The Ones (14 page)

James stood alone in the row of books, and his eye caught the spine label of
PQ3318
. This secret spot in the library suddenly wasn't so romantic anymore. He was starting to feel ready to punch something—if not Kai, then a wall might do. He hurried to catch up with Taryn.

“So was Kai in the military or something before?” James asked as he and Taryn walked through the library.

“No. He was in reform school for a bit. I guess that's kind of similar.”

“Reform school? Like for criminals and idiots who flunked out of high school?”

“Yeah. This place was no joke. I'm talking fight-for-your-blanket type of situation.”

“Born a One and you end up there? That's pretty embarrassing.”

“Why's that?” Taryn asked quickly. “Ones can't ever make a mistake?”

“They shouldn't,” James said, knowing from his own experience that this standard was possible to achieve, even if it wasn't the most pleasant way to grow up. “You win the genetic lottery, have every advantage in the world, and you still can't make something of yourself? I find that pathetic.”

Taryn looked at him with disgust. “Well, maybe if you understood what he went through in there, you'd be a little more sympathetic.”

James waved her off dismissively. “What did he do to get sent there?”

“It was more like something his mom did. She entered the NIH lottery, won a spot, and had her baby genetically engineered without telling Kai's dad. She eventually fessed up when Kai was ten, and the dad went apeshit. Started clobbering Kai and never stopped.”

“So Kai ran away or something?”

“No. Kai grew up and
made
him stop.”

James thought about how intense that must have been, then considered how being a One had affected his own family. It was uncomfortable, but apparently it was nothing like the rift that existed for other families. And sure, his brother had grown so combative that James finally had to hurt him, but his fight with Michael had seemed like a natural extension of their normal sibling rivalry. He could never imagine doing that to his father.

If Taryn was telling the truth, Kai did more than imagine it.

“I guess that explains his sunny disposition,” James said. “And what about you? When did you two first team up?”

“I'd tell you … but I think you'd find it ‘pathetic.'”

Taryn walked ahead of him and descended to the main floor of the library. James watched her go, and despite the very real animosity he harbored for this girl, he suddenly felt like a total jerk.

*   *   *

After James and Taryn had warned and prepared the students staying in the library, they made their way back to the main office. The barricades had been bolstered and were pretty ingeniously designed now. The furniture blocking the entrance was now buttressed by desks that went all the way back to the opposite wall. Simply barging through was not going to be possible. James and Taryn slipped through a crack that had been left for them. The four of them, the rest of the Ones, and the four adults were hunkered down.

James saw Cody and Kai over by the window and went to join them. They were staring down at the marshaling forces outside. It was clear the cops were moving around with more urgency.

“What are they doing?” James asked.

“Treating it like a hostage situation,” Kai said. “They think we might kill that lady, and since we're not answering any of their calls, they have no choice but to storm the building.”

James nodded toward the office holding the adults. “They're fine?”

“I checked, all good,” Cody said. “Margie seemed flattered to have a starring role. Mr. Oberlee offered to mediate for us. I feel bad that he was stuck here when we came in—he has little kids at home.”

“And Ms. Bixley?”

“Still a bitch.”

James watched as Kai patted Cody on the back. “All right, we should probably get going. You'll be fine, Cody. Just stay cool and call me later,” Kai said.

“What the hell are you talking about?” James asked.

Kai laughed. “You think we're just going to wait here until the cops bust in and then surrender? Come on, they can detain Ones forever now without charges. They'll lock us up in a basement somewhere. You too. Let's go, we've got to get out of here and mix in with everyone else in the library.”

“It's just a student protest. The cops might put us in jail for the night, but we won't be charged under the Equality Act,” James argued.

“Of course we will. Especially if they think we are the leaders,” Taryn said.

“So who's going to take the fall, then?” James asked.

No one spoke for a moment. James realized they all knew the answer already. He finally caught on and looked at Cody.

“No.” He grabbed her arm. “You can't do this. It's not fair.”

“James—”

“I'm staying with you. I won't let you go down for this.”

“James, just listen. If you all get caught here, you're screwed. If it's only me, sure I'll be in trouble, but they can't charge me as a One. I'll just show them the List, right? And besides, we haven't done anything serious. We just moved some furniture around in our school. I'll be fine.”

James could barely believe what he was hearing. Kai must have talked her into this while James and Taryn were still in the library. Or Cody could have been leaning this way all along to prove herself to the Weathermen. And as for Kai and Taryn … of course they were too smart to not have an escape hatch.

Even worse for his pride, the idea actually made sense. Cody was the only person involved who might be treated fairly by the legal system. James knew there was no point in keeping her company just to look brave.

Taryn tapped the window. “They're moving in. We gotta go.”

James stepped up to Cody and grabbed her by the shoulders. “I'm going to kill you for this. Promise me you'll be smart and stay safe?”

“I promise. You too.”

James leaned in to give Cody a passionate kiss, not caring that Kai and Taryn were there. Or maybe he was happy that they were watching. When he finally pulled back, Cody give him a wink, and they let go of each other.

James saw that Kai looked a little pissed as he walked over to the barricaded door and started ushering the rest of the Ones out through the tiny crawl space. Cody would be able to fill it back in after they left and seal the entrance again. When it was just James and Kai left, James gestured grandly for Kai to go first. If he wasn't going to stay with Cody, he would at least be the last person to leave her.

They made their way back to the library and joined the rest of the students. Everyone was pressed against the floor-to-ceiling windows, watching as a SWAT team approached the school, their phones held high to film it. James found the scene totally riveting as the cops charged ahead in formation, shields in front of them, assault rifles ready, their shiny black helmets making them look like a brigade of militarized bugs. He had to remind himself that what he was watching wasn't just pure spectacle for his entertainment—these people were coming for him.

