“Over twelve years, I think.” Her shoulders slumped. “Bring any food supplies out with you. We share everything here in order to survive. Hoarding is against the rules.”
I almost thought against following that particular request, but realized it could be construed as hindering my comrades and/or putting them in danger. From what I’d seen so far, staying here one minute past my twenty-eighth birthday was one minute too long.
Kira hadn’t been joking about the water’s temperature. My fingers were numb before I had all the blood scrubbed from my clothes. When I’d finished, I donned my wet things and dragged my packs back to where the others waited.
While they watched, I pulled out the food I’d taken from the feast and breakfast each morning. Appreciation glowed on Fawke’s face. I ducked my head to hide my pleasure.
“You believe in being prepared for anything,” he said, “as evidenced by food I recognize from years ago and all the things you’ve carried on your back. Maybe you’ll be a worthy leader after all.”
I stood and stared at each of the others in turn. “Why didn’t one of you take the role of leader? You’ve more experience than I could gain in two days of training and one day making my way here.”
Ezra laughed. “Because those black stripes on your face means the Malignants will target you first.”
I reached up and touched the tacky strip on my face.
“To remove that status symbol,” Gage said, “means an eternity spent here. None of us wanted that responsibility.”
“It appears I got lucky.” I sat on a roughly made chair and stared at the fire someone had thoughtfully built. I didn’t plan on moving until my clothes dried, and my mind grasped the new reality of my life.
How would anyone know if I wiped away the stripes unless one of my team told? Who would they tell?
4
The next morning, I shoved my pillow and blanket into a battered locker Fawke had assigned to me. He assured me no one would take my things, but since I was the only one with something soft for my head, a niggle of doubt plagued me. I didn’t know these people I’d been assigned to work with. Without a lock, I had no other option than to trust them. My backpack had grown heavy, and I didn’t relish always having it on. When had I grown so pessimistic? When the wheel had landed on that single black square, that’s when.
Breakfast that morning consisted of the stale biscuits I turned over to the group and some kind of gray, watery soup. More than I was used to, no matter how unappealing it seemed. “What days do you receive the weekly drop?”
“Sundays at noon,” Gage said, cutting the biscuits in half, handing us each a half, then spooning the gravy over the top.
“That’s today.” I grinned.
“That smile won’t last long.” Ezra sopped up his gravy. “The Malignants have gotten used to the drop and wait for us to arrive. We have to fight our way to the crate. That’s where we keep losing our leader.”
It wouldn’t happen to me. I summoned up whatever authority I’d been blessed with and stared at each person around the fire. “I’m the leader, right? You have to do as I say, correct?”
Six pairs of eyes narrowed. Six heads nodded reluctantly.
“Good. We’ll all wear hoods that cover the bottom half of our faces, leaving only our eyes free. If those things are looking for these black stripes on my cheeks, they won’t know which of us has them. We’ll all be at the same risk.” I crossed my arms. “It appears to me that you haven’t been very good protectors of your leader in the past. I plan to remedy that.”
Shocked silence greeted me before Moses started laughing. “Girl, you’ve got balls bigger than Ezra’s head. I think I’m going to like you. Heck, yeah, I’ll cover my head. I want you around long enough to see what you can actually do. I don’t have a lot of faith in someone your age.”
Admiration shined from Fawke’s eyes, and he winked. “There’s some dark fabric around here somewhere. We’ll fashion those into some kind of a scarf.”
“And,” I added. “we all smear some Malignant blood on us before we venture out.”
“That’s a waste of water to wash off,” Kira said, frowning. “Water isn’t easy to come by if it doesn’t rain.”
“All exposed skin will have the blood. The dead one outside keeps them from coming in here. Why wouldn’t it work out there? There seems to be a waterfall of the bitter water flowing from above. We’ll wash with that.” I took my plate away from the others wanting a little time to myself. I didn’t know if my plan would work, but I’d try anything to stay alive during my ten years of hell.
When Kira finished eating, she retrieved long strips of tattered fabric and showed us all how to wind them around our heads, hiding everything but our eyes. It wouldn’t make breathing easy, but it might keep me alive. I made a small nose slit with my knife.
Dante went out and brought back a rusty metal can full of foul blood. “If this doesn’t make you want to die, nothing will.”
I immediately regretted cutting a hole for my nose. My stomach rebelled, and I swallowed against the rising nausea.
“Time to go.” Fawke said once we’d covered our exposed skin with gunk and fashioned our hoods. He got to his feet and glanced my way, seeming to wait and see if I’d issue an order.
Without speaking, I grabbed my weapons and fell in line. Who was I to question someone who knew the area? I’d already spoken up enough that morning.
Rather than go the way
