by Raelyn Drake
“CAPPers,” he whispered in explanation, though Sanjay had already guessed that.
In the darkness, Sanjay sensed someone edge past him. “Chloe, what are you doing?”
“We can’t just stand there and wait to get caught. Help me search for the back door, or anything else useful.”
Sanjay felt the corner of a desk next to him and edged along it, patting the surface carefully. He could hear the others feeling around too. Then Chloe gasped, and they heard a strange whirring sound. Sanjay couldn’t make out what it was, but he hoped that the door was thick enough to block most of the sound.
“Check out what I just found,” Chloe said.
Suddenly a flashlight turned on. Chloe grinned at them as Sanjay and Luis blinked in the unexpected light.
“What is that?” Sanjay asked.
“It’s a hand-crank flashlight,” she quietly explained. “Looks pretty old. It doesn’t run on batteries—you just have to crank this handle a bunch to power it. It’s kinda loud, but then it gives you about a half hour of light. My uncle keeps one just like this in the basement for emergencies.”
She shone the flashlight beam around the room. Besides Mr. O’Donnell’s desk, the room was filled with piles of books to shelve, boxes, and other odds and ends.
“Hey,” Luis said from where he was digging through a set of drawers. “I found a screwdriver.” He held it up excitedly.
“Really?” Chloe asked sarcastically.
He glared at her. “Whatever. It might be good for self-defense in a pinch.” He tucked the screwdriver into one of his boots.
Chloe nodded and continued directing the flashlight beam along the walls. “I’m not seeing another door,” she said.
Sanjay’s heart sank as he looked around the room. “No,” he said, refusing to believe what his eyes were telling him. “No, there has to be a second door. I swear I’ve seen Mr. O’Donnell come out of it into the hallway.” Had he really put his friends through all of this for nothing?
Chloe frowned, but Luis grabbed his arm. “There!”
Sanjay stared at the stretch of wall where Luis was pointing. At first he only saw a tall filing cabinet, but then he noticed what was peeking out from behind it. The door was mostly blocked by the cabinet, but it was there.
“Ugh, how are we going to move that thing without making a huge racket?” Chloe asked.
“What’s it doing in front of the door in the first place?” demanded Luis, as if the cabinet had personally insulted them.
“It looks super heavy,” Chloe said. “I’m not even sure we could get it to budge without one of those dolly things movers use.”
Sanjay walked over to examine the filing cabinet. He turned to Chloe and Luis and grinned. “Check this out.”
He grabbed the sides of the filing cabinet and pulled. Instead of screeching and sliding on the cement floor, the whole thing rolled smoothly toward him. The door was hidden but still easily accessible.
Chloe’s mouth fell open. “He put the filing cabinet on wheels?”
“Now’s not the time to question things!” Luis hissed, pushing the cabinet further out of the way. “I don’t care if this thing has rocket boosters as long as we can move it.”
Sanjay paused with his hand on the doorknob. “Chloe, turn off the flashlight,” he whispered. “If there are CAPPers outside the door in this section of the hallway, they would definitely notice the light.”
They were plunged into darkness once more. After giving their eyes a moment to adjust, Sanjay turned the door handle. The door opened inward, and he stared out the narrow crack into the hallway. “Looks like the coast is clear,” he whispered. He couldn’t see any light from wandering guards. They just had to hope that the CAPPers hadn’t decided to sneak around in the dark like they currently were.
“What next?” Chloe asked.
“We head for the main office,” Sanjay explained. “If we can get there without being seen by any CAPPers, then maybe we can get to the teachers’ lounge and find out if the teachers know what’s going on.”
“What happens if they catch us?” Luis asked quietly.
Sanjay had been trying to avoid thinking of that part. “Worst case scenario, they march us back to the library and yell at us a bit, right?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” Chloe said, “they do have stun guns and baseball bats and … who knows what else.”
