This Town Is a Nightmare

by M. K. Krys

  11

  Nurse Allen stepped closer. She reached for the handle, and Beacon’s throat knotted up tight. The closet creaked open an inch, but then a bang sounded from outside the room. Nurse Allen’s head snapped up, then she scurried off.

  Relief poured through him. He didn’t waste any time. He rushed out of the closet. The pills rattled around with every step he took, but he didn’t worry about being stealthy anymore. He tossed the backpack out of the window, then twisted and shoved himself through the small opening so fast, the wood scraped against his back. He landed with a thud, then scooped up the backpack and ran for the woods. In moments, Galen was loping along beside him.

  “Thanks for that noise. Nurse Allen was about two seconds away from catching me,” Beacon said between gasps for breath.

  “What noise?” Galen said.

  “That bang. Did you throw a rock at the window?” Beacon asked.

  Galen shook his head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just howled so you’d know Nurse Allen had pulled into the driveway.”

  Beacon frowned, but he guessed it didn’t matter what had caused the distraction, just that he’d gotten away.

  They were leaping over a brook in the woods when Beacon first felt it: a brisk, cool breeze that made the hairs on his arms stand up underneath his sweatshirt. Before long, the wind blew in powerful gusts, tossing the trees above them from side to side until Beacon and Galen were forced to drop to the ground and cover their heads. Twigs and leaves blasted past, and Beacon knew if it weren’t for the adrenaline racing through his body, he would have been freezing.

  Then, just as quickly as it had started, the wind died away. Beacon coughed and staggered to his feet. Galen readjusted his sweatshirt, which had gotten twisted all around his lanky body from the wind.

  “What was that?” Beacon asked.

  “I don’t know.” Galen peered up at the sky. “A storm coming, I guess.”

  An uneasy feeling wormed through Beacon’s body. That reason didn’t seem to make sense. It was like the wind had just . . . disappeared. That didn’t happen if a storm was on the way.

  But he didn’t have time to worry about it. Arthur needed him.

  It seemed like they’d been gone for hours, but when they got back to the inn, only twenty minutes had passed.

  Still, twenty minutes could be too long. Beacon knew better than most people that it took only minutes without oxygen for brain cells to die. He’d found that out the hard way when Jasper had drowned.

  His body tensed with dread as he walked back inside the inn. He found Everleigh in the kitchen, sitting against the wall next to Arthur, who was curled up on the floor with his eyes closed. He looked a bit paler than usual, but he didn’t twitch or convulse, and his chest rose and fell evenly.

  “He’s asleep,” Everleigh whispered.

  Beacon let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.

  “How long did it last?” he asked.

  “About six minutes.”

  Too long. Would he be okay?

  “Should we wake him up? Give him the pills?” Galen said.

  “No, let him sleep,” Everleigh said. “We can give it to him when he wakes up.”

  Beacon swallowed thickly, then slid down the wall next to Everleigh. Galen sat down next to him.

  “You don’t have to stay here,” he told Galen. “There are beds upstairs.”

  “It’s fine,” he said. He curled up on the floor and made a pillow out of his sweatshirt. He was asleep and snoring in minutes.

  “I wish I could be like that,” Everleigh said, nodding toward Galen.

  “Me too. It takes me forever to fall asleep.”

  “Really?” Everleigh said. “I didn’t know that. Is it because of Jasper?”

  “Some of it is Jasper.” He closed his mouth. He was worried that what he was going to share would make him look bad, like a terrible brother, but it was eating him up inside. “Sometimes, lately, I’ll forget to think about him all day. Like, we’ll be so busy trying to survive that I don’t remember Jasper until I’m trying to go to sleep. Then when I realize how much time has passed since I thought about him, I get all panicked. Then it’s like an emergency that I need to remember everything.”

  Beacon felt himself go hot all over after this admission. He wished he could take it back, just stuff the words back into his mouth, but it was too late.

  Everleigh turned to face him fully. “You too?”

