Among the Brave sc-5

by Margaret Peterson Haddix

“Perhaps your friend is a threat to us too. Perhaps you could tell us his name,” he said.

  Trey winced. The guard was bargaining now — bargaining for Trey’s life as well as Mark’s. What would Mark do?

  “Why should I care about you?” Mark argued. “Remember? I’m not ‘one of us.”'

  The guard shrugged.

  “Suit yourself,” he said, and kept walking toward the stairs.

  The sound of his footsteps pounded in Trey’s ears like a cadence of doom. Each step made it less likely that Mark could be saved.

  At what point would it become impossible? They listened in agony. Then, just as the guard reached the bottom of the stairs, he could contain himself no longer.

  “How can you use ‘liber’ as a password if you don’t really believe in freedom?” Trey shouted. “How can you just stand by and let an innocent boy die?”

  The guard turned around instantly and scanned the entire basement with his flashlight.

  “Where are you?”

  For the first time, Trey heard uncertainty in the guard’s voice — maybe even fear.

  “You don’t know where I am,” Trey taunted.

  The beam of light came to rest on the pile of boxes Trey was crouched behind.

  “You don’t know how big he is,” Mark added. “You don’t know how many people are down here. And they’re all on my side.”

  Trey was silently cheering Mark on, grinning over the bravado in Mark’s voice. Mark sounded so confident, Trey almost felt like looking around for compatriots. Too late, the fear struck: What would Trey do if the guard stalked up the stairs and came back with a horde of Population Police officers?

  But the guard didn’t do that. He didn’t move at all.

  “Shh,” he said. “What do you want?”

  “To be free,” Trey answered, before Mark could.

  “You think yelling about it in the basement of the Population Police headquarters will do any good?” the guard asked.

  “It got you down here, didn’t it?” Mark asked.

  The guard swept his beam of light all along the boxes. Was it just Trey’s imagination, or did the guard let the light linger longest on the exact spot where Trey was hiding?

  “If you’ve got a whole legion of friends down here with you, why do you need me?” the guard countered.

  Mark didn’t answer, and Trey was afraid to.

  “Why did you come here?” the guard asked. “You and your friend?”

  “We were looking for my brother,” Mark said. Tey inhaled sharply. If he’d been Mark, he wouldn’t have answered that question.

  “Is your brother a new recruit?” the guard asked. “No,” Mark said. “He was here before the Population Police took over. Do you know what might have happened to him?”

  Now Trey was dizzy with fear. Maybe he was hyperventilating. He wanted to shout out to Mark, “Don’t tell him anything else! You might get Lee killed!” But he couldn’t speak.

  Then the guard did something incredible. He sat down on the bottom step of the stairs.

  “I, too, am worried about someone,” he said softly. “Perhaps…

  “Perhaps what?” Mark asked. The guard shook his head. “I can’t trust you,” he said.

  “I’m about to be killed,” Mark said. “Don’t you think I’d do just about anything to stay alive?”

  The guard gave a little, amused snort, as if Mark had told a joke.

  “That’s not what I need. I need someone who’d hold on to principle and loyalty, even if it meant death,” he said. “Not that it matters. I need lots of impossible things. Access to secret records. Fake documents. A car.”

  “I have a car,” Mark said. “A truck, anyway.”

  The guard snorted again, this time in disbelief.

  “You’re in a cage,” he said.

  Trey strained to hear over the ringing in his ears. He was definitely hyperventilating. He fought against the urge to black out. He needed to think — and to think clearly All he could hear were the guard’s words, echoing in his mind again and again: You’re in a cage…. You’re in a cage….

  “I’m not,” he whispered.

  He stumbled out from behind the boxes. Act before thinking — that seemed to be his new motto. Ante cogitaturn, factum. He stood on wobbly legs, but managed to keep his voice steady.

  “I’m not in a cage,” he said aloud, and waited for the guard’s beam of light to find him.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  They worked out a deal, Mark and Trey and the Population Police guard. Their negotiations seemed to take hours, because all of them were afraid of saying too much.

