Among the Enemy Read Online Free PDF Page B

blanket he found on the floor.
"I'll try to find some food for you as soon as I take care of Percy," he told her.
Her only response was a moan. The bandage Percy had fashioned for her had fallen off somewhere in the woods, so the wound on her head was exposed, all seepy and puffy-looking. A few strands of her hair were plastered to the wound, and Matthias felt faint at the thought of hav-ing to pull them away, hurting her even more.
    "I'll be right back," he promised her. n He went back up the ladder. He tried carrying Percy down the same way he had Alia: over his shoulder. But Percy was nearly as tall and heavy as Matthias himself, and Matthias couldn't work out the proper arrangement of arms and legs. Halfway down the ladder, Matthias fell, and Percy landed right on top of him on the packed-dirt floor. Percy let out a roar of agony.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry," Matthias apologized, but even the fall didn't awaken Percy.
Matthias struggled to his feet. Ignoring the pain in his own legs and spine, he dragged Percy over to a cot near Alia's. Percy left a trail of blood behind him.
How much blood can somebody lose and still live? Matthias wondered.
"I'll stop the bleeding now," he promised Percy. "Right after I shut the trapdoor. When the trapdoor's shut, no one can find us down here. We're safe. I think there's some food down here—oh, yes! I see some bread over there on a shelf. I'll soak that in water and feed it to you and Alia. And I can tear up some of these blankets for bandages...."
He wanted so badly for one of his friends to finish his list of blessings for him with And God loves us. Then he would be able to believe that the underground room was a safe place, that nobody would find them there, that his friends' wounds would heal. But his voice trailed off into silence, and no one answered him, no one at all.

    Chapter Nine

    Matthias did everything he could for his friends, but there was so much he didn't know. Could Percy's leg heal even if Matthias didn't take the bullet out? What did it mean that Alia flickered in and out of consciousness and seemed barely aware even when she was awake?
"They'll both be fine tomorrow," he told himself firmly. He managed to choke down a bit of bread and water him^ self, then blew out the lantern and curled up on a cot between his two friends.
He woke, hours later, to the sound of Alia crying. He lit the lantern and crouched by her cot.
"Shh," he murmured. "I'm here."
Alia stared up at him.
"Why doesn't it stop hurting?" she asked. "It feels like my head cracked in half, and every time I move, it cracks open some more." She flinched, as if just the act of talking was painful.
"Shh. Go back to sleep" was the best comfort Matthias could offer. He wished he had some aspirin, but maybe even that wouldn't be enough for her.
He lay back down on his own cot, but sleep was impossible now.
    What can I do, God? he prayed desperately. How can I help Alia? How can I save Percy?
He got up and took the lantern around the room, searching more thoroughly than he'd searched the night before. The cupboards and shelves over the sink contained an amazing quantity of food: bread and potatoes, apples, even a hunk of cheese. But that was all there was.
“Why did they even have this room?” he muttered to himself. It must have been hard work digging out this huge space. Why hadn’t the cabin’s owners just built a larger cabin?
Because they had something to hide. . . . > >
Matthias walked slowly around the room, stopping every few paces to tap his foot on the dirt floor. Then he felt carefully along the walls.
He found what he was looking for behind one of the cabinets over the sink. The wood wall swung away, revealing a safe with a combination lock.
Percy was the smart one, and Alia was the one with a sixth sense for picking locks. But neither of them could help Matthias now. At least he had determination on his side. He turned the numbered lock slowly, listening for clicks. A hope had begun to grow inside