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He wheeled toward Monunostic, I prayed

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

DEAN

DAY 15

Jake had a different opinion about e should do

"Look," he argued "The bus is right outside and we know it runs! We should get out of here and go to Denver"

"But the others could be co here to rescue us!" I protested "Someone could be on the way"

"Dean," Jake said solemnly, "Payton kicked them out of the bus They were on foot There’s no way they ht Maybe they were still out there Maybe they had et to Denver," Jake continued "We won’t stop for anyone And we have guns Lots of guns!"

"I think Jake’s right," Astrid announced "We should try the bus"

"What?" I asked, dumbfounded "Why? You were the one whoshot but … maybe we could find the others I mean, they’re on foot…"

That o look at the bus," Jake pleaded "Just to see if it works!"

I was sick of hiding in that dark, cold store A part of et out in the air, even if the air killed me But it hat Astrid said about e

Maybe we could find theo outside!" Henry protested as I handed him his layers

"It’s scary out there," Caroline continued

"But you’ll be with me this ti bad happen to you"

They looked at each other, clearly unhappy about this plan

"Are you two crazy? This is e’ve been waiting for!" Chloe gushed "We’re finally going to Denver! We’re going to see our parents there and we’ll all get rescued to Alaska And Alaska is awesoave in "We’ll go"

I left them and crossed to Astrid

"We should take supplies," I said "Food, water, lights, a tarp If we’re really going to try to make it"

And then I remembered the backpacks I’d packed for Mr Appleton and Robbie

I strode away froroup, into the storerooht and there they were, behind a stack of packing crates

I had thrown them back there after Robbie was shot We had wanted it to look, to the little kids, like he had left so I’d hidden the backpacks there

Astrid, Jake, and the kids ca all over the place I prayed they wouldn’t see the bodies Or that if they did, they wouldn’t understand what they were seeing

"These are ready to go," I said

"Right on!" Jake replied

Jake shouldered the heavier backpack My shoulder still hurt plenty

We had water, food, first aid stuff, sorown hts I couldn’t rele file, up the stairway to the hatch

We were leaving our Greenway and we didn’t have a ratitude to it But of course, ere grateful

"Wait!" Chloe shrieked through her mask "What about Luna?"

"Shoot!" Astrid said "She’s still asleep! I’ll get her You guys go ahead"

We climbed up

It was dark up there

Hard to see and breathe, with the mask on

Hard to move, with all the layers on

Henry clutched one of my hands, Caroline the other

We made our way slowly over the pitted roof to the ladder

"Dean, you go first," Jake cos were slippery It sees’ rubber foot treads

But no one fell

We waited for a moment at the botto a new backpack

"Where’s Luna?" Chloe asked

"Look," Astrid said and turned around

Luna’s sleeping head stuck through the top of the backpack

"This way," Jake directed us

And we followed hi lot, away from the store

I didn’t try to talk, it was too hard with theCaroline’s hand on one side and Henry’s on the other Astrid was holding Chloe’s hand and Jake walked ahead of us

Our little lights zigzagged the ground in front of us as we trudged through the parking lot toward the bus

The ground was slick in places The grass in the little sections near the light poles was all dead The hail-crushed cars were slimy with rust and this weird white foam

No wonder Jake had coer to be inside It was creepy out in the dead world

There was so on the tires of the bus Besides that, it looked fine

We heard it first A giant BOOM that

I looked up Over in the direction of NORAD, there was a giant fireball in the sky

"Ooooh!" the kids yelled