He looked off with a sigh, his shoulders slumping forward. Even in the dark, I could see how tired he was. The sort of bone-deep exhaustion that oftentimes made him look old beyond his twenty-six years. Watching him, I felt my own exhaustion flare.
“We need a break,” I whispered. “Logan, please.”
When he faced me, I held his gaze, hoping he would see the truth in my plea. Though obviously tired, his expression was, as usual, as stony as ever.
“We can stay until it rains,” he eventually said. “And after that, we’ll reassess.”
I blinked. “Wait, what?”
“And if it doesn’t rain after a few days, we’re moving on.”
“Whoa, whoa. Wait a second.” I held up my hand. “Are you serious right now? Like, this isn’t a joke—we can really stay here for a few days?”
Logan looked at me, deadpan. “Since when do I tell jokes?”
I shot upright, squealing, clapping my hands together and slapping my feet against the side of the house. I couldn’t believe it—Logan literally never listened to me. In fact, he usually went out of his way to do the opposite of whatever I would suggest.
Logan’s hand crashed down on my bare thigh, squeezing me still. “Stop kicking!” he whispered furiously. “This place won’t be safe for long if you keep making so much fucking noise!”
Slapping my hands over my mouth, I whispered, “Sorry.” It was taking all of my effort to remain still—the thought of being able to lounge around for a few days had me practically vibrating with excitement.
Logan released my leg and cleared his throat. “I need to do a quick perimeter check; make sure you didn’t just lead every Creeper in the area straight to us.” Jumping from the windowsill, he jogged away, his form quickly merging with the shadows.
With a roll of my eyes, I swung my body back inside the house and leaped on top of Lucas. “You’re never going to believe what just happened!”
Lucas sat up with a shout. “What’s going on?”
Grabbing his face, I kissed him squarely on the mouth. “I’m a fucking magician, that’s what!”
We ate boiled oats for breakfast, thanks to my garage finds. There was coffee too—coffee beans that we’d ground ourselves and then added to a pot of boiling water. If you covered the water while it cooled, the grounds would eventually settle at the bottom—it was a trick we’d been taught early on, during our first winter without power… back when there had been a lot more people than just the three of us.
As the harsh smell of hot coffee filled my nostrils, a lump formed in my throat. A memory surfaced—all the adults huddled around the fireplace, dressed in heavy layers, each clutching steaming mugs of coffee, quietly discussing what they didn’t want us kids to hear. Ironic, really, that they were all dead now… alongside their secrets… and we were still here.
After breakfast, Logan announced he’d be heading out to do another needless perimeter check and tasking Lucas and me with straightening up camp. With his departure, I flopped onto my bedroll. “If he ever sat down for more than five minutes, I would die of a heart attack.”
Taking a seat beside me, Lucas chewed thoughtfully on his lip rings. “He probably would, too,” he said. “He’s always got to be working toward something. I think he feels useless if he isn’t.”
I scoffed. “But nothing is ever good enough for him, either. I mean, remember that group in Virginia? I still don’t understand why we didn’t stay with them—they even had a doctor! Literally nothing will ever be good enough for him.”
Lucas snorted. “He wasn’t a doctor; he said he’d been studying tobecome a doctor. He was probably lying, too. They were all insane, and you know it.”
I pointed an accusatory finger at Lucas. “Almost a doctor is better than no doctor.And you know it.”
“Oh, please. You didn’t like them either. You just love hating on Logan.”
The group in Virginia had been sizable—around fifty people who’d set up a makeshift city inside a shipping warehouse—a massive building made of concrete surrounded by a heavy-duty gate topped with razor wire. Inside, there’d been pallets piled high with nonperishable food products, and shipping containers set up like apartments. At first glance, to three homeless teenagers, it had seemed like the perfect place.
We’d stayed with them only three days, though we’d only needed one to realize that something was off. They’d prayed at all hours of the day, and when they weren’t praying, they were chanting, and when they weren’t chanting, they were singing. At first we’d attempted fitting in but after a giant wooden cross had been revealed to us, with a wriggling Creeper nailed to it, we’d known it was time to leave. As they’d fallen to their knees before the crucified monster, we’d quickly gathered our things and ran.
“Fine,” I conceded. “But what about the forest people in Kentucky—they weren’t completely insane.”
“Forest people? You make them sound like they were fairies or something!” Lucas laughed heartily. “If they’re still alive, they are definitely insane by now!”
“You don’t know that.”
“Pretty sure you can’t live off magic mushrooms,Willy.”
“You know I hate when you side with Logan,Lucy.”
