“What do we do now?” asked Cindy.
“We keep on trying,” said Amanda.
The children stayed on the roof for another hour trying to use their cell phones and trying to get a signal on Peter’s computer. But whatever internet or cell signals that had been present when they arrived were gone. The city was getting darker. The few places that were lit up were slowly going dark. It was also getting cold.
“It’s time to go back to the rooms. We need to find some food and make a plan,” said Amanda.
“I need to go help my Auntie,” said Thibodeaux.
“Well, you can’t go help her now. It is going to be night soon and there are some really bad people on the streets so we need to hide right now,” said Amanda.
“Does she have food?” asked Cindy.
“Yeah, she does. But I don’t want her to be stuck up there by herself,” said Thibodeaux.
“Well, we need to find out what is going on and what we need to do and also how to help your Auntie, but right now, we need food and we need to get inside where it is warmer,” said Amanda.
So the band of four climbed back down the stairs, from the 20th floor to the 4th and went back into the room and closed the door.
“I’m starving,” said Cindy.
“There is bound to be some kind of kitchen in this hotel. I will go downstairs and get some food,” said Thibodeaux.
“Will you come back?” Cindy sounded very worried.
“Yeah. Just where am I going to go?” asked Thibodeaux.
“I’ll go with you,” said Peter.
“Oh, no you won’t. I told Mom I would watch you and you are not leaving,” said Amanda.
“Hey, I’ll take care of him,” said Thibodeaux.
“I am going. I am a boy and I am going,” said Peter.
“Okay, but if you don’t come back in ten minutes, we are coming to find you,” said Amanda. She was so tired and it was nice to let someone else take care of things for a while.
The boys emptied the contents of their backpacks on the floor and picking up the now empty backpacks, they left.
Chapter VII
It was cold in the room. The heat from the sun shining on the window was gone. Amanda and Cindy were seated on the bed, huddled under a down comforter, trying to dial out on their cell phones. But there was no signal in the room and after a while they gave up.
“I am really hungry. I hope they come back soon,” Cindy said.
Amanda walked over to the mini bar and took out the last coke. “Do you want to split this with me?”
“Sure.” Cindy grabbed two glasses from the bathroom and brought them to Amanda.
“I’m scared. Do you think they will come back soon?” Cindy asked.
“I should never have allowed Peter to leave with him. Peter is my responsibility.”
“That boy Thibodeaux seems really smart. His Aunt lets him go outside by himself, so he isn’t as scared as we are,” said Cindy.
“I hope so.” Amanda was really worried. She had let Peter leave with a stranger. What would she tell her mother? When Peter came back, if he came back…but she could not think about that. When he came back she would never let me him go anywhere without her again. Amanda was about to cry. No matter how annoying Peter was, he was her brother.
There was a knock on the door and they heard Thibodeaux’s voice saying, “Hey, let us in.”
Amanda quickly opened the door. Thibodeaux and Peter ran into the room and quickly closed the door. The backpacks were full but they looked like they had seen a ghost.
“What happened?” asked Amanda. She was thrilled to see them, but the looks on their faces made her really scared.
“We went across the street into this restaurant to get some food and these looters saw us and chased us back into the hotel,” said Peter.
“What?” Amanda asked.
“We were taking the food when these guys came into the restaurant and saw us. They yelled at us, but we ran as fast as we could to get back here,” said Thibodeaux.
“Do they know which room we are in?” asked Amanda.
“No, I don’t think they followed us into the stairs,” said Thibodeaux.
“Hey, we need to be quiet. What if they do come down the hall. We don’t want them to hear us,” said Peter.
“I can’t stand this,” said Cindy.
“Yes you can. You are not alone. We are in this together,” said Amanda.
“Hey, let’s become a posse and take care of each other. We can be a posse of four, just like in the old Westerns. We can deputize ourselves and save the city,” said Thibodeaux.
“How can four kids save New York City?” asked Cindy.
“Well so far it is just us and the looters. All the ‘good guys’ have hightailed it out of Dodge and we are the only ones here trying to figure things out,” said Thibodeaux.
“Rappers watch Westerns?” asked Peter.
“Rappers watch all kinds of things to get their inspiration. Cuz rapping is nothing more than poetry and gang warfare is nothing more than a Western with no good guys,” said Thibodeaux.
“If you say so,” said Cindy.
“That’s what my Mamma says,” said Thibodeaux.
“So how about it? Are we going to be a posse? Are we going to fight the battle and save the City?” asked Thibodeaux.
“I think we should just concentrate on getting out of here. My mother would want me to get Cindy and Peter out of here as quickly as I can,” said Amanda.
“If we don’t save the City, I can never go home. I live here,” said Cindy.
“You can stay with us in Connecticut,” said Amanda.
“But doesn’t everyone who lives in Connecticut, work in New York City?” asked Cindy. “Your mom and dad both work in New York. They won’t have jobs if there is no city.”
“Okay. Okay. We will save the city,” said Amanda.
“That’s my woman,” said Thibodeaux.
“Your woman?” asked Amanda.
“It’s just an expression. Boy you kids sure are touchy, but not matter, it’s time to eat,” said Thibodeaux.
