The lowest room was crowded full of children: scared children, confused children, sleeping children. There was a low hum of voices in the air, even though Mrs. B had insisted they stay quiet. To match the hum, a smell like dust and cool death filled the air. It had been there when they came down, waiting in this unused room like something haunting.
Tommy sat in one of the corners, growling to himself.
"What's going on?" he moaned to Shoko and Peepers who were sitting to either side of him.
"They've been gone for a while…" Peepers whispered. They could both hear him perfectly clear despite the din. They could both feel the particular dread in his voice.
Stephen and Mr. B had only come down into this room for a short time. Just long enough to make sure they were all situated and safe. Mrs. B had locked the door behind them after they left. Nobody knew what they were doing up there. Nobody knew if they were even okay. Nothing had been heard from the pair since their departure.
"I hate this… this not knowing," Tommy complained with a firm voice, "We're helpless. Whatever happens, we have no hand in it."
"Maybe we could help them," Shoko said suddenly, "With whatever they are doing. There were lots of those bandit guys, so maybe it will be better if we go."
Tommy and Peepers looked at her with sudden, intense stares.
"Yes," was all Tommy said.
"Not just us though, right?" Peepers questioned.
"No, we can't do it alone just like they can't. Let me think for a second." He did just that and was silent for a while, but then he turned toward Peepers and said, "Bring Arnold and Rob… and Jim. They'll help us."
Peepers nodded and slipped of through the crowd without another word.
"That's six…" he muttered, "Shoko, can you go talk to Larry? And Mark too. If they all come that should be enough."
"Sure," Shoko said before slipping off like Peepers had.
They both returned quickly, others in tow. Mark had refused to come, but another boy named Tony had volunteered in his stead. Shoko told Tommy this and he nodded. There were now eight of them all clustered into this corner.
"Do you all know what's going on?" Tommy asked the new ones.
"There's some guys upstairs," Larry said simply.
"We're being attacked, by a lot of men. I don't think Stephen and Mr. B can handle this all on their own, so we need to go help them."
The five new boys nodded in agreement.
"But how can we get up there? Mrs. B won't let us leave, and the doors locked." This was Tony.
"I can deal with the door "But we will need someone to distract Mrs. B.," Tommy said, "Do you think Mark would do that for us? We only need a couple seconds to slip out of sight."
"I think he would," Larry said, "I'll go talk to him."
"Okay, good. We're going to get in position by the hall. Talk to him then meet us there. Tell him to wait a few seconds before doing anything."
Larry nodded and went away to find Mark.
The rest of them followed Tommy around the crowd's edge. Soon they had reached the hallway and waited near the entrance. From this place, or indeed from any place, they could see Mrs. B standing above the crowd, trying to comfort the children who seemed to need it most. Larry rejoined them and said that Mark had agreed. Tommy nodded and they all settled down to watch for the distraction.
They saw Mark stand up and turn to another boy named Joel. Joel stood as well. They were both watching the small group and Mrs. B alternatively from the corners of their eyes.
Without warning, Mark punched Joel in the face.
The boy cried out in surprise, and Shoko couldn't help wondering if it was genuine. Whether or not, Mrs. B. heard it and went running over. She quickly separated them and began questioning. She kneeled down before the two boys, facing away from the door.
They all slipped into the hall and began running after a moment. Most of them had been sleeping before this so they weren't even wearing shoes. The others had taken theirs off before the escape. Thus they went along silently. Soon they came large, metal door.
This one had two primary methods of locking. A twisting ring like the hatch far above, and a key terminal like the heavy door. Two boys began to pull at the ring while Tommy entered the code. In a moment it was coming open, and they were all going through.
Shoko was the last through, and was about to pull the door shut when Sam appeared from down the hall.
"Hey, where are you guys going?" she asked fearfully.
"We're going to help," she said simply.
There was a short silence from the other girl before she said, "I… I want to come too."
Shoko didn't even have to talk with any of the others. She could hear the certain apprehension in her friend's voice.
"No you don't," Shoko said simply. However, before Sam could say anything, Shoko continued, "You can still help though. We can only half lock the door from this side. Once we get the code reset, we need you to twist the ring back into place."
"But… I…" Sam began to retort, but Tommy broke in.
"Just do it. Right now you're the only one who can keep everyone in there safe, just like we're the only ones who can keep Stephen and Mr. B safe. We both have duties, now you do yours. Really, this job is more important than anything we'll be doing upstairs. Stay here Sam."
She was silent, finally nodding.
"Bye," Shoko said, "We'll be back soon, when it's over."
"Yeah… bye." She was still a little stunned.
They shut the door and Tommy put the code back in to reset that lock. Within seconds they heard the ring grinding back into place, and then that was done. Everyone inside there was safe. They only had to worry about themselves and the two men upstairs.
"Let's go," Tommy said, "We've got to get our weapons before anything else."
The group headed for the stairs.