  “How is it that you have a truck?” the guard asked. “And where is it?”

  “We can’t tell you,” Mark said.

  “Who are you worried about?” Trey asked.

  “I will name no names,” the guard said. “It is better for you not to know.”

  “What’s your name?” Mark asked.

  “It doesn’t matter,” the guard said. Trey tried to sneak covert glances at him, to get a good look at his face, but he stayed carefully in the shadows, the flashlight trained away from his features. And he didn’t have a badge number or other identification on his uniform.

  Could Mark and Trey trust him?

  They didn’t have much choice.

  Trey had to give up one huge, valuable tidbit of information: He told the guard that it. was possible to go between rooms at the Grants’ house by crawling through the heat ducts. The guard nodded soberly at this news.

  “So I can get access to the secret records,” he mumbled. “And I can find the documents I want to fake….”

  “I’ll do it,” Trey said. “Tell me where to go and I’ll get whatever you want. And then you’ll set Mark free.”

  “No,” the guard said. “Somebody else will do that job.”

  “Who?” Trey asked.

  “Never mind,” the guard said.

  Trey was secretly relieved not to have to crawl through the ducts again. But his relief died when he realized what he’d have to do instead: drive the truck.

  “My partner and I will have to confer,” Trey announced when the three of them had finished all the planning.

  “Fine,” the guard said.

  He walked to the other side of the room, but kept his flashlight trained on Mark and Trey.

  “Mark, I can’t!” Trey protested as quietly as possible. “Can’t we ask him to put me in the cage and just have you drive?”

  Mark looked across the room to where the guard sat, grim-faced.

  “He doesn’t trust us as it is,” Mark said. “He’ll think we’re trying to trick him. Or that we’re just bluffing. Besides, it’s easy to drive. Just remember to push the clutch in when you’re changing gears. And, oh yeah, you’ll be driving forward most of the time, so you look out the front window, not the back. .”.

  “I need a decision,” the guard said from across the room.

  “We’ll do it,” Mark said.

  And so it was that ten minutes later, Trey was climbing the stairs out of the basement. He’d changed into a fresh Population Police uniform the guard had given him, transferred his papers between pockets, and then stuffed his original clothes into one of the Grants’ boxes. But this uniform wasn’t the dull gray of a new recruit’s. It was the more ominous-looking black of a prison guard’s.

  “I’ll show you to the door,” the guard said, escorting Trey down a dark hall. Other guards stood outside many of the rooms they passed, but they only glanced at Trey and his mysterious guide.

  The entryway was empty now, the earlier crowd of recruits gone who-knew-where.

  “It’s four in the morning,” the guard whispered as they stood on the doorstep. “If you’re not back by six….

  He didn’t have to finish his sentence. If Trey wasn’t back by six, Mark would die.

  “I won’t take long,” Try promised.

  The guard handed him a clutch of official-looking papers.

 
; “Authorizations,” he said. “Show these at the servants’ entrance when you return. Over there.” He pointed vaguely, but Trey didn’t ask for specifics. Finding the servants’ entrance was the least of his worries.

  He stepped out into the chilly night air, and the guard shut the door behind him.

  Down the stairs, out the walkway, across the driveway… They moved numbly, his fear of the outdoors trumped by greater fears. At the front gate, a sentry merely grunted at him. Outside the gate, men and boys were still lined up, but they were no longer standing. Most of them appeared to be sleeping, either slumped over or lying down on the hard ground. In the dark, all those motionless bodies made They think of pictures he’d seen of battlegrounds, after the battle was over.

  “Hey! No cutting in line!” someone growled at him. A few large bodies shifted menacingly, blocking Trey’s path. Not everyone was asleep after all.

  “I–I’m not cutting in line,” Trey stammered. “I’m — I’m already in the Population Police. See?”

  He held out the insignia on his uniform, even though it was too dark to make out the circles and the teardrop.

