And here was the thing: if I walked away from those kids in San Angelo, then I was no better than Edmunds.
We were at war. In the months since the Academy had fallen, I’d seen almost no signs that civilization existed beyond the Farms. I had no idea what was going on in other parts of the world or even other parts of the country, but right now, we were at war. And we were losing. Bad. The other Elites and I had joined this fight knowing we might have no chance of winning. We had joined the fight because fighting was better than rolling over and dying. We joined knowing that we might well die so that other people could live. But the Greens in San Angelo weren’t soldiers who’d willingly joined the battle. They had no training. They had no choice. And they would be drugged. Even if they wanted to fight, could they?
By the time Ely backed away from me, panting, and held up a hand as a sign of concession, my hands were aching, my knuckles bloodied and bruised. It was an enormous effort just to pull air into my lungs. I dropped down to my knees and lowered my head.
“It’s impossible,” I panted.
“So you’re just going to let all those kids die?”
“Kids are dying every day. I can’t save them all.”
“So what? You’re not going to save
“No,” I admitted.
It was stupid. It was a suicide mission. It would be a bloodbath whether we were there or not. But it was a bloodbath I couldn’t walk away from. Not if I wanted to live with myself.
Suddenly, resolve settled into my gut and my mind starting clicking the puzzle pieces together.
“Okay, if we’re going to do this, we need five vehicles. Five kids in each one, loaded up with food and gas for the trip. I can’t leave Base Camp unguarded, so we’ll be pulling equally from the Elites and the Greens. That should leave about twenty Elites to guard Base Camp.
“We’re going to drive straight through the night to get there as quickly as we can. We’ll go in, take out any Collab resistance, and get the Greens off the Diazepam and keep the electricity online so the fences don’t go down. I’ll have to make sure Taylor comes.”
“Why?” Ely asked.
“Turns out he’s damn good with electronics. He’s the guy who set up our electrical system from solar panels we’d scavenged. If anyone can keep the grid from going down, he should be able to. The drugs and the grid are our top priorities. We’ll worry about how to get everyone back here later. If we don’t get there in time, that won’t be a problem anyway.”
Ely smiled, and for the first time I got the sense that he was actually enjoying himself. I didn’t know if I could blame him. He’d always liked a good fight, but then, so did I.
“Anything else?” he asked.
Yes. I needed to find a way to keep Lily from coming with me. She wouldn’t be happy about it. If there was a fight, she’d want to be in on it. But this time, that wasn’t an option.
“Yeah.” I pinned Ely with a stare. “This is top secret. I don’t want you breathing a word of this to anyone. Especially not Lily. Got it?”
“Got it. But you are bringing her with you, right? That’s the whole point.”
“No. The point is saving lives. Lily stays here. As far away from the action as possible.”
“But—”
I whirled on Ely. “Back off. She’s not coming to Texas.”
Ely raised his hands in the air and backed up a step. “Hey, no worries,
Maybe if everything lined up, if we got there in time, if we could keep the fences up and stay ahead of the Ticks and the Collabs. Maybe, just maybe, I could save some of those kids. Maybe.
But when it came to Lily, I wasn’t willing to trust it to maybe. When it came to Lily, I wanted her safe. Which meant I had to keep her the hell away from me. I had to make damn sure she didn’t even know about the trip to Texas.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Lily
By morning, the mood in Base Camp had shifted from fearful to angry. Lily sensed the change the second she stepped out of the RV to go empty the composting toilet, which had to be emptied every day. Most people rotated the duty between everyone who lived in their RV, but she certainly wasn’t going to make McKenna do it. She could use the exercise anyway. Funny, she’d never been much for exercise in the Before. Being able to run had never seemed important until she had something to run from.
McKenna had already been out for food and back again by the time she got up. Lily had hoped that by morning, McKenna would be ready to see reason, but she wasn’t. She was just as determined as ever. She woke Lily with perky descriptions of how they could steal a car from the nearby city of Logan.
Listening to McKenna’s plans made her head spin, and for once she was actually glad to leave the RV in the morning. Even drop duty was better than trying to change McKenna’s mind.
She watched her step as she made her way through the cavern. After twelve hours, a bucket of piss really starts to reek. The ammonia seems to worm its way into her nose and lodge there. The last thing she wanted was for any of it to slosh out. But worst of all was the wrenching pain from her shoulder. Pain was good, right? Her body’s reminder to take it easy.
Besides, once she was up there, she planned to talk to Carter about McKenna’s plans to leave Base Camp. If anyone could talk some sense into the girl, Carter could.
Early mornings were usually busy around Base Camp, but this morning everything seemed unusually still and quiet. People were staying in their RVs. The few people who were out and about kept their gaze down and skittered away from each other. She wanted to believe that this was a normal reaction to the Tick attack. That people just wanted to grieve in private, but what if she was wrong? What if people weren’t grieving, but were hiding from her? Carter had been with her when the attack had happened. If he’d been here instead, maybe it wouldn’t have been as bad. Maybe people blamed her for the attack. Maybe they were right.
As she made her way toward the receiving bay, she noticed the front doors were still closed. By this time there should be enough light to scare off the Ticks. The doors should be open. So why weren’t they?
She skirted around the new triage area and made her way to the doors. The smell grew overwhelming as she got closer. A row of buckets lined the wall beside the doors that a pair of Elites was guarding.
Lily set her bucket down near the others and went over to Chris, one of the Elites standing guard. She gave a nod of greeting to Merc and then asked Chris, “What’s up with the doors still being closed? I have drop duty.”
Chris gave a sympathetic shrug of his shoulders. “Sorry, Lil. Can’t let you out. We’ve been ordered to keep the doors closed this morning. We’re going to have armed guards to go out with the group in about an hour. You can leave your bucket here until then.”
“Okay, I’ll be back.”
Only then did Merc speak up. “Didn’t you get shot yesterday?”
“I’m okay,” she lied. “It’s barely a scratch.”
Merc just shook his head. His voice was deep and no-nonsense. “Sorry, Lil. No way you’re doing drop duty today.”
She wanted to argue, but could tell it would be pointless so she left the bucket and walked away. Great. Now she was making more work for people.
The block of offices at the front of Base Camp where the Elites lived was like a rabbit’s warren, but she’d been back there enough that she knew her way around. The door was partially open, so she knocked on the frame and then let herself in but Carter wasn’t alone. There was another guy in there with him, someone Lily had never
