to. “Who's responsible
for that?” she grouched.
Data held up his two battery wires proudly, and Andy,
wham
, slapped him without warning, like she was sayin' “Don't you ever try that again with me, Buster!”
Hitting him triggered one of his booby traps, though—this little G. I. Joe doll popped out of his shirt and shot her with a tiny plastic BB. She just rolled her eyes.
That's when we heard the shots. Way back in the tunnel, like gunshots. We froze.
“What was that?” Brand whispered. “What was that sound?”
“My booby caps,” said Data. He held up a couple of his red ball-caps. “I put these on the ground back there so we could hear
if somebody was following us.”
We looked at each other in a sort of quiet panic as the news sank in.
“That means somebody's following us,” said Stef.
Nobody argued the point. We just started running.
Data lit the way with another flare. The tunnels turned and curved, but they seemed to stay on a gradual rise, which meant
we were getting near the surface, I guessed. For ten minutes we ran like that, kind of bouncing off the walls with one ear
behind us, when all of a sudden we turned a sharp corner and ran smack into a dead end. And then the flare fizzled and died.
Data lit another one, but I could see that Brand was starting to freak, anyway, from his claustrophobia.
“Great! A dead end! Now what, huh?” He was breathing too fast, lookin' all around.
“We just go back the same way we came in,” said Andy. She looked worried about Brand, and she was trying to cool him down.
I looked at the map. There had to be a way out. “It's gotta go on—right, Willy? You wouldn't end it here. You always got somethin'
up your sleeve.…”
Brand was really flippin' now. “I can't breathe, it's too small in here! You guys are usin' up all the air! It's too small!”
He was scratchin' at the walls, lookin' like he might melt.
I found the place on the map where I thought we were at, more or less, and told Mouth to translate the writing there.
Copper bones,
Triple stones,
Westward… foams.
I looked at Chester Copperpot's copper medallion, shaped like a skull with nose and eye holes. “Here's copper bones,” I said.
That seemed right to me. I couldn't quite figure out the rest of the riddle, but I kept running it over in my mind.
That's when Brand snapped. “I can't breathe! You guys are suckin' all the air out! You sucked it all! Lemme out! Let me out!”
Then he began to climb the walls—for real. He tore out big chunks of earth, he scraped away sheets of moss, he snapped off
roots and pulled down stones. Man, he wanted out of there.
We all grabbed him and wrestled him to the ground and piled on top of him. I mean, we didn't want him to hurt himself. He
finally relaxed a little, but he couldn't stop breathing like a locomotive with the accent on
loco
.
“Anybody got a paper bag?” said Stef. “We gotta get him to breathe back his own carbon dioxide.”
Data pulled off his backpack and rummaged through it, but he didn't have a bag. Nobody had one, so Stef pulled out her shirt
and stuffed Brand's head inside. I tell you, she knew how to handle herself. “Just breathe back in what you breathe out,”
she told him. “It's good for you.”
Data looked away, and Mouth snickered, but Andy just stared at Brand's head buried in Stef's chest and didn't look real happy.
Stef could've cared less, so she took Brand's head out and stuffed it under
Andy's
shirt before either of themcould say anything. “Andy's probably better equipped for this,” she said, shakin' her head like the rest of us were all kids
acting like kids.
Still, I couldn't help thinkin' maybe Brand wasn't so dumb to breathe too fast after all.
I noticed the wall Brand had clawed at and walked up to examine it closer. All the dirt was scraped off now, and it was just
hard, cold stone, with a lot of irregular metal pegs jutting straight out of it. They looked almost
for that?” she grouched.
Data held up his two battery wires proudly, and Andy,
wham
, slapped him without warning, like she was sayin' “Don't you ever try that again with me, Buster!”
Hitting him triggered one of his booby traps, though—this little G. I. Joe doll popped out of his shirt and shot her with a tiny plastic BB. She just rolled her eyes.
That's when we heard the shots. Way back in the tunnel, like gunshots. We froze.
“What was that?” Brand whispered. “What was that sound?”
“My booby caps,” said Data. He held up a couple of his red ball-caps. “I put these on the ground back there so we could hear
if somebody was following us.”
We looked at each other in a sort of quiet panic as the news sank in.
“That means somebody's following us,” said Stef.
Nobody argued the point. We just started running.
Data lit the way with another flare. The tunnels turned and curved, but they seemed to stay on a gradual rise, which meant
we were getting near the surface, I guessed. For ten minutes we ran like that, kind of bouncing off the walls with one ear
behind us, when all of a sudden we turned a sharp corner and ran smack into a dead end. And then the flare fizzled and died.
Data lit another one, but I could see that Brand was starting to freak, anyway, from his claustrophobia.
“Great! A dead end! Now what, huh?” He was breathing too fast, lookin' all around.
“We just go back the same way we came in,” said Andy. She looked worried about Brand, and she was trying to cool him down.
I looked at the map. There had to be a way out. “It's gotta go on—right, Willy? You wouldn't end it here. You always got somethin'
up your sleeve.…”
Brand was really flippin' now. “I can't breathe, it's too small in here! You guys are usin' up all the air! It's too small!”
He was scratchin' at the walls, lookin' like he might melt.
I found the place on the map where I thought we were at, more or less, and told Mouth to translate the writing there.
Copper bones,
Triple stones,
Westward… foams.
I looked at Chester Copperpot's copper medallion, shaped like a skull with nose and eye holes. “Here's copper bones,” I said.
That seemed right to me. I couldn't quite figure out the rest of the riddle, but I kept running it over in my mind.
That's when Brand snapped. “I can't breathe! You guys are suckin' all the air out! You sucked it all! Lemme out! Let me out!”
Then he began to climb the walls—for real. He tore out big chunks of earth, he scraped away sheets of moss, he snapped off
roots and pulled down stones. Man, he wanted out of there.
We all grabbed him and wrestled him to the ground and piled on top of him. I mean, we didn't want him to hurt himself. He
finally relaxed a little, but he couldn't stop breathing like a locomotive with the accent on
loco
.
“Anybody got a paper bag?” said Stef. “We gotta get him to breathe back his own carbon dioxide.”
Data pulled off his backpack and rummaged through it, but he didn't have a bag. Nobody had one, so Stef pulled out her shirt
and stuffed Brand's head inside. I tell you, she knew how to handle herself. “Just breathe back in what you breathe out,”
she told him. “It's good for you.”
Data looked away, and Mouth snickered, but Andy just stared at Brand's head buried in Stef's chest and didn't look real happy.
Stef could've cared less, so she took Brand's head out and stuffed it under
Andy's
shirt before either of themcould say anything. “Andy's probably better equipped for this,” she said, shakin' her head like the rest of us were all kids
acting like kids.
Still, I couldn't help thinkin' maybe Brand wasn't so dumb to breathe too fast after all.
I noticed the wall Brand had clawed at and walked up to examine it closer. All the dirt was scraped off now, and it was just
hard, cold stone, with a lot of irregular metal pegs jutting straight out of it. They looked almost
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