“Maybe my parents made it inside the camp somehow,” I whispered to Takumi. We rolled up in our bags and used our backpacks as pillows.

  “Or we missed them.”

  “Yeah. Or that.”

  I took a tiny sip of water. It was hard not to gulp it all down. “I’ll search the crowd again tomorrow.”

  “This is a waste of time. You saw those people. They’re dying. The sailors are scared too. We need another way in. Past all this,” Takumi said, so softly I almost didn’t hear him.

  “How?” I asked.

  Takumi put his hands behind his head and leaned back on his pack. “I don’t know. Let me think. We’ll talk in the morning.” He kissed me goodnight.

  I wrapped the sleeping bag tight around me and heard nothing until the ding of a text message startled me awake.

  Chapter Fourteen

  I rubbed my eyes and searched for my cell. It was still dark, although a splash of light was beginning to form on the horizon. Nearby, a man sobbed. Snoring and coughs echoed across the concrete. A woman wailed, “Tom, Tom,” and then screamed, “Tom!”

  I couldn’t let myself think about what horrors these people were experiencing. There was nothing I could do to help. On the ground close by, Nick was sound asleep. Takumi stood watching me. The boys had let me sleep instead of waking me to take a watch. I wished they’d quit doing that.

  I finally found my phone and opened the text. It was from Dad! My heart raced.

  Dylan, Cole, and Toni,

  How are you? We cut in line with old friends and entered the refugee camp yesterday.

  The camp is overflowing. They are not letting more than a few in every day. There is a lot of sickness. The sailors are worried about running out of supplies. They are planning to close the camp soon.

  Mom is sick. They say it’s her appendix. She needs an operation. More than what the doctors can do here. I got her a ride with a medical team headed for Santa Barbara.

  Don’t go to the camp. Stay with the boat. When Mom is well, we’ll find you.

  I texted back:

  This is Toni! I’m here. In line at the camp. We can go with you and Mom. We are so close.

  Dad answered:

  Can’t wait. Sailors are loading Mom into the truck. Leaving now. How are your brothers? Where’s the boat? Where should we meet you?

  I typed as fast as I could.

  Boat’s waiting for me, then headed to Loreto. On the Sea of Cortez.

  Dad responded.

  Go back to the boat. We are leaving, now. We’ll find y

  His phone died, or the signal was lost. I wanted to scream.

  Takumi kneeled beside me. I handed him my phone. He read the messages, and passed the phone back. “He wants you to go back to the boat. We should do as he says.”

  I closed my eyes. “But they are so close.”

  Nick woke up and moaned. “What’s going on?”

  Takumi and I filled him in.

  Nick crawled out of his sleeping bag and wrapped it around his shoulders. “I agree with Takumi. We aren’t even close to the front of the line. And we have nothing to bribe anyone with.”

  I held my head in my hands and rocked back and forth. “They are so close! So close!”

  Takumi wrapped his arm around me. “Your dad knows where we are headed now.”

  “But, what if mom’s appendix bursts before they make it to Santa Barbara. What if they never…”

  Takumi put his finger to his lips. “Shush. Your father knows what he is doing. He trusts you to keep going. You have to have faith in him, too.”

  I knew Takumi was right, but it was all I could do to hold myself back from running toward the camp and taking my chances. I rocked back and forth while my mind raced.

  The headlights of a covered jeep appeared about five hundred feet away. I leapt to my feet and wondered if it was the vehicle my mom and dad were in. We stood to watch as the jeep came to a stop. A young sailor got out, rang a bell, then got back into the jeep, and continued toward us.

  “What’s he doing?” I mumbled.

  The jeep traveled about fifty feet, stopped again, and the guy repeated the bell ringing. People appeared carrying covered bundles. Another sailor got out and opened the tailgate of the truck. People gently laid their bundles down, sobbed, and then kissed the bundle goodbye. The sailors had to pry the men and women off the shrouded bodies.

