I know what Jackwantsto say. I can just hear his lectures, only we’re not at home. Here, in front of the whole Grave, Jack has to do his job. Good. I’d rather leave it in the hands of the survivors than my overprotective father.
“Fine,” he relents at last. He definitely doesn’t look happy about it. “Anyone here that’s over the age of eighteen can cast a vote. Majority rules.”
A couple of the children in the audience groan, and there’s a flurry of argument coming from the few sixteen and seventeen-year-old survivors, but Jack just shrugs them off.
“I’m sorry,” he says, “but I’d still like to think we’re a democracy here. When you’re eighteen, I’ll let you vote. Until then we’ll leave it to the adults. Are we ready?”
Murmurs of agreement ripple through the rows. I’m certainly ready.
Jack’s frowning. “All right… hands up, everyone. Who here thinks that one of our own should be allowed to make the decision whether or not to accompany a stranger out of the Grave?”
My hand shoots into the air. Jack stubbornly keeps his hand at his side and, surprisingly, so does Maverick; his lips thinned when Jack called him a stranger, and I guess he figures that, as a stranger, he doesn’t get a vote. Not so surprisingly, when I look for him in the front, I find that Chase has crossed his arms over his chest. Beside him, Audrey’s hand is hesitantly lifted up.
She’s not the only one. I don’t have to count them to see that way more than half of the adults assembled are raising their hands.
It’s settled then. There’s nothing else Jack can do. The Grave has spoken.
The meeting breaks up almost immediately after that. Mainly because Jack and Maverick left the stage, and because no one else offered to join this suicide mission. Instead, the whole Grave moves quickly toward the back exit of the auditorium as though afraid that they’ll be asked to come along.
I kind of feel bad for the stranger. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s torn between taking me with him to have some sort ofbackup or taking his chances at the next settlement he arrives at. Knowing my dad, he’s probably encouraging Maverick to leave before I can velcro myself to his side.
I’m going. I haven’t felt so determined in ages. Finally, I have a purpose; or, rather, the same one as before. Kill lurkers. I can’t bring my family back, but if there’s a chance to eliminate a nest, I’ll take it.
Maverick has to be a survivor. To make it as long as he has without a community to protect him, he must be able to pull off this insanity. Even if he can’t, why can’t I?
I have to leave the Grave. I think I’ve always known that I couldn’t stay here. Not without Hallie.
Not with Chase wishing IwasHallie.
I haven’t taken my eyes off of him. As soon as the crowd broke up, he immediately started toward me. Everyone’s being careful to avoid me, almost as though they’re already considering me gone—either out of the Grave, or another victim of the lurkers—but Chase…
He’ll stop me. I can’t let him.
And if Tony thinks he’ll have goodbye sex before I go off on a suicide mission, that’s not happening, either.
So, like the coward that I wish I wasn’t, I bolt. At this point, I don’t even care if it’s obvious that I’m ducking out on Chase or anyone else at all. The other survivors stop and step aside as I make my way through the crowd and, in seconds, I’m already half-jogging out the front door.
I break into a flat-out run once I see the shortcut ahead of me. I don’t stop until I’ve dashed across Oak, racing down Grove. I throw myself at the front door of the condo, struggling to get it open, then quickly locking it behind me once I’m inside.
In the Grave, where we have to have every trust in each other and crime has become a thing of the before days, this is the first time I can remember locking the door. But I have to.
I don’t want to face Chase right now. Not Tony, and certainly not my dad.
My every intention is to head up to the bedroom and pack a bag before Jack gets home. I need him to understand just how serious I am when I say that I’m leaving. And if he decides to go back on the survivors’ decision, then I need to be prepared to sneak out of the Grave if I have to.
I had just found an old backpack in the downstairs closet when the first knocks come.
CHAPTER 7
My heart leaps up into my throat at the sound. I’m convinced that it’s Chase out there, ready to talk me out of going. Which, after a minute of complete and utter panic, I tell myself is ridiculous. Why should he? He has to know that my leaving the Grave is the best thing that could happen to both of us.
It’s easy for me to avoid Hallie’s face just by getting rid of any mirrors. Every time he sees me, Chase has got to be reminded. And that’s not fair to him.
The knocks are hesitant and soft and they don’t stop. There’s a break between tapping, but I get the feeling that, whoever’s out there, they don’t plan on going away anytime soon. It’s not Jack. My dad would pound away so I’d let him inside. And Chase… no. It can’t be Chase.
So who is it?
Setting my pack on the landing, I start toward the front to see who’s out there when I notice that the sound is growing fainter.
