Among the Enemy

Chapter Four

When Matthias woke up, hours later, Percy was crouched beside him, staring off into space. Matthias would have expected Percy to say, Good morning, or Feeling better? or, best of all, Alia's going to be all right.

Instead, Percy blinked once and said in a flat voice, "Samuel would have stopped and helped those other kids."

Matthias felt as though Percy had stabbed him right through the heart. Of course Samuel would have helped the other kids injured by the falling tree — the kids injured because of Matthias plunging the nail into the tire. Even if it meant getting caught himself, Samuel would have I ended their wounds, stroked their brows, comforted I hem. Even if they were going to die anyway, he would have stayed by their side until the very end.

Oh, dear Lord, Matthias prayed. Did some of those kids die because of me?

"We could go back," he said without much hope.

Percy shook his head.

"There were other trucks, remember? I'm sure the other drivers came back. It's too late now."

Matthias winced. Those words hurt too. Too late, too late. . He'd made a decision in a split second, when he wasn't thinking of anyone but himself and Percy and Alia. His aching hand clenched, like he was still holding the nail, still had a chance to make a different decision. A deci^ sion that wouldn't leave any innocent children dead.

But it was too late.

'And Alia?" he whispered. "Is she—?"

"She's still sleeping," Percy said, pointing.

Matthias raised himself on one elbow so he could see the little girl, lying flat on her back on a bed of leaves nearby.

"She's unconscious," he corrected Percy.

"Same thing," Percy said.

"No." Matthias shook his head. Why didn't Percy understand? Sleep was what healthy children did when they were tired. Unconscious was someone sick, someone on the verge of death.

"I washed her wounds," Percy said. "I tore off a piece of her nightgown for a bandage for her head. I made sure it was a clean part of the nightgown."

Like that's going to matter, Matthias thought.

Percy was looking at Matthias strangely.

"I don't think any of the Population Police saw us escape," Percy said. "No one followed us. I found a stream with clear water and a tree that had all sorts of nuts underneath it. It wasn't hard to get them open with a rock. So we have food."

Matthias knew what Percy was doing. This was a game that Samuel had taught them. When times were bad, they always recited all the good things they could think of. Matthias was supposed to add to the list, then finish with, And God loves us. But the only good thing that Matthias could think of was, Alia's not dead yet. And that was a blessing with a curse hidden inside it. "Not dead yet" just meant that the full weight of Matthias's pain and grief was lurking a little ways ahead.

He stood up abruptly.

"We should start walking," he said. "We've wasted too much time already."

'All right," Percy said. "Where do you think we should go?"

But Matthias hadn't thought about a destination. He just wanted to move, to get away.

Percy had everything figured out anyway.

"I thought about it while you and Alia were sleeping," he said. "I think we should go to Mr. Hendricks. He's got that separate cottage — even if the Population Police raided his school when they raided Niedler, maybe they didn't catch him."

Mr. Hendricks was the headmaster of a school that Percy, Matthias, and Alia had visited, but not attended, before they went to Niedler. And Mr. Hendricks was friends with Mr. Talbot, the man who'd saved them the first time they'd been captured by the Population Police. He'd been with them at Hendricks School too. Matthias remembered their time with Mr. Hendricks as a joyous vacation. It'd been the first time he'd felt truly happy after Samuel's death.

That was before I became a murderer, he thought.

"Well?" Percy asked, and Matthias had to squint at him, trying to remember what they'd been talking about. "Should we go to Mr. Hendricks, or do you have a better plan?"

Matthias shrugged. "That's fine," he said.

He bent over and picked up Alia, and the strain on his muscles felt good. He deserved the pain in his arms, the ache in his back. He deserved worse.

Behind him, he heard Percy mumble an end to the List of Good Things game: "We're alive. We're together. And God loves us."

Matthias started walking as quickly as he could so Percy wouldn't see the tears streaming down his face.