  “The dead. They’re collecting the remains of people who died while waiting to get into the camp.” I gasped at the horror of it. That could have been Mom, if Dad hadn’t found someone to cut in line with.

  “Let’s get out of here. Now!” Nick began rolling up his sleeping bag.

  “We can’t leave just yet. We have to warn these people. We have to tell them what my father said.”

  Nick tied his sleeping bag to his pack. “Too risky. The sailors might hear us.”

  “So? What if they do? We’re only telling the truth. This is still America, isn’t it?” I said.

  “But the truth could cause a riot! We could be arrested.” Nick sat his pack down.

  I thought for a moment. “We have to risk it. I can’t go off without warning them. You don’t have to help me. I’ll do it alone.”

  “I agree with Toni,” Takumi said. “It would be wrong not to share what we know.”

  “You’re unbelievable!” Nick shook his head. “Next time, I’m staying with the boat.”

  “Does that mean you’ll help?” I asked.

  “Yes, but if I get shot and killed, I’ll never forgive you.”

  I smiled. “Thanks, Nick.”

  The truck bell was ringing again. It passed by us, headed for the end of the line. We waited for it to turn and start back toward the base.

  Takumi and I shoved our gear into our packs, rolled up our blankets, and started to go.

  “What’s going on?” Peter stood with his hands on his hips. “You’re leaving without even saying goodbye?”

  Takumi told him what my father had told us. Then he shared what we knew about the plans for the camp to close.

  “I was afraid of something like that.” Peter’s shoulders slumped.

  Tiffany came out of the tent. “With the food you traded us, we think we have a shot at making it to the marina. Maybe even finding a boat that will get us to your island.”

  Nick shook Peter’s hand. “Good luck. Remember, the island is thirty miles off the coast of Santa Barbara. I’d think about camping on the beach near the Tijuana River for a few days. You’ll have fresh water, fish, and seaweed. Fix up a small sailboat. It’s too far to paddle a kayak from here to the island. And, wherever you go, take lots of water.”

  “Great advice,” Peter said. “It will feel good to leave here and do something.”

  “Leave soon. We’re going to spread the word about the camp closing,” I said.

  Tiffany hugged me goodbye. “We’d already decided to leave this morning.” She disappeared under the tent flap, and I heard her gently waking up the kids. Her soft voice reminded me of my mom’s so much it hurt.

  I took a couple of deep breaths. “Why don’t we each take a different section. I’ll head to the front lines. Takumi, you take the middle section, and Nick the rear. We’ll meet up at the end of this line when we’re done, and then head to Whistler.”

  We waved goodbye to Peter and took off.

  As I made my way to the front, I showed everyone I met the text my dad had written. My battery died, but some of the healthier people followed after me, and verified my story with the new families I stopped to talk to. I’d never seen so many scared and hurting people.

  One elderly woman grabbed my hand as I passed by. “Why?” she asked. “Why didn’t the sailors warn us?”

  Her neighbor told me that her son, his wife, and two kids got sick and died while waiting in line. She’d survived, but was all alone now. She refused to eat or drink.

  Many people wanted to share the story of the journey they had taken to get to the lines. Surviving the tsunami had been easier than what happened afterward. It seemed everyone had lost a loved one. Most had had run-ins with a gang. Even though they were afraid they wouldn’t live long enough to make it into the camp, they were more afraid to leave the safety the sailors represented.

  With every step, more and more people followed me. “Where should we go?” They asked again and again. I didn’t have an answer. We couldn’t take them with us. Maybe Nick was right. Telling them that it was hopeless to stay here, without giving them any other option wasn’t fair. If only the military would talk to them. Maybe there was a better camp? Or a better place to go?

  When I came to the end of the line, Nick and Takumi were waiting. They were surrounded by at least a dozen men and women. The people gathered were talking in loud angry voices. They discussed where they’d been and where they might go. My followers joined the discussion.

  The group grew louder. Two men began shoving each other. It would only be a short time before a fight broke out.

