Contents ( 46)
- Contents
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Epilogue
- Author’s Note
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
In all ways.
Twenty-four
Emerson
Word spreads through Hope like wildfire. Both Grace and Logan are gone, and no one knows where. The afternoon fades to dusk to nightfall, and everyone is distracted by it. At least the others have their assigned duties. Isaiah wrestles with the computers to find the latest news on the plague and doesn’t say much else. Mackenzi tries to call home—even though the phones haven’t worked for the past few days, and while she may be our handyman, she has no way to fix it. Khalil protects Josie from our righteous indignation. Riley works in the garden. Casey tends the ill.
Nia prepares the fish that Sofia caught in a nearby creek, with the last few potatoes from storage. The spuds were all sprouted to be little gardens on their own. The ones she didn’t cook, she gave to Riley to try to plant.
No one eats well. Casey and I sit in silence away from the others. My wrist aches, and it makes me feel faint.
Everyone gives me a wide berth, like no one quite knows what to say to me. Mackenzi smirks in my direction once or twice.
After dinner, I lean against the serving counter and cradle my arm against my body. The pain is a constant, dull throbbing, with stabs whenever I move too much. It spreads through my body like restlessness, like wanting to do something. I want to talk to Grace about what will happen to Josie. Not later. As soon as she’s back.
It’s why I stayed in the cafeteria, despite it being almost an hour past dinner. I can’t face the emptiness of my room with the emptiness inside of me.
“It’s different when we know you and Grace are out hunting,” I say to Sofia, who is cleaning up the room with intensity.
She grunts. She’s usually one of the ones who avoids me.
Nia echoes that from the kitchen. “Logan never leaves. She would want to stay close to her sister.”
Sofia shrugs. “They must have had a good reason, I’m sure.”
I don’t want to go back to my room. “We could play cards in the recreation room, while we wait for them?” I suggest.
Nia scrunches up her face. “I want to prepare tomorrow’s food.”
“I’m not done here yet,” Sofia says, though the cafeteria looks cleaner now than it did in the weeks before we were abandoned.
“Never mind,” I say.
Sofia runs her hand through her hair and sighs. “Maybe after. I want to stay up until they get back anyway.”
“Or you can help us unpack?” Grace says from the doorway.
We all swirl around, and a sharp pain shoots through my wrist again. It leaves me dizzy, and I bite back a hiss.
Grace and Logan walk into cafeteria, making a very odd couple. Logan has dirt smeared all over her face, and Grace has crumbs in her hair. They’re carrying a backpack between the two of them, and they both look exhausted—but happy.