Rhys grabs my wrist and stares at me through half-lidded eyes.

“What are you doing?” he asks thickly.

“I want to see Cary.”

His eyes drift shut. He swallows.

“Just give me a minute.” He sounds distant. “We’ll go and see Cary…”

I wait, but he doesn’t move. He’s fallen back asleep and I’m glad because I want to see Cary alone. In one quick motion, I unclip the keys and hurry out of the auditorium. I don’t see Trace, Grace, or Harrison on my way to the nurse’s office and maybe I should worry about that, but I don’t because if anyone’s fine it’s them.

Cary is on his cot when I unlock the door and I think maybe I should have brought him something to eat or drink. But then I notice a tray of uneaten food on the nearby desk. Cary looks at me but he doesn’t speak.

“If you were expecting Rhys, he’s sleeping,” I say.

“Not surprised. He took a metric shit-ton of Benadryl the last time he was in here.”

I sit beside him, reach over, and press both of my hands against his face. He’s not cold. If anything, he’s hot. Cary wraps his hands around my wrist and gently lowers them.

“Did Rhys tell you about the—”

“Yes.”

“So you’re not infected,” I say. He shrugs. “I thought you’d be happy.”

“You saw how quick they were going to throw me out of here.”

“It was just Trace.”

“I really thought I was bitten, Sloane. I thought that was it for me.”

“It’s not.”

“Makes you think, though. The apocalypse: one big existential crisis.” He cracks a smile. “But whatever, right? I’m here, I’m alive, probably not infected. Great.”

“What did Grace say to you when she was in here?”

“That’s between me and her,” he says. “But I didn’t tell her what Rhys said about the bites. I don’t know if he told you but he doesn’t want them to know what he knows. He’s pissed at them.”

Neither of us says anything. It’s nice to be able to sit with someone and not say anything. Something about it makes me brave. It makes me do something I don’t entirely understand. I lean over and wrap my arms around Cary. I rest my head against his chest. He tenses but then he wraps his arms around me. I don’t feel anything about Cary that’s romantic.

I just want this.

“I loved your sister,” he says.

It’s so unexpected, it’s beyond processing. And then, as it slowly sinks in, I look up at him.

“But I Never … you said—”