Free Children of the Uprising by Trevor Shane Page B

footsteps were silent. “Go into my bedroom,” Max whispered. “If anything sounds suspicious, leave through the window. When you’re safe, call Reggie. Here’s his phone number,” Max said, handing Christopher a slip of paper. Max looked Christopher in the eyes and then gestured at the piece of paper. “Nobody has that. Nobody gets that. Die before anyone else gets to see that number.”
    â€œWho do you think is knocking?” Christopher whispered back.
    â€œIt’s probably nothing,” Max answered, “but just because they knock doesn’t mean that they’re going to wait for an invitation to come inside.”
    Max made his way down the stairs. Christopher walked toward the door to Max’s bedroom. Then he stopped. If they had found him here, if they had come for him here, he wasn’t going to be able to escape out the bedroom window. If they’d come for him here, there would be no escape. Maybe he could escape if they didn’t know that he was there, if they’d only come for Max.
So
, Christopher thought,
the only thing that escaping would mean would be that I was too chickenshit to help my new friend
. So instead of walking into the bedroom, Christopher waited until Max had gotten all the way down the stairs and then he followed him, checking each step ahead of time to avoid any loose or creaky floorboards. Once he was halfway down, he stopped and listened.
    He heard Max open the front door. He could only assume that Max had looked outside to see who was there before opening the door. Still, every muscle in Christopher’s body tensed when he heard the hinges squeak as the door swung open. The paranoia didn’t stop now that Christopher knew who was watching him. It only became worse.
    Then Christopher heard Max speak. “What are you doing here?” he whispered to whoever was on the other side of the door.
    â€œWhy didn’t you tell me?” Christopher heard a woman’s voice respond.
    â€œWhy didn’t I tell you what?” Max asked.
    â€œDon’t be a jackass.” Even standing in the darkness around the corner from her, Christopher could hear the frustration in the woman’s voice. “Why didn’t you tell me you were going to pick
him
up?”
    â€œReggie wouldn’t let me. He wouldn’t let me tell anyone. He didn’t want to take any chances.” Max sounded apologetic.
    â€œBecause you’re the only one Reggie really trusts,” the woman said. Max didn’t respond, making Christopher wonder if what the woman was saying was true. “Why are you acting so weird?” the woman asked Max, followed immediately by, “Why won’t you let me inside?” When Max still didn’t answer, it finally hit her. “He’s here, isn’t he?”
    â€œI’m sorry, Addy,” Max said. “I’ll tell you everything as soon as I can, but you really should go. It’s dangerous.”
    â€œYou want to know what’s dangerous, Max? Not letting me into your fucking house. That’s what’s dangerous.” And that was that. Christopher could hear the woman step inside and could tell from the silence that Max had done nothing to stop her.
    Christopher didn’t move. He stood still in the darkness on the stairs, not knowing what else to do. He noticed that neither Max nor the woman made any sound as they walked. They moved liked ghosts, like they didn’t even exist. Christopher saw them before he heard them. They walked beneath him, past the bottom of the stairs and toward the living room. They sat down in the darkness, Max in a chair facing away from Christopher and the woman on the sofa with her shoulders square to Christopher but her face turned toward Max. Even through the darkness, Christopher recognized her. She was the confused woman from the compound that Max had made eye contact with.
    â€œTell me what he’s like,” the woman