Among the Brave by Margaret Peterson Haddix Page A

to go anywhere,” Trey finally managed to say. “We can call. We can call the Grants’ house, or call Mr. Hendricks back at the school—Mr. Hendricks can get Lee from the Grants’ house, if we just call...”
    He really meant that Mark could call. Mark or his parents. Trey was feeling better now, at the thought that somebody else could take care of everything and he wouldn’t have to. This was a good plan. But Mark was shaking his head.
    “The Population Police shut down all the phone lines in the country yesterday—security reasons, Trey said. And now they’ve shut off the electricity.... What if Trey come and take away our gasoline next? We can’t just sit around waiting. We’ve got to go rescue Luke.”
    He sounded almost happy at the thought that it would take more than a phone call to find his brother.
    “We don’t know for sure where he is,” Trey protested. He was suddenly desperate to avoid being roped into Mark’s dangerous plan. “For all we know, the chauffeur might have lied about going back to the Grants’ house. Trying to find Lee would be like.., like looking for a needle in a haystack.” He thought Mark might appreciate the agricultural analogy. But it didn’t go far enough. He remembered what Mrs. Talbot had said about roadblocks and house-to-house searches. “No—now that the Population Police are in charge, it’d be like looking for a needle in a burning haystack.”
    “Oh, I’ve done that,” Mark said airily. “It’s a game we used to play, after we got rid of all our livestock and didn’t need our hay no more. You throw a match into the haystack, give the fire a three-second head start, and begin looking. You can find the needle every time if you work quick”
    Trey couldn’t do anything but stare at the other boy Mark wasn’t just crazily brave—he was stark, raving mad. Trey thought Longingly of his cozy cupboard hiding place back in the Talbots’ kitchen. He could be back there in a matter of minutes. He certainly wasn’t spending any more time hanging around this lunatic.
    But Smits stepped forward.
    “You’ll help Mark, won’t you, Trey?” he said. “If the two of you work together, I know you can get to Lee. You’ll rescue him, won’t you?”
     
    It’s impossible, Trey thought It’s ridiculous to risk two more lives when we’ve got no chance of success. This is insanity. It’s a suicide mission! He thought about how deluded Smits was, thinking Trey had ever been able to protect anybody, thinking Trey might be able to take care of somebody else, instead of needing somebody to take care of him.
    That one time I saved Lee’s life, it was a fluke, you know? he wanted to scream at Smits. I can’t do anything. I’m a coward!
     
    But what he said to Smits was: “Yes.”
     

     
    Chapter Ten
    “Okay. Ready to go?” Mark asked. “Now?” Trey squeaked. He wanted more ceremony somehow—a commissioning service, perhaps, or an anointing of the heroes, like he’d read about in books. Some acknowledgment that brave men (okay—boys) were about to head into danger.
     
    Or maybe he just wanted a delay. A chance to change his mind.
    “What—you want to wait until the Population Police make it a crime to go anywhere? Of course now!” Mark said.
    Trey could feel Smits’s eyes on him.
    “P-papers,” Trey managed to stammer. “We’ve got to take the papers from the Talbots’ house first”
    He didn’t know why that seemed so important suddenly, except that he’d brought papers to the Talbots’ and it didn’t seem right to leave them behind.
    “The Talbots? Trey’re the ones in the big house over there?” Mark asked, pointing.
     
    Trey felt so disoriented that he barely could have identified up from down, but he nodded.
    Mark shrugged. “Always wanted to see inside one of those monster houses,” he said.
    And Trey was glad, because he wasn’t sure he could muster enough courage to go back into the Talbots’ house alone, then Leave again, if he