Crowam 281 (23 page)

I didn’t answer, feeling lost in myself.

“I’ll take the silence as a no.” Mr. Hugo pulled out his German pistol from his coat pocket, just like from what I remember when I first visited his office.

“No!” I yelled. “Please, don’t!”

Mr. Hugo shot the boy in the back of the head. He fell to ground. The thud of his body hitting the floor was blunt and distinct. The shot from the pistol stung my ears, the gunshot reverberating through the cafeteria

“You killed him!” Charles yelled.

“No, you can thank Mr. Hudson for that. Mr. Hudson made a choice, children. There are consequences to the choices we make. Here is such a consequence. You have killed one boy already, Mr. Hudson, all because of your recklessness.”

The boy’s body was beside Mr. Hugo. The other boy, no other than twelve, cried and wet his pants. I grabbed George by the shirt collar. I wanted to rip his throat out. I wanted to blame him, more so than Mr. Hugo, and he was the one who killed the boy. “Tell him to stop,” I said.

“He won’t listen to me.”

“Maybe we should just kill you right here.”

“You kill me, and you kill yourselves.”

The guards carried away the body, blood dripping from the boy’s head. “I’m getting bored, Mr. Hudson. Perhaps we should make things a little more exciting!” He snapped his fingers again.

I recognized the sobbing.

“My God, they have Petey,” Charles said.

Petey stood in front of Mr. Hugo with Mr. Hugo’s hands placed on his shoulders. “Petey, are you ok?” I asked. He trembled under Mr. Hugo’s towering presence.

Hannah emerged from the herd of guards, seemingly unfazed by the turn of events. “Again, Mr. Hudson. We have choices to make. Surely, you want no harm done to this boy.”

“I swear, if you hurt him...”

“Or what, Mr. Hudson? I have the upper hand. Do you think you’re some sort of hero, Mr. Hudson? I hate to inform you, but heroism is a myth, a fairy tale we were all told so we could feel better about ourselves. To make us think that there are those among who will make the world a better place. I got news for you, we’re all sad, miserable creatures who, under the right circumstances, can do horrible things to one another. We are all selfish and impervious to righteous thought. If heroes ever existed, heroes are for fairytales and books.

I went to climb over the table, which served as a barrier. Felix and Charles pulled me back. I attempted to fight them off. “What are you doing, are you crazy?” Felix said.

“I have to stop him. He’s insane!”

“Damn it, he’ll kill you on the spot!” Charles said.

“I don’t care.”

“You do care. You want to live don’t you? I failed to realize you have some sort of death wish.”

“He’s going to kill Petey!”

“We must release the guard,” Felix said.

“He’ll kill Petey anyway.”

“We’re running out of options,” Felix said.

“Alright. Help him up.”

We lifted George off the ground. He shrieked in pain. We gave him a chair to use as a walker. None of us wanted to help him across no man’s land. “Alright, give us Petey and we’ll release George.”

“Release him first.”

“No.”

Mr. Hugo pointed the gun at Petey. “I have the upper hand, Mr. Hudson.”

We let go of George. He struggled to walk across the space between us and the guards. Mr. Hugo smiled his mischievous and evil smile. He pointed his gun at George.

“No!” George yelled.

The bullet went through his skull, making a crater in the wall behind us. George fell to the ground.

“My God!” Charles said. “This man is pure evil.”

“Petey!”

“Oh, children. How I love to play,” Mr. Hugo said. “Hannah, come here.”

“Yes?” Hannah said nervously.

He handed her the pistol, smoke still rising from the barrel. He whispered in her ear. She shuttered from what he said. “But, haven’t you proved your point? This is not necessary. He’s only a baby.”

“That is why we must release him from this ‘cruel world,’ ” Mr. Hugo said.

“I can’t,” she said.

“Hannah…”

“Please, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. I had a little brother. Don’t you remember?”

“Ha! Now is when you discover your guilty conscience? You’ve been able to sleep well all those nights, after all we’ve done here. How rich.”

“I can’t.”

“Do it!” Mr. Hugo yelled.

Hannah took Petey, pointing the gun at him.

“Hannah, please don’t!” I yelled. Charles and Felix held me back. “Don’t kill him Hannah! You don’t have to do this!”

