I was appalled—I could feel that my face was fixed in lines of horror. Jared was right—how could Jeb have let this happen? If they’d killed me the first day here, before Jamie had ever seen me… Or that first week, while Jared kept me isolated from everyone, before Jamie and I had become friends… Or if I had just kept my mouth shut about Melanie… It was too late for all that. My arms tightened around the child.

Melanie was just as aghast. My poor baby.

I told you it was a bad idea to tell him everything, I reminded her.

What will it do to him now, when we die?

It’s going to be terrible. He’ll be traumatized and scarred and devastated —

Melanie interrupted me. Enough. I know, I know. But what can we do?

Not die, I suppose.

Melanie and I thought about the likelihood of our survival and felt despair.

Ian thumped Jamie on the back—I could feel the motion reverberate through both our bodies.

“Don’t agonize over it, kid,” he said. “You’re not in this alone.”

“They’re just shocked, that’s all.” I recognized Trudy’s alto voice behind me. “Once we get a chance to explain, they’ll see reason.”

“See reason? Kyle?” someone hissed almost unintelligibly.

“We knew this was coming,” Jeb muttered. “Just got to weather it. Storms pass.”

“Maybe you ought to find that gun,” Lily suggested calmly. “Tonight might be a long one. Wanda can stay with Heidi and me —”

“I think it might be better to keep her somewhere else,” Ian disagreed. “Maybe in the southern tunnels? I’ll keep an eye on her. Jeb, wanna lend me a hand?”

“They wouldn’t look for her with me.” Walter’s offer was just a whisper.

Wes spoke over the last of Walter’s words. “I’ll tag along with you, Ian. There’re six of them.”

“No,” I finally managed to choke out. “No. That’s not right. You shouldn’t fight with each other. You all belong here. You belong together. Not fighting, not because of me.”

I pulled Jamie’s arms from around my waist, holding his wrists when he tried to stop me.

“I just need a minute to myself,” I told him, ignoring all the stares I could feel on my face. “I need to be alone.” I turned my head to find Jeb. “And you should have a chance to discuss this without me listening. It’s not fair—having to discuss strategy in front of the enemy.”

“Now, don’t be like that,” Jeb said.

“Let me have some time to think, Jeb.”

I stepped away from Jamie, dropping his hands. A hand fell on my shoulder, and I cringed.

It was just Ian. “It’s not a good idea for you to be wandering around by yourself.”