Scholastic Canada | On the Run

On the run, by Gordon Korman

On the Run #1: Chasing the Falconers Sample Chapter -- On the Run #1: Chasing the Falconers
ISBN 978-0439651363

Outside was pure chaos, with the helpless supervisors squirting extinguisher foam on a fire that had already consumed everything in its path. The outbuildings were ashes. Cows, geese, chickens, and residents milled around in the confusion. Aiden got no more than fifty feet from the house before collapsing to dirt, physically and emotionally drained.

“It’s okay,” Meg soothed. “We made it.”

“How can it be okay? Look around you!”

Meg shrugged. “What do we care if their jail burns down?”

“But it’s my fault!”

Meg goggled. “You torched the farm?”

Aiden gasped out the story of the mishap with the kerosene lamp. “I could have put it out! I was going to – I just waited a few seconds! But then it was too later. The supes are going to kill me!”

Meg drew him to his feet and led him farther away from the remains of the building. “The supes are never going to see you again,” she said. “We can be a long way from here by sunup.”

Aiden was horrified. “You mean take off? Don’t you think we’re in enough trouble already?”

“We’re the only ones who aren’t in trouble!” she argued. “They have no real right to keep us here. Besides, there is no ‘here’ anymore.”

Aiden was racked with guilt. “Aren’t you listening to me? I have to turn myself in. Somebody could be dead in that fire. It was almost you.”

The girls all got out,” she reasoned, “and the boys had plenty of warning.” She took hold of him by the shoulders. “Listen, bro. You just saved my life. Now I’m going to save yours. Let’s blow this Popsicle stand.”

His eyes were hopeless. “We’ll never make it.”

“The supes have their hands full,” she insisted. “You think we’ll be the only ones missing when the ashes cool? Besides, when they investigate, they’ll hear that the roof fell on me, and you were in a barbecued chicken coop. Maybe they’ll think we’re dead.”

“Even if we can get away,” Aiden argued back, “we’re in the middle of nowhere. We have no place to go, no money. You’re in your pajamas. I’m in a jumpsuit that might as well have a sign that say JAILBIRD.

“This is what we’ve been praying for – a chance to get out of here, to help Mom and Dad! I don’t know how we’ll do it, but we definitely can’t if we’re locked away.” She played her trump card. “This place is dust. God knows where they’ll send us next. We might never even be together. This is a gift, Aiden. Say thank you and fly.”

Over Meg’s shoulder, Aiden saw the east wall of the main house collapse in a cascade of smoke and embers.

Whatever lay ahead, this chapter of their lives was over.

They sprinted for the cornfield.