“David!” someone yelled from behind him.
David spun around. Will stood in front of him. The Freaks were gone. Disappeared. In the blink of an eye, there wasn’t one head of blue hair in the whole cafeteria. There were Loners and angry Sluts standing all around him. They stared at him like he was a mad homeless man shouting at a bush. He lowered his fists. He felt sick, weak, scared.
“What happened?” David asked Will in a hushed tone.
“We forced the Freaks out. Us and the Sluts.”
“And what did I do?”
Will lowered his voice.
“You kept fighting. After they were gone, you fought us.” David looked past the angry people surrounding him. The cafeteria was in shambles. Injured Loners and Sluts rocked and writhed on the ground like maggots in a trash bag. Mort clutched his blood-soaked stomach. He saw a Slut lying on a dining table with a six-inch shard of blackboard protruding from her chest. Violent was sharpening her knives and glar-ing at David, furious.
“Not part of the deal, David!” she shouted. “Not part of the deal!”
Will stared up at David as though he was expecting an order. David couldn’t be trusted to give them anymore.
David pulled Will in close.
“Will. I need your help.”
34
Will was in front, leading the climb up the stairs to the library. David clung tightly to his arm. His one eye trembled. Violent and twenty-five heavily armed Sluts were behind them, followed by the Loners, who carried any wounded who couldn’t walk. Ritchie and two other Loners carried the Slut with the chest wound. She moaned and sputtered and coughed. Ten more Sluts brought up the rear. They all climbed as fast as their battered bodies could carry them.
“This sucks,” Ritchie said.
Will agreed, but he didn’t know what else to do. The old plan was to cross the Freaks’ territory to get to the ruins. They couldn’t go back into Freak territory without another battle.
The only other way was to go to the third floor and cross over the top of the Freaks’ territory, through the library. David sold Violent on the chance of escape, so she agreed to escort them. She left half of her girls to guard the cafeteria and brought the other half with her to see if this exit was for real.
Will prayed the exit was real. If it turned out not to be, he didn’t think he would be able to hold David’s hand in those last moments, or tell him everything would be all right, when he knew it was a lie.
“Pick up the pace, David,” Violent said behind them.
“Come on,” Will whispered to David.
Violent claimed she had an arrangement with the Nerds and could get them through. Back at the cafeteria, David assured Will that he knew, without a doubt, that Violent was telling the truth and could deliver on what she said. Once in the library, they would drop off their wounded and continue through to the other side, then down the stairs and into the ruins.
“So, you saw this way out, Will?” Violent said, walking up beside him.
“I saw a dog that found a way in.”
“So, there was… what, like, a hole?”
“Yeah.”
“Did you go in the hole?”
“No.”
Violent grumbled.
If Will couldn’t find the exit, or if that dog had somehow been in here with them since the quarantine, he knew they’d all turn on him.
David spasmed as he took the next step and fell back against the wall.
“I’m gonna die!” David said.
He was shivering. His bulging eye looked like a hard-boiled egg.
“No, you’re not,” Will insisted. He turned to everyone behind them. “He’s not. He’s fine.”
Will reached out for David, but David swatted his hand away.
“They’re crushing me,” he said.
“David, just come on. It’s okay.”
“David, there’s nobody there,” Lucy said softly.
She reached out and took David gently by the hand. David looked to Will, his eye wide and helpless.
“Am I holding Lucy’s hand?”
Lucy looked on the verge of tears.
Will couldn’t believe David was this far gone already. It was a strange sensation, taking care of David. He felt like he’d been walking a tightrope and someone just took away the safety net.
The Slut with the chest wound hacked out a wet cough. It sounded bad.
“Let’s go! What are we waiting for?” Violent said.
Will pulled his brother forward while Lucy whispered quiet words of encouragement to coax David up the last leg of the climb. Their exchange was intimate, tender, and hard to watch.
Will threw open the door to the third floor. It was a short hallway, a straight shot to the fire exit door that would let them in the library. He was glad they didn’t have to mess with the library’s front entrance. It was notoriously rigged with a series of deadly traps that had mangled raiders in the past.
As far as Will knew, this back hall was safe.
Violent brushed passed them and walked to the door. She pounded on it. A metal plate slid aside, and the narrow rect-angular window revealed a fat-necked kid with brilliant white teeth. He silently scanned the faces in the hall.
“Get Kemper! We’ve got injured,” she shouted through the door.
Moments later the door opened, and Kemper stepped into the hall. He and Violent engaged in a hushed dialogue. Occasionally, she would gesture back in their direction. Kemper nodded, and Violent walked back to Will, David, and Lucy.
“So, what’s the deal? Who’s calling the shots now?” she asked in a matter-of-fact tone.
David was staring at the ceiling.
Will stepped forward and awkwardly cleared his throat.
“Uh, me. What’s going on?” Will said.
“They’ll let you guys through. But you gotta check your weapons. They’ll give them back once you get to the other side. That’s the deal,” Violent said.
“Uh… gimme a minute.” Will strolled away from Violent.
It sounded like a bad idea, but it was their only option.
Will looked to his gang. Ritchie walked among the gathered
Loners, checking on everyone, pepping them up with words of assurance. He strutted around like a mini David. God damn it, he hated Ritchie. Always trying to replace him. Obnoxious little gnome.
“Ritchie,” Will said, “can I talk to you for a second?” Ritchie sneered in response, then swaggered over to Will.
“What?” Ritchie said.
“We need to hand over our weapons to pass through,” Will said.
“Get out of my face with that,” Ritchie said.
“This is the only way,” Will said.
“Yeah, I get that, moron. That doesn’t mean we’re not walking into an ambush! Unarmed! Are you out of your mind?”
“David swore to me that we can trust Violent’s relationship with the Nerds.”
“Was that before or after he was fighting people that weren’t there?”
“After. But I believe him. Look, Ritchie, we don’t have time to argue. David’s going to die. Can’t you do it for David? He needs your help.”
Ritchie wiped his scarred face with his hands, frustrated.
“This is such bullshit.”
Will couldn’t lose him.
“Are you gonna make me say this?” Will said. “The gang doesn’t like me. They won’t listen to me. But they trust you…” Ritchie was shaking his head. There was one last thing Will
was hoping he didn’t have to say.
“And I’m sorry I pushed you down the stairs.” Ritchie looked back at the gathered gang. He cracked his knuckles.
“Shit. I guess we have to try.”
“Thanks,” Will said.
Ritchie walked back toward the other Loners. He stopped halfway and turned back to Will.
“I still think you’re a prick,” Ritchie said. He went to break the news to the gang.
Will walked back over to Violent.
“Deal,” Will said.
Violent nodded to Kemper. There was no going back now.
Five minutes later, Will led the Loners into the library.
“Wipe your feet,” Kemper said as he slid the barricade back in place behind Will, David, and Lucy.