by Raelyn Drake
The officer rubbed her temples. “I don’t want you kids to worry about it … but I do agree with Chloe,” she admitted in a whisper. “I’ve never heard of CAPP. I recognize a lot of the people from around town, but just because a bunch of citizens armed themselves with stun guns and baseball bats doesn’t mean they’re qualified to guard students during an alien attack.”
Sanjay turned to Luis. “What do you think?”
Luis shrugged. “Max seems to be the only one who wants to talk to us. All the other CAPPers just glare at us.”
“Everyone is stressed right now,” Sanjay pointed out.
“Then why wouldn’t Max let us go talk to Mr. O’Donnell ourselves?” Chloe asked.
Sanjay couldn’t think of an answer to that one. Max hadn’t specifically said they couldn’t talk to the librarian, but he had changed the subject and seemed to avoid answering their questions. Sanjay tried to ignore the twisting feeling in the pit of his stomach. Everyone’s just imagining things, he told himself.
“Either way,” Officer Mendoza said, “I’m going to stop by the main office and talk to these CAPPers. See if I can get some straightforward answers on what’s going on and what the plan is. If there even is a plan.”
She turned to leave, then stopped and said, “Look, if I’m not back by tomorrow morning …”
She trailed off and shook her head, as if she’d thought better of what she was going to say.
“Just promise me you’ll look after yourselves. And be careful who you trust.”
*
Sanjay curled up on his side in the dark library, trying to ignore the rustling and hushed conversations of the other students. He never would’ve thought he would be sleeping in the library with half his classmates. Luis snored nearby. The library’s carpet was thin and slightly musty, but it was better than the hardwood floor in the gym. Sanjay pulled the blanket tighter around him. It was only October, but the outside temperature at night was hovering just above freezing, and the school wasn’t much warmer. The CAPPers had let the students get their jackets and hats and scarves from their lockers, but most of that gear was more suited for fashion than warmth.
“I still can’t believe this is all really happening,” Sanjay whispered to Chloe, who lay next to him.
Chloe sighed. “Whenever I’d watch a sci-fi movie where aliens attack Earth, I used to plan out what I would do in that situation. The problem is, all of my plans involved tech and gadgets and other things that run on electricity. We don’t have phones or running water or computers or even cars. How are we supposed to fight back against enemies in spaceships when we’re stuck in the Dark Ages?”
“Guess that’s up to you to figure out, if you’re so keen to lead the resistance.”
Chloe flailed out with her arm in the dark trying to smack Sanjay playfully. He snickered, trying to dodge by rolling out of the way.
“Shut up and go to sleep!” a CAPPer grumbled at them, jolting Sanjay back to the harsh reality of their current situation. This wasn’t a sleepover or some school camping trip—they were stuck in lockdown at their school and cut off from their families.
The library grew still again.
Several minutes went by, and Sanjay assumed that Chloe had fallen asleep.
But then: “Sanjay,” she whispered again, so quietly he could barely hear her this time.
“Yeah?”
“Do you think everyone … do you think my aunt and uncle survived the attack?”
Her voice shook slightly, and Sanjay thought she might be crying. He felt like crying himself when he thought about his mom and what might be happening outside the school.
“I’m sure they’re okay,” Sanjay said. “I’m sure everyone made it to the emergency shelter just fine.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Chloe said softly, clearing her throat. “Thanks.”
She sounded comforted. Sanjay hoped he had managed to convince her that everything would be all right.
Now if only he could convince himself.
Chapter 3
Sanjay was awoken by the light streaming in through the library’s windows and the movements of his classmates.
Memories of the attack and worries about his mom came flooding back, destroying the last remnants of his peaceful dreams. But beyond the stress, he just felt physically terrible. He was cold and his muscles were stiff from sleeping on the uncomfortable floor. And he didn’t even need to test his breath to know it was awful.