“But they wouldn’t use those on us, would they?” Sanjay asked. “I mean, the threat was probably just a bluff to try to scare us into good behavior. They wouldn’t actually hurt a bunch of high schoolers … right?” Even as he said it, the words sounded hollow to him. Maybe it was all just wishful thinking.
Chloe frowned. “Aliens just attacked Earth. I’m beginning to think that anything is possible.”
Sanjay swallowed the lump in his throat. “Just don’t get caught.”
Chapter 5
The three of them crept quietly into the deserted hallway. If they took the most direct route to the main office, that would bring them past the library and the CAPPers who stood guard. So instead, their plan was to take the stairs to the second floor, which they figured would be less carefully guarded than the floor with all the students.
With any luck, they could make their way to the front of the building and come back down the set of stairs in that corner of the building. It would put them in the hallway just past the main office.
Sanjay was hoping that the CAPPers would be expecting any students or other unwanted guests to come from the direction of the library. Mainly, the plan relied on the CAPPers knowing less about the layout of the school then they did. Max, and probably a few others, had been students here once too, but that had been years ago.
Although they knew the school well, it was still strange to be sneaking around it at night. The dark and shadowy hallways looked odd to them, and it took them a minute to get their bearings. It was hard to believe that just a couple of days ago, these hallways had been filled with students talking, rushing around, and using their phones. Now even their muffled footfalls seemed to echo off the metal lockers. Sanjay had never realized how much background noise was created by the hum of electric lights and generators.
They were halfway up the stairs when they heard voices coming from above. They froze, then ran back down the way they’d come. It was nearly impossible to get down the stairs quickly without making too much noise. They made it to the bottom with just seconds to spare. Thinking quickly, Sanjay backed into the space under the stairs, pulling Chloe and Luis in behind him.
The stairs above them echoed with the heavy footsteps of the CAPPers. They chatted openly, although their banter sounded strained with nervousness. But that was what everyone sounded like since the attack. Sanjay wondered if people would ever feel safe and relaxed again.
“I don’t see why we’ve got to patrol the hallways,” said the first CAPPer.
“The kids might try something,” the second CAPPer replied.
The first CAPPer snorted. “I’m more worried about the aliens than a bunch of teens. And besides, without their smartphones they’re lost.”
The second CAPPer chuckled. “No more than the rest of us.”
As the CAPPers reached the bottom of the stairs, Sanjay tried to slow his panicked breathing into steady, soundless breaths.
“You going to guard the library?” the first CAPPer asked.
“Nah,” the second CAPPer replied. “I’m on basement duty tonight.”
Their voices faded as they moved away. Sanjay, Chloe, and Luis all heaved a sigh of relief.
“What’s ‘basement duty’?” Chloe asked in a hushed voice.
Luis shrugged. “Beats me.”
Sanjay shook his head. “Add it to the list of things we still need to figure out.”
Chloe looked up the dark stairwell. “So I guess the second floor is guarded after all.”
“We’ll have to risk it,” Sanjay said. “There might be more guards up there, but we know for
sure that there are CAPPers guarding the hallway down here.”
They crept up the stairs again. They paused when they got to the landing, peering around the corner and listening for footsteps or voices. When they heard nothing, they continued up. They practically crawled the last couple of steps, trying to get a view of what awaited them in the upstairs hallway before they went rushing in unawares.
Nothing moved, so the three of them crept out of the stairwell, keeping low and hugging the wall as they went. The hallway was deserted, but candlelight spilled out of one of the classrooms closest to the staircase they needed, the one that would lead them to the main office. They could hear several voices. Clearly the CAPPers stationed up here were less on their guard than the ones in the downstairs hallway, but that didn’t mean they would let three students wander the hallways at night. They would still raise the alarm, and Sanjay didn’t want to find out what that would involve.
But if they were going to reach the staircase at the other end of the hallway, they would have to sneak right past the open door.
“There’s no way we’ll get by without them noticing us,” Luis whispered.
