“I’m not tall enough,” he said.
“How ’bout you climb onto my back,” Jolie said. “Like Yoda in Empire Strikes Back.”
At sixteen, Matt was only five feet tall, a full foot and a half shorter than Jolie herself. That was only when he stood up, though, something that Matt hadn’t been able to ever do. But when you added the wheelchair to it, that made everything else harder. Jolie had to bend down whenever she wanted to talk to him.
“Are you two lovebirds done?”
Both of them turned.
Danni and Peter walked over. They’d been to the fair many times over the years. This time could be the last, or it might not. Being an upcoming senior in high school had a way of making the future uncertain. Danni spit out a toothpick and looked at the two of them.
“I wanna hit the road before this tractor pull is done,” Danni said. “Try and get out of here before the roads get backed up.”
“You didn’t have to drive,” Matt said.
In truth, they didn’t. Jolie herself only lived about two miles from the fairgrounds, and Peter and Danni even less. They were farm folk, and walking was how people got around. They had taken the car for one reason, and Matt didn’t like it.
“Here then,” Jolie said, handing the giant lizard to Danni.
Before Matt could protest, she picked him up and slung him around her back.
“People are going to watch,” Matt said.
“Yeah, most definitely,” Danni said. “If you want, Pete and I can cause a distraction. A loud one at that . . . with lots of moans—”
“Okay, enough,” Pete said, but Jolie could see the edge of a smile on the boy’s face. He had smiled with Danni a lot lately.
Matt was a small thing, and his legs were paper thin and weak. They hung over her sides. Even though he couldn’t feel them, she looped her arms around them and brought him over to the shooting range.
The attendant looked at them but kept his mouth shut.
“Yeah, we know it’s weird,” Jolie said. “But he’s going to go for it.”
“I don’t have a choice,” Matt said.
“Very well,” the attendant said, handing over the BB gun. “I’m assuming you’ll pay after you set your boyfriend down.”
“Yes,” Jolie said.
“Well, if he’s as good of a shot as you, then I’ll have no more toys to give out.”
“Oh, rest assured,” Matt said, grabbing the gun. “I’m as good of a shooter as I am a marathon runner.”
The attendant walked over to the switch.
The wooden ducks moved in their tracks. Jolie thought about helping Matt but had no idea how.
Ping.
Ping.
The ducks fell regardless. Jolie felt Matt’s heart thump harder on her back.
“Nice,” Danni said.
A small group formed behind them. A mirror reflected behind the duck tracks, and people all walked past, and then saw Matt and instantly stopped. Matt didn’t notice them and kept hitting the ducks.
He had one more duck to go.
The pellet gun fell to the grass beneath them. Warm liquid washed over Jolie’s shoulder.
“Matt.”
He slid down her back.
“I got him, I got him,” Pete said, helping her hold Matt. They brought him back over to his chair.
Blood came out of his mouth and his nose. He looked up at Jolie.
Red, warm blood stained her clothes. She took off her jacket and used it to wipe up his face.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so—” he said, red drool falling from his lips.
“It is okay,” she said, wiping off his face. People looked now.
Jolie turned. Danni was handing a fifty-dollar bill to the attendant, who brought over a green lizard that looked to be the same size as Clarke. Danni took it and handed the pellet gun back to the attendant.
She walked over to them.
“We should go,” she said, her voice sounding serious for one of the few times that she ever spoke in such a way.
“Yeah,” Jolie said. She walked around and grabbed the bars of the wheelchair.
Matt could see all the people around them. Jolie could feel the wetness and warmth of his blood starting to sink into her bra. She moved with him out of the fair and back to the parking lot.
In the distance, the tractor pull grew louder again. Jolie didn’t feel bad about missing it this year.
****
Danni hit herself in the face once more.
Jolie thought about stopping her. She had stopped her all of the other times, ever since Becca escaped. Since then, all four of them (or rather, three, since Danni was useless at the moment) had looked for little Becca everywhere.
But she’s gone, Jolie thought, watching Danni hit herself in the face one more time.
Her face regrew in quick order, yellow light radiating under her skin, and she would just bring her fist back up to it again, this time with enough force to bend steel itself.
Jolie turned around and looked at Matt.
The man was levitating next to her, looking over the bodies.
The McCarthys were slowly being covered with snow. The wreckage of their vehicles was also buried under the snow. Robbie’s body had died before they could get his NaU. They had recovered Carol’s body before the NaU went to someone else. Unfortunately, that meant that only one person amongst them could have it.
Matt’s skin had paled since then, and he looked sick. He might be the strongest out of them, but a person having more than one NaU did things to their body and mind that Jolie could only imagine. Or rather, she didn’t even need to imagine. She could just watch Danni more, the red and yellow lights under her skin seeming to conflict with one another.
When Doctor McCarthy activated his NaU, all four of them had been expecting it. Jolie had silently hoped that the doctor would for once get cold feet before doing something reckless and would leave his NaU dormant, and they would be able to take it from someone else.
Another person to die, Jolie thought. She stood up and walked over to Matt.
The air
