Undergrounders Read Online Free PDF Page B

out of there, then we all huddled together to eat. They were still warm — totally awesome. For a second it wasn’t that cold — but only for a second.
    “Let’s go see if the vent is free,” Will said when we were done.
    I followed this time. It was nice to be included in the group. Since my mom died I spent most of my time alone, even when I was in the Underground. The others barely talked to me, except Lewis, of course. The vents weren’t too far away, about five minutes. We all turned the corner together.
    The vents were prime spots when it was cold. Hot air from the subway pumped up through the steelgrates, and you could lie on them in the coldest night of the year and still be warm. I’d only been on them twice. Three men and a woman were lying across them. None were moving so I figured they were sleeping.
    “Nice plan,” Rose said.
    “Shut up,” Will snapped. “Not my fault. Dumb drunks.”
    “Maybe we should go back to the Underground,” J.J. said.
    “It’s not five o’clock yet, stupid,” Will said.
    “Yeah. Well, so what?” J.J. muttered.
    Will slapped his thigh real hard. “I’m spaced. Must be this cold. Let’s do the mall.”
    Rose looked unhappy. “We got kicked out last time, and I don’t feel like having everyone staring at me like I’m a piece of garbage. The security guards will be on us the minute we walk through the door.”
    “We won’t have to deal with security. It’ll be fine.”
    I’d never seen Rose so sad. I thought she might actually cry. “I’m really cold, Will. What should we do?” She sounded desperate.
    “Trust me, Rose,” Will said gently. “Let’s go to the mall. I have a spot where they won’t find us. I got it all figured out. Me and Creeper found it.” He flicked his head at me and J.J. “You guys in?”
    I certainly didn’t have anywhere else to go. J.J. and I nodded. The mall was a good fifteen-minute walk. It was the only big one downtown. The security guards didn’t like street kids too much, and most of the time you got chased out real quick, and I didn’t go oftenbecause of that. But even though I didn’t think much of Will’s plan, I liked marching across town in a group — our own crew. It made me feel safer.

Chapter 7
    We walked right past the mall entrance. I didn’t dare question Will, though — didn’t want to push my luck.
    Rose wasn’t so shy. “We gonna get into the mall by climbing the walls like Spiderman?”
    Will didn’t answer, but kept going until we got to a blue metal door. “I’ll open this a crack and you jump in one at a time. Wait for me in there. Don’t go up the stairs.” Before we had a chance to say anything, he stuck a thin piece of metal into the side of the door and pried it open. I’d passed that door a million times and never thought that it could be opened from the outside. I had to hand it to Will and Creeper for figuring this out.
    Rose went first, me second, and then J.J. came next and smashed right into us.
    “Smooth move, doofus,” Rose barked.
    “Where are we?” he gasped.
    “Maybe a stairwell,” Rose replied.
    “No kidding, doofus.”
    “Then why’d you ask?”
    “Why are you so dumb?”
    Will came in. “Shut up,” he hissed. “You guys are so lame. I’m gonna check things out. Stay down here and be quiet and try not to be unbelievably stupid like youusually are.”
    We waited for at least two minutes. Naturally, Rose and J.J. started in on each other, and finally I couldn’t take it and went up the stairs a bit just to get away. One flight up I found a door with a handle. I pushed on it and stuck my head out. I could hear the buzz of the mall crowd.
    “Mouse,” a voice hissed.
    I shut the door. Will grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me back against the wall. “I told you to wait for me. Do you understand English?”
    I guess he’d already forgotten who’d paid for his Chinese bun. It didn’t seem like a good time to remind him. “Rose and J.J. were losing