Run For Cover (10 page)

S
omething feels wrong the minute I wake up.

It’s too quiet. I can still hear a couple of my friends’ voices — but not enough of them.

I sit up fast, giving myself a splitting headache.

“Whoa,” Louisa says. “Calm down, there’s no fire.” She’s perched on the planter beside me, reading
Julie of the Wolves.
The light has changed — I must have slept for a few hours. The shadows of the escalators angle off in new directions, and there’s an orange glow around the skylights, like the sun is close to setting.

I rub my temples and try to shake off my sleepiness. My skin is prickling. I know something’s wrong.

“You look a lot friendlier when you’re sleeping,” Evelyn comments from the floor. She has papers spread out around her — some of them maps, others covered in scribbled notes that I don’t think are hers.

“So I’ve been told,” I say. Alonso is crouching beside Evelyn, studying one of the maps. I twist around. Ryan is still snoring on the next bench. And there’s no one else in sight.

“Where’s Maddie?” I demand, throwing off my sleeping bag. “And Drew?”

“They went to look for food,” Louisa says. She puts down the book and frowns at the expression on my face. “What? They’ll be right back.”

“Don’t worry; Maddie’s not going to steal your boyfriend,” Evelyn teases. I want to grab her papers and rip them into tiny shreds. Does she really think that’s what I’m worried about?

“It’s okay, Rosie,” Louisa says. “I mean, we were all hungry. We’re down to, like, three raisins and that jar of applesauce. And of course there’s no food in here.” She
waggles her finger around at the empty stores. “So they’re just finding us something to eat.”

“They left the mall?” I cry. I grab my shoes and yank them on. “When did they leave? How long have they been gone?”

“Um.” Louisa glances at the clock I stole, which is propped up on Maddie’s pack beside her. “Like an hour, maybe?”

“An
hour
?” I’m already moving as I tie my hair back. “Which way did they go?”

“What’s the big deal?” Louisa hops off the planter and chases after me. “They went out the door down that hallway.” She points, and I see more broken glass doors facing out onto an open-air parking lot. “Rosie, I’m sure they’re being careful. They’ll be back any minute.”

I can’t explain why it’s a big deal. I can’t explain why my heart is pounding or why panic is clawing around in my chest. For one thing, I don’t have time. I have to find Drew and Maddie. I just know that it’s not safe out there, and I wouldn’t have let them go. They could have
been spotted — they could have been captured — it should have been me out there, if it was anyone.

“Hey, Maddie was just trying to help,” Louisa says, hurrying to keep up with me. “She said she wanted to be more brave, you know? I figure she can take care of herself.”

“But she can’t!” I say. “She’s never been chased like this before! She doesn’t know anything about escaping — how to hide, where to run when someone’s after you —”

“But you do?” Louisa asks, giving me a hard look. “Why is that?” She grabs my arm and pulls me up short. “Rosie, what aren’t you telling me?”

This is the closest I’ve come to spilling my secret, but I’m too scared for Maddie to feel any extra fear for myself. “Not now,” I say, jerking my arm away. “I have to go find them.”

I sprint to the door. No sign of helicopters in the pink-and-orange sunset sky. No cars out on the road that runs along the other side of the parking lot. But there’s so
much empty space out there. Only a few stunted trees cast lonely, thin shadows here and there across the lot. There’s nowhere Drew and Maddie could have hidden if a helicopter suddenly showed up.

Louisa’s footsteps crunch in the glass behind me as I step through the doorframe. I want to send her back, but I don’t want to argue with her, and I know she won’t go. I scan the row of buildings across the road. It’s a smaller highway than the one Gladys was on. I don’t know where Drew and Maddie would have expected to find food out here. They should have waited until dark, when we were all traveling together.
I
would have found them food. I would have done it safely.

“There!” Louisa says, pointing. Two figures are running along the road toward us, still several yards away. I can see Maddie’s long brown hair flying out from the slower runner.

“Doesn’t look like they found any food,” Evelyn says from behind us, and I jump. I was too focused on the outside to hear her coming.

“That’s fine, as long as they make it back safely,” I say, biting my nails. It’s a huge relief to see them, unharmed and, as far as I can tell, not being chased. But they’re so exposed. I lean forward, wishing for them to run faster.

The two figures turn into the parking lot and jog in our direction. Maddie spots us in the doorway and waves with a big smile. Drew looks pretty cheerful, too. That’s not going to last long once I get him inside and give him a piece of my mind. From now on, the rule is: no crazy missions without me.

I’m not just being bossy and controlling, although everyone might see it that way. I know I can handle the risks better than anyone else. What I can’t handle is the idea of something happening to one of them — something like what happened to Wren — not when I could prevent it.

