I don’t know what it is that keeps me hidden behind the car. I can’t tell if it’s fear, or bewilderment that what I just saw in some kind of vision is actually taking place before my very eyes. I’m tied to the ground with invisible ropes as though a tree’s roots are growing all around my arms and legs. I want, with every fiber of my being, to reach up and pull Lucas down, but Scarecrow’s words slither out like a judge pronouncing a death sentence.

“No. It was yours,” Scarecrow says.

It’s too late. I try to reach up, but the gun blast has already echoed off the walls and blood has sprayed all over my face and the front of my shirt. I can’t even scream as Lucas’ dead body falls to the ground beside me, his eyes wide, staring into the open blue sky. Tears streak down my face as I stare at him. We had been through so much together.

I know it’s a dumb thing to do, but we’re dead anyway, so I reach out to him and lean over his body in full view of Scarecrow and the others. I shake him by the shirt as if it will somehow wake him up, but I know that it won’t. Blood has already trickled out the back of his head, forming a small puddle beside him.

Your promises to me are now pronounced lies. Did they mean nothing? You said we would survive this catastrophe together.

As I sit here, weeping over my love, my companion, I can hear the slow chuckle of Scarecrow behind me.

“I see it now,” he says. “He’s trying to protect you. Probably trying to save your honor. We raiders have a reputation of taking whatever we want from young girls like you.”

I stare straight ahead with my back to Scarecrow as his words crawl into my ears. No doubt their guns are pointed at me. No doubt I am about to die.

I turn my head to glare at him. His long, hooked nose and crooked smile add to the evil aura he carries about him. “We were just trying to pass through,” I say through sobs. “He did nothing to you.”

“There’s probably a couple o’ more,” Scarecrow says to his men. “Go check it out.” He looks up at me. “Don’t you worry. I’ll take care of you. Why don’t you just come over here? I’ll let you pass.” He and his men snicker at his words.