James was craning his neck and watching the SWAT team approach the front of the library when the first flash grenade went off. The explosion left him totally deaf, save for a ringing in his ears. And even though his eyes didn't work temporarily, he knew it made no sense: The SWAT team was still outside, but the students in the library were already under attack.

When his sight and hearing began to return, James could sense that another SWAT team had come in through a back entrance and was now stampeding right through them. He could sense people screaming at him over and over again.

“Everybody down!”

“Hands on your head!”

“Don't move!”

Across the room, James saw Andrew, obviously dazed, try to lift himself to stand. James tried to shout at him to stay down, but he was too late. A SWAT guy swung a rifle butt into the back of Andrew's head and left him lying motionless. James tried to melt himself into the floor, hating himself for letting his friend get hurt.

Then the other SWAT team from out front emerged at the top of the staircase, and James saw them rush through the newly secured library and into the hallway connected to the administration building. He knew what awaited them there: a single doorway made almost impenetrable by Kai's clever barricade. But they would find a way through somehow, James knew that. And then they'd find Cody. James just hoped she was in a mood to listen.

In the meantime, the cops in the library were starting to round up all the students and guide them outside. James fell into line near Kai and Taryn, and they were rushed down the stairs and out to the lawn in front of the school. The cops kept herding them toward the parking lot, where all the cars were parked, sirens flashing. And just beyond that, James saw the black school bus with steel bars over its windows—the police were directing them right into it. It felt like a fire drill to prison.

Then, as they were crossing the lawn, there was a tremendous explosion from behind them. James turned around and saw the last flashes blow out the windows from the second floor of the administration building. Exactly where Cody was trapped.

James felt the urge to break the line of students and rush back to the building, but the line no longer existed. Everyone was screaming and running in different directions. Sparks and smoke started to filter down. The cops kept trying to direct them, but it was of no use. The students were running away in pure chaos.

James turned around to go back, but Taryn grabbed his shoulder.

“Don't,” Taryn said. “Now is our chance.” She gestured sideways to a narrow space between a classroom building and the gym. Kai was already sprinting toward it, fighting against the stream of all the other kids, his instincts attuned to act right away.

James took another look at the administration building. He could see from their headlamps that the SWAT team had infiltrated the offices. Cody was either blown to bits or in handcuffs. He wheeled around and started sprinting after Kai and Taryn.

They were fast, but James was faster. And he knew the school better, so when he caught up with them between buildings and they emerged at the rear boundary of the school, James took the lead and raced toward Tommy's maintenance shed. It was a low building on the edge of campus. If they got on the roof, they could hop over the school's back fence and slip into the woods. And James knew there would be a ladder lying around.

As they sprinted up to the shed, a flashlight illuminated them from behind.

“Don't move, or I'll shoot you!”

James ignored the command and lifted the ladder against the shed.

“Stop! Police!” A cop was running up to them, but all James could see was a bouncing beam of light.

“Go!” Kai said, and pushed James and Taryn up the ladder.

James pulled himself onto the roof and then helped Taryn up. He heard the sound of a brutal collision below. James looked over the edge and saw Kai and the cop rolling around on the ground. The cop was big, but Kai had pinned him down and was raining blows down on his head. He dazed him with a punch and had enough time to leap up and get away. But instead of climbing up the ladder, Kai took a heavy gardening shovel from the wall of the shed. He walked back to the cop and bashed him over the head with it. James, standing above, staggered back just from seeing the impact. The cop collapsed in a heap, totally still. James froze in shock. Had Kai just killed a police officer?

Without skipping a beat, Kai tossed the shovel, shimmied up the ladder, knocked it off the roof, and was the first one of them to scale down the fence and make it off the school grounds. James stared after him in horror, and Taryn had to shout in his ear and shove him before he followed. His flight response took over. Within seconds, they had concealed themselves in the thick trees. They jogged steadily for a while, away from the school and the confluence of the authorities.

After about thirty minutes, they reached an old logging road that led from the outskirts of town up the mountain. James recognized it from some of the summers he'd spent volunteering with the local wildfire-prevention crew. He had never minded the backbreaking work; it just felt great to be outdoors and do something important. The crew cleared brush, did some controlled burns, and tried to keep their beautiful tinderbox of a home as safe as possible. Now he was walking around the same woods like a fugitive.

Once they slowed down, James angled over to Kai and asked him something that had been gnawing at him while they ran. “Is that cop back there
dead
?”

“He'll be fine. I saw him roll over before I jumped,” Kai said.

“It seemed like he was—”

“Send him some flowers, okay? We've got a long hike. Let's just shut up.”

Kai walked away briskly, clearly done with their chat. James turned to Taryn. “Where are we going?” he asked.

“This road leads up to the mine quarry. We can lie low there for the night,” Taryn said.

“What about Cody?”

“There's nothing we can do for her right now. Come on.”

“Why the quarry? We're just gonna go up there, stop, and lie down where everyone in town goes to party?”

Taryn laughed at him. “Seriously?” She saw that James wasn't joking. “Don't worry, there are plenty of places to hide in those mines. I thought every Shasta kid knew that.”

James felt his cheeks burn with embarrassment.
Not every kid
, he thought,
not the ones whose siblings had drowned there and then had been born to replace them.
Granted, that was probably a pretty small group, but James resented her presumption. Even so, he wasn't about to explain all of that to her.

James did, however, want to get something else off his chest. He was grateful that Taryn had forced him to sneak away during the stampede. And he knew he owed her an apology.