“How about something to drink?” he asked.
It took a few seconds, but finally she bobbed her head up and down.
“All right. Hop up.”
He tickled her ribs. She didn’t laugh, but she did squirm in protest as she rose to her feet.
Spread around them were Miss Collins and the other children. No one had wanted to be separated, so despite the fact that there were three bedrooms, they had all slept in the living room.
Brandon led Ellie around the others and into the kitchen. He located a glass and filled it with water.
After she took a drink, she said, “Breakfast?”
“Breakfast? Don’t tell me you’re hungry,” he teased.
She looked at him with sad eyes and nodded.
“I’m just kidding,” he said, tousling her hair. “Let me see what I can find.”
He opened the refrigerator, totally forgetting that he had checked it the night before, and quickly shut it again. Still empty. The pantry, though, was half filled with canned goods and boxes of crackers and cereal and the like. He found some Ritz crackers and an unopened jar of peanut butter, from which he made half a dozen tiny sandwiches and put them on a plate for them to share.
“This isn’t breakfast,” Ellie said.
“Oh, well, then I’ll eat it all myself.”
He pretended to pull the plate away.
“No, no,” she said, grabbing his arm.
“So you do think this is okay for breakfast?”
She thought for a moment, then nodded.
The dozen miniature sandwiches disappeared in a hurry, so he made another set.
He had just popped one into his mouth when something rang, loud and close. Startled, he jumped and nearly choked on the cracker.
When it rang again, he realized it was coming from the cordless phone, sitting on the counter next to the refrigerator. From the living room, he could hear people stirring.
“What is that?” Miss Collins asked.
Brandon was about to answer her, when behind him Ellie said, “Hello?”
He whipped back around. The little girl had the phone to her ear.
“I’m Ellie,” she said, and listened for a moment. “Uh-huh. Yeah. You want to talk to him? Okay.” She held out the phone. “For you, Brandon.”
“Me?” he said.
She nodded.
He assumed the person on the other end was asking for someone older than Ellie. He took the phone and raised it to his ear. “Hello?”
“Brandon? Is that you?”
“Who is this?”
“Christina. From the Ranch. God, I wasn’t even sure the phone would work there.”
“Chr-Chr-Christina?” He could hardly allow himself to believe it.
“Yes. You need to listen to me. There’s—”
“Where are you?” he asked.
“At the Ranch.”
“You’re alive?”
“Yes.” She sounded confused at first, then she said, “Oh, God. You don’t know. We’re fine. We survived.”
“My sister?”
A slight hesitation. “Your family’s fine.”
“You mean Dad, too? You’ve heard from him?”
“He’s here.”
“Please, let me talk to him!”
Miss Collins stepped into the kitchen, her brow furrowed. “Brandon, who is it?”
He looked at her. “A friend of mine.” To Christina, he said, “I just want to talk to him.”
“He’s…not in the room with me, but he’s anxious to see you.”
“Well, have someone go get him.”
“There’s no time. Brandon, some bad people are on the way to the house you’re in. How many others are there with you?”
“Um, eleven.”
“Eleven?” she sounded surprised. “Okay. Well, you need to get them out of there right now.”
“Where are we supposed to go?”
“Take them into the woods. Find someplace to hide.”
“Wait. On foot? We have a car.”
“I know. A Suburban, but the people coming for you can track it. If you can go out the back of the house, that would be best. The woods come right up to it, and if you stay under the trees at all times, you’ll be safe.”
“They’re Project Eden, aren’t they?”
A pause. “Yes.”
Brandon could feel his skin grow cold in fear. “If we go into the woods, they’ll just come after us, won’t they? We should at least try the car.”
“No. Chloe is only a few minutes behind them.”
Chloe? “By herself?”
“No.”
His heart rate started to decrease. He trusted Chloe. If she was coming, they had a chance. “Okay. We’ll go into the woods.”
“Get them moving right away. The sooner you’re out of there, the better chance you’ll have.”
“I understand.”
He hung up the phone.
“What was that all about?” Miss Collins said.
He knew she was going to be the hardest to convince. He was only a kid, after all. Then again, he had proven himself already, so…
“You trust me, right, Miss Collins?”
“Trust you? Um, sure. But what’s that have to do with—”
“There are some bad people on their way here.”
“What bad people?”
“People who want to hurt us!”
She looked skeptical. “Brandon, relax. Now, who was that on the phone?”
He huffed. “We don’t have time for that. We need to get everyone out of the house now. Please trust me on this.”
“It’s cold outside. Everyone’s tired. We’re safe here.”
“We are not safe! These people have already killed friends of mine! They…they killed my mom!”
“Your mom?”
Project Eden had actually killed friends and family of everyone, but he knew saying that would complicate matters. “Miss Collins, I was right about last night, and I’m right about this. If you want to stay, you can, but I hope you don’t.” He raced into the living room, intending to wake everyone up, but they were all sitting up and staring at him, scared.
“Is that true?” Loni asked.
“Yes,” he said. “Everyone up! Put on your jackets and shoes. Right now. Hurry!”
Loni immediately jumped up. The others hesitated a second before joining her.
“Hold on,” Miss Collins said. “I think we first need to take a minute and figure out what’s going on here.”
A couple of the kids stopped what they were doing, while the rest continued getting ready.
“We don’t have a minute,” Brandon said. “Even if I’m wrong or…or lying, it’s not going to hurt us to go out for a little bit, right?” He could see she still wasn’t buying it. He thought for a moment. “I saved you last night. You owe me for that.”
“Brandon—”
“Just do this for me and we’re even.” He stared at her, and added, “Please!”
Not looking happy, she said, “Fine, we’ll leave, but when someone starts feeling cold, we’re coming back in.”
“Okay, okay. No problem.”
When everyone was ready and gathered at the back door, Brandon said, “Miss Collins, I’ll be in front. Can you be in back?”
Still looking uncertain, she said, “Sure.”
“Loni, Vincent, and Carter, you three spread out between us and make sure the little kids don’t wander off.”
“Okay,” Loni said. The other two nodded.
“All right. This is really important. Everyone keep quiet, okay?”
“I need to potty,” one of the younger kids said.
“Can you hold it?”
“For a little.”
Brandon gave him a smile. “Good. The faster we get out of here, the sooner you can go. I promise.”
“Okay.”
“All right, everybody. Follow me.”
He led them single file out the door and into the forest.