He got up, folded his blanket, and sorted through his belongings from his backpack and locker. It wasn’t much. His phone and headphones and the school-assigned tablet were all useless. He doubted his geometry and English textbooks were going to be very handy in the current situation. That just left pens and paper, half a bottle of orange juice, his wallet and keys, a few sticks of gum, and some paper clips.
He felt something in the bottom of his backpack and pulled out a travel-sized tube of toothpaste. He must have left it in there after his family’s vacation a couple of weeks ago. There was no toothbrush, though. He squeezed a tiny bit of toothpaste on his finger and rubbed it over his teeth and gums. He took a sip of water and swished it around in his mouth. At least he could face the current crisis with minty-fresh breath.
Chloe woke up soon after, squinting sleepily. She tugged a hand through her hair and sighed heavily. “Not a dream, then?”
“Nope,” Sanjay said, passing her the toothpaste.
They shook Luis awake. He mumbled a protest and tried to turn over to go back to sleep, but then he quickly sat up, scanning the room anxiously. “Is Officer Mendoza back yet?”
Sanjay shook his head, when a voice behind them made them all jump.
“She won’t be back for a while,” Max said. “But I come bearing breakfast!”
He held up a couple of boxes of toaster pastries and several of jars of peanut butter. The other students started to line up enthusiastically.
Sanjay leaned in close and spoke softly to Max so that only Chloe and Luis could hear their conversation. “Are you sure Officer Mendoza is all right?” he asked.
Max met Sanjay’s eyes, and for a split second, Sanjay could have sworn he saw something there. Annoyance? Fear? But then it was replaced with Max’s signature charming smile. “Of course she’s fine. She can handle herself.” He shifted away from them and started handing out toaster pastries to the other students.
“Where’d she go?” Sanjay pressed.
“Huh?” Max said, as though he had already moved on from the conversation. He shrugged. “Oh, uh, I don’t know where exactly, but somewhere outside the school. She said she wanted to check the area for anyone who might need help, see if she could find some extra supplies, stuff like that.” He handed breakfast to Sanjay and his friends.
Sanjay thought of the expression in Officer Mendoza’s eyes when she told them to be careful who they trusted. But she didn’t mean Max …
Did she?
As if he could read Sanjay’s thoughts, Max smiled. “C’mon, Sanjay. You know I’ve got your back. You can trust me.”
Sanjay forced himself to match Max’s smile. “Of course. Thanks, man.”
He didn’t let the smile drop until Max had turned his attention back to the line of students still waiting to receive their breakfast.
Sanjay, Chloe, and Luis waited to talk until they were back by their makeshift beds.
“See?” Chloe hissed once she was sure Max couldn’t hear her. “I know you don’t want to believe it because Max has always seemed like such a cool guy, but you have to admit that something is seriously weird here.”
Sanjay nodded reluctantly. “You’re right, something’s off.”
Luis rolled his eyes. “Max is totally hiding something from us.”
“Maybe the other members of CAPP just won’t let him tell us everything,” Sanjay pointed out, even though he knew he was grasping at straws.
Chloe sneaked a glance at the other CAPPers in the library. Two stood near the door
s. Another three CAPPers were helping Max hand out breakfast, taking attendance of all the students, and listening to students’ requests. Sanjay couldn’t help feeling that the CAPPers near the door looked more like bouncers than bodyguards.
Chloe motioned for Sanjay and Luis to come with her. “Follow my lead,” she whispered to them, before approaching the CAPPers near the library doors.
“Good morning,” she said brightly. “My friends and I were wondering if we could go eat our breakfast in the courtyard. It may be the end of the world, but at least it’s a sunny fall morning, right?”
“It’s not safe,” grumbled one of the CAPPers.
Chloe smiled and spread her hands out. “Oh, c’mon, we’ll just be in the courtyard. It’s completely surrounded by the school—there aren’t any doors leading out of the building. We could use a little sunlight and fresh air.”