  The tension knotting up his shoulders melted away.

  “It’s been happening since we moved here,” she said. “I feel so guilty about it. It’s only been a year.”

  “You can’t be too hard on yourself,” Beacon said. “Running for your life doesn’t leave a lot of room for thinking. Besides, you know Jasper wouldn’t want us to spend all day feeling sad that he’s gone.”

  Beacon was saying it to make Everleigh feel better, but it was true. He realized that he should show himself some of the same grace he’d shown his sister.

  “I guess you’re right,” Everleigh said. “I just don’t want to forget about him, you know?”

  “I know . . .” Beacon crossed his legs. “I have an idea. Why don’t we share memories about Jasper every once in a while? That way we make sure we never forget about him. Not that we ever would, but you know, to keep his memory fresh?”

  Beacon almost suggested that they do the same thing for their dad, but he stopped himself short. That would be like admitting they were going to fail.

  “I think that’s a great idea,” Everleigh said. She looked up for a moment, before a small smile crossed her lips. “This isn’t anything big, but one of my favorite memories of Jasper was walking home after school. His friends would be there, and I felt so cool hanging out with them.”

  “I liked that, too,” Beacon said, smiling. “He never acted like we were too young or stupid to hang out with him.” Beacon thought for a minute. “I always think about our game nights with Dad.”

  Everleigh grinned. “Remember when we were playing Monopoly that one time?”

  “And Jasper landed on Income Tax eleven times in a row?”

  They laughed, then stifled the sound when Galen grunted and rolled over.

  “He was furious,” Everleigh whispered.

  “Furious in his Jasper way,” Beacon said. “He was never really that mad.”

  “Except about the Ian Pearson thing.”

  “Oh my God, I forgot about that!” Beacon said.

  A few years ago, an older kid at school had decided to pick on Beacon. For months, he made Beacon’s life hell. He stole his lunch, blew spitballs on him from the back of the classroom, and started up the nickname Beacon McLoser that followed him through every corridor. When Jasper found out what was happening, he walked onto their bus the next morning, even though he went to the high school, and picked Ian up by his jacket collar, so that his butt wasn’t even touching the seat. He told Ian that if he ever messed with his brother again, he’d make sure it was the last thing he ever did. The police had come and given Jasper a stern talking-to that night, and he was grounded for a month, but Ian never bothered Beacon again.

  They talked for hours, and eventually, Beacon drifted off to sleep.

  When he woke up next, sunlight streamed through the open blinds. Beacon stretched and sat up, feeling more rested than he had in ages. Galen was nowhere to be seen. Arthur was still asleep, and Everleigh snored next to him with a puddle of drool under her face. He made a mental note to make fun of that later.

  Arthur stirred on the tile.

  “Is it the morning?” Arthur said, groaning as he sat up next to him. “How long was I out?”

  “Like, eleven hours,” Beacon said.

  “Wow. Now I know how Galen feels when he sleeps for a million years.”

  Beacon slid the backpac
k on the floor over to Arthur.

  “What’s this?” Arthur dug inside the bag. He picked up one bottle, then another. “You got my meds?” he asked. “How?”

  “Sneaked into your grandma’s place last night.”

  “What about Nurse Allen?” he asked.

  “She almost caught me. It was one of the scariest moments of my life.”

  “Did—did you see her?” Arthur asked. “My grams?”

  “I did,” Beacon said. “She was sleeping, but she looked comfortable.”

  Beacon could practically see the relief wash over his friend. He swallowed, his eyes shiny behind his glasses. He clutched a pill bottle. “Thank you. You didn’t have to do this.”

  “Yes, we did,” Beacon said.

  “No, you didn’t,” Arthur said firmly. “But you did. And I appreciate it.”

  Beacon gave his friend a wan smile. Arthur unscrewed the lid of the bottle he was holding. He shook out two pills, then tossed them back and swallowed them dry.