“What did you find?” asked Amanda.
“We found bread and butter and cheese and fruit and brownies. How about that?” said Peter.
“And cokes. I brought cokes,” said Thibodeaux.
“I am so hungry,” said Cindy.
The newly minted posse of four sat down on the floor and ate ravenously. They had eaten nothing but cookies and peanuts all day.
Amanda was thinking how she would love to even have one of those awful school lunches. A lot of the things she did not like to eat would look pretty good right now.
“So what should we do first?” asked Amanda.
“I think we need to crack the pass code on that flash drive. Are you sure the bad guys left it?” asked Thibodeaux.
“No, but it was right where they were drinking. Right in the middle of their mess,” said Peter. “The battery is really low. I don’t know how much longer I will be able to be on the computer.”
“Here, use this charger.” Thibodeaux handed Peter a battery operated battery charger from the bag of goodies he got earlier in the day.
Peter plugged the battery operated charger onto the USB cable of his computer and the screen lit back up.
“What kind of code could they have?” asked Peter. “They could not memorize a long code.”
“I have an idea. Why don’t we all make a list of what we think the pass code could be and Peter can just keep on trying,” said Cindy. “Look, here are some note pads and a couple of pens from the room desk. It can be a game.”
The posse sat down on the floor and started brainstorming passwords. As soon as they had about ten, they handed their piece of paper to Peter and kept on writing down possible passwords. Peter kept entering them, but none of them seemed to work.
Everyone was getting discouraged.
“They are thieves and they are stealing jewels. Try thief, thieves, jewels. Ti
ffany’s,” said Amanda.
“How about heist?” said Cindy.
Peter kept on typing and suddenly he yelled, “That’s it, it’s heist.”
Cindy started dancing around the room, rapping to “I’m smart. Hey I’m smart.”
Amanda looked at Cindy in amazement. She was acting just like a little kid. But wait, she was a little kid.
“How did you know what that word meant?” asked Amanda.
“From PBS Kids. I watched it all the time when I was little,” said Cindy.
“What’s on the flash drive?” asked Thibodeaux.
“It’s has all their plans. There is a schedule about when and where the bombs are supposed to go off and where the anthrax is and look, here is a map with all the targets marked. See, here is our theater. The bomb was down the block from our theater. And here is the schedule of the jewel robberies. Hey, it’s all here,” said Peter.
“Now we just need to find some good guys to give it to,” said Amanda.
“But there are no good guys left in the city,” said Thibodeaux.
“Well, we need to make a plan, but right now we need to sleep. We should wait until tomorrow to do anything because it is dark outside now,” said Amanda.
“We have the night vision goggles,” said Peter. “We can use them in the dark.”
“Right now, we need to sleep. It is cold and dark in here and I don’t want to do anything else until we are warm,” said Amanda.
“I will sleep in the room next door,” said Thibodeaux.
“No, we need to stick together. Now everyone help me load up our backpacks just in case we need to run. We need to pack up all the important things so we can leave quickly,” said Amanda.
“We need to put some batteries into these walkie-talkies and set them up to the same channel,” said Thibodeaux. “We all need to have one in our pocket in case we get lost.”
“How do you know about walkie-talkies? Aren’t those really old fashioned?” asked Cindy.
“All my friends in New Orleans had them when I was young. They are a lot cheaper than cell phones and our Mamma’s wouldn’t allow us to go too far out of the neighborhood so they worked just fine,” said Thibodeaux.
The posse sat on the floor, putting the synchronized walkie-talkies into their pockets and repacking their backpacks to include the batteries, cell phone chargers, pepper spray, and night vision goggles. Then they stuffed food and water into the room that was left in the backpacks.
“Okay, now we need to practice wearing these night vision goggles,” said Thibodeaux.
“What?” asked Amanda.
“Everyone put one on and turn off the lights and see if they work,” said Thibodeaux.
“Hey, they need batteries,” said Peter.
“So put them in. They use Triple A.”
“How did you know how to get all this stuff. All the different batteries?” asked Cindy.
“I do all the shopping for my aunt,” said Thibodeaux.
“Your aunt uses night vision goggles?” Amanda was incredulous but then she looked at Thibodeaux. “I think it is great that you are so smart.”
So the posse put on their night vision goggles and very quietly practiced walking around the room wearing them. They worked. The night vision goggles could have been a lot of fun, if anyone had been in the mood for fun.
By then everyone was very cold and there was nothing left to do but go to bed.
“I hate going to bed without watching TV,” said Amanda.
“Me too,” everyone said in unison.
But no TV or not, it was very dark and cold, so everyone was soon fast asleep.
Chapter VIII
Amanda woke up. It was pitch dark in the room, but she could hear people running through the hallways. She quickly woke up the others and told them to be very quiet.
Amanda quickly went to lock the door to the adjoining room. Then she moved the desk chair under the door to the hallway to block it from being entered.
Amanda smelled smoke. She peered out the window and saw that the building next door was on fire.
“We have to get out of here. The building next door is on fire and there is no fire department in the city,” said Amanda.
“Where are we going to go?” Cindy sounded very scared.