Louisa waves back. Suddenly her hand freezes in the air. I hear it at the same time: the roar of an engine starting up.

Maddie and Drew look back over their shoulders. We all see the headlights suddenly blaze brightly in an alley across the road. A truck shoots out from its hiding spot and barrels toward us, driving straight over the curb and the patches of unkempt grass.

This isn’t the rusty old supply truck Gladys was driving. This is a sleek military machine, and the men hanging out the window are all brandishing guns.

My sneakers are pounding across the pavement before I can think. I don’t know what my plan is, but I’m hoping I can distract the soldiers in the truck long enough for the others to escape.

Maybe Drew has the same thought, because he shoves Maddie toward the mall and runs at the truck, waving his arms.

Everything happens so fast.

The truck swerves around Drew. The soldiers barely even glance at him.

I’m too far away.

I’m running as fast as I can, but I’m too far away.

Two men leap out of the back of the truck. Black masks hide their faces. Maddie shrieks as they grab her around her waist. She kicks and fights and struggles, but they pin her arms and legs.

“Maddie!” Louisa screams, and I think I do, too.

I’m too far away!

They fling Maddie into the back of the truck and jump in after her.

I hear the door slam. I can still hear her screaming.

I’m almost there, but I’m too late. The truck’s tires squeal as it U-turns, close enough to blast a wave of exhaust into my face. I see cold blue eyes over one of the masks in the front seat, looking straight at me as the truck wheels away.

But they don’t stop for me. They don’t stop for Louisa or Evelyn, running out of the mall behind me. They don’t stop for Drew as he tries to jump in front of them again.
They swerve right around him and peel out of the parking lot, roaring off down the road.

I fall to my knees on the asphalt, pressing my hands to my face.

I’ve broken my promise to myself. I’m crying. And Maddie is gone.

R
osie? Rosie, it’s okay.” Drew drops to his knees beside me and puts his arms around me.

“It is
not
okay!” I shove him away and he flails for balance. “This is your fault! They caught Maddie and it’s all your fault!” All my fears about him come flooding back. Maybe he betrayed us after all. Maybe Maddie didn’t watch him like I did, and he managed to sneak off to call the Alliance down on us. They clearly didn’t want him — the truck went right around him twice.

“I know,” Drew says. His voice sounds shaky and his glasses are crooked. “I tried — I’m sorry —”

“You should have tried harder!” I yell. “You should have saved her! You shouldn’t have taken her out here in the first place! What were you thinking?” I shove his chest again and he falls backward, scraping his hands on the pavement.

But even as I’m blaming him, running through all my suspicions again, I realize I don’t believe it’s true. Not after everything we’ve been through. He screwed up, taking her with him, but I can’t believe he meant for her to get caught. I wipe my eyes with my sleeves, trying to shove three years’ worth of tears back into my face.

Louisa and Evelyn are standing above us now, looking shell-shocked. I turn away from them, rubbing my face, and see Alonso and Ryan running out of the mall toward us.

“Who took her? Were they Alliance?” Evelyn blurts. “Why didn’t they take us? What’s going to happen to her? Where will they —”

“Evelyn, SHUT UP!” Louisa yells. Evelyn’s eyes go wide and her mouth snaps shut.

Louisa buries her face in her hands. I want to get up and hug her, but I’m too mad at them all for letting Maddie go, and I’m so furious at myself for falling asleep and not watching them, and I’m so frustrated that no matter what I do, I can’t control everything and make it all work out.

It’s crazy how upset I am. Three days ago, I didn’t even like Maddie. I would have left her behind in the woods if I’d had a choice.

But now … now it feels like losing Wren all over again.

“Maybe they weren’t Alliance,” Ryan says. “Maybe they were on our side, and once they figure out who she is, they’ll take her home.”

“Not without an ID bracelet,” I say. “Who’ll believe her? They’ll think she’s — she’s —”

“Like you,” Drew says quietly. He pushes himself up to sit cross-legged a few feet away from me. I nod. Somehow it doesn’t surprise me that he’s figured it out.

“What?” Evelyn says. “What do you mean?”

I breathe in and out, shaky, ragged breaths. “There’s something I haven’t told you guys.” I wrap my fingers around my wrist where my bracelet used to be. It’s a stupid time for a confession, but it’s as if the words are spilling out of me like the tears, pent up for so long that I can’t stop them when they finally all burst out. “I’m here illegally. We — my family — we snuck into the US three years ago, after a tsunami wiped out our town in Mexico and my sister ran away.”

“But —” Louisa looks even more shocked. “But that’s a war crime!”

