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"BelieveThis is the only place he has a chance"

"Great," said Niko His hands were in fists

Brayden ca salts A little bottle from the Pharmacy I’d never seen them before

Niko expertly uncapped the bottle and held it a hand’s length away from Mr Appleton’s nose He wafted the fuy

"My gun," he said, and he grabbed for Niko’s shirt, then he groaned, a long, bull-like sound, and he fell back to sleep

"He must have overexerted himself," Niko said on the way back to the Kitchen

"He’s sick," I said

"Dude, his leg is rotting off," Brayden said, always one ords

"I don’t know," I said "He almost seemed stoned to me Maybe he overdid it on pain pills"

"That’s possible," Niko said "I gave hi"

Niko exhaled

"Noe’re stuck with them," he murmured darkly

"Don’t worry, Niko," I said "Robbie’s not so bad"

We assigned watches for taking care of Mr Appleton Niko would watch fro the second shift And I volunteered for three to six arown-ups would be staying for a few hted

Ulysses started break dancing, which was just funny enough to break the gried and jagged and did ye olde robot The chubby kid really had some moves

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

THE BIG SEND-OFF:

PART TWO

Everything was quiet and dark in the store oke to the sound of Luna barking and Astrid yelling her head off:

"JAKENIKODEANBRAYDENGETOVERHERE!"

We ripped through the store, scra over each other in our half-asleep state, but awake as soon as our feet hit the linoleuht of a lantern

I rounded the head of the aisle and I saw an airon it in his underwear And Astrid

Astrid stood above Robbie, holding a handgun, ai and barking her head off

Then I saw Sahalia

She was crying and basically naked Just wearing a thong She sat on the floor, clutching her nightgown to her chest

Sahalia and Robbie had been …

Sahalia and Robbie had been …

Sahalia and Robbie had been … what?

"What the hell?" Jake said

"Take the gun," Astrid said

Jake took the gun fro it at Robbie’s midsection

"This is intense This is too intense," Jake said, and I saw his hand was tre!" Robbie protested

Sahalia eeping, clinging to Astrid as if she was a life raft Astrid was ather her from the floor at the same time

"It’s okay," Astrid said "You’re fine You’re fine Just get up"

Sahalia clutched her nightgown to her chest and Astrid moved her toward the Train

"Guys," Robbie said "It’s not what you think I was just lying here sleeping, and I woke up and she was on top of me She said she wanted irlfriend I said no!" He held his hands up

"You’re a liar!" Niko said

"I’ you the truth," Robbie continued "I kno bad this looks, but really, I said no Really Te lo juro!"

Luna was still barking and growling

"Co over to hi her down

Trying to cal," he said to the dog "These kids would never hurt anyone It’s a big uys Did they buy it? Did I buy it?

"She’s crazy, that girl," Robbie said "She kept talking about how none of you think she’s a grown-up but how she is, and she wanted to prove it to you, and honestly, I was trying to get her to put back her nightgown on when that other crazy girl cah! Just don’t talk Let uys stay here and keep the gun on hi to un on hio talk to Sahalia I’ll find out what happened here and then we’ll knohat to do"

Niko sprinted down the aisle

"Oh God," Jake said The hand that held the gun was shaking violently "I think I’un," Brayden said,up Lurching up

I was too slow A beat behind

Robbie grabbed the gun from Jake, just as Brayden reached for it

"No!" Brayden shouted He snatched at the gun and in the scuffle the gun fired with a deafening BANG