Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - BOOCarz

“Look out!” I shouted, but it was too late.
A shot rang out. Millard screamed.
We all clambered onto the wreck and raced toward
him. I felt absolutely certain I was about to be shot,
and for a moment I thought the splashes of our feet in
the water were bullets raining down on us. But then
the shooting stopped—reloading, I thought—and we
had a brief window of time.
Millard was kneeling in the water, dazed, blood
running down his torso. For the first time I could see
the true shape of his body, painted red.
Emma took him by the arm. “Millard! Are you all
right? Say something!”
“I must apologize,” he said. “It seems I’ve gone and
gotten myself shot.”
“We have to stop the bleeding!” said Emma.
“We’ve got to take him back to shore!”
“Nonsense,” Millard said. “That man will never let
you get this close to him again. Turn back now, and
we’ll certainly lose Miss Peregrine.”
More shots rang out. I felt a bullet zip past my ear.
“This way!” Emma shouted. “Dive!”
I didn’t know what she meant at first—we were a
hundred feet from the end of the wreck—but then I
saw what she was running toward. It was the black
hole in the hull, the door to the cargo hold.
Bronwyn and I lifted Millard and ran after her. Metal
slugs clanged into the hull around us. It sounded like
someone kicking a trash can.
“Hold your breath,” I told Millard, and we came to
the hold and dove in feet-first.
We pulled ourselves down the ladder a few rungs
and hung there. I tried to keep my eyes open but the
saltwater stung too much. I could taste Millard’s blood
in the water.
Emma handed me the breathing tube, and we
passed it among us. I was winded from running, and