  Somebody grabbed Trey’s sleeve, verifying by touch what couldn’t be verified by sight

  “He’s telling the truth,” a voice announced, and miraculously, the path cleared ahead of Trey.

  “Hey, man, did they feed you good?” another voice called out plaintively

  “Yes,” Trey said, though it was a lie, of course. He’d eaten nothing since he and Mark had left the truck, all those hours ago. His stomach felt squeezed together, turned inside out “They’ll feed you when you get inside too,” he added.

  ‘When’s that going to be?” someone grumbled. But Trey just kept walking, and nobody challenged him. Soon he’d left the long line of desperate men behind.

  He and Mark had discussed the best route back to the truck.

  “It’ll take too long walking along the river,” Mark had said. “There are streets you can take through the city I remember from the map. I–I was just too scared to go that way before.”

  Oh, yeah, Trey thought now. It’s going to be much less scary at four in the morning. With me alone instead of following Mark.

  At first, though, his worries seemed unnecessary The street leading away from the Grants’ house was absolutely deserted. The streetlights weren’t on, but Trey could see well enough in the dim glow from the moon. He didn’t mind the darkness anyhow. It made it easier for him to believe that he was unseen, gliding through the shadows.

  After a mile or two, he turned onto another street that made him remember the first bit of news he’d heard from Mrs. Talbot, about the riots. This street was full of stores that might once have been expensive boutiques. But every plate glass window had been smashed in. Some were now boarded up; others were just gaping open, their shelves picked clean.

  Looters, Trey thought with a shiver, and began walking even faster.

  After five blocks, They heard footsteps approaching. He froze, looking for a place to hide, already worrying that he’d be too late to save Mark if he had to hide for very long. But the glow of a flashlight caught him before he had the chance to move.

  “Identify yourself!” a voice called out.

  Two men were approaching him. Trey’s heart sank when he saw they were in Population Police uniforms. He didn’t have his I.D. with him. It was still back at the Grants’ house, in the stack with the other new recruits.

  “Don’t be silly, Henrik,” the second man said. “Can’t you see he’s Poppo? And he outranks us.”

  “Oh, sorry” the first man said, sounding humbled. “Where are you going, sir?”

  Just from the voices, Trey guessed that both men were at least a decade older than him. But he decided to take a chance.

  “My destination is classified information,” he growled — figuring that growling would do more to lower his voice than anything else. His uniform had come with a cap, and he made sure it was pulled down, covering most of his face, so they couldn’t see that he wasn’t even old enough to shave. “And what’s with this ‘Poppo’ business? That’s disrespectful. You’re proud members of the Population Police, and don’t you forget it.”

  “Yes, sir,” the two said in unison.

  “What’s your assignment?” Trey asked.

  “We’re patrolling,” the first man said. “Enforcing curfew.”

  “Then get busy,” Trey commanded. "I thought I heard noises back there!” He pointed in the opposite direction.

  “Yes, sirl” the men said, and rushed off.

  Trey had to hold back a giggle as he watched them scurry away. He’d outsmarted and outbiuffed the Population Police. Just because he was wearing a uniform. Just because they thought he outranked them.

  Now I know what the soldiers in the Trojan horse felt like, he thought. If I were living hundreds of years ago, people would write epic poems in my honor too. Something about “The third child in his enemy’s clothes….

  He walked on, practically strutting, working out rhyme schemes in his head. Epic poems were always best in French. Let’s see. “Le troisi~me enfant dans les v&ements de ses ennemis…”

  He was so absorbed, he didn’t hear the whispering until he was already surrounded.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  “He’s all by himself….”

  “Maybe he’s carrying food…

  “Maybe his food’s not rotten….”

  “Who’s there?” Trey called out, in a panic. “I said, who’s there?”

  He glanced around frantically, but he could see nothing but vacant storefronts and dark, impenetrable shadows. The tattered remains of a window-display dress blew in an unseen breeze, and Trey stiffened. But it was hanging from a mannequin, not a real live human.

