“Thirty-four, twenty-seven, hut, hut, HIKE!”

And then Brayden came running toward us, leaping and jumping over the fallen merchandise in his way.

He was wearing a football helmet and an oversize sweatshirt stuffed with towels or something to look like pads. On the front he had written a giant “2” with a magic marker.

Brayden came running toward us and then turned, and BAM, a football flew into his hands.

“Touchdown!” he shouted, spiking the ball.

The kids looked half thrilled, half terrified.

Then Jake came jogging into the Pizza Shack. He gave Brayden a high five and Brayden handed him the football.

Jake, too, wore a football helmet and a sweatshirt made to look like a uniform. He took off his helmet and tossed it onto the table. His jersey read QB on the front and #1 on the back.

“Guys, I am the QB,” he said. “That means quarterback! The quarterback is the guy on the team who calls the shots and makes sure everyone plays their best. And I’m gonna be a great QB for this team. Us. That’s why you should elect me the leader!”

The kids started clapping and cheering like crazy.

Niko looked at Josie and then back at his notes.

Jake’s stunt was charming and silly and totally cool, too.

It didn’t look good for Niko.

Josie tried to get a word in, but Jake continued.

“I say there is no reason in the world why we can’t have some fun here! We’ve got, like, every game in the world. We’ve got all the food we can eat. I think this could be like summer training camp—”

He was talking too fast. He seemed wired. High, almost.

And then I wondered, was he actually high?

He was acting really weird.

“I gotta say,” Brayden said, “that Jake is a great leader. You guys are gonna love having him as the boss. I guarantee it.”

Somehow looking at Brayden standing there with a big #2 on his chest made me very, very nervous.

“We all appreciate your enthusiasm, Brayden,” Josie said, finally getting in there. “But really, this is just for the two candidates.”

“Totally! Sorry. My apologies, everyone.”

“Dude,” Jake said. “She’s right, sit down, bro. This is mano a mano. Me and Niko only.”

Brayden went and sat down in a booth to the side.

“Now, just to be clear,” Jake rambled on. “I don’t see this as just a football training camp—though I think we got the makings of a great team here—but every kind of sport. I even think we can make the things like cleaning up and cooking and all that crap, that stuff can be fun, too! We can have teams and have contests and prizes. Stuff like that!”

He grinned at us all. Then gave a thumbs-up.

“Okay,” Josie said. “Is there anything else you’d like to say?”

Jake thought about it for a moment.

“Vote for me and we’ll par-tee!” he said.

I hope he was improvising because as a slogan, it pretty much sucked.

Jake just stood there with his thumb still up. The kids gave a deflated cheer for him. They were following his cues, but they didn’t seem to buy it a hundred percent. I certainly didn’t.

“All right,” Josie said. “Then let’s hear from Niko.”

“Great!” Jake said.

Niko stood and walked over to stand next to Josie, but Jake didn’t sit down. He was just kind of standing there, fidgeting, throwing the ball in the air.

“Jake, why don’t you sit down while Niko talks,” Josie said, showing Jake where to sit.

The little kids giggled.

Jake was acting really stoned.

I wondered if this would help him or hurt him at “the polls.”

“Hey, guys,” Niko began. “It was a really cool idea to come in costume. I wish I thought of it. Though I don’t know how cool you would think it was if I came in my Scout uniform…”

He looked up at us.

Niko was trying to crack a joke, I realized too late.

Someone needed to work with him on his delivery.

“But, you know, maybe Boy Scouts isn’t cool to some people, but the training I got as a Scout has really helped me here. And all of us. You know, I know first aid and I helped us to get out of the bus and stuff.”

Brayden whispered, “Yo!” to Jake and held his hands out. Jake passed him the ball.

“If you pick me, it’s not going to be all games and playing,” Niko continued. “I think we need order and structure. Everyone’s gonna have to work if we’re going to make it. That’s just what I think.”

The kids were looking down at their laps. A couple were starting to fidget.

Niko’s eyes glanced over to Josie and I saw her make a little motion with her hands, like, Give us more.

Niko took a deep breath. Then he seemed to pull himself together. He stood up straight. He looked out at all of us.

“I am not good at making speeches. I’m not the most popular kid at school.”

Brayden snickered off to the right.

