia was screaming from outside. "i love you!"

that made the cadets laugh.

"i love you, brayden," they mimicked.

"come on, doolies! we gotta get this jack-up to denver!" payton yelled.

a cadet dragged a crushed motorcycle out from behind the bus.

"to denver!" they were cheering. "to denver!" but the way they said it, mocking and overexcited, you could tell they weren't really going to denver.

"you can't just take our bus!" batiste shrieked at two of the cadets.

"oh yeah?" said a really tall, gangly cadet. he pointed his gun at batiste. "just watch."

now they were all on board and we were all off, besides brayden.

the girl in the white coat slipped around the corner of the bus. she looked like she was afraid. she stepped up onto the first step of the bus.

"hey!" i called to her. she looked at me, her big blue eyes open round and wide.

"you don't have to go with them. you can come with us," i said. i thought maybe she was like their captive. or their slave or something.

she took a long look and then she stuck her middle finger up at me.

chapter seven

dean

day 13

i slept hard and, hallelujah, i slept until i woke up of my own accord. yes, i got to sleep in.

what woke me up was just the growl of my own stomach.

i went out into the living room and found the three kids building lego walls while astrid read on the couch. breakfast had been eaten (cereal with soy milk, by the looks of it). caroline was still in her pj's but looked better. luna was even up and about.

seeing me, luna rose and came over to give my hand a hopeful sniff.

"good morning," astrid said. "i made you coffee."

"dean, when will they be here?" chloe complained. "i'm sick of waiting, already. all we do is wait and wait and wait-"

she was interrupted by a bang.

i turned to astrid.

"what on earth?" she said blankly.

bang. bang.

it was coming from the front gate.