“I don’t think our building is on fire yet, but we have to go,” said Amanda.
“Go where?” asked Peter.
“We can go to my aunt’s house,” said Thibodeaux.
“It’s too far and it is too dark,” said Amanda.
“We can go to my apartment,” said Cindy.
“Cindy’s place is the closest, so that’s what we will do,” said Amanda.
“Where?” asked Thibodeaux.
“Cindy and her mother live at 16th and Third and if we can get over there, Cindy has keys,” said Amanda. “But there will be looters out there so we need to stay together and keep our pepper spray handy.”
“I don’t know how to use pepper spray,” said Cindy.
“Just hold it and press,” said Thibodeaux.
“Everyone get your coats and backpacks. And use the bathroom. This may be the last bathroom we see for a while,” Amanda said.
“Are you for real?” asked Thibodeaux.
“Oh, do people from New Orleans not need to go to the bathroom?” asked Amanda.
“I just never had a girl tell me to go to the bathroom before. Everything we do, it’s go to the bathroom, pack water…hey, it’s okay. It’s good you are thinking,” said Thibodeaux.
“I have to think. I have a lot of responsibilities. Three little kids to take care of,” said Amanda.
“Hey, I’m not little, I’m twelve too,” said Thibodeaux.
“I’m taking care of myself,” said Peter.
“Stop it. I’m scared. Don’t fight!” said Cindy.
“I’m sorry,” Amanda told Cindy. “Come on, stand by the door and listen.”
“Put on your goggles,” said Thibodeaux. “We don’t want to use flashlights cuz we don’t want folks to see us.”
The group of four stood at the door with their backpacks on, wearing their goggles. Amanda touched the door. It was cool. She listened and could not hear anything. She was trying to remember something she had never paid attention to in school—what to do in case of a fire.
“Does everyone have their pepper spray in their pocket?” asked Amanda.
The others nodded.
“When I say go, run. I will lead and Thibodeaux, since you are twelve too, you be last. Peter keep an eye on Thibodeaux and I will watch for Cindy. We need to work together,” said Amanda.
“Hey Peter is just ten years old. I should be watching him,” said Thibodeaux.
“Okay, we will all watch each other but now we have to go.” Amanda opened the door and wearing her night goggles she ran down the hall toward the stairway. She had a pepper spray in her pocket, but that did not keep her from being scared. She had not been this scared since she was in the basement of the theater.
The children ran down the hall following Amanda. They entered the empty stairway and ran down the stairs into the dark lobby of the hotel. They were not alone. They ran past several couches where people were sleeping. They heard someone yell, “Hey kids,” from the back of the lobby, but they kept on running out into the dark street, running east on 45th Street past the building that was on fire. People were pouring out of the building, but they did not stop to ask any questions. They continued running across town for several blocks crossing Lexington on their way to Third Avenue. Looking down Lexington Avenue, they could see a gang of men running toward them. The night city was alive, dark but alive. They could see candlelight in some of the windows as they ran. Someone was chasing them, but he was about half a block away so they kept on running as fast as they possibly could, dodging all the abandoned cars in the street, and soon whoever was chasing them dropped back.
They were now at Third Avenue. Cindy stopped them and said, “We need to turn right a
nd run down to 16th Street.”
They turned and started to run down the street. They had been running down Third for six blocks, when suddenly a man dressed in black jumped out of the dark and grabbed Amanda as she ran down the street. They both fell down and Amanda was on the street, pinned down by the man who had jumped out of the dark. He was screaming and muttering something about Armageddon. All the children ran to help, trying to pull the man off Amanda. She was pushing him away with her left arm while she used her right hand to find her pepper spray when suddenly her own eyes were filled with the spray.
Cindy was standing over them with a can of pepper spray in her hand which she had just used on the man.
The man who had attacked Amanda moved off her and was lying on the street screaming with his hands over his eyes. Amanda’s eyes felt like they were going to burn off and she wanted to lie on the ground and scream too, but Peter and Cindy grabbed her hands and pulled her down the street.
“Stop a second.” It was Thibodeaux. He had a water bottle open. “Hold still.” Thibodeaux pulled Amanda’s head back and poured the entire bottle of water into her eyes.
Amanda’s eyes were burning and she still could not see, but now she was also sopping wet. And she had hurt her knee when she fell.
Peter and Cindy put their arms around Amanda and helped her walk down the street. They could not run anymore.
Amanda was horribly afraid. Her eyes were burning and she could not see, but she could hear people running behind them and in front of them.
They were moving down the street as fast as they could with a blind person when suddenly an older man came out of a townhouse and stood in front of them brandishing a walking stick in the air and yelling, “Stop or I will thrash you.”
Cindy screamed.
“Children, I’m not going to hurt you. I am threatening your assailant. I was in my home and I saw that horrid men trying to hurt your friend,” said the man. “Do you want a whacking? How dare you accost these children!” He yelled at the man who had tried to hurt Amanda.
The man who attacked Amanda was still lying on the street yelling about his eyes.
“Why are you children out here in the dark?” asked the man.
The Big Apple Posse Trilogy Page 6