Eliot Strange and the Prince of the Apocalypse

14) Mr. Ramsay's Room

Nana told us to be careful, and we have been patient so far. Loud, for sure, but patient and watchful. We are careful but not careful enough. We get distracted by the motherlode of peanuts and chips and, glory hallelujah, case of real canned Cokes in Mr. Ramsay's room. We drink two each straight away and start burping so loudly and laughing so hard that we don't see him until he is standing at the door. It is a soldier with a gotcha grin on his face. Both Steven and I stand as if frozen, afraid to move.

"Got one for me?" he asks.

I wipe my mouth off although it is impossible for me to hold back that last burp as I ask, "Who are you?" and then to show that I have just asked the most stupid question ever, I ask a dumber one. "What do you want?"

I don't know if he thinks we are funny - there had been a burp fest going on when he arrived - but he just keeps grinning at us. It is unnerving.

"These supplies are ours," says Steven who adds, "Sorry," like he really is sorry because, though we had been warned about bad guys, this one has blue eyes and dimples you can fall into that we can see through his scruffy beard. And, he keeps smiling, like he is glad to see us or like he knows something we don't.

"I think you guys are stealing," he says as he points at the nameplate beside the door. "Mr. Ramsay probably won't like you drinking his last Cokes. Might be the last ones in town, and I feel sure there's a looting law here you both might be violating."

He is right, there had been a looting law. A couple of looters were shot early on, but that was weeks ago, before the real soldiers left. Everyone is looting now. I am sure "anything goes" is the law now or at least "first come, first served" or "finders keepers", or what my dad calls "the rule of possession". But, I am still unnerved. Is he going to arrest us? I can tell Steven is scared too.

When in doubt at the end of the world, lie.

"Mr. Ramsay said we could have them. He's right down the hall. He's coming right back. You better get out of here," I lie. I glance towards another door at the back of the class.

"I don't think Mr. Ramsay's anywhere around," says Blue Eyes. "Looks like this town is mostly deserted, except for old folks and lovely thieves."

I brush my matted hair out of my eyes, and Steven blushes, and I swear, he bats his own long eyelashes at Blue Eyes.

"Well," says Steven. "It don't matter, because we can take care of ourselves." He sticks his chest out, and he points at my gun.

Survivor rule - Never show all your cards to an enemy. I forgot to teach that one to Steven.

"Its ok," Blue Eyes says, and this is how fast he turns from the nicest looking guy I have ever talked to up close to a person who might be dangerous. "I got one too." He pats his sidearm. I remember my dad saying - trust no one. I am guessing my dad meant not even someone beautiful.

As I am trying to decide if Blue Eyes is my enemy, but before I can react, we hear people coming down the hall. The way they are coming, loudly and without fear, tells me they are definitely the enemy.

I reach to raise my gun. Blue Eyes pulls his gun out of the holster on his side and this is when I see the 1 on his camo jacket right above the bullet hole surrounded by blood. Steven sees it too. He looks at me.

"I know a way out," Blue Eyes whispers as he steps through the door, "Follow me."

There is no way I am following him anywhere. He is one of them - a soldier in the One Nation Army, maybe a deserter, but still one of them. That 1 on his coat says it all.

"We are not going anywhere with you," I whisper back as I point to his coat.

He looks down at his coat and smiles a sad smile at me. Then Blue Eyes does what I worried about all along. He shouts, "Hey we're in here."

I freeze for a split second, but the training I have been beating into the brain of my best friend for months kicks in automatically. Steven does what I taught him. He surprises the enemy. Steven, who had a no-hitter in a baseball game once in what seems like a lifetime ago, throws the perfect strike and almost hits the soldier in the face with a full can of Coke. We don't wait around to see his reaction but run towards the opposite door that leads out of the school. That is when my able student makes a rookie mistake. We are almost out the door when Steven says something that sounds like, "My damn Cokes."

Here is where I abandon everything my dad taught me, including the rule: Sometimes you gotta cut your losses. I am not going to leave Steven. He is family and family comes first. I turn back too. Coming through the other door are two men with guns drawn and aimed at Steven who has Cokes in each hand. Steven is winding up and getting ready to fire Cokes two and three at the men. A Coke can, even if full and even if thrown by a champion pitcher, will not stop a bullet.

It is just like my dad said. Everything becomes slow motion. I raise my gun as I say, "Steady, steady," in what feels like a recording that keeps repeating itself. I am laser focused and ready to kill. The soldiers quickly turn their guns away from Steven and onto me. I see the whole situation from their view in my brain, and I see my death.

This is not at all like shooting a rabbit, I am thinking, because the targets in my sights are pointing their guns right back at me. Steady, steady. My hand is trembling ever so slightly, and I can feel my heartbeat in my neck. Just as the first man takes his shooting stance, Blue Eyes steps from behind the door. I cannot describe what he does because it is so fast and so precise, while everything else is in slow motion, that it is only later, when Steven and I are talking about what happened, that I realize I was probably in shock. 

It is not everyday you have two guns pointed at your heart and live to tell about it.