I try not to freak out at this information, but when someone tells you that you are not alone in here, it is hard not to. The room is pitch black, and the only sound I hear is Aiden's breathing behind me.

Who else is in this room? Is it just one person, or are there more? How long has Aiden been in this room with another person or people?

I hear some shuffling on the other side of the room, and I just hope that it is another person like us and not some guard. Aiden moves his body so that he is now sitting in front of me, and I am between him and the wall. He begins to move away from me, and I grab his arm to pull him back.

“Where are you going?” I whisper to him.

Aiden whispers back to me, “I think he is like us, running from the guards. I’ll be right back.” Then he moves away from me, and I let him.

If the other person in here is just like us, then he is not a threat, and we could bring him back with us and get him to safety. If this other person is like us, then maybe others who escaped from the show tent are still around in the carnival. Maybe my Dad is still out there after all. Perhaps he is the one in the room with us.

I try not to get my hopes up with that last thought.

After Aiden walks away, it is quiet for a few seconds until I hear the sound of some feet shuffling around. About two seconds later, the sound of movement gets louder until an even louder thunk is heard. My eyes widen in fear, and I immediately get up from where I am sitting and try to find my way around the room to Aiden.

I make my way around a corner of what I assume is a table, and since my eyes are still adjusting to the dark, all I find is a big blob of darkness on the ground. The blob moves around, and I know that it must be Aiden and the other guy wrestling on the floor. Who has the upper hand right now? I don’t know, but I have to make sure they stop fighting. It is getting too loud, and a guard will probably hear it if they are close enough to the kitchen.

“There are guards patrolling this area, so please stop,” I whisper shout at them. “Or at least fight quieter, please.”

The big blob on the ground shuffles around some more until it comes to a complete stop.

Suddenly, the voice of an adult man is heard, “I can’t let them get me. They’ll kill me. You don’t understand. You have to let me go. I was here-” His words get cut off by what I am assuming is Aiden’s hand.

The guy starts trying to wiggle away from Aiden, but Aiden holds him back.

“Listen, dude, if you don’t stop moving and talking, then they are going to kill all of us,” Aiden says to the guy. This seems to get the guy’s attention since he stops struggling in Aidens arms and he gets quiet for a minute.

“Okay, I am going to take my hand away from your mouth, and then I am going to let you go. When I do, you are not going to scream or talk too loud. Got it?” Aiden says while sounding a little out of breath.

My eyes adjust more, and I can see the guy nod his head. Aiden moves away from the guy, stands up, and walks over to me. The guy stays sitting on the ground and doesn’t say anything.

The room is quiet again, so I decide to break the silence with the most lame question I can think of, “So… what’s your name?”

It is still hard to make anything out in the dark, but I swear that I see the guy look away from me with annoyance and then back to me before saying, “Ethen,” with some anger in his voice.

I don’t understand. Doesn’t this dude know that we are not with the guards and we are not trying to kill him? If anything, we are trying to help him. Why does he have to have an attitude?

“I’m Aiden, and this is,” Aiden pauses and looks at me. “You know what, I don’t think you told me your name.”

I think about that for a second, and I guess he is right. I haven’t given him my name.

“Sam,” I tell Aiden, and then I remember the other guy in the room. “I’m Sam,” I say awkwardly, this time facing Ethen.

“Great, now that we got that out of the way, what are the two of you doing here? This is my hiding spot,” Ethen says. "I found it, and I plan on using it for as long as possible. The two of you being here is compromising my safe space."

"This isn't a safe space," I tell him. "There are guards all around here patrolling. They are searching everywhere for anyone who escaped. They have been checking the game booths and it is only a matter of time before they look in here as well. You are not safe. None of us are."

“Also," Aiden says, "let it be known that first of all, I was here first, so that makes it my spot. Second, we are not your enemy. We did nothing wrong, so lose the attitude. Third, Sam and I are planning on getting the hell out of here. If you want to, you can come with us, but you’re going to have to leave the negativity in this room.”

The guy opens his mouth to say something but then looks behind us and quickly shuts it. I turn to look to see what caught Ethen's attention at the same time as Aiden does. When I look behind me at the room, I see the outline of a person through the door window. I know that Aiden saw it too, because when I look back at him, I see his expression is the same as mine. We quickly get down and hide behind the table closer to Ethen.

I hear the door open, and my heart starts racing. The table isn’t the standard four-legged table, it is more like a countertop, so if the guard were to spot us, then he would have to come around to our side of the table where we are hiding. I catch the sight of a faint light on the other side of the room from the guard’s flashlight, and I know it is only a matter of time before he finds us. I put my hand on the waist of my pants where the gun is.

“What are you doing?” My heart nearly jumps out of my chest when the guard says this. Does he know we are here? Does he think we are other guards? Is there a way where we can talk our way out of this?

Ethen looks like a panicked little kid who did something wrong and is about to get yelled at by his mother. I just hope he doesn’t scream, cry, or pee his pants. Now that I can see him a little better, it looks like Ethen may look to be in his forties, but he definitely doesn’t act like it. I think I hear a whimper come out of his mouth when the sound of a footstep comes our way.

You have got to be kidding me. How has this guy lived this long? Aiden shoots Ethen a look, and Ethen shrinks down further to the ground quietly. He squeezes his eyes shut, and I shoot Aiden a questioning glance. Aiden's face says 'You have got to be kidding me,' and I can tell that the both of us are going to have our hands full when it comes to Ethen.

Then, a voice closer to us responds, “I thought I heard something, man.” The light moves around the room, but the guard doesn’t come our way. “It was probably just a mouse or something. Let’s go.”

The door closes, but none of us move. We sit in the silent darkness and wait to ensure the guards are far enough away to start talking again.

When I think they are far enough away, I whisper to Aiden, “I wasn't exaggerating before. There are guards everywhere out there, more than before. We need to be quiet.”

Aiden looks in the direction of the door and then back at me, “What happened out there? Are you okay?” He starts looking at me, trying to check for injuries, but I assure him I’m fine.

“I’m okay. There wasn’t anything in the first room, so I went to the second one. I just ran into some trouble in the second room, but I am fine." I try to make it sound like nothing although it scared the crap out of me. "I got the names of the towns and a map.” I take the notepad and map out of my pocket and hand them to him. “There was a long list of names on multiple pieces of paper. I don’t know how useful they will be, so I only wrote a few down.”

“That’s alright, you did good. The map will be very helpful in figuring out where to go next,” Aiden says.

“A guard walked into the room when I was about to leave. I got away, but it caused more guards to go and look for me. For us.” I look at Aiden in the eyes to make sure he is listening. “They know people are missing. I heard the guards talking about it. They have been doing a headcount and found thirty-six people missing from Treegrass, and they know that people escaped from your town, too. They have their suspicions about your involvement here.”

Aiden processes this information, “Do they know where they have gone or how they got out? Do they know it’s the Jumpers?”

“I don’t know, that was all I heard,” I tell Aiden.

He looks troubled by this but doesn’t say anything else.

“What are you two whispering about?” Ethen asks.

Aiden and I both look at him and then back to each other.

“What?” Ethen says, “I want to know. I think I have a right to know, right? If I am going to be joining the two of you in getting out of here, then I should be filled in on what is going on.” Ethen states this as if it were a fact. The annoying part is, he is not wrong.

Chapter 20

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