jacket and cap, pulling the hat low so no one could see her face. She then grabbed the wheel back.
Ethan slumped into the passenger seat.
They drove ahead … right past the adults.
He peeked through the window. The adults didn’t give them a second glance.
Posters covered the brick walls of Barker’s Drugstore and the public library.
One poster showed an adult kneeling next to some kids. They all smiled. Under this was the caption:
OBEY
On another poster, there were a pair of blue eyes and the words:
WE ’ RE WATCHING FOR
YOUR
PROTECTION
A third poster had a father and a mother holding a baby in their arms, both cooing at it. The poster read:
YOUR PARENTS KNOW BEST
But next to this one on the brick wall was spray-painted:
The paint still looked wet and drippy.
“What’s going on here?” Madison whispered.
“I don’t know …,” Ethan whispered back.
He had a vague idea, though.
Before he’d joined the Resisters, he’d returned to Santa Blanca in his wasp to rescue his sister. He’d failed, but there’d been a titanic battle between him and the Ch’zar at Northside Elementary School. Felix and Madison had flown back to help and together they’d
totaled
the school.
Everyone in Santa Blanca had to have seen it.
There was no way the adults could’ve covered it up.
That’s why everything was different—the normal, happy township had to have more rules, more authority … becausehow would you even start to explain to the kids here how giant bugs had torn apart their school?
Every kid would have to be kept under tight control until they were part of the Ch’zar hive mind.
Ethan felt like throwing up.
He’d
caused this trouble.
“Good,” Emma said, climbing up front. “At least they’ve seen the truth, right? Look over there.”
She pointed to five kids at the mouth of an alley. There were no adults on the corner, and the kids were spray-painting a frowning face over a poster that read:
ALL RULES ARE GOOD RULES
“
Not
so good,” Madison muttered, and looked to her right.
She slowed the truck and nodded to the end of Main Street and then down intersecting Pine Street. From either side, four adults in Neighborhood Watch jackets moved at a fast walk toward the kids, who hadn’t spotted them.
Ethan hesitated, uncertain what to do.
He had his own life-or-death mission to carry out. He couldn’t get involved in this mess, too.
But wasn’t it his fault all this was happening?
He weighed what was more important—getting Angelthe antiradiation medicine, getting back to the Seed Bank, or saving these kids here and now.
Ethan swallowed, but his throat stayed dry.
He decided.
He’d let Colonel Winter make the big strategic calls. Ethan couldn’t let these kids get caught.
“Step on it,” he ordered Madison. “Get to them before those adults can catch them.”
Madison’s lips formed a grim flat line. She stomped on the gas pedal; the back wheels spun, then grabbed, and the milk truck shot forward.
10
GRIZZLIES REUNION
THE MILK TRUCK SLID SIDEWAYS TO A HALT, ALMOST crashing
into
the group of kids.
They stood there, dumbfounded, staring into the headlights like idiots.
Ethan couldn’t believe it. They had plenty of room to jump out of the way. They could have run down the alley or kicked open the side door to the library and escaped.
What was wrong with them?
What was wrong was that they weren’t Resisters. Weren’t used to combat conditions. In other words, they were normal.
The problem with being “normal” was that in the realworld, it could get you killed. Or, at the very least, doom you to becoming part of a mind-controlled slave race.
The kids weren’t
completely
clueless, though.
Bandannas covered their faces. They had on gloves, too, so paint wouldn’t get on their fingers.
They were sneaky, at least. That was something.
Emma opened the truck’s side door and motioned for the five to climb inside. “Hurry up,” she said. “Those
Ethan slumped into the passenger seat.
They drove ahead … right past the adults.
He peeked through the window. The adults didn’t give them a second glance.
Posters covered the brick walls of Barker’s Drugstore and the public library.
One poster showed an adult kneeling next to some kids. They all smiled. Under this was the caption:
OBEY
On another poster, there were a pair of blue eyes and the words:
WE ’ RE WATCHING FOR
YOUR
PROTECTION
A third poster had a father and a mother holding a baby in their arms, both cooing at it. The poster read:
YOUR PARENTS KNOW BEST
But next to this one on the brick wall was spray-painted:
The paint still looked wet and drippy.
“What’s going on here?” Madison whispered.
“I don’t know …,” Ethan whispered back.
He had a vague idea, though.
Before he’d joined the Resisters, he’d returned to Santa Blanca in his wasp to rescue his sister. He’d failed, but there’d been a titanic battle between him and the Ch’zar at Northside Elementary School. Felix and Madison had flown back to help and together they’d
totaled
the school.
Everyone in Santa Blanca had to have seen it.
There was no way the adults could’ve covered it up.
That’s why everything was different—the normal, happy township had to have more rules, more authority … becausehow would you even start to explain to the kids here how giant bugs had torn apart their school?
Every kid would have to be kept under tight control until they were part of the Ch’zar hive mind.
Ethan felt like throwing up.
He’d
caused this trouble.
“Good,” Emma said, climbing up front. “At least they’ve seen the truth, right? Look over there.”
She pointed to five kids at the mouth of an alley. There were no adults on the corner, and the kids were spray-painting a frowning face over a poster that read:
ALL RULES ARE GOOD RULES
“
Not
so good,” Madison muttered, and looked to her right.
She slowed the truck and nodded to the end of Main Street and then down intersecting Pine Street. From either side, four adults in Neighborhood Watch jackets moved at a fast walk toward the kids, who hadn’t spotted them.
Ethan hesitated, uncertain what to do.
He had his own life-or-death mission to carry out. He couldn’t get involved in this mess, too.
But wasn’t it his fault all this was happening?
He weighed what was more important—getting Angelthe antiradiation medicine, getting back to the Seed Bank, or saving these kids here and now.
Ethan swallowed, but his throat stayed dry.
He decided.
He’d let Colonel Winter make the big strategic calls. Ethan couldn’t let these kids get caught.
“Step on it,” he ordered Madison. “Get to them before those adults can catch them.”
Madison’s lips formed a grim flat line. She stomped on the gas pedal; the back wheels spun, then grabbed, and the milk truck shot forward.
10
GRIZZLIES REUNION
THE MILK TRUCK SLID SIDEWAYS TO A HALT, ALMOST crashing
into
the group of kids.
They stood there, dumbfounded, staring into the headlights like idiots.
Ethan couldn’t believe it. They had plenty of room to jump out of the way. They could have run down the alley or kicked open the side door to the library and escaped.
What was wrong with them?
What was wrong was that they weren’t Resisters. Weren’t used to combat conditions. In other words, they were normal.
The problem with being “normal” was that in the realworld, it could get you killed. Or, at the very least, doom you to becoming part of a mind-controlled slave race.
The kids weren’t
completely
clueless, though.
Bandannas covered their faces. They had on gloves, too, so paint wouldn’t get on their fingers.
They were sneaky, at least. That was something.
Emma opened the truck’s side door and motioned for the five to climb inside. “Hurry up,” she said. “Those
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