I looked over my shoulder as we left the room. Dare had climbed down too, and was rifling through Chief’s pockets. When he pulled out a folded piece of paper, he froze. Something about the suddenness of it made me pause too. Griffin was trying to pull me out of the room after him, but I couldn’t look away as Dare unfolded the paper. On it was a picture, drawn in Griffin’s unmistakable style. It was of Chief, his eyes wide open but somehow glassy, as though the old man were looking straight through us.
As the guards appeared above him, Dare’s mouth twisted into a smile. And then he laughed.
I was as desperate as Griffin to leave now. We followed a narrow corridor that led outside to the parade grounds. Alice and Jerren sprinted ahead, taking everything in, while I struggled to keep Griffin moving at all. I had my arm tight around him, but the blood made everything feel slick. Every breath he took sounded agonizing.
It was raining again and visibility was poor, but people hurried by, alerted to the new danger. They pounded across the hard ground and splashed through puddles, heading everywhere and nowhere. A siren started slowly and built to a deafening whine.
Guards appeared only ten yards away, but they either didn’t see us or weren’t looking. They ran among the crowd yelling, “Assemble! Assemble!” Everyone responded by hurrying up the nearest steps to the esplanade. Some tripped and fell, but the stream of people kept flowing from the living quarters below. A couple struggled to light extra torches in the rain.
Panic hung in the air. Everyone seemed to have prepared for this moment without ever believing it could really happen. They clearly had an assembly protocol, but in all their rehearsals, they’d surely never had to deal with darkness and rain and screaming children.
Griffin slumped to the ground beside me, so I helped him back up again. His clothes were sticky with blood. The feel of it on my fingers made me flinch.
He looked right into my eyes. Me. Solution, he signed. It almost choked me up that he could be so certain. But as he continued to watch me, I realized it wasn’t a statement at all. It was a question.
I wanted so much to be strong for him, but I wouldn’t lie to him again. He’d see through it at once. So I just pulled him closer and kept moving.
As people streamed upward, the grounds began to clear. Others emerged from various parts of the fort, torches in hand. They walked a few yards apart and kept their lights close to the ground, eyes scanning for rats. It helped us that they were distracted.
We kept to the perimeter as we approached the casemate where my father and Ananias and Tarn were being held captive. It was far away enough from everyone that we couldn’t see the Sumter families congregating. We could hear them, though. The sound of children’s crying grew louder.
Jerren led the way now, jogging toward the casemate, gun raised. Neither guard heard him until he was beside them, with the barrel pointed at one guard’s head. The man obediently dropped his gun, and as the other guard recognized Jerren, he did too.
Alice joined Jerren and retrieved the men’s guns. Once I’d helped Griffin to sit against a wall, I searched the guards’ pockets. I found a ring of keys and began trying them one by one in the lock, which clicked on the fourth try.
I’d just got the heavy door open when the guards dropped their torches. The light was extinguished, and in the confusion, the second guard bolted into the darkness. Jerren turned momentarily, giving the first just enough time to retrieve his weapon. Unable to see his target clearly, Jerren threw himself at the man, pinning him against the bars just beside me. Tarn reached through the bars and wrapped her hands around the guard’s neck.
He struggled for a moment, but he was being suffocated. With no other choice, he dropped his weapon.
Jerren shoved him away from us. He fell to the ground. Once he’d caught his breath, he jumped up and ran into the darkness.
With the door open, everyone staggered out. Ananias and my father leaned against each other for support. When they saw Griffin they hugged him. It was lucky they couldn’t see the extent of his wounds, or they’d have panicked for sure.
“We have to hurry,” said Jerren. “There’ll be reinforcements soon.”
While he led everyone toward the main gate, I looked around for Dennis and his mother. I’d hoped they were at the back of the casemate, hidden from view, but they weren’t.
I caught up to my father and brothers. “Where’s Dennis?”
“No one knows,” Ananias muttered. “They weren’t with us when the guards rounded us up, and they haven’t come since.” He grimaced. “What happened to Griffin?”
“They set rats on him.”
Father inhaled sharply, but he and Ananias kept moving.
We continued through the main gate and along the jetty. Nobody had taken the cutter yet, so I helped everyone climb in. They pressed against the sides to make room for me, but I untethered the rope and kicked the boat away from the jetty.
“Thom?” cried Alice. “What are you doing?”
“We can’t leave without Marin and Dennis.”
“We have to.”
“No. If I leave them here, I’ll never be able to face Rose again.”
Alice stood suddenly, ready to join me, but Jerren pushed her back down. He leaped onto the jetty beside me. “I’m the one who knows this place,” he said. “Alice, get one of the catamarans and come back for us.”
Alice seemed caught between anger and concern. “All right,” she said, grabbing one of the oars. “Be quick.”
Tarn took the other oar, and what remained of our colony began the short but arduous journey to the ship. Behind us, the noise grew louder as reinforcements arrived. Fighting back was no longer an option.
We should’ve run away right then. Neither of us moved, though, because we were too busy staring at the ship. When we’d left it, it had been anchored a hundred yards to the northwest. Now it was almost due north of us. And it looked as if it was drifting away.
CHAPTER 38
There wasn’t time to go back through the main gate. The guards were approaching, and the glow from their torches rose above the fort walls in a hazy arc. Even if we made it back inside, they’d see us.
“This way,” said Jerren, breathless.
He ran toward the enclosures. I was fairly sure I knew what he had in mind, but I hoped I was wrong. He’d said it was impossible to climb the perimeter wall unless you knew where to put your hands and feet. What would make him think any differently now?
Sure enough, he stopped at the low point of the wall. “Climb on my shoulders,” he said.
“Again?”
“It’s how Alice and I got up earlier.”
“I’m heavier than Alice.”
“Just do it!”
I placed my feet on his shoulders and rested my hands against the wall. With an enormous effort he pushed upward. “Above you and to the right, there’s a gap in the brick. Reach for it,” he instructed me.
I ran my hand across the bricks, floundering for the hole. “Got it,” I said, jamming my right hand into the space.
“Good. I’ll get your right foot to the next hole.” He shifted slightly to the right and pushed my foot up a little, finding the space. I was sure he was going to drop me, or I’d fall, so I tightened my grip and attempted to take more of my weight. A moment later, I felt my foot slide into another gap. “Now push up and feel around. Above the bricks are rows of planks, with studs sticking out. They’re there, trust me.”
I did trust him, but I was distracted. The guards’ footsteps drummed on the jetty, which meant they’d be launching a second cutter to go after the first. Those who couldn’t fit inside would be circling around the perimeter walls, searching for anyone left behind.