“Excuse me, what is arube?” Andrew asks.
Rocky Horror claps his hands together. “That settles it,I’mgoing. I need adults to hang out with.”
I turn to Cal, who turns to Kevin, who’s basically his second-in-command when we’re separated like this. “Radio the others, get their thoughts.” He nods and leaves.
“What if it is a trap?” I ask as the circle breaks up. Andrew joins me.
Cal shrugs. “That’s why we ask the others.”
“But if they say yes, we should have a plan, right?” I ask. “If it’s a trap and they attack us, we should keep the kids back so we don’t have to worry about them getting hurt.”
“Good point,” he says. I can feel Andrew’s eyes on me, but Cal turns to him. “You and the kids will be in the RV. Tell Rocky Horror, Niki, and Cara to stay in the truck.”
“Wait,” Andrew says. “You can’t really be planning to kill these people.”
“It’s the backup plan,” he says. “Not the first plan.”
“No, the backup plan should just be not going. If you think these people are that dangerous—which I doubt, by the way, because what would the point be? But if you really think that, why wouldn’t we just keep going?”
“What if they have supplies we need?” I ask. “The Kid’s been sick for almost two days.”
Andrew turns his attention to me, his eyes wide. “Don’t think it’sworth killing a whole bunch of people forPepto Bismol, Jamie.”
“And if he needs something more?”
“Then we figure it out! What the hell is wrong with you?” He’s addressing only me now.
Kevin comes back. “They said they’ll leave it up to you.”
Cal looks at me and says, “Universal convergence.” Then he turns back to Kevin. “We’ll go ahead and see. Tell the others to stay back at that boot café until we give the okay.”
I guess that’s a good enough compromise. He heads for the truck as Amy and Kelly start trying to corral the kids into the RV. I go to Cara to ask if she wants to get in the truck with us or the RV, but before she answers, the Kid is pulling at Andrew’s jacket.
“I have to go to the bathroom.”
Andrew looks down at him. “Emergency?”
He nods.
“Okay, come on.” Andrew gives me one last desperate look, and I know he’s asking me to get in the RV and wait with them. But I’m not going to do that.
“If something happens, get the kids out of here. Take the RV from them if you have to. The Nomads don’t know about Bethesda, so just go and get Henri out of there.” I kiss him. “I love you.”
“Don’t do this,” Andrew says.
“We don’t have a choice.”
“Of course we do! The choice is to not go. Or stay with us—Cal and the others don’t need you, there’s plenty of them.”
“It’s not fair to send only the Nomads. Rocky Horror says he wants to risk it.” I turn to Cara. She seems unsure and is also unarmed. Caradoesn’t like guns and only uses them when she has to. For instance, to save our lives.
“I’m with Rocky Horror,” Cara says. “I don’t think it’s a setup.”
“Andrew,” the Kid whines, pulling on Andrew’s arm.
“It’ll be okay.” But I can’t know for sure. Andrew follows the Kid toward the field but stops and turns back, running to me, wincing as he tries to keep his arm steady. He kisses me hard on the lips.
“Don’t do anything. And don’t die. Please.”
