Something tugged on his backpack. Someone.
Joe stopped and waited.
Devin ran into him and stayed there, his body packing a whole lot of weight but not much heat. Aria appeared at Joe’s side. Snow covered her hat, and even in the greenish light of the Nightsight, her cheeks were pink.
“I need to check on your boy,” she said. “It’s about an hour past time for his next round of meds. He’s going to puke all over you.”
“Will not,” Devin said.
Joe looked over his shoulder as Aria pulled out one of the flashlights and shone it in Devin’s face. He blinked away and slapped toward her hand.
“Let me check you over, jackass.” Aria directed the beam of light back at Devin and inhaled sharply.
Joe snatched off his vision shields and saw it, too, like a blaring accusation.
Devin’s lips were blue.
“What do we do?”
“We get him someplace warm,” Aria said. “And we lay off the sleeping pills.”
“Okay.” Joe jerked his backpack off and rifled through it the best he could with gloved hands. He swore, pulled one glove off, and dug around until he found what he was looking for. “Here. I stole these from Clinton and Maribou.”
Aria pulled the pills from his hand and examined them. “Swallow up, big man. These won’t work as well as the sleeping pills, but they also won’t make you die, either.”
“Not funny, Aria,” Joe said.
Aria shook her head and met Joe’s eyes. “I wasn’t joking. Get him somewhere warm.”
Joe placed a dry kiss, an apology, on Devin’s frigid lips. It wasn’t enough. He gripped the back of Devin’s neck and sucked Devin’s lower lip into his mouth, making slick passes against it with his tongue. He bit down, applying increasing pressure until Devin gasped. Joe let go and hurried to wipe the saliva off Devin’s lips before it froze there. His own cracked lips throbbed, and when he wiped his gloved hand across his mouth, it came away bloody. Small price to pay to make Devin a little less cold.
Joe increased the magnification feature on his vision shields to the maximum setting and scoured the land all around the road. The heat from the kiss faded, and with the cold came the blame. He’d messed up again, even though he’d sworn he wouldn’t. He wouldn’t necessarily have had to harm Clinton and Maribou in order to be able to stay. Just nudge. Coerce. Force. He could’ve begged to stay in the barn. He could have had some self-control and not run at the first sign of trouble like an immature kid.
Another tug on the backpack.
Joe wheeled around, expecting to find Aria or Flix but coming chest-to-chest with Devin instead.
“Don’t.” Devin waved his hand and smacked Joe’s face clumsily. “Whatever you’ve got going on that’s telling you how you’ve messed up and might get me killed, shut it the fuck off. Get your shit together and lead.”
Joe’s throat tightened. “You’re starting to get as obnoxious as Victor, papi.”
“Victor was nowhere near as sexy. Plus, I’m not a complete asshole.” Devin blinked a couple times, but his eyes stayed as unfocused as ever. “I love you. Keep me safe.”
Joe kept his concentration and didn’t let his thoughts stray again into shame and pointless self-loathing. He had a job to do, and at least Devin thought he was doing okay at it. That’d have to be enough until Joe believed it of himself again.
A few hours passed before he saw a building not far from the road, so no having to worry about hidden lakes. The structure was brick, definitely. Maybe a church or an old office. The windows and doors had been removed, but they could work with that.
Joe hustled everyone inside, cut the twine that tied them together as they passed, then walked through the doorway. And still it snowed. He looked up. Saw the blustery snow-light sky overhead. Oh, no. The missing door and windows, Joe could accommodate, but no roof? He shook himself. Devin was counting on him. He needed a good plan. That great brain he’d always prided himself on, at least he had that.
“We’re going to zip the sleeping bags together and make a tent big enough for all of us.”
Peter’s nose crinkled. “I don’t want to be in a sleeping bag with Devin.”
“Watch it, jerk-off,” Flix said.
“Not because he’s a plastic boy. Because he’s going to vomit eventually. You know how my stomach gets when I smell it.”
Joe almost laughed, it was so nice to have an easy problem to solve. “Flix and I will stay next to Devin, and I’ll open the zipper if he needs to throw up. Let’s get to work.”
It didn’t take long. The Deep Thaw sleeping bags Devin had bought at the Maze-On were easy enough to form into a lumpy tent, and while nobody could lie down, they were at least all able to warm up, get toasty, even. Devin’s lips lost their frozen hue, and Aria pronounced him no more likely to die in the next twenty-four hours than the rest of them.
Devin’s head formed the apex of the tent, so the fabric hung in his face. Joe tried to keep the fabric from being bothersome, but Devin got frustrated and said the tent hanging down wasn’t as annoying as having Joe’s hands in his face. Fair enough. Joe settled in against Devin’s chest and reveled in both Devin’s warm body and the fact that he’d been able to find at least a temporary solution to their most pressing problem.
Of course, bigger problems loomed. Chiefly, how to get Devin medical help and where to go after here.
