“Thith ith abtholutely inthane,” Colin complained under his breath, changing his grip around the Admiral’s left armpit. “We thould’ve told right away.”
“I’d keep that to yourself,” Jonathan murmured, looking up the hallway. “I think Sebastian’ll actually kick your butt if you keep talking like that.” Jonathan was holding the Admiral’s other limp arm and dragging him backward. Walter and David each had a leg.
“Thebathian? Thith wath all your idea, Jonathan.”
Jonathan frowned and cleared his throat. The Admiral’s head rocked from side to side as they walked, looking back and forth from him to Colin like he was listening to the conversation. Jonathan tried to avoid the Admiral’s glassy, staring eyes.
“Yeah, well, I was right. I didn’t want to go home.” The Admiral’s head flopped over to Colin.
“Well, thome of uth do.” The Admiral’s head flopped back to Jonathan.
Jonathan didn’t know what to say. He looked away from the Admiral’s accusing eyes.
“It’s just for a few days, Colin,” he said through gritted teeth. His fingers were burning from the Admiral’s weight. “Just relax. It’ll be fun.” The Admiral’s corpse looked back to Colin. His tongue was starting to stick out.
“Fun? With him in charge? He’ll be worth than the Admiral!” Colin looked down at the Admiral’s empty stare. “No offenth.”
“Sebastian’s not in charge,” Jonathan assured him. “No one is. It’s just all of us. He’s not taking over.”
Colin looked up into Jonathan’s eyes and frowned his little frown.
“Jutht wait and thee.” He shook his head. “The inmateth are running the athylum.”
“The inmates are running the asylum? What does that mean?”
Colin shrugged. “It’th jutht a thaying.”
“Who says it?”
“People.”
“When do they say it?” The Admiral’s head rocked back over to look at Jonathan.
Colin sighed and put his shoulder under the Admiral’s uncooperative arm.
“When everything thtarth to go wrong.”
By then, some of the boys had already made it to the freezer and dropped their bodies off. They walked out of the kitchen, red-faced and sweaty. Sebastian was among them.
“Listen up,” he called out, panting. “Once you get both your bodies put away, we’re gonna meet at the big table. We need to decide some stuff. And hurry up.”
Colin shot Jonathan a meaningful look that he pretended not to see.
Finally, they got the Admiral’s bloated body to the freezer. Their breath puffed in frosty clouds as they dragged and pushed him up onto the pile of corpses.
Jonathan was the last to leave. He slipped gratefully out of the freezer but groaned when the door hit the Admiral’s jutting boot, six inches shy of closing. Colin and the others were already out the freezer door and into the kitchen, heading back for the next corpse.
He kicked at the Admiral’s boot but his leg was stiff and the boot wouldn’t budge. He sighed and looked over his shoulder and reluctantly walked back into the freezer. He grabbed the Admiral under both armpits and heaved, trying to twist him over and higher up on the pile of bodies. As he did so, he heard a metallic clanging and looked down.
A key had fallen out of the Admiral’s jacket pocket. It was a big key, rusty and old-fashioned. Jonathan glanced around and shivered. He picked up the key and slipped it into his pocket, then gave the Admiral one last push to clear the door and walked out to rejoin the rest of the boys.
“Okay,” Sebastian began when they all met at the table, exhausted and limp from dragging dead bodies across a hundred yards of stone. “First things first. I’m in charge.”
Colin turned his head to give Jonathan a very meaningful look. Jonathan bit his tongue and didn’t look back.
Sebastian was sitting in the Admiral’s big wooden chair, his feet up on the table. Benny was sitting next to him, with Roger and Gregory nearby.
“Why are you in charge?” Tony asked.
“Because I say so, Tony. We can’t have no one in charge. It’d be dumb. And I’ve been here the longest. And I’m the oldest.”
“I’m older than you are,” Gerald protested.
“Shut up, Gerald. I’m in charge. Anyone have a problem with that?”
“Do we have another choith?”
“No.”
“Could we have electionth?”
“No. And you better shut up right now, Colin.”
“Let it go,” Jonathan whispered through clenched teeth, nudging Colin. “It’ll be fine.”
Colin just shook his head and frowned. His hand flitted up to pinch nervously at his neck.
“Okay, now that’s settled. First rule is …” Sebastian smiled like a cat with a mouthful of feathers. He spread his hands wide. “… there are no rules.”
There was a little scattered clapping among the group. Some nervous laughter. Sebastian looked around at them, a little frown on his face.
“Why do you guys look so scared?”
No one answered. Eyes dropped to the floor.
“What’s wrong with you guys? This is the best thing that ever happened to us!”
There was still no answer except the sound of the rain still pattering in the courtyard outside the window.