“Sure.” I grabbed a roll of bandages and crossed to the girl with a bag of ice on her ankle.
We worked for a few hours as a steady stream of people from level three came in. My energy dropped faster than normal. And a couple times, I needed to stop and catch my breath. I worried that the Outsiders might just be slowly killing us all, which added to the low-simmering panic in the pit of my stomach. I suspected at some point that the terror would erupt into a full boil.
Bubba Boom arrived. He appeared upset, and I asked him if he was feeling sick.
He glanced around the full room. “No. I heard you wereall overInside, looking for me.”
One of the maintenance workers must have spotted me. I rubbed my eyes. It was getting harder to sneak around Inside when everyone recognized me.
“Did I hear wrong?” he demanded, but somehow, I sensed he already knew the answer.
“No. I wanted to ask you about Jacy and Sloan. And the air plant.”
“Did you consider the danger? It's not safe for you to be running around without a couple bodyguards. Do you want Jacy to grab you again?”
Ah. The reason for his anger. “No. I just?—”
“Let's go for a walk.”
We headed west toward the common area in Quad A3. The hallway was empty and the few people in the area sat listlessly on the couches and armchairs. Stranger than the emptiness was the quiet. So used to the constant babble of voices, my voice echoed and was probably heard by everyone.
We sat on a couch in the corner. I tried not to sit as far away from him as possible but still left a half meter between us.
“Jacy's goons caught me in the infirmary so I'm not?—”
“You are now. Since you returned, we've had people in there to protect you.”
“I didn't see anyone.”
His anger deflated a bit. “You're not supposed to.”
“Oh.”
“Can you at least understand why I would be upset?”
“Yes. I'm sorry.”
“You're lucky word didn't get back to Jacy. Must be all these headaches.”
“Are you getting them, too?” I asked.
“No. Not yet, anyway.”
“You're one of the few who isn't sick,” I said. “Is the air plant malfunctioning?”
“No.”
“How can you be sure? Everyone's been complaining.”
Bubba Boom studied me as if trying to decide what to tell me. “Did Sloan or Jacy say anything to you about the network?”
“No. All they wanted was information.”
“About what?”
“What I've been doing these past few weeks.”
“What exactly have you been doing when everyonethoughtyou were in the infirmary?” he asked. “You still haven’t told me how you know so much.”