“Don’t listen to him, shoot him!” Mr. Hugo yelled.

Hannah and I stared at each other from across the room, locking eyes for the last time. “I’m sorry, Jake. I’m so sorry,” she said. She shoved Petey aside, pointing the gun directly at Mr. Hugo and pulled the trigger.

The gun didn’t fire. He snatched the gun away from her in disgust. “Pity. If only you took the safety off.”

I finally pulled away from Felix and Charles, sprinting across no man’s land. I reached for Mr. Hugo, knocking off his balance while a guard tackled me. Mr. Hugo already got off a shot. Hannah fell clutching her stomach, her blouse soaked in red.

Mr. Hugo went to grab Petey. He bit Mr. Hugo’s hand. “You little s**t!” He smacked Petey, knocking him to the ground. I managed to get away from the guard. I clenched my fist as tightly as I could. The punch cleared Mr. Hugo’s face. I never punched so hard in my entire life. The sensation of my fist landing on bone and flesh felt good and primitive. I picked up Petey.

Mr. Hugo grabbed his pistol and ran off. Felix and Charles led the rest of the boys, attacking guards and striking while the iron was hot. I went to Hannah. I saw the blood from her wounds drip onto the floor, creating a pool of crimson. The blood, dark, thickened with every drip.

I held her head as madness ensued around me. Her expression was calm and warm. Her eyes were as I remembered them when I first met her. She seemed innocent again, at peace with the death that was about to come. “Hannah?”

“Hello, Jake.”

“You’re going to be ok.”

“You’re lying again.”

“I’m going to take you out of here. I’ll take you away from this place.”

“Oh, if only that were possible. Jake, where I am going, you cannot follow. I must pay for what I have done here. I only hope that God grants me mercy. I’m so sorry. Jake?”

“Yes?”

“Would you have really taken me to America?”

“Yes.”

“We would have had an amazing time, wouldn’t we?”

“Yes, Hannah.”

“Why did it have to be this way?”

“I don’t know, Hannah.”

“Jake, what if there’s nothing at the end?”

“Stop talking.”

“I’m scared.”

“You’re going to be alright.”

She began to pass, but her eyes grew bigger like something came toward her. An expression of shock as if she saw something she had never seen before. I closed her eyes with my hand as she took her last breath. Her blood was on my shirt. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. I felt someone shove my shoulder. “Jake, we have to go,” Charles said.

Felix came, kneeling down next to me. “She’s gone, Jake. We must go.” I let go of Hannah.

“Where’s Petey?” I yelled.

Captain Longwood grabbed him. He raised his billy club. I tackled him to the ground. I punched him square in the nose. Blood exploded from his nostrils.

“Good show. I think you broke the son of bitch’s nose!” Charles yelled.

I let Charles and Felix take care of our friend Captain Longwood. I took Petey aside. “You alright, kid?”

He hugged me, clinging to my neck. “It’s ok, kid. Everything is going to be alright.”

“Do I have to leave again?” he asked.

“No, this time you’re sticking with me.”

“Do I get to fight?!”

“You’re staying no less than three feet away from me and that’s non-negotiable. Understand?”

“Yes,” he pouted.

I let go of Petey and got back into the fight.

The guards threw some tear gas bombs at us. The smoke burned my eyes and lungs, causing me to cough uncontrollably. The fighting spilled over outside into the courtyard where we were out in the open. The morning was bright, with the sun beaming down on the insurrection below.

“How long can we keep going like this?” Charles asked.

“I don’t know. Not too much longer,” I said. “Where the hell is Owen?”

“He could be captured or dead,” Felix said.

“We don’t know that,” I said.

“So what are we supposed to do if ‘the cavalry’ doesn’t arrive, as you Americans put it,” Jake said.

“I don’t know.”

“Perhaps we should have come up with a plan B,” Charles said.

“There is no plan B. If we surrender, we’re dead, finished. Either way we’re fighting until we leave this place or… well, you get the idea.”

“At least we could say we had a good crack at it,” Felix said.

“It’s not over yet.”

“My God.” The ground might as well have trembled with his footsteps. The Bus Driver, as he is known, entered the arena like a giant beast, slowly lumbering his way toward us. “Things are about to get very interesting,” Felix said.

“I want you and Charles to find whoever is left and get them out here. I’ll do my best to hold him back,” I said.

