Goose bumps rose on my arms, but I tried to ignore them. If I panicked every time he thought about killing me, I’d never have a moment’s peace. I turned onto my stomach to bend my spine in the other direction, and he jerked again and then lapsed into silence. I was sure he was still brooding when I finally drifted to sleep.

When I woke up, Jared was sitting on the mat where I could see him, elbows on knees, his head leaning against one fist.

I didn’t feel as if I’d slept more than an hour or two, but I was too sore to try to go back to sleep right away. Instead, I fretted about Ian’s visit, worrying that Jared would work even harder to keep me secluded after Ian’s strange reaction. Why couldn’t Ian have kept his mouth shut about feeling guilty? If he knew he was capable of guilt, why did he go around strangling people in the first place? Melanie was irritated with Ian, too, and nervous about the outcome of his qualms.

Our worries were interrupted after just a few minutes.

“’S just me,” I heard Jeb call. “Don’t get worked up.”

Jared cocked the gun.

“Go ahead and shoot me, kid. Go ahead.” The sound of Jeb’s voice got closer with every word.

Jared sighed and put the gun down. “Please leave.”

“Need to talk to you,” Jeb said, huffing as he sat down across from Jared. “Hey, there,” he said in my direction, nodding.

“You know how much I hate that,” Jared muttered.

“Yep.”

“Ian already told me about the Seekers —”

“I know. I was just talkin’ with him about it.”

“Great. Then what do you want?”

“Not so much what I want. It’s what everybody needs. We’re running low on just about everything. We need a real comprehensive supply run.”

“Oh,” Jared muttered; this topic was not what he’d been tensed for. After a short pause he said, “Send Kyle.”

“Okay,” Jeb said easily, bracing himself against the wall to rise again.

Jared sighed. It seemed his suggestion had been a bluff. He folded as soon as Jeb took him up on it. “No. Not Kyle. He’s too…”

Jeb chuckled. “Almost got us in some real hot water the last time he was out alone, didn’t he? Not one to think things through. Ian, then?”

“He thinks things through too much.”

“Brandt?”

“He’s no good for the long trips. Starts getting panicked a few weeks in. Makes mistakes.”

“Okay, you tell me who, then.”

The seconds passed and I heard Jared suck in a breath now and then, each time as if he was about to give Jeb an answer, but then he just exhaled and said nothing.

“Ian and Kyle together?” Jeb asked. “Maybe they could balance each other out.”