He stopped as she shook her head. “They said no. In or out. No coming back once I’m gone.” She put the backpack on the table. “I’m just going to go pee before we go.” She turned and walked out of the room.

Lennon looked at Hadley and Elise. “How long has she been able to leave?”

Hadley scrunched up her face in thought. “Mm…I think it’s been five years. She was thirteen, I think.”

“Five years?”

“She’s never even considered it,” Elise said.

“She probably did consider it, at least for a minute,” Hadley said. “I wouldn’t blame her. But she’d also have to leave through the north, so it honestly wasn’t even much of an option,” Hadley said. “But now that she’s going anyway…”

“She should go,” Lennon said. “Don’t you think?”

They both shrugged.

“If she wants,” Hadley said. “I don’t want her to, but I don’t think it’s fair to say that. She should make up her own mind.”

“She could help, once she’s out,” Lennon said. “She’d be the face of the quarantine zone. She could advocate for your release. People would listen to her. She’s spent eighteen years in here.”

“Maybe,” Hadley said. “But I doubt you can convince her of that.”

“I…I think that I should try,” he said slowly. “I know you guys will be sad if she leaves, but I think she could make a real difference if she left.”

Hadley swallowed. “Like I said, it’s up to her. Say what you want to her.” Elise nodded.

Maisie walked back into the room, grabbing the backpack.

“I’ve got it,” he said. She passed it to him, and he strapped it on.

“Well, I guess this is it, Fancy-pants,” Hadley said. “Don’t forget to tell people how cute I am.”

He smiled. “I’ll tell them you were very kind.” He held his hand out, but she pulled him into a hug.

They hugged Maisie next, Hadley saying something in her ear that he couldn’t hear.

She pulled away and turned to him. “Ready?”

“Ready.”

MAISIE

MAISIE LED LENNON outside and onto the street. Hadley had given her the code for one of the cars in the Lopez garage, something that would not go over well with the family. She was taking an “ask for forgiveness later” approach to this whole thing.

The garage was about a mile away, and they walked in silence, Lennon occasionally stealing glances at her.

“Would you just say it?” she asked.

“What?”

“Whatever you’ve got going on in there. You keep looking at me.”

“They told me that you’ve known you’re immune for five years.”

She sighed. “Of course they did.”

“I can understand not going when you were thirteen, but have you ever reconsidered? Like after your dad died?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“My dad was my only blood relative in here, but he wasn’t my only family.”

“Do you have relatives on the outside? Do you know?”

“Yes. Both my mom’s parents are still alive, and so are my dad’s mom and his sister. I haven’t heard that they’ve died, so I assume they’re still out there in Texas somewhere.”