Cary heads back to the auditorium wringing his hands, trying to figure out a good way to break bad news. Rhys wanders off and I can tell he’s taking this hard. We survived outside once and then again despite my better efforts, and then we got back inside and we thought we were safe but we’re not safe. Everything is up in the air. He doesn’t want to die.

I seek him out and find him in the gym, opening a pack of cigarettes. He places one between his lips and brings a lighter to it. The flame flickers, illuminating his face briefly, before the smoke drifts lazily around him. He shoves the half-crumpled pack in his pocket. He doesn’t say anything to me, but he knows I’m here. I don’t say anything to him, just watch him inhale like a pro. I close the distance between us. When he exhales, he takes care to turn his head from me and I’m struck by how attractive and easy he makes it look but he always made it look that way.

“I just had this vision of you out front, smoking,” I say.

“That was my thing.” He ashes the cigarette. “What do you want, Sloane?”

I stare out at the bleachers. It used to give me hives, imagining myself on any kind of team, people looking at me. “If Baxter got in here two days ago, that means however he got in here has been open since we got here. None of the infected found their way in.”

“Are you trying to make me feel better?”

“Where did you hide the gun?”

“I’m not telling you.”

“Promise I’m not going to shoot myself in the face.”

“Why should I take you at your word? You threw yourself into a bunch of infected. Blowing a bullet through your skull seems way less hardcore so why wouldn’t you go for it? It’s that much easier for you.”

“What do you think you’d do with my body?” I ask, and he twitches, steps away from me. I’ve crossed some invisible line. “Oh, what? It’s okay for you to be so candid with me?” I stare at the ceiling and think about it. “You couldn’t just leave it here to decompose. That would probably be unsafe. Taking it outside would be even more dangerous…”

“It must thrill you that there’s a secret way in here,” Rhys shoots back. “That one day we could wake up and be totally surrounded—”

“The way you look at things is so uncomplicated.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry I’ve pegged you all wrong.” He raises a hand. “I take it back. You’re not thrilled we could wake up one day and be totally surrounded.”

“I’m not thrilled. I’m not anything.”

Rhys drops the cigarette on the floor and grinds it out.

“Wasn’t your dad though, was it.”

“No.”