No Survivors Read Free Page A

the spoon stuck to his nose. “The witch did this to me, April!” he joked.
    April grabbed the spoon. “Not funny,” she muttered.
    Anthony rolled his eyes. “Some people have no sense of humor,” he said. “But they do have muffins.” He grabbed the blueberry muffin from April’s plate and shoved it into his mouth.
    â€œForget him,” Kristen said to April. “He’s hopeless.” She looked at April more carefully. “You don’t look so good.”
    April shrugged. “Last night something happened on my way back to the cabin. I—I couldn’t fall asleep afterward.”
    â€œWhat happened?” Kristen asked.
    â€œNot now,” April whispered. “Anthony will just laugh at me.”
    Mira stepped to the front of the room, clapping her hands for quiet. “Listen up, people,” she shouted.
    Mira had a slender face topped with curly brown hair. She was short but athletic-looking. She wore crisp white tennis shorts and a blue midriff top that revealed a dark tan.
    â€œI hope you didn’t pig out on breakfast,” shecalled out. “Because we have our first competition this morning.”
    â€œOink! Oink!” Phil and a boy named Raymond made pig snorts from the corner table.
    Mira made a face at them. “The cameras are rolling!” she reminded them. “If you want to be a pig on national TV…”
    Everyone laughed.
    Mira raised a clipboard. “We thought we’d start with a simple contest,” she announced. “A foot race. To the other side of the island.”
    â€œBut that’s miles!” Raymond protested. “Wimp!” Anthony said.
    â€œWhich way do we go?” Kendra asked.
    â€œAny way you want,” Mira replied. “You can try to go along the beach. But the rocks make it pretty rough. Or you can cut through the forest.”
    â€œCan we take a boat?” Phil asked.
    Everyone laughed. Clark threw an empty milk carton at him.
    â€œFirst one to reach the dock on the other side of the island wins ten points,” Mira announced. “Go ahead. Start anytime.”
    Chairs scraped against the floor as everyone jumped up. Some kids grabbed muffins, sweet rolls, and bottles of water as they hurried out of the mess hall.
    Outside, April watched Pam start to jog alongside Clark. April saw Pam’s eyes narrow and her featurestighten as she picked up speed.
    As always, she really wants to win, April thought. I’ve never seen anyone who wants to win as much as Pam does.
    She may run with Clark for a while. But when they get close to the finish, she’ll leave him behind in the dust.
    Kristen came up behind April. “Let’s go!” she cried. “What are you waiting for?”
    April held back. “Which way? Beach or woods?”
    â€œWoods definitely,” Kristen said. “It’s going to be a scorcher. At least in the woods we’ll have some shade.”
    They took off, jogging at an even pace. Kristen is right about the heat, April thought.
    The morning sun hung just above the trees. But the air was already steamy, damp. The trees stood still, not a leaf rustling. No breeze at all.
    April could see Courtney and Kendra up ahead. They were moving quickly, pushing through a clump of tall reeds.
    April started to call to them. But they disappeared around a tangled cluster of pine trees.
    Insects buzzed. The back of April’s neck began to tingle. She slapped a fat mosquito off the back of her hand.
    After a while, they slowed to a walk. Shafts of warm sunlight poured down between the tree leaves overhead.
    April stopped and took a drink from a water bottle. She handed it to Kristen. “How long have we been going?”
    Kristen sighed. “Not very.”
    They could hear voices up ahead. Pam and Clark. Talking as they ran.
    â€œSomething really scary happened last night,” April said as they started to walk again. She told Kristen