  “Now what? We got them all worked up. We have to give them a solution or they’re really going to riot.” Nick watched the jostling match.

  A short distance away, the bell of the dead rang out.

  The crowd grew quiet for a moment. A young man with a dark beard gestured at the jeep headed our way. “Sailors. They’re just letting us die.”

  The jeep grew closer.

  “My daughter was sick. They did nothing,” a young woman wailed.

  An elderly man cried, “We need food as much as they do.”

  The jeep slowed down.

  “Make them pay!” A man raised his fist in the air.

  The jeep stopped. The oblivious sailor got out and rang the bell.

  “Killer!” The brown-bearded man pointed at the sailor and took off running toward the jeep.

  The mob chased after him, roaring and shaking their fists in the air as they ran.

  The sailor spun, dropped the bell, and scampered back into the truck. The jeep engine sputtered. The mob surrounded the truck before he could get it started.

  I watched in horror.

  What had I done?

  Chapter Fifteen

  The noise was deafening. The mob was trying to break the window of the truck. I sprinted for the sailors.

  Takumi grabbed my arm. “It’s too late.”

  “No!” I yanked free. “We have to stop them. They’ll kill the sailors.”

  Nick scanned the area. “We need to get out of here before reinforcements arrive.”

  I continued toward the military truck. The vehicle was surrounded and rocking back and forth. The two men inside were being tossed around. One had managed to pull out his gun, the other was screaming into his radio. The truck rocked and almost tipped over. The gun flew out of the sailor’s hand.

  A baseball bat smashed the front window.

  The glass cracked.

  “Stop!” I yelled.

  The glass shattered and burst in on the faces of the sailors.

  “No!” I picked up the bell and rang it as hard as I could, again and again. I pleaded for the mob to stop.

  They didn’t.

  The young woman who’d spoken earlier about her daughter dying, climbed up on the hood of the military truck. She beat on the splintered glass and yelled at the sailors. Blood dripped off her hand, but she didn’t seem to feel it.

  I jerked her foot out from under her. She fell onto the hood.

  She kicked at me, aiming at my face. “Leave me alone,” she screamed.

  I dodged her shoe and shoved her back against the hood. “Look at him. Will hurting him bring your daughter back?”

  She slid off the truck and sprang up in front of me. “They need to pay.” She found a chunk of broken cement and hammered the passenger window with it.

  “This is wrong!” I faced the crowd. “Everyone, listen!”

  No one paid any attention to me.

  The truck continued to be attacked. Both sailors had blood streaming down their faces. One of them looked at me. Pure terror shone in his eyes.

  I scampered to the roof of the vehicle, bent my knees and rode it as it was pushed from side to side. “Stop this. Stop!” I rang the bell. “This isn’t the way.”

  The men who had been busy smashing the truck doors and windows with baseball bats, stepped back to catch their breath. The bearded man pointed his bat at me. “Get down from there or we’ll bash you too.”

  “No. This isn’t the way.”

  The bloodied sailor closest to the window found his gun and aimed it at the bearded man. “Get back or I’ll shoot.”

  I slid from the roof and stood between the bearded man and the Marine’s gun. “No shooting.” I told the Marine. I spun to the bearded man. “Go back to your camp.” I swiveled back and forth, from one to the other. “It’s over!” I rang the bell even harder.

  Gunshots and car horn blasts were heard in the distance.

  The mob quieted and turned toward the noise.

  “Sailors! They’re coming!” A woman screamed.

  The crowd began to scurry away. The man with the bat glared at me, and then took off too.

  “Toni.” Takumi held his hand out to me. “We have to get out of here.”

  I glanced over at the sailors in the truck. They were cut, bruised, and bleeding, but still moving. The sailor with the gun lowered it and watched as Takumi’s fingers found mine. Takumi pulled me away.

  “Wait. Where’s Nick?” We scanned the area.

  The rescue vehicles were getting closer.

  Nick lay on the ground, holding his head. Blood trickled over his eyes. Takumi and I ran to him. I leaned over and grabbed one arm, Takumi the other. Nick groaned as we helped him to his feet.