“What if we create some sort of distraction?” Sanjay suggested.
“How would we do that?” Luis asked.
Sanjay ran through a list of options in his head. But all of them seemed to require one of them getting caught. And even then, they still relied on the CAPPers settling for the one student left as bait instead of chasing the other two.
“We could just crawl by on our stomachs, army-style,” Sanjay said.
Chloe shook her head and sighed. “Even if we stayed in the shadows on the opposite side of the hallway, they would still see us the instant they looked up.”
Sanjay cupped his hands and blew on them to warm up his cold fingers while they debated. He could hear the wind howling around the building outside. “I think I have an idea,” he said.
The hallway had a large window to let in natural light. With a glance down the hall to the classroom where the CAPPers were, Sanjay stood up to examine the window. Obviously it didn’t open far enough for someone to crawl out of, but if you pushed on the bottom of the pane, it would swing outward a couple of inches. Sanjay unlatched it and pushed carefully until the window was open. The chill wind whistled in through the crack.
“What good does that do?” Luis asked. “It’s cold enough in here as it is.”
He explained the rest of his plan to his friends.
Holding their shoes, they crept down the hallway in their socks, edging toward the occupied classroom. If they could slam the door shut, they could run past the classroom in the couple of seconds it would take for the CAPPers to wonder what had happened. Sanjay thought they could just about make it to the stairwell at that end of the hallway. Hopefully, the CAPPers would notice the open window and think the wind had blown the door shut.
They stood in a line, backs pressed up against the wall, with Sanjay closest to the door. Sanjay took a deep, shaky breath and pushed the door. The door was heavier than he had counted on, and he nearly lost his balance as it swung shut with a slam that echoed down the hallway.
Luis and Chloe sprinted past him. Sanjay heard the confused voices of the CAPPers inside the room as he started running. Hoping his socks wouldn’t slip on the smooth floor tiles, Sanjay pounded down the hall.
Chloe and Luis reached the stairwell first, racing down the steps. Sanjay could hear the door handle begin to turn and practically threw himself down the stairwell. The momentum sent him tumbling into Chloe and Luis at the bottom, but they managed to catch themselves. The classroom door flew open, and they froze. Sanjay leaned on the handrail for support as he struggled to catch his breath.
Stay quiet, he told himself firmly.
“Hmm, looks like it was nothing,” one of the CAPPers was saying.
“Are you sure?” another CAPPer asked.
“Yeah, look!” the first CAPPer said then. “Some idiot left the window at the end of the hallway open.”
He grumbled as he stomped down the hallway in the opposite direction. They heard him shut the window and walk back to the classroom, still muttering.
Sanjay whispered a silent thank you when he heard the CAPPer close the door behind him this time. If they had to escape back the way they had come, they had a much better chance if that door was closed. The same trick would never work again.
Luis gave him an air high five.
Sanjay smiled weakly and got to his feet. His legs felt like jelly, but he and his friends were only halfway to their destination. And they didn’t know any more about the CAPPers or their plans than they had when they had left the library. They couldn’t give up now.
Chapter 6
With their shoes back on, the three of them crept quietly down the stairwell, pausing every so often to listen for footsteps or voices. But everything was silent.
Almost eerily silent, Sanjay thought as they peered around the corner at the bottom of the stairs. If the teachers and the rest of the CAPPers were stationed in the main office like Max had said, then why was it so quiet? Even if most people were asleep, someone would be standing guard, just like at the library. And the shifting and breathing and snoring of a bunch of people ought to create some noise. The entire hallway looked and felt abandoned.
They crept down the hallway to the main office door. If anyone happened to turn the corner, he or she would see the three of them instantly. There were no classrooms to duck into, just some locked janitorial and maintenance closets. Sanjay felt horribly exposed, like a prey animal sneaking into a predator’s den.
“What do we do if the main office is full of CAPPers?” Luis asked.