“Clearly you must be joking?” Charles said.

“I told you I would take care of the Bus Driver. You have a chance to get out of here. Take it.”

“Do you have some sort of death wish or something?”

“I’m not going down on their terms. I’m doing it my way.”

“Bravado and pride don’t work in these circumstances, Jake. We have to stick together. That was part of the plan,” Charles said.

“Well, the plan has changed.”

“Damn it, man. Don’t be a fool!”

“Just get out of here. I’ll see you on the other side.”

The Bus Driver tossed the other boys around like rag dolls. He grabbed one boy and elbowed him, his face bloody. He fell onto the ground. “Well, boy, we meet again,” he said.

I said nothing, just analyzing his sheer size. “I’m going to take pleasure in breaking every bone in your body. It won’t be quick. I’m going to make sure you suffer, you little bastard.”

I knew attacking him head on would be futile. He would be expecting it. Plus he was far bigger. The dirt was muddy from the light rain the night before. I ran toward him, sliding beneath his massive legs. With one swoop, I swung my billy club at his crouch, hitting a bundle of genitalia. He shrieked in agony, falling to his knees.

I grabbed him behind his neck, choking him with the billy club. I squeezed as tight as I could, trying to squeeze every last bit of air out of his lungs. He got back on his feet as I held on for dear life. His giant arms swung against the wind, trying to grab me. I felt his adam’s apple underneath my forearm. It felt like a ball underneath rubber.

I squeezed tighter, only agitating him further. His arms were like propellers from one of them giant B-17s my dad used to fly, whipping through the air, the wind hitting my face. Charles and Felix charged the Bus Driver, punching anywhere they thought would do harm. He kicked Charles in the stomach, sending him to the ground in agony.

“Hang on, Jake,” Felix said.

One of his giant hands finally grabbed me. With one swoop, he tossed me several feet. It felt like I was floating. The ground and sky swirled around me. I hit the ground, back first. I felt a sharp pain shoot through my body. For a moment, I thought I broke my back. “Damn it!” I yelled. The pain paralyzed me. I couldn’t move, immobilized by pain and fear. “Is this how I’m going to go?” I thought.

“Jake!” Felix ran to me.

“Get out of here,” I yelled.

“Shut up, will you?”

The ground trembled with his footsteps as he came closer. I tried getting up, but my body felt like calling it quits. “This is the end for you” The Bus Driver lumbered toward us.

“Do I have to do everything myself, Yank?” The Bus Driver’s legs buckled, as Tom blindsided him with the hardest punch I’d ever seen. The Bus Driver’s teeth blew out of his mouth, his mouth frothy with blood. Tom went over and reached out his hand. “You going to lay there all day or you going to get back in the fight?”

I couldn’t help but smile. I grabbed his hand. He lifted me off the ground with relative ease. “Glad you could join us,” I said.

“It’s about bloody time,” Felix said.

“You broke my teeth!” the Bus Driver screamed. The three of us tackled him to the ground. We punched and kicked him till we couldn’t kick and punch anymore. His face was flushed and swollen. The tide turned with our defeat of the large brute. We heard a large crash coming from the front gate. Police vehicles began pouring into the courtyard.

“My God, Owen did it!” Felix yelled.

“Where’s Charles?” I said.

Charles was still on the ground, spitting out blood like he was going to cough out a lung.

“You ok?” I asked.

“He kicked me in the bloody stomach!” Charles said.

“Can you get up?”

“I think so.” Tom helped him up. “Oh, that hurts.” Charles complained.

“Oh, shut up,” Tom said.

“Nice seeing you too.”

The guards ran off as more police entered the courtyard. The boys cheered in victory. I looked up to Mr. Hugo’s office window, finding a presence behind the windowpane. “Where are you going?” Felix said.

“I have some unfinished business with Mr. Hugo.”

“Damn it, man. What are you doing? It’s over!”

“Not for me it isn’t,” I said.

The hallways were eerily quiet leading to Mr. Hugo’s office. Guards sprinted through the hallways, ignoring my presence. The door to Mr. Hugo’s office was slightly ajar, as if it was waiting for an invitation to be opened. The door creaked as I opened it. The sun flared into the room, the rays hitting Mr. Hugo’s oak table.