“I know,” I say. “If anyone caught us, we could be deported — and that’s the best-case scenario. The War means every illegal immigrant could be a spy for the Alliance. We’re not,” I say hurriedly. “But the government could treat us that way. It would be awful.”

“That could happen to Maddie,” Louisa whispers. “Without ID — they might just throw her in a prison camp and leave her there. We wouldn’t even know how to find her.”

“Why’d your parents risk it?” Drew asks me.

“We were looking for Wren,” I say. “The Resistance helped us get into the country, and they said they’d try to find her.” I shift my shoulders and push my hair out of my face. “We couldn’t stay in Mexico, anyway. Our home was completely destroyed.”

Memories wash over me: Wren’s face as the ocean was suddenly sucked away, running away from the beach hand in hand, watching from the hills as the wave swamped over our home. Bodies floating out to sea. Water reaching from horizon to horizon. One of my orange sandals, carried away by the fierce grasp of the flood. The sodden mess of wood and brick that was left behind where my house used to be.

Wren was always talking about climate change and going out to save the world. That was how she met Ivan: he’d come down to Mexico with Greenpeace to help clean up our beaches after the latest oil spill. Or at least, that was what he told us. He must have told her something else — that he was with the Resistance, and
together they could make a difference, if she’d run away to the States with him. And then they disappeared.

My parents’ money got us into the country, with the help of the Resistance, but no matter how rich we were, it didn’t help us find Wren, and it never made us feel safe.

“I’ve been terrified every minute for the last three years,” I say. “It’s kind of a relief to tell someone. I’m sorry I had to lie to you for so long.”

I guess I expect them all to hate me now, so I don’t know what to think when Louisa kneels and hugs me. But that’s nothing compared to my surprise when Evelyn does the same.

“We don’t care where you were born,” Louisa says firmly. “You’re our friend.”

Alonso and Ryan crouch beside us. I glance up at Alonso’s face, so much like the boys I grew up with. “I wondered if you were — I mean, if you might also —”

Alonso shakes his head. “Born here, although we moved around a lot. But it hasn’t been easy since the War started — I get stopped and searched all the time. It’s
scary enough when you don’t have anything to hide… . I can’t imagine what it’s been like for you.”

“That’s how you knew about the ID bracelets,” Evelyn says, snapping her fingers.

“And that’s what you meant about knowing how to escape,” Louisa adds.

“We nearly got caught a couple of times while we were crossing the border,” I say. I ball my hands into fists, rubbing them against my cargo pants. “I remember how scared I was. That must be how Maddie feels now. We have to
do
something!”

“I am really sorry,” Drew says again. He sounds even more devastated than the rest of us. I lean forward and take one of his hands.

“We’ll fix this,” I say. “I know you tried to save her. I saw you trying to draw them away.” He’s not like Ivan. I can trust him. I squeeze his hand, hoping he can feel that.

“They really wanted Maddie,” Evelyn pipes up. “Did you guys notice that? They ignored the rest of us and just
went after her.” She fingers her braids, frowning thoughtfully. “I wonder why. There must be something special about her that we don’t know.”

“No way,” Louisa says. “I know everything about Maddie. We’ve been best friends since we were five. Trust me, if there were anything about her that would interest the Alliance, I’d know.”

“Yeah, they probably just grabbed her because she was the easiest to take,” Ryan says.

Evelyn sets her jaw stubbornly. I know her theories are usually a little far-fetched, but part of me thinks she might be on to something, for once. It was weird how the truck went straight for Maddie. But why her? Her parents aren’t rich. She doesn’t even know where they are. What could the Alliance possibly want her for?

“So what do we do now?” Alonso asks.

“I guess we keep going — get back to Chicago, find our parents, and tell them what happened,” Ryan says. “Right?” He sounds like he’s not really thrilled about that plan.

“We can’t just abandon her,” Louisa says.

“I agree,” I say. “I don’t know about you guys, but I won’t be able to handle it when they pat us on the head and make us stay inside after dark while they do nothing. I think we have to be the ones to help her. I think we’re the only ones who can. We have to.”

“We’ll find her ourselves,” Drew agrees. I get to my feet and pull him up beside me. As the others stand up and brush themselves off, I straighten his glasses and he traces his fingers across my cheek. His face doesn’t look smug to me anymore. He might know all my secrets, but now I don’t mind. I’m actually kind of glad.

I look up at the sky, where the orange and pink is fading into dark purple, and heavy gray clouds are starting to roll in, smothering the early stars.

Maddie is one of us. We’re not going to leave her out there on her own.

Our flight toward home will have to wait.

It’s time for a rescue.