Chloe sighed. “Shout for help and hope the teachers take our side,” she said. “I’m only half joking.”
“Yeah,” Sanjay agreed. “There’s not really any way for us to sneak in. There’s only the one door.”
They reached the glass panels on either side of the door. The main office was dark, lit only by the moonlight through an outside window. They couldn’t see any candlelight inside.
Sanjay cautiously tried the doorknob. It was unlocked, and the door swung open soundlessly. He looked at Chloe and Luis, but they shrugged, so Sanjay eased inside the door, followed closely by his friends. They closed the door carefully behind them.
They didn’t dare use the hand-crank flashlight until they were absolutely certain that there were no CAPPers here. The main office had a secretary’s desk and a small waiting area with a coffee table and a couch. Directly to the left was the door to the school nurse’s office. The right wall was lined with doors that led to the offices of the principal, vice principal, and school guidance counselor. And in the back left corner, behind the secretary’s desk, was a door marked teachers’ lounge.
The floor in the office suite was covered with the same thin institutional carpet as the library, and they padded around noiselessly. They peered behind the secretary’s desk and listened at the closed doors of the offices, but they didn’t see any sleeping figures or hear any sounds. Chloe motioned that they should open the office doors and check inside, but Sanjay shook his head. If any CAPPers were sleeping in those rooms, there was a chance they wouldn’t hear three intruders enter the Teachers’ Lounge. But the sound of a door opening could easily wake them.
The three of them made their way back to the teachers’ lounge and opened the door.
Sanjay wasn’t sure what he had expected to find.
The best-case scenario he had imagined was finding all the teachers, including Mr. O’Donnell, Ms. Kim, and Officer Mendoza, so that they could all discuss what was going on at the school.
The worst-case scenario was that they would walk into a room of CAPPers who were armed to the teeth and angry.
Okay, the real worst-case scenario would be finding the room full of aliens. But he was trying to be realistic here.
But he hadn’t expected it to be empty.
After a moment, Chloe gave the
flashlight a few cranks and shone it around the room. Not only was it empty, but it looked like it had been ransacked. Cupboard doors stood open, and the supplies for making coffee had been spilled on the ground. It looked like the instant coffee and creamer tubs had been taken, leaving only a few wooden stir sticks and coffee filters.
“Where is everyone?” Luis asked. “If the teachers aren’t here, then where are they?”
“Max must have lied to us,” Sanjay said. His mouth felt dry. “Either the teachers left the school and abandoned us here or …” He couldn’t bring himself to finish the thought, but he could see from the expression in Chloe and Luis’s eyes that they were thinking the same thing.
Chloe opened a closet next to the now-powerless fridge. “This supply closet is empty,” she reported, panning her flashlight over the shelves. “Or at least all the useful stuff is gone. There’s some office supplies and stationery, but there are a lot of empty spots on the shelves that are labeled for things like paper towels, tissues, first aid kits … Do you think the teachers took those with them?”
Luis shook his head. “My bet is definitely on the CAPPers coming down here and ransacking the place. I sure hope they meant to share the supplies with the students.”
“We’ve got to find the teachers,” Sanjay said. “It’s not just about asking them what to do either—I’m honestly worried about them.”
“Well,” said Chloe, “since they’re not here, I’m guessing they’re in the basement.”
Sanjay remembered the CAPPers upstairs talking about basement duty. “Good thinking!”
“Hold on, though,” said Luis. “If the teachers are being held there against their will that means the basement is probably heavily guarded. We can’t go up against a bunch of CAPPers on our own.”
“I agree,” Chloe said, folding her arms. “I think we need to get help from the outside.”
Sanjay blinked at her. “Outside? You mean leave the school?”
Chloe rolled her eyes. “I can see that the Stockholm syndrome is already setting in. Yes, Sanjay, we should leave the school! Once we find our parents we can come back here and make sure the teachers are safe.”