  “Good thing Galen wasn’t down last night, too, or we would’ve been easy targets for the Sov,” he said when the pills were finally down. He screwed the lid back onto the pill bottle.

  Arthur kept talking, but his words blurred into the background. Beacon’s mind had latched on to something he’d said. He stared into the middle distance, thinking. It felt as if he were on the cusp of something important, but the answers were just out of reach, as if he were a race car on a track, doing the same loop over and over.

  Galen strode into the kitchen and dropped a stack of papers at their feet. Beacon startled back to reality.

  “Jeez, what’s wrong with ‘good morning,’ ” Arthur said.

  Everleigh groaned and rolled over. “What’s going on?”

  Beacon picked up the stack of papers and looked at the first page. A tingling feeling started low in his belly and spread through his chest. He flipped to the next page, then the next.

  “Are these . . .”

  “The plans to the on-land base?” Galen said. “Yeah.”

  “Oh my God!” Arthur snatched the papers from Beacon.

  “Hey!” Beacon protested.

  Everleigh scooted closer and peered over Arthur’s shoulder, retying her ponytail as he flipped through the stack. Intricate floor plans filled every page.

  “How did you get this?” she asked Galen.

  “There’s an old computer upstairs. I mean, old. Probably the first one ever made,” Galen said.

  “This is amazing!” Beacon said. “Now we just need to figure out the best access point.”

  “Page eight,” Galen said, rooting through the cupboards. He opened a box of Triscuits and sniffed inside.

  Beacon flipped to page eight.

  “What is this?” he asked.

  “It’s the sewer system,” Galen said.

  “First a trash barge and now a sewer,” Everleigh said. “You are just full of great ideas.”

  Galen popped a Triscuit under his shirt. There was a loud slurp sound.

  “Ew,” Everleigh said, but Galen ignored her.

  “Their system connects with the city’s system under Town Hall Road,” he said. “If the plans are right, there should be a drain we can access about six feet underground. I marked the spot. Everywhere else is too close to town or too deep to dig without attracting attention.”

  “You did all this while we were sleeping?” Arthur said.

  “Well, you slept almost as long as I do after a transformation, so it’s not like it was hard,” Galen said.

  He had said it offhandedly, but his comment caused the race car in Beacon’s head to skid off the track and burst onto the open road.

  “Oh my God,” Beacon said. “I just had an epiphany.”

  “What?” Arthur said.

  “I was thinking about something earlier, and what you just said made it all click. I know how we can break into the base.”

  Galen stopped digging in the box of crackers and looked at him. Everleigh waved impatiently for him to continue.

  Beacon swallowed and sat up straighter. He’d need to pitch this just right.

  “Okay. So the Sov get wiped out after they transform, right?”

  “Yeah . . . ,” Galen said warily.

  “So . . . ,” Beacon continued. “We do the prison break after they’ve all transformed.”

  There was a beat of silence before Arthur said, “That’s great, but how are we going to know when they’ve transformed?” There was a hint of disappointment in his voice that Beacon’s plan hadn’t been better.

  “And they aren’t going to all do it at the same time,” Galen said. “The Sov here like to stay in their human form most of the time. Too much energy to flip back and forth. They’re rarely in their natural form.”

  “We’re going to lure them out,” Beacon said. “Force them to transform into their squid forms—no offense, Galen. Then we’ll do the prison break afterward when they’re all down for the count. The whole prison will be vulnerable.”

  Arthur sat up alertly, like a puppy that just spotted people food. “This won’t stop the guards and their guns, but if we can eliminate the threat of a squid attack, no offense, Galen, we’d greatly improve our odds of success!”

  “How are we going to lure the Sov out?” Everleigh said without enthusiasm.

  “We’ll go out onto the water,” Beacon said. “There’s a boat in that tiny shed by the shore. You can take a look at it, Ev. Get it working if it’s not seaworthy.”

