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"It's payback time," he says, then, "Now!"
I pull the cord and the blind flies up. Henri fires the shotgun. The sound is deafening, echoing in my ears for seconds after. He cocks the gun again, keeps it aimed. I twist my body to look out. Two fallen scouts are lying in the grass, unmoving. One of them is reduced to ash with the same hollow thud as the one in the hallway. Henri shoots the other a second time and it does the same. Shadows seem to swarm around them.
"Six, bring a fridge over," Henri says to her.
Mark and Sarah watch with amazement as the fridge floats in the air towards us and is positioned in front of the window to block the Mogadorians from entering or seeing into the room.
"Better than nothing," Henri says. He turns to Six. "How much time do we have?"
"Time is short," she says. "They have an outpost three hours from here, in a hollowed-out mountain in West Virginia."
Henri snaps the gun open, slides in two new cartridges, snaps it shut.
"How many bullets does that hold?" I ask.
"Ten," he says.
Sarah and Mark whisper to each other. I walk over to them.
"You guys okay?" I ask.
Sarah nods, Mark shrugs, neither really knowing quite what to say in the terror of the situation. I kiss Sarah on the cheek and take hold of her hand.
"Don't worry," I say. "We'll get out of this."
I turn to Six and Henri. "Why are they just out there waiting?" I ask. "Why don't they break a window and rush in? They know they have us outnumbered."
"They only want to keep us here, inside," Six says. "They have us exactly where they want us, all together, confined to one place. Now they're waiting for the others to arrive, the soldiers with the weapons, the ones who are skilled at killing. They're desperate now because they know we're developing our Legacies. They can't afford to screw it up and risk us getting stronger. They know that some of us can now fight back."
"We have to get out of here then," Sarah pleads, her voice soft and shaky.
Six nods reassuringly to her. And then I remember something I had forgotten in all the excitement.
"Wait, your being here, us being together, that breaks the charm. All the others are fair game now," I say. "They can kill us at will."
I can see by the look of horror on Henri's face that it had slipped his mind as well.
Six nods. "I had to risk it," she says. "We can't keep ru
Bernie Kosar is still barking at the window. I almost want to let him outside, see what he can do. His mouth is frothing with his teeth bared, hair standing tall down the center of his back. The dog is ready, I think. The question is, are the rest of us?
"Well, you're here now," Henri says. "Let's hope the others are safe; let's hope they can fend for themselves. Both of you will know immediately if they can't. As for us, war has come to our doorstep. We didn't ask for it, but now that it's here we have no choice but to meet it, head on, with full force," he says. He lifts his head and looks at us, the whites of his eyes glistening through the dark of the room.
"I agree with you, Six," he says. "The time has come."
CHAPTER THIRTY
Wind from the open window rushes into the home economics room, the refrigerator in front of it doing little to prevent the cold air. The school is already chilly from the electricity being off. Six is now wearing only the rubber suit, which is entirely black aside from a gray band slicing diagonally down the front of it. She is standing in the middle of our group with such poise and confidence that I wish I had a Loric suit of my own. She opens her mouth to speak but is interrupted by a loud boom from outside. All of us rush to the windows but can see nothing of what is happening. The crash is followed by several loud bangs, and the sounds of tearing, gnashing, something being destroyed.
"What's happening?" I ask.
"Your lights," Henri says over the sounds of destruction.
I turn them on and sweep them across the yard outside. They reach but ten feet before being swallowed by the darkness. Henri steps back and tilts his head, listening to the sounds in extreme concentration, and then he nods in resigned acceptance.
"They are destroying all the cars out there, my truck included," he says. "If we survive this and escape this school, it'll have to be on foot."
Terror sweeps across both Mark's and Sarah's faces.
"We can't waste any more time," Six says. "Strategy or no strategy, we have to go before the beasts and soldiers arrive. She said we can get out through the gymnasium," Six says, and nods at Sarah. "It's our only hope."
"Her name is Sarah," I say.
I sit in a nearby chair, u
"What?" I ask.
She looks up at me. "You don't know?"
"Know what?"
Her grin widens. She looks back at Bernie Kosar, who races away from her and charges back to the window, scratching at it, growling, the occasional bark in frustration. The school is surrounded, death imminent, almost certain, and Six is gri
"Your dog," she says. "You really don't know?"
"No," says Henri. I look at him. He shakes his head at Six.
"What the hell?" I ask. "What?"
Six looks at me, then at Henri. She emits a half laugh and opens her mouth to speak. But just before any words escape something catches her eye and she rushes back to the window. We follow and, as before, the very subtle glow of a set of headlights sweeps around the bend in the road and into the lot of the school. Another car, maybe a coach or teacher. I close my eyes and take a deep breath.
"It could mean nothing," I say.
"Turn your lights off," Henri says to me.
I turn them off, clench my hands into fists. Something about the car outside causes anger within me. The hell with the exhaustion, with the shakes that have been present ever since I jumped through the principal's window. I can't take being confined in this room any longer, knowing that the Mogadorians are out there, waiting, and plotting our doom. That car outside may be the first of the soldiers arriving on the scene. But just when that thought pops into my mind, we see the lights quickly retreat from the lot, and speed away in a hurry, down the same road they came.
"We have to get out of this damn school," Henri says.
Henri sits in a chair ten feet away from the door with the shotgun aimed right at it. He is breathing slowly though he is tense and I can see the muscles flexed in his jaw. None of us say a word. Six made herself invisible and slipped out to do some exploring. We're just waiting, and finally it comes. Three slight taps on the door, Six's knock so that we know it's her and not a scout trying to enter. Henri lowers the gun and she walks in and I return one of the fridges to block the door behind her. She was gone for a full ten minutes.