The opening was only five steps away, maybe six, and Jonah stretched out his legs, sprinting like he’d never sprinted before. In a second his right foot would be out in the sunlight, he’d slip through—
Something slammed into him from the side, knocking him to the rock floor. It was like being tackled in football—this was why he’d never liked football—without any pads or helmet. And it was like he was playing on a stone field. And, oh yeah, like his tackler had muscles of stone, as Gary seemed to.
The sunlight disappeared.
“Are you an idiot?” Gary demanded from above him. “You could have been crushed in that door. Killed.”
“Caves don’t have doors,” Jonah muttered back, though his jaw felt broken, smashed against the rock.
“This one does. It’s been modified,” Gary said. “They want to use it for meetings.”
And it was so strange that Jonah and Gary could have that conversation, while behind them, the other kids were gasping and shrieking. Jonah could especially hear Katherine screaming, “Jonah, oh, Jonah, are you okay?”
Oh. She was screaming it directly into his ear, because she was sprawled on the ground beside him.
Gary was scrambling up.
“He’s fine,” he called out. “He just panicked. I guess we should have warned you that we were closing the door, so we could have some privacy.”
“You have to open it,” Jonah said, raising his face from the ground. “I—I’m claustrophobic.”
He grinned, amazed at his own quick thinking. He thought maybe he should act a little wacko, so everyone would believe that he’d been freaked out by the notion of being closed in, cut off from the outside world. He stood up. All the other kids were staring at him, their eyes bugging out…. Oh. Right. They already thought he was wacko.
“I mean it,” Jonah demanded. It was a relief to let all his panic come through in his voice, to sound as scared as he felt. “Open the door. You’ve got to.” His voice cracked. Maybe, on top of everything else, he truly was claustrophobic. The walls seemed closer together than they’d been before. The air seemed to be running out.
“Now, now,” Gary said, clamping his hand down on Jonah’s shoulder once more. “Calm down. If this is really a problem for you, I can take you out the back entrance, so you don’t ruin this workshop for everyone else.”
Jonah’s eyes met Katherine’s. She was still crouched below him. He wanted to ask her advice, work out some plans. If Jonah went off with Gary, could Katherine and Chip and maybe some of the other kids overpower Mr. Hodge? Would they know to do that? Or was Mr. Hodge already too suspicious of Katherine and Chip because he’d seen them with Jonah?
Anyhow, was Gary even telling the truth about a back entrance? All Jonah could picture was himself bound and gagged and hidden at the back of the cave, helpless while all the other kids were taken away.
Jonah took a deep breath, ready to say, “No, that’s all right. I feel better now. I can stay.” Then suddenly Gary’s hand was jerking him backward, pulling him toward the ground again. Jonah’s shoulder slammed into the rock, even harder than before.
“What’d you do that for?” Jonah started to ask. But Gary had already let go and was rolling away from Jonah. Jonah raised his head. Now he could see what had happened. Gary hadn’t meant to pull Jonah down. Jonah was just collateral damage, falling with Gary when somebody else knocked Gary down. Now Gary and the other man were wrestling on the ground, first one rolling to the top, then the other. The other man was also wearing jeans and a sweatshirt and hiking boots; he was—
“JB!” Katherine shrieked. “You came back!”
Jonah felt the relief flowing through him. He relaxed against the stone floor, letting go of all his fears. JB had protected them before; he’d protect them now. Jonah didn’t have to worry about what to do, how to save the other kids. JB would save them all.
Except…
JB was getting his head pounded into the stone floor. It’d been quite a while since the last time JB had rolled over on top of Gary, the last time he’d seemed to be dominating this fight.
Jonah jumped up.
“Katherine!” he screamed. “JB’s going to lose if we don’t help him!”
Jonah lunged at the struggling men. He grabbed Gary’s arm—his thick-as-a-tree-stump arm, with biceps as distinct as rope—and, by bracing his feet against the ground, Jonah managed to keep Gary from punching JB again.
No—scratch that. Gary’s arm continued forward. Jonah had managed only to keep Gary from punching JB quite so hard.
“Chip!” Jonah screamed. “Help!”
Jonah glanced up to see that Chip and Katherine and even some of the other kids were rushing toward him. Katherine, with a girl’s sense of fighting, went straight for the hair, jerking Gary’s head back by entwining her fingers right down to the roots. Jonah had to admit—it seemed to be working.
Chip and two or three of the other boys were pushing at Gary’s chest, trying to shove him away from JB, while a few girls tugged JB in the other direction. The other kids stood by in shock, their faces contorted into masks of dismay and disbelief.
“Is this the role-playing part of the seminar?” he heard one girl ask hesitantly. “Are we supposed to do something?”
“It’s not—” Jonah started to scream at her, but then he decided he didn’t have time to explain. “Help us!”
The girl began to crouch down, but it was too late.
Seconds later, Jonah heard the gunshot.
TWENTY-EIGHT
“That’s enough,” Mr. Hodge said.
He was standing at the front of the room, his right arm in the air, something glistening in his right hand. It didn’t look quite like a gun. But Jonah’s ringing ears and shattered nerves told him he’d heard gunfire; the adrenaline had come back and was telling him, That was real! Take cover! Hurry! Before he shoots again!
Had Mr. Hodge shot straight up into the ceiling? Where had the bullet gone? Where would the next one go? Where would it be safe for Jonah to run?
Gary pulled away from JB, giving Mr. Hodge a chance at a clear shot.