“You were joking,” she said.
“No, Lucy.”
“I don’t understand.” She let go of him and backed away.
“How can you be so calm?”
“I walked around for hours, wishing it wasn’t true. I thought I could figure it out, come up with some solution. But then I realized I was just wasting time,” he said. “I’ve only got a day left. My brain will start freaking out on me soon. I don’t want to throw away what time I have left.”
She guessed she understood, but she started to cry again, more out of frustration than sorrow. David wiped away her tears.
“Don’t be sad. I can’t take any more sad,” he said.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry either,” he said. “Please. I just want to be with my girlfriend.”
“Girlfriend?” she said with a little smile.
David grinned. “Well, it seemed like a good time to make it official.”
She laughed and felt a tear slip down her cheek.
David ran his fingers down her hair. He kissed her. She kissed back. All her tension unraveled. He picked her up and moved her back to his bed. She clawed at his shirt. He guided her down.
David was kissing her chest. The diamond pendant slipped down the gold chain around her neck and fell to the side. She pulled David back to her face and kissed him more. She wondered how long she’d actually have him-a day, an hour, only minutes?
Just kiss, she needed to keep her mind on kissing.
It was no use, the floodgates were open. What would happen after David died? The Loners might not be strong enough to stay together. She could be on her own. The last time she’d been on her own… did not go well.
She moaned. David’s hands were gliding under her dress and up her thighs. She unbuttoned his shirt. He kissed her neck, pressing against her. His body was warm and heavy.
An image flashed in her mind of David coughing out globs of bloody meat onto her. She shuddered.
She sat up.
“What’s going on?” he said.
She wanted to tell him she loved him.
“Will,” he said, before she got a chance.
“What?”
David was looking past her. She followed his gaze. Will stood just inside the curtain. She didn’t know how long he’d been there. Will’s clothes were caked with black muck. Lucy scrambled to straighten her dress. David buttoned his shirt in a hurry. They both stood, keeping a slight distance from each other, guilty but not sure why, as if a teacher had just walked in on them. Will stared back at them, still as a tree.
“Where have you been?” David said first.
Will didn’t answer. He watched them calmly.
“We’ve been so worried,” Lucy volunteered.
“You looked it,” Will said.
“Look, man,” David started to say, but his conviction faded as he struggled for the right words.
“David’s going to die tomorrow,” Lucy blurted out. She knew David didn’t want to dwell on it, but how could she not?
“Yeah,” Will said. “I heard.”
David was breathing fast. He got up and walked over to Will with urgency.
“I’m so glad you’re here, Will. I was afraid I-” Will socked David in the chin, knocking him down.
“No!” Lucy said. She ran to David and helped him up. David gestured for her to stay back. He looked up at Will, holding his jaw where he’d been hit.
“I’m sorry it had to happen this way,” David said.
“Fine. I don’t ever want to talk about it again,” Will said.
Will extended his hand to David. David took it. Will pulled him up to standing. Lucy knew that she had caused all this strife between them. She wanted to say something to make it better.
“Will,” Lucy said. Will looked at Lucy, his eyes so cold when they used to light up at the sight of her. It made her wince.
“Yeah?”
“I don’t know,” she eventually said.
Will turned to David.
“None of us are going to die,” Will said.
David gave Will a puzzled look.
“Why?” David asked.
“I found a dog.”
31
Escape.
It was David’s only option. Faced with starvation, the Loners wanted out as well, even if it meant putting people on the outside in danger. At this point, it was leave or die.
But it was a long way from the Stairs to where Will found this dog, a lot of different gang territories to cross. All they had was the hope that however that dog got in, they could go the same way to get out. David’s chances were slim. He’d probably die before they found this theoretical exit. The idea of spending his last few hours trudging around the ruins and looking for holes in the walls sounded awful. He wanted to spend his last hours in bed with Lucy. She wouldn’t allow it. As soon as Lucy heard Will’s news, it lit a fire of hope in her that she spread to everyone else. Nearly the entire gang was behind Will’s plan.
They wanted out of this place once and for all.
“I think if we head through the commons, that’ll be the fast-est,” Will said.
Will was pointing at a school map laid out on the floor of the armory. David’s headache was getting worse, and he was having trouble concentrating. Besides Will, Leonard passed weapons out to Loners in a steady flow. David took a baseball bat. He didn’t trust himself with one eye and his machete yet.
Will continued, tapping the map: “That means either going through Freaks’ territory or Varsity’s. I think it’s a pretty easy choice.”
“We’ll go Freaks,” David said, massaging his jaw. It still hurt.
It was weird. David felt closer to Will now, after the punch, than he ever had before.
“We ready?” David said.
Will nodded. David signaled the twins to draw back the barricade and open the door. David stared at the lit hallway. He took a breath and stepped out of the safety of the Stairs. He’d never step foot in the Stairs again. Will walked in stride with David, and an army of ninety Loners followed. They stuck close to one another, timid but excited at the prospect of reaching their promised land. The hallway was quiet.
They approached the first intersection, and Will placed his hand out across David’s chest, signaling him to stop.
He did, and all the Loners shuffled to a stop behind them.
David looked down at Will’s hand on him. It felt good to have his brother looking out for him. He wondered if the conflict between them was really squashed, or just put on ice.
“I’ll scout the next hall,” Will said.
Will bounded off to the next turn, twenty feet or so ahead.
David marveled at how fast his brother was and how quiet.
Will pressed his back to the wall, then peered around it for a good thirty seconds. Finally, he waved the rest
