He grinned. “Come to the meetup tonight.”
Oh, jeez.
Adam’s whole schtick revolved around camaraderie. Playing the class clown lured in friends like lemmings to a cliff, despite that he was also a formidable soldier. Without fail, he believedthat togetherness and acceptance were what made us different from the NAO, and he fostered those ideals through fellowship.
What’s the point of dying if you don’t like the people you’re doing it for?he’d say.
I used to love his weekly meetups, but it’d been many months since I’d attended. It was fun, once upon a time. When fun still existed.
“Eh. Thanks, Adam, but I’d rather not.” I slipped away before he could pursue it further.
I headed back toward the sleeping wing, planning to hide in my room, but froze as my gaze caught the light reflected on the metal sheet covering the window. Already surrounded by thick, forested land, the museum we called headquarters had natural protections. With the metal shrouding each window and the underground corridors we used to come and go, the building had every appearance of abandonment. If the Hunters knew where we were, they certainly never hinted at it.
These metal sheets, though…
I stepped closer, my finger trailing over the rivets.
After leaving that dusty church behind, my parents and I arrive at headquarters to a flurry of activity. Theo is whisked away on official business as soon as we enter the building, and a woman named Tekqua escorts us to our quarters. She has dark skin and darker hair pulled into two Dutch braids. Her lashes are long and natural, and her smile sets me instantly at ease. After she shows us to our room, she promptly returns to her work riveting metal sheets to the windows.
Once my parents are settled, I seek her out.
“Hey!” she says when she notices my interest.
“Can I help?” I ask, pointing at the pile of metal sheets.
“Sure, girl! Get that drill there.”
She points at a power tool that doesn’t want to fit in my hand. I hold it at an awkward angle, and she chuckles at my difficulty. “They’re made for man hands.”
I nod to the others working on the windows. “Where did the metal come from?”
“We stole them from Lowe’s.”
I fake a gasp. “Stolen, you say? I am scandalized.”
Her laugh is hearty. “Come on. I’ll show you how to do it.”
With the first few, I’m slow and clumsy, but I swiftly get the hang of it. I help her close off multiple windows before we move to the museum café, where the glass panes rise from floor to ceiling, at least twenty feet high. Several others brainstorm a solution for these while the two of us chat.
She’s the easiest person I’ve ever talked to.
“I wound up here by luck,” she says. “After the Capitol Hill Massacre, I wasn’t sure where to go, but I’d heard some whispers that people were gathering nearby, and here I am.”
“How long have you been here?” I ask.
“Few weeks. We went on a few raids trying to get supplies, but the Hunters are everywhere. It’s like they can’t wait to claim their first kill.”
I shudder.
“Yeah,” she says, clocking that reaction. “Unified News says they have it well in hand, but?—”
“What a bunch of liars,” I say.
“I know.” She picks up a rivet. “We’ll have more intel once we get organized. Now that General Harrison’s here, things will start moving. I heard they’re planning an assembly tonight.”
I almost chuckle at Theo’s new title. “I guess we’ll learn more tonight then.”
She grins. “I can’t wait…”
