“Will there be more?”
“Maybe. People are moving back to Colorado since the military did their purge of infected. But the good news is we don’t have to be here forever. We only have to last as long as the virus dies out inside McKinley, right? There’s only so many people left inside.”
Will nodded. He was only thinking of one. And if what David had told him was true, that Gates was dead, then he didn’t have to worry about Lucy too badly. She had the Sluts.
“We just have to hold out until then,” David said. “Thank God the parents planted as soon as they arrived. There’s nothing more to be found from neighboring towns anymore. I know what you must think of Mr. Howard, but the guy had a plan for when the truck shipments got fewer and further between. We’ve got to be self-sufficient. Especially if we’re going to have to be a fortress in the final days.”
Will started to get sucked into a vortex of worry about how many other people like the grenade gang might eventually call Pale Ridge home again.
David put his hand on Will’s shoulder. “Hey,” he said. “We’ve been through a lot. We’ll get through this too.”
Will nodded. “Yeah, we will.”
“We’ll be watching cable on the couch before you know it.”
Will laughed.
“You two!” Will and David looked over to see Sam’s dad watching them. He leaned on a cane. David cringed and shot Will a worried look.
“Shit, here we go. Let me do the talking, okay? I’m in good with him,” David said, then waved to Sam’s dad.
“Will, I’ve got a special job for you. Think you can handle it?” Sam’s dad said.
Will nodded and stood.
“Get your brother and follow me,” Sam’s dad said to Will.
David looked at Will, baffled. Will hadn’t told him about saving Sam’s dad’s life the night before, and clearly no one else had.
“ ‘Get your brother’?” David muttered.
Will grinned. He couldn’t help it. He loved when David was shocked. Will gave David a semi-gentle shove forward.
“You heard the guy. Get moving, slacker.”
3
THREE CANDLES BY VIOLENT’S HEAD. THEY were the only light source in the small room. Lucy stood by the door. Violent hadn’t noticed her yet. Asymmetrical swelling warped the shape of the Slut leader’s head. Her breathing was shallow. They’d made her a bed on the floor out of all the gang’s pillows, near an air vent in the wall so it would blow gently on her face. They’d thought maybe the filtered air would be better for her. Violent looked weak and vulnerable on the floor. Her health had been going downhill fast since the brawl with the Saints. The brawl that Lucy’d gotten them all into.
Her eyes bulged like two plums. Her head was wrapped in a white terry cloth towel, but red had soaked through. Her injuries were severe. Lucy knew Violent was human like the rest of them, but she carried herself with such an air of invincibility that Lucy had come to believe it was true. This seemed like a trick, a practical joke, that Violent was damaged and defeated. It didn’t seem possible.
Her plum eyes opened and she looked at Lucy.
“You asked to see me?” Lucy said.
“C’mere.”
Lucy approached with reluctance. She was frightened of what Violent would say. She’d never imagined this would happen. The other Sluts didn’t want her talking to Violent. They were furious with her for getting their beloved leader so badly hurt in a brawl over a boy. Each girl had made sure to tell Lucy their version of the story—and list their personal injuries, all to get the point across about how badly she’d screwed up. After Lucy had escaped with Will, Gates and Violent had tangled and Violent had quickly lost the upper hand. Gates had slammed Violent’s head into the floor over and over, and hadn’t stopped until long after her eyes had rolled back in her head, and her arms had gone to rubber. The fact that Lucy had killed Gates was the only thing keeping the Sluts from ripping her apart. She was sure of it.
Lucy knelt by her leader’s side. She took Violent’s hand in hers. It was cold. She held it between her hands to warm it.
“I need to talk to you,” Violent said. Her voice warbled. The authoritative bass she spoke with was gone, as was the forceful diction. Her voice had a childlike tremor to it.
“I’m here.”
“I think this is it for me,” Violent said.
“No, don’t say that.”
“I can feel it going away.”
“You’re imagining it. You’re not going anywhere. I need you here.” Lucy started crying. Saying the words out loud made her understand how much she depended on Violent, how much she drew strength from her. All the Sluts did. “The girls need you too.”
Violent sighed, and Lucy could hear a gurgle in her windpipe.
“Doesn’t change anything,” she said.
“It’s my fault,” Lucy said.
“Lucy, shut up.”
“Okay.”
“I’m scared, Lucy. I’m really scared.”
Lucy froze. This wasn’t right. Violent didn’t get scared. Sluts weren’t supposed to.
“There’s nothing to be scared of,” Lucy said through a choked throat.
“I don’t want this to be the end.”
Lucy nodded. She didn’t know what to say.
“I couldn’t tell any of the others,” Violent said. “They wouldn’t understand. But you do.”
But I don’t, Lucy wanted to scream. Please go back to being the old Violent. She wanted her to sit up, shrug this off, and ask, “What’s for dinner?”
“You’ve always reminded me of me,” she said.
“How is that possible?” Lucy said.
“I used to be like you before all this. Soft. Sensitive. Worried about everything.”
“I don’t believe it.”
“That’s my secret. I still am that girl. I’m scared, Lucy. All the time.”
“No, you’re not. You’re the most confident person I know.”
Violent gripped her wrist. With a burst of strength, she yanked Lucy in close. Face-to-face. Sweat streaked Violent’s pulsing temples. Her mouth couldn’t decide on a position. Her pupils shivered.
“I’m too young to die,” Violent said, on the edge of crying.