  “Can you walk?’ I asked.

  He moaned, and then sunk back down to the ground.

  “I’ll carry him,” Takumi muttered.

  Another shot rang out.

  A woman screamed.

  The sailors were almost upon us.

  I hoisted Nick onto Takumi’s back. We crouched behind a large tent and watched armed sailors boil out. Takumi was breathing heavily. Nick, still on Takumi’s back, groaned loudly. We couldn’t stay where we were.

  I pointed to another tent off to the left. “Can you carry him that far?”

  Takumi nodded. I waited until the platoon of sailors were busy prying open the doors to the truck.

  “Follow me.” I took off toward the tent that seemed much farther away than it had seconds ago.

  I glanced back as I hunched over and ran. Takumi was close behind, but moving slowly. He struggled to carry Nick’s weight. The battered truck doors were finally opened and the platoon began pulling the two bloodied sailors out.

  I made it to the tent and turned to help Takumi.

  A male voice from somewhere behind me yelled, “Stop, or I’ll shoot.”

  I couldn’t see where the voice was coming from, or who the man was yelling at.

  Takumi and Nick kept coming. They were almost to my hiding place.

  “I said stop!” the voice called out again. A shot rang out.

  Takumi and Nick shuddered, then collapsed in a heap barely ten feet from me.

  “Takumi!” I cried. “Nick!”

  Sailors surrounded us. Guns were aimed at our heads.

  “On your knees. Hands on your head,” an older man in uniform barked at us.

  Nick and Takumi didn’t move. I got on my knees and crawled to them.

  “Hands behind your head. Now!” the sailor yelled.

  They laid on the ground. Takumi struggled to get up. Blood darkened his side.

  “Takumi!” I touched his shoulder. He grimaced and swore.

  A woman sailor grabbed my wrists. “You’re under arrest,” she growled. Another sailor, a young man, joined her. The two yanked me to my feet.

  “My friends! They need help,” I pleaded.

  “That’s all we do. Help you people. And this is how you repay us?” the man who gripped my arms growled.

  “I tried to stop the mob,” I wailed as I was dragged to a military truck and driven to the military base. The sailors pulled me out and threw me into a dark, cage-like room. “I helped your sailors.”

  “Tell it to Major Conrad,” the woman sailor said, and then shut the cage door.

  Darkness surrounded me, but I hardly noticed. Takumi. Nick… What had just happened? How badly were they hurt?

  I pounded on the door. The cage hurt my hand, but I didn’t care. I gripped the wire and shook it as I yelled for someone to come. Someone to tell me where Takumi and Nick were. Someone to tell me if they were alive or dead.

  No one came. My voice grew hoarse.

  I lost track of time and finally collapsed into a fetal position on the dirt floor. I’d never felt so alone and helpless.

  Chapter Sixteen

  I woke to the smell of hay and farm animals. A goat bleated. A cow mooed. I sat up and listened. I wasn’t the only one caged in the makeshift shelter.

  Then I heard someone talking. I strained to hear what they were saying, but I couldn’t quite make out the words.

  I crawled on the dirt and gravel floor toward where I remembered the cage door had been. How long had I been asleep? Hours? Days?

  “In here! Someone talk to me! Where are my friends?” I croaked.

  No one answered.

  I rattled the cage and yelled some more. The cow and goats joined in and mooed and bleated. My throat grew dry. Sore. But I kept yelling, trying to make myself heard over the noise the animals were making.

  “Quiet in there,” a gruff voice yelled.

  The door slid open. It was daytime outside, but the light didn’t make it back to the animals and me. Two silhouettes were framed by the door. They stepped inside and the door closed.

  I was in the dark again. There was a click, and two beams from flashlights shined at me and my cage. I quickly glanced around at my surroundings. I was in a large metal building that held a number of wire cages. Most of the cages were empty, but off to my right was a cage with two goats. A small cow was to my left.