Chewy snaked around my legs and barked. His tail moved fast enough to make his entire body wiggle. I dropped to my knees and let him jump into my arms. A series of his slimy kisses followed.
Behind Nick, Mia stepped forward. She was holding Monica, who was all wrapped up in her fruit themed blanket, as quiet as can be. I noticed a spot of blood, which stood out starkly against the yellow of the bananas and the pale green of the watermelons. The momentary joy I felt was smothered by fresh rage again.
“Are you okay?” Ell asked as she hugged Mia and planted a kiss on the baby’s forehead.
Mia nodded, but there were tears in her eyes. No one was okay. Among the others were Sharon Hart, Liz Cobb, Wendy, Dean and Phyllis Maples, their seven-year-old granddaughter Paige, Xavier Sturgeon, Gregory Dorner, Isla Diego, and Marcello Al-Hajri. That was it. Were the others already dead? Or worse?
The sight of them simultaneously warmed me and broke my heart. In a matter of months, hundreds of people were slaughtered. This place was now empty.
Was there any hope for us? Did we stand a chance, these few people—three of whom were a dog, a baby, and a child—against a supernatural force we hardly understood, whose nature always seemed to be changing?
My brain said no, we were screwed, but my heart…my heart said there was a possibility, because as long as I remained breathing, there was no giving up. Not now. Not ever.
“I’m so glad you guys are okay,” Mia said. She parted from Ell and hugged me. She even sneaked a kiss on my cheek, an act I never thought I’d see in a million-billion years.
“So am I,” Nick added.
He shook my hand firmly, and then pulled me in for a hug of his own. I smelled a bit of alcohol on his breath. A quick glance behind showed an opened bottle of gin on a nearby end table. No shame in that. A gulp of gin would’ve gone a long way for me right then.
I also saw the others, silent so far, hide themselves in fear. Marcello was shaking, almost violently, with his arm around Isla’s shoulders; the little girl, Paige, had a thumb in her mouth and her head on her grandmother’s lap; Xavier was staring at the blank wall as if in a catatonic state; and Dorner looked paler than the snow.
“We need to get outta here,” Mia said. “We just need to go. The look in Berretti’s eyes—I’ve seen it before. It’s the same look I saw on the crackheads in Toronto who’d knife you for a dollar. It’s a look of desperation.” She pulled Monica closer to her face. “There’s something wrong with him, and he doesn’t give a shit about murdering people. I won’t let them take my baby. Goddamn it, I won’t!”
Mia’s no swearing rule was officially voided—also understandable.
Wendy cleared her throat. Her hair was a disheveled mess. Her red bangs, sweaty and clumpy, stuck to her forehead. “He’s not been himself ever since he met that woman. They’ve been—I don’t know, they’ve been weird. Now they’ve carried out mass murder.” Her own eyes shined with tears.
“John’s sick,” Sharon said. “We don’t have the tools here to properly diagnose him, but he’s been sick for a while now. We think it’s cancer.” Without warning, she doubled over and sobbed. “God, what is happening?!”
Ell moved closer to Sharon and hugged her. “It’s gonna be okay, Shar. We’ll make it.”
After taking a few deep breaths to get herself under control, Sharon said, “He’s desperate. I heard them talking before all the—the killing. Credence promised him eternal life or some crazy bullcrap like that.”
“Jesus Christ,” Stone said, shaking his head.
“Well, whatever it is they’re doing,” I said, “we can’t let it happen.” I looked into every single person’s eyes. “I’ll die before I let them take this place.”
I knew that was a very real possibility.
“There’s one more tank in the garage. With that and the one you three came here on, we can leave,” Nick said. “We can go. We can go right now, and save ourselves from more bloodshed.”
George shook his head. “You all can take them. I’m fighting. Two more of my Scavs are dead because of that idiot Berretti. Now my friends are in danger. I won’t let him get away with it.”
Nick closed his eyes. “There’s no need to be stupid, George. It’s only a matter of time before they bring those monsters upon us. We need to move while we still have a chance.”
George, however, put his foot down. I could tell by the hard look on his face that there was no convincing him. And you know what? I understood his logic.
The City, it was a place worth fighting for.
I said, “I’m with you, George.”
“So am I,” Ell echoed.
“And me,” Stone said.
“There’s no need—” Nick began before I cut him off.
“Nick, you need to go. You need to take the others and get them somewhere safe, far from here.”
“I’m not leaving you—”
“Please, Nick,” Ell said. “There’s a child and a baby.”
“And you know how to drive the tank,” George added.
Nick looked at the Maples, an old couple verging on ancient, at Mia and Monica, at the others, and then back to us. “All right.”
“We’ll be okay,” George said, grinning at Ell, Stone, and me. “We’re Scavs.”
Nick and the others left us minutes later. Mia was crying harder than I thought possible from her. Seeing this twisted my stomach. She begged us to go with her, but I couldn’t, and because of that I knew Stone and Ell couldn’t either.
“We’ll see you soon,” I promised. I smiled, but she didn’t buy it.
They left the