When the CAPPers didn’t answer, Chloe tried another approach. She lowered her voice and said, “Okay, look, I’m not trying to make a big deal out of this, but I have trouble with enclosed spaces. I’m sort of freaking out a little.” She pressed a hand to her chest as if to steady her breathing and inhaled slowly. Her breath sounded ragged. “I’m starting to feel really woozy, and I think some fresh air would help me calm down.”
The CAPPer took a step forward and put his hand to his waist, letting it rest on his stun gun. “We can’t have individuals threaten the safety of this community. If you refuse to follow instructions, we’ll need to do what it takes to keep everything under control.”
Chloe looked like she wanted to call their bluff, and Sanjay easily pictured her trying to rush past the men. But he wasn’t ready to test whether those stun guns were just for show. He grabbed her by the elbow and shot her a warning look.
Chloe sighed and stepped back, following Sanjay and Luis back toward the other students.
Once they were out of earshot, Luis muttered, “Keep everything under control? Or everyone?”
“I can’t believe they would prioritize their stupid lockdown over a potential health emergency,” Chloe said.
“Yeah, but you aren’t actually feeling claustrophobic,” Sanjay said.
She waved a hand. “Well, I wanted to see if something would get us out of the school. And it doesn’t matter if I was making it up or not—a student told them she had a health concern and they didn’t do anything about it.”
“So what do we do now?” Luis asked. “By my count, there have to be at least thirty CAPPers in the building.”
“That’s not so bad,” said Chloe. “The students outnumber them by a lot.”
“Yeah, but none of us have stun guns.”
Sanjay realized that Luis and Chloe were acting as if it was up to them to get to the bottom of this. Part of him wanted to tell them to chill out. After all, there were plenty of adults around. Why should the three of them feel responsible for the fate of the whole school?
Then again, maybe they had a point. Even a day ago, Sanjay had been willing to let Max be the person who called the shots. But now Sanjay wasn’t sure he could be trusted.
“We need to go talk to the teachers,” Sanjay said. “Mr. O’Donnell might know some emergency survival skills, and Ms. Kim might have more information on the EMP aftereffects.”
“But the teachers’ lounge is in the main office,” Luis pointed out. “And we can’t even get out of the library.”
Sanjay thought back to everything he’d learned about the library during study hall. “I have an idea about that,” he whispered. “Tonight, after lights-out, let’s meet in the back of the library by Mr. O’Donnell’s office. If I’m right, then there’s another way out of the library than the main door. And if I’m wrong, or if we get caught, the CAPPers can’t get mad at us because we will still be in the library, just like they told us.”
“C’mon,” Luis said, nodding, “let’s go sit with the others. We should probably stop slinking around and whispering all day or the CAPPers will get suspicious. We don’t want Max to think we’re plotting something.”
Chloe gave her best innocent look. “Who, us? Where would he ever get that idea?” She winked at them and went off to join the other girls from the volleyball team.
Chapter 4
The rest of the day seemed to drag on painfully slowly for Sanjay. Every so often someone burst into tears or started to panic about whether their families were safe. But for the most part, the students kept calm. They complained about the bathrooms and the food and how their phones were now useless, and they speculated wildly about the reasons why the Visitors would choose to attack Earth at this particular time. They occasionally threw glances over their shoulders at the armed CAPPers, and they spoke in hushed voices. But if his classmates were hatching secret plans of their own, they didn’t let Sanjay and his friends know. Although he certainly didn’t tell them anything about his own plan either. The fewer people who were in on tonight’s wplan, the better chance it had of succeeding.
After an uninspiring dinner of more granola bars, bottled water, and cold canned baked beans, the students once again set up their makeshift blanket beds. They grumbled about how cold and uncomfortable the sleeping arrangements were until the CAPPers got frustrated and shouted at everyone to shut up.
Sanjay lay there with his eyes closed until the CAPPers blew out the candles placed throughout the library. He wondered where Max had gone. Without him there, the CAPPers seemed less concerned with being polite. Sanjay figured that they weren’t necessarily bad people, but they were terrified, stressed, and trying to keep some semblance of order. Unlike the teachers, they didn’t have years of experience with getting a bunch of high schoolers to behave.