  “That plan gets one Sov to come after you, maybe two,” Galen said. “Not the whole crew. It isn’t worth the risk for such little payoff. You’ll just end up a lab rat like your dad.”

  “How many Sov are there?” Arthur asked.

  Galen shrugged. “There were seventy-eight of us on the ship when it crashed.”

  “Seventy-eight?!” Beacon squeaked.

  “Some might have left, like me,” Galen said. “But yeah, roughly that.”

  Beacon didn’t know why he was so surprised. It was a whole ship, and it had been on an intergalactic trip. Of course they needed a large crew to helm it. Still, knowing that there were that many giant squids in the town, and that his plan involved having them all come after them, was a bit disconcerting.

  “Even if we could get all of them to come after us,” Everleigh said, “how would we get away? We’d be stuck on a boat in the middle of the ocean surrounded by Sov.”

  “You wouldn’t have to go out there at all,” Galen said. “We could pretend to kidnap their queen.”

  “The Sov have a queen?” Everleigh said.

  “That’s how the Sov got their name,” Beacon said, remembering what his dad had told him. “The ship that crashed here back in the sixties was a royal ship or something like that.”

  Galen nodded. “There’s nothing more important to the Sov than protecting their queen. I could guarantee the whole crew would come out if they thought she was in danger.”

  “Great, except how are we going to get the queen?” Everleigh asked. “If she’s so important, she’s probably highly protected, right?”

  “We don’t actually need her,” Galen said. “They just need to think she’s in danger. So long as we make the threat convincing enough, they’ll come.”

  “But if we don’t actually have the queen, what’s to stop them from just checking in her bedroom or whatever and realizing she’s safe?”

  “Leave that part to me,” Galen said. “I can make sure she’s unavailable.”

  “How?” Beacon said.

  “Don’t worry about it. I’ve got it covered.”

  Beacon frowned. But before he could ask any more questions, Galen said, “All right, this is what we do.” He pulled up a chair and leaned forward, his hands out like he was explaining a football play. “We send the Sov a me
ssage letting them know we have their queen and if they want her back they’ll have to come and get her, et cetera, et cetera. We have a boat out on the water, forcing them to transform to save her. Only she won’t be on the boat. They go back, scratching their heads about what happened, and that night, when they’re weak, we hit the prison.”

  “I’m in,” Beacon said instantly. He looked at Everleigh and Arthur.

  Everleigh sighed. “Of course I’m in. I have to make sure my stupid little brother doesn’t get killed.”

  “Little brother?” Beacon said. “You’re three minutes older than me.” But he was smiling.

  “I’m in, too,” Arthur said, sliding his glasses back on his nose.

  Beacon looked at Galen.

  “I mean, it was partly my idea,” Galen said.

  Operation Prison Break was underway.

  12

  Moonlight glinted off the glassy black water. For once, it wasn’t windy or rainy, and the air was uncharacteristically warm. If they weren’t about to embark on a mission that could very likely get them all killed, Beacon might have thought it was a beautiful night.

  The plan had come together quickly after they agreed on Beacon’s idea. Beacon and Galen had sneaked over to Town Hall Road and dug down to the drainage pipe. Arthur had taken on the task of making explosives to blow their way into the drainage system with a little too much enthusiasm. And Everleigh had only needed to use some sealant on the boat by the shed to get it seaworthy. Beacon had even found an inflatable raft in the garage so they wouldn’t have to swim back to shore once they ditched the boat with the decoy queen inside. Then there was nothing left to do but do it. A little after 10:00 p.m. two nights later, they’d hopped into the boat.

  “Okay, I think this is far enough,” Beacon said. “Drop the anchor.”

  “Oh, thank God.” Arthur clutched the ropes tied to the inflatable raft they dragged behind the boat. “My arms are getting a cramp holding on to this thing.”

  “We’re been driving for, like, thirty-five seconds,” Everleigh said. She hauled the anchor out of the bow and heaved it over the side of the boat. It splashed into the water before disappearing into its depths.