However, as much as I wanted to believe that Jeb was bluffing, while I watched the three men disappear into the darkness away from me, it was obvious there was no way he could be. Under the front he presented, Jeb must have been just as deadly and cruel as the rest of them. If he hadn’t used that gun in the past—used it to kill, not just to threaten—no one would have obeyed him this way.

Desperate times, Melanie whispered. We can’t afford to be kind in the world you’ve created. We’re fugitives, an endangered species. Every choice is life-or-death.

Shh. I don’t have time for a debate. I need to focus.

Jared was facing Jeb now, one hand held out in front of him, palm up, fingers curled limply. Now that the others were gone, their bodies slumped into a looser stance. Jeb was even grinning under his thick beard, as though he’d enjoyed the standoff at gunpoint. Strange human.

“Please don’t put this on me, Jeb,” Jared said. “Kyle is right about one thing—I can’t make a rational decision.”

“No one said you had to decide this second. She’s not going anywhere.” Jeb glanced down at me, still grinning. The eye closest to me—the one Jared couldn’t see—closed quickly and opened again. A wink. “Not after all the trouble she took to get here. You’ve got plenty of time to think it through.”

“There’s nothing to think through. Melanie is dead. But I can’t—I can’t—Jeb, I can’t just…” Jared couldn’t seem to finish the sentence.

Tell him.

I’m not ready to die right this second.

“Don’t think about it, then,” Jeb told him. “Maybe you’ll figure something out later. Give it some time.”

“What are we going to do with it? We can’t keep watch on it round the clock.”

Jeb shook his head. “That’s exactly what we’re going to have to do for a while. Things will calm down. Even Kyle can’t preserve a murderous rage for more than a few weeks.”

“A few weeks? We can’t afford to play guard down here for a few weeks. We have other things —”

“I know, I know.” Jeb sighed. “I’ll figure something out.”

“And that’s only half the problem.” Jared looked at me again; a vein in his forehead pulsed. “Where do we keep it? It’s not like we have a cell block.”

Jeb smiled down at me. “You’re not going to give us any trouble, now, are you?”

I stared at him mutely.

“Jeb,” Jared muttered, upset.