He wondered if Max really was lying to them or hiding something from them. Sanjay desperately wanted to hold on to the hope that Max wasn’t the bad guy in all this.
The room was now silent and almost completely dark, except for a dim puddle of light seeping under the doors. Two CAPPers were posted right outside with some candles placed in the hallway to help them see. But no CAPPers had stayed in the library itself, and Sanjay felt confident he and his friends would be able to sneak around without detection. As long as none of their fellow students noticed them and gave them away.
A chorus of gentle, measured breathing came from the sleeping students. It was time to put the plan into action.
Mr. O’Donnell’s office was at the back of the library, behind a door marked staff only. Sanjay had paid enough attention during study hall to notice that the office doubled as a storage room, and that the door was often left unlocked.
Sanjay rolled over onto his feet in a low crouch and looked around, hoping he wouldn’t step on someone’s hand or bang his shins on one of the metal bookshelves. He didn’t hear Chloe or Luis moving yet, but he couldn’t tell if that was because they were staying absolutely silent or if they had already moved to the meeting place … or if they had fallen asleep waiting.
It was so dark, and even once Sanjay’s eyes had adjusted, he still could barely see. He had never noticed before how much he took things like streetlights for granted. Even when he went camping with his mom, there were still electric lights illuminating the area around the bathrooms. He again wished he could use the flashlight on his phone.
Halfway across the library, Sanjay suddenly noticed that the CAPPers’ light from the hallway was growing brighter. He dove behind the checkout desk, heart racing. His back was to the hallway, but he heard the soft swish of the doors brushing over the carpet as they swung open. The CAPPers lifted their lights up high, casting shadows on the back wall of the library.
A moment passed in silence, and then Sanjay heard the doors click shut again. He waited a full minute, counting the seconds in his head, to make sure the coast was clear before he left his hiding spot. He continued his crawl to the back corner of the library. At one point, he nearly tripped over a sleeping student and barely caught himself on a bookshelf before he fell on top of them. This plan had better work, he thought.
He saw something move in the darkness next to him and felt his heart skip a beat. A moment later he realized it was Chloe, crouching down behind a table near the door to Mr. O’Donnell’s office. She held a finger to her lips. He could just barely make out the details of her face in the dark. He sighed with relief when he realized Luis was there too. So far, so good, he thought.
Sanjay opened the door as quietly as he could. Luis kept his attention focused in the direction of the door to the library, keeping alert for any sign of movement that might indicate that the CAPPers were coming back in for another check.
The door swung open smoothly and soundlessly. They paused again, listening, but all was still. Sanjay allowed himself to breathe a quiet sigh of relief. If this had been his own house, the door hinges would have squeaked loud enough to alert the aliens up in their spaceships.
He felt a pang when he thought about his house and wondered if his mom had made it safely to the emergency shelter. Then he realized that they had only heard about this emergency shelter from Max. If the CAPPers were hiding information from the students, they could have hidden the truth about their families as well. Maybe the CAPPers didn’t actually know whether anyone else was safe. He shoved the panicky feeling to the back of his mind. He had to believe that his mother was all right. He didn’t have time to worry. He would have to stay strong.
As he stared into the dark room, Sanjay realized the flaw in his plan. As dark as the library was, at least there was still a little moonlight and the candlelight from the hallway. Mr. O’Donnell’s office was windowless. Sanjay fought the instinct to feel blindly along the wall for a light switch. It wouldn’t do them any good now.
He knew that the room existed, and he knew that there was a second door that led out to the hallway because he had seen Mr. O’Donnell use it. But Sanjay didn’t know the layout of the room well enough to rely on feeling his way around. He was bound to knock something over.
Luis suddenly shoved Sanjay and Chloe from behind, pushing them into the office. “Quick!” he hissed. He pulled the door shut behind them, pitching them into complete blackness.
