Among the Enemy

Chapter Thirty-Eight

The next several hours passed in a complete blur. The starving people from the streets came in first, stumbling and rubbing their eyes and squinting as if they couldn't believe the sight before them.

"Take as much food as you can carry," Matthias told them, again and again. "Then run as far away from here as you can!"

They were all gone before the first group of people showed up holding the fake Population Police flyers. These people were used to standing in line; they were used to being handed measly portions of grain or small lumps of mealy bread. They couldn't seem to understand, "Take as much as you can." They couldn't seem to understand, "Grab anything! Go!"

With each group that came in, Matthias watched the emotions play over people's faces: first astonishment and disbelief, then craftiness, then unbridled glee. A carnival atmosphere took over the storeroom. Word seemed to spread between the groups that were leaving and the ones arriving; some people in the later groups brought young children, and Matthias overheard parents telling little boys and girls, "This is how grocery stores looked when I was a kid. And we could go there anytime we wanted…."

Matthias was just glad to see the food disappearing from the shelves.

By 6:00 A.M., all the food had vanished from the lower levels. The metal walkways leading to the upper levels got so crowded that people had to reach out from ladders; they had to balance on wobbly rungs while they shoved peaches and apples and potatoes into their pockets. This slowed everyone down, but Matthias didn't think it mat' tered until Mike came and whispered into his ear, "We need to clear this place out in five minutes."

"Why?" Matthias asked.

"News got back to headquarters," Mike said. "The commander's on his way over right now."

"Everybody out!" Matthias shouted.

"The building's going to explode!" Mike hollered behind him.

That got people running. Some jumped off ladders from five rungs up. Some of the Population Police officers who had handed out the flyers were standing around the doors, and they were the first ones out, clutching loaves of bread and cartons of milk.

"Why'd you say that?" Matthias asked Mike as they were carried along in the stampede for the doors.

"Because it's true!" Mike said. "Run! Get as far away from here as you can!"

Mike grabbed Matthias's arm and jerked him along with the crowd, but a man carrying a huge bag of potatoes smashed in between them. Matthias landed on the floor, out of the way of all the feet trampling toward the exits. He blinked up dizzily at the lights; the nearly empty shelves overhead seemed to sway in and out of his line of sight.

The building's going to explode? Is that really true or just another of Mike's lies? Why would it explode?

Then Matthias remembered the roomful of I.D.'s. He remembered Project Exchange and Project Authenticity and the fact that the storeroom of food was the only thing that had kept the rebels from trying to destroy the I.D.'s before. But the food was mostly gone now, except for a stray rotten apple or two here and there.

Matthias struggled to his feet. He fought his way back into the crowd, squeezed through a doorway and along the hall. And then suddenly fresh air hit his face and, oddly, there was sunlight.

People were screaming and running and some of them had dropped their food. Matthias grabbed a heap of potatoes and stuffed them in his pocket. He saw Mike standing across the street — the only person just standing, not running. Mike caught Matthias's eye and smiled and nodded, and then Mike turned his head and seemed to be whispering something into his collar. He waved his hand toward Matthias, beckoning him away from the warehouse.

Matthias remembered how the man in the tree back by the cabin had tried to wave him away from danger. Matthias hadn't understood, but the entire world had seemed to explode into gunfire only seconds later. Matthias glanced behind him and saw that the stream of people running out of the warehouse had stopped. Everyone was out now. Everyone was safe. Except—

Matthias remembered the guard. The guard Mike had knocked unconscious and hidden in an alcove.

Matthias turned and darted back into the building. He thought he could hear Mike across the street yelling, "No! Come back!" but he kept going. His footsteps echoed in the now-deserted hallway. He found the guard and grabbed him under the armpits and tugged and tugged. But the guard was much larger and heavier than Matthias, so his progress was slow. Matthias strained harder, his pulse throbbing in his ears as if counting off the seconds he had left.

Matthias reached the doorway to the outdoors, and the sunlight blinded him temporarily. The street seemed to be empty now, except for one car pulled up to the bottom of the stairs and one man stepping out of it.

One man. The commander.

"You?" the commander said, his voice a mix of bafflement and pain.

Matthias shoved the guard's body forward. It rolled down the stairs, gaining momentum until it slammed into the commander, knocking him back against the car. Matthias didn't have time to watch what happened next. He could hear rumblings behind him. He hurdled the railing and dived underneath the car, sliding into position between the two front tires.

And then the warehouse collapsed, raining bricks down everywhere.