“But I know what needs to be done here,” Niko continued. “I know how to organize and delegate. I know how to ration food, so we’ll be able to stay well fed for as long as possible. I know how to keep my head in a crisis. I think you all know that about me already.

“I know how to survive and I’ll teach you all how to survive. That’s what we need to learn now. I think we are all a lot luckier than pretty much everyone in this part of the country.”

He looked out and his gaze traveled over each of us. His posture, his straightness, seemed to magnetize us somehow and we all sat up taller in our seats.

“We are going to honor those who have died by surviving. All of us. That’s my promise to you. If you elect me, we’re all getting out of here safe and sound.”

Niko strode to the back of the tables and sat down, alone.

Josie passed out pens from a new box of ballpoints and little scraps of paper. Each one was numbered.

“All right,” she told us. “Write the name of the boy who you want to be our group leader until Mrs. Wooly comes.”

There was a moment of circular scribbling as everyone got the ballpoints to flow.

Then there was a pause, while people thought, and eventually they started writing.

I watched the kids writing. These stupid little kids. How could they know enough to make a good choice here?

If they chose Jake, we were in serious trouble.

Niko was the only rational choice, but he hadn’t played to the kids. He hadn’t promised them a good time.

What would the little kids pick? Good times or survival skills?

I wrote Niko, and I underlined it several times.

Then I rose and put my vote into the empty personal-size pizza box Alex had created as a ballot box.

Alex retired to the corner booth, where he counted and recounted dutifully.

He rose and walked to the front of the room.

I tried to catch his eye, but he kept his gaze on the floor.

Alex whispered the results to Josie.

She took a moment and then spoke.

“This was a really close race, and that speaks to the fact that both our candidates are such good guys. Let’s not let there be any hard feelings, guys…”

She looked out at Jake and Niko.

“The winner is Niko.”

There were some cheers and a couple of boos. Brayden pronounced the election bull— (such a vocabulary!), but Jake rose to shake Niko’s hand.

“Congratulations,” Jake said. “Let me know what I can do to help, all right, man?”

Jake was sort of dancing on the tips of his toes. He had that much energy.

“Yes. Thank you,” said Niko.

Niko’s straight hair fell into his eyes and he pushed it back. Everything about Niko was straight. His hair, his posture, his whole way of being. The kid was utterly straight and totally trustworthy.

“Come on, man,” I heard Jake say to Brayden as they walked away, “let’s go get drunk.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

GREENWAY 2.0

What was I dreaming of? Plumes of deadly ink? Astrid’s wild wavy hair draping across my face? A murderer rattling a gate?

I don’t know. When Niko nudged me awake, I sat up so fast I shook it all out of my head.

“What time is it?” I mumbled, squinting in the low light of the store.

“Seven,” Niko said. “Seven-oh-eight. I need your help in the Kitchen.”

“Are you kidding me?” I asked. “Come back in two hours.”

I closed my eyes and rolled over on my air mattress.

Niko just stood over me. Hands on hips. Just waiting.

“Okay, okay,” I said.

“Meet me in the Kitchen,” he said.

* * *

He had two giant poster boards and a set of colored Sharpies. He was putting the finishing touches on a map of the store and this detailed daily schedule.

Niko had spent yesterday afternoon walking around the store with Alex, while I helped Josie with the kids. Dinner had been fairly uneventful, with Jake and Brayden off drunk and doing God knows what; Sahalia skulking around our perimeter, pissed off at everyone; and Josie being the loving mother to her large brood.

Yawning, I started a fresh pot of coffee.

“Why did I have to get up this early?” I asked him.

“You’re the cook,” he said. “I need you to get breakfast ready and then we’ll wake everyone up and I’ll give them their assignments for the day.”

“Man, they’re gonna love that,” I said.

“Structure,” Niko said. “Children need structure.”

“You’re not going to try to get Jake and Brayden to follow your plan, are you?”

Niko brushed his brown hair out of his eyes. He glanced at me.

“Not so much,” he said.

“Good,” I replied instantly.

It was funny and we laughed.

I think it was maybe the first time we’d ever laughed together.

I heard another voice join our laughter and turned to see Ulysses. He was wearing Batman pajamas, his round little belly showed under the top.