“I don’t think that approval was ever within my grasp,” he said. “So I went the other way for a while. I did give it my best shot when I joined the campaign, though. Thought I could start over now that I’m older, impress him and everyone else. I’m not sure how well it worked.” He’d probably been right when he was younger—his dad’s approval felt like a lost cause, no matter what he did.

“Sure,” she said quietly, and then stepped back. He immediately missed her touch. “You’re good. Try not to swing that arm around too much for the next ten minutes or so, while that dries.”

He carefully stuck his arm back into the sleeve and pulled his shirt down. “Got it. Thanks.” He slipped his jacket back on.

“Anytime.” She packed the first aid kit into the backpack and swung it on. She pointed straight in front of her. “We’re going to have to keep going that way. The trees stay thick for long enough that we can lose the drones.”

He pointed the other way, which he was pretty sure was west. “The main road was that way, right?”

“Yep.” She turned in a circle. “I have a really bad feeling that we’ve already crossed over into East Spencer. Or we will, soon. And we can’t risk going back west with those drones.”

“So, the plan to not go to East Spencer and stay in a car for as long as possible didn’t really work out so well.”

“Not so much.”

MAISIE

MAISIE GLANCED AT Lennon as they walked through the thick trees. He didn’t appear to be bothered by the shoulder injury, though it must have hurt.

He’d handled the car getting blown up better than she expected. He was proving to be calm under pressure, which was not her initial impression of him. She was glad to be wrong.

“Listen,” she started, and then cleared her throat. “Next time, you can pull ahead of me when we’re running. It’s fine. I’ll catch up.”

He gave her an utterly baffled look. “I’m not leaving you behind.”

“You wouldn’t be leaving me behind. I’d catch up. You’re much faster than me.”

“And what am I supposed to do if I get there first, and there’s someone to fight off? Am I supposed to punch them in the face by myself? No, thank you. That’s your job.” He grinned.

She bit back a laugh. “Good point.”

They walked in silence for several minutes. The sun was starting to sink lower in the sky, casting an orange glow through the trees.

“What would my life be like, if I don’t make it to the northern gate in time?” Lennon asked quietly.

She let out a short laugh. “Wow. Have you lost faith in me already?” She tried to sound flippant, but in reality, she was disappointed at the prospect of him not having faith in her. Since the moment they’d met, he’d looked at her like she was the scariest, coolest person he’d ever seen, and she didn’t hate it. It was nice to have someone believe in her, for once.