Among the Enemy

Chapter Twenty-Four

It was so hard, walking out of the warehouse, not to recoil from the commander's every touch. The commander put his hand on Matthias's shoulder, and Matthias had to constantly remind himself, Don't pull away, don't pull away; he has to think you're still on his side.

The commander slapped the guard again on the way out the door, and it was all Matthias could do not to yell at the commander, You're just a big bully! You know that? and to the guard, Why do you let him do that to you? Why don't you hit him back?

The commander kicked away a pile of rubbish that had apparently blown up against the car. It turned out not to be rubbish. It was a person, a vagrant who'd curled up against the warmth of the car to sleep. He huddled on the ground in pain — all skin and bones and rags.

And a soul, Matthias told himself, thinking like Samuel again.

Matthias looked around, blinking. All the lumps along the warehouse wall that looked like garbage — those were people too. Starving people, just the other side of a wall from untold riches of food. It shook Matthias that he hadn't even noticed them before.

I can make up for that, Matthias thought. / can heat up the commander, I can lead a charge of the hungry against the door. We can overpower the guard. .

No, he couldn't. As the commander had said, starving people didn't make good warriors. They wouldn't be able to overpower a flea, let alone a well-fed guard. And Matthias, even after growing and filling out, was still just a boy.

With Nina's help, with Trey…, Matthias thought, strain ing to come up with a plan.

"Come along," the commander said.

Matthias got into the car, and the commander tucked a thick blanket around his legs. Matthias realized, as he hadn't before, that the car was familiar: It was Mrs. Talbot's car, the car he and Tiddy had stolen, now restored to its former splendor. Matthias had been too numb to notice before, and now he didn't have time to think about it. They were driving away. Matthias forced himself to pay close attention to the turns they made. Left at the broken lamppost, right at the sign that says "Wa— hous- Way" … As soon as Matthias got back to his room, he'd write it all down and reverse it, so he could lead Nina and Trey back.

They reached a stretch where the commander didn't make any turns at all. The commander was humming. Matthias couldn't stand it.

"Why?" he burst out. "Why keep that food, why guard it, if no one's ever going to eat it?"

The commander chuckled.

"Oh, it will be eaten, all right," he said. "In fact, it will serve its purpose very soon."

Matthias tried to keep silent. If he didn't act overly interested, he thought the commander was more likely to talk. But the commander went back to humming.

"What are you going to do with it? How soon?" Matthias asked. He tried to sound overawed and maybe a little bit stupid. How had he sounded before they went into the warehouse, before everything changed?

The commander glanced over at Matthias. His eyes glittered in the darkness. Did he suspect anything?

"Oh, never mind," the commander said. "It's complicated. And it was… it was Tiddy's plan."

"Tiddy," Matthias echoed sadly. He was totally acting now, playing the word for effect.

He looked over, and the commander had tears streaming down his face.

And, in spite of himself, Matthias felt guilty.