  “There are lots of Population Police patrolling in this area!” Trey cried out, even though he’d seen only the two men. “Watch out!”

  “Maybe he has food….”

  “Food. .”

  “Food. .”

  The word echoed down the empty street. And then, in the blink of an eye, a mob of creatures rushed at Trey from all sides. At first, he almost thought they were animals, not humans — how big did feral cats get? But then they all began screaming at him at once.

  “‘Where is it?”

  “Give us your food!”

  ‘Wait!” Trey protested. “I’m not—” But did he really want to announce that he wasn’t truly a Population Police member? He got one glimpse of glittering eyes in an emaciated face — a woman’s, he thought — and realized that these people wouldn’t care if he was a third, fourth, or fifteenth child. They just wanted food.

  He changed tactics.

  “Listen!” he tried to explain. “I don’t have any food with me. But if you join up, the Population Police will feed you and your family….”

  Somebody punched him.

  “The Population Police’s food was rotten!”

  “It had weevils!”

  “A dog couldn’t eat that!”

  “And now I won’t see my little Johnny for three years!” the glittering-eyed woman finished up.

  Trey was still reeling from the punch.

  “I just — I’m not in charge of the food,” he said. “I’ve got nothing to do with that”.

  The mob was closing in on him. They didn’t even seem to hear his arguments. They didn’t care.

  Great, Trey thought All this time I thought I’d be killed for being a third child. Instead, I’m going to be killed for being in the Population Police. Isn’t irony fun?

  “Reinforcements are coming!” Trey screamed. “They’ll have more food! Good food! They won’t give it to you if you hurt me!”

  Nobody was fooled. Hands were still reaching for him. Fists, too. Trey squirmed away and dived through the crowd. It was just like playing Red Rover back at Hendricks School — everything hurt, but he broke through. He landed in a heap on the ground, and immediately scrambled up and took off running.

&
nbsp; “Get him!” somebody yelled.

  They ran faster than he’d ever run before. He could hear the crowd behind him, roaring. Once or twice a hand wrapped around his arm, but he always managed to shake it off

  “Help!” he called. “Help!”

  And then he didn’t have enough air to spare for yelling. He just kept running and running and running, blindly forcing his body on long after he felt like his lungs would explode and his legs would crumble and his heart would thump itself apart He was too terrified to look back to see if the mob was gaining on him. He crashed into brush, and it felt enough like running into the woods back at Hendricks that he just kept going. Then he landed in water.

  He couldn’t swim.

  “Uhb, hel—” he sputtered, too breathless even to call for help. He struggled back to the shoreline and clutched a rock for safety. He was too exhausted to pull himself out right away He waited for someone to push him back in, to kill him by drowning rather than beating.

  It took him a few minutes to realize the mob was far behind him. He could hear them calling in the distance, “Where is he? Where’d he go?”

  I outran them, he thought, astonished. It was all because Lee had taught him how to run back at Hendricks.

  Of course, how much of an accomplishment is it to outrun people who are starving to death? he reminded himself.

  On shaking legs, he stood up. He was lost now. Except — this was the river, wasn’t it? Could he just continue along the shore? In which direction?

  He looked from side to side, up and down the river. In the distance, he could see a dimly lit bridge. Was that the bridge near where he and Mark had hidden the truck? Or had he already run past that bridge, past the truck? What if he took too long finding it?

  He took off toward the bridge, rushing through the weeds and brush. A branch lashed across his face, and brambles tore at his uniform, but he kept going. It was much harder walking along the river without Mark ahead of him, clearing the way.

  He was so intent on just moving forward and dodging branches that he practically ran into the concrete side of the bridge.

  “Uff,” he grunted.

  He looked up. Two lanterns stood on posts on either side of the bridge, casting feeble light into the wisps of fog rising from the river. He heard footsteps, but it was only a sentry pacing from one side of the bridge to the other. Trey could see the Population Police insignia on the sentry’s sleeve, and he relaxed.