The end of the fighting surprises me almost as much as the beginning of it did. The third level of the garage is mostly unused, and still filled with the rotting skeletons of cars, parked in neat rows. I'm crouched behind one of them, gun poised, watching for any flicker of movement between the windows. There's someone in here, and he's tracking me, shadow flickering as he passes in and out of the streams of sunlight that pour in. I'm joined by two others, huddled against the flaking side of the SUV. Jonathan leans heavily against a woman with red hair who helps him support his weight, crippled leg twisted awkwardly across the pavement.
I'm just peering over the hood, rifle set across it, when our tail appears again, sliding between two bumpers. I place my finger on the trigger just as a woman approaches him, pace quick and purposeful.
"Hey. We're clearing out."
"What?" He lowers the barrel of his shotgun. "Why?"
"Too many casualties. It's not worth it."
"Seriously?"
He glances at me and I duck behind the hood again, expecting to hear a bullet whistle over my head. The woman grabs his arm.
"It's not worth it, man. We've already lost fiveâdon't make yourself the sixth."
"Fuck." He drops the muzzle of his shotgun, then lifts it again. "Fine. Cover me on our way out, one of them's got a gun."
With both of their firearms pointed at my hiding spot, I don't dare to look out until I'm sure they've gone. Jonathan slumps next to me, breathing ragged.
"What the hell was that about?" The woman asks shakily.
I give my head a shake. "Don't know. But let's not take it for granted. We have to get down to the others."
The two of us lift Jonathan to his feet and help him down the ramps until we finally touch down outside. I realize I'm shaking, knuckles trembling with exertion. But it feels good. I made myself usefulâI protected us.
Ama appears from nowhere, throwing herself into my arms.
"Teddy!"
I grab at her shoulders, burying my face in her hair.
"I'm okay, Ama."
She pulls back slightly. "You're hurt."
"It's just bleeding a lot. It looks worse than it is. Are you okay?"
She nods. "Yeah. Everyone else is, too. We brought them back as soon as those guys left."
To my left, I watch Noah gently release his grip on Maddy's hand. She throws herself into the arms of a woman I recognize as her mother, shaking with sobs.
Winona approaches me, followed closely by Lora. She grabs my arm.
"Teddy, we need you."
"Is everyone okay? Did we lose anyone?"
Her gaze meets mine, distant and heavy like a far-off thunderhead. I haven't seen this expression on her face since our days of clearing the garage together.
"Three."
"Shit."
It feels like a punch to the gut. People die sometimesâI lost a friend in the early days of killing mutated and securing the fence. Most of us did. But we've lived in relative safety for so long, the reminder of just how dangerous things really are is like a slap.
"There's a lot to do. We need to search for injured and set them up for Lora. The bodies need to be cleared out. The fence needs to be guarded day and night until we can find supplies to repair it."
She handles herself with remarkable grace considering the circumstances, but her knuckles are pale where she clenches her fists and a sheen of sweat has broken out on her brow. I feel Ama's hand on my shoulder.
"Okay. We'll get to work. Where's Colton?"
"I haven't seen him yet. Hopefully we'll only find him among the injuries."
I return her grim nod. The sense of powerâof adrenaline rushing through my veinsâhas started to fade, leaving behind a sick emptiness in my stomach. The blood on my hands is starting to dry, flaking beneath my fingernails.
"Let Lora look at that arm first."
"I'm sure there's worse injuries for her to deal with. I'll be fine."
Winona hesitates, then nods. "Okay. Let's get going."
â
We find Colton barricaded in a corner on the uppermost level, clutching a bullet wound in his thigh. Aside from fatalities, however, his is the worst of the injuries, and Lora predicts a full recovery.
On the second level, Lora treats the wounded, aided by a teenage boy. Noah hovers by my side, hands tangled together, face drawn with worry. I put a hand on his shoulder.
"Noah, we're still going to look for your brother. I promise."
He nods.
There's a commotion from the far side of the garage. Ama appears from behind a row of tents, supporting the weight of a woman I don't recognize. She protests as she's half-dragged, half-guided toward Lora, one arm pulled over Ama's shoulders. I hurry closer, gaze falling on the blossom of crimson that stains her white undershirt. She's about our age, with scraggly blonde hair and a badly-done undercut, but even injured, she's strong enough to resist Ama's guidance, boots digging into the pock-marked asphalt.
"Ama." I hurry to her side, avoiding the woman. "She's not one of ours."
"Very astute observation, Teddy," my girlfriend grunts, finally releasing her grip on her unwilling companion and shoving her towards Lora. She stumbles immediately, forcing Lora to rush to catch her before she hits the ground. The pained whimper that leaves her lips is almost comical compared to the sharp contours of her face.
"Why the hell are we helping her?"
"You'd rather execute her when she can't even defend herself?"
"We can leave her outside the fence for the mutated to deal with."
"With the state of that fence, Teddy, the mutated are gonna deal with us, too." I can see immediately that Ama isn't going to be argued with. She juts her chin forward, voice low and hissed. "We found her behind one of the cars. I'm guessing one of ours did this."
"Good, she deserves it."
"Teddy." She grabs my arm and I roll my eyes, trying to pull away.
"Whatever. It's fine."
"No, Teddy, listen to me." She snatches my other arm and tugs me away from Lora, Noah, and the stranger. "Okay?"
"I'm listening." I try not to sound reluctant. Ama's expression is serious.
"She's a human. Other humans aren't our enemies."
"They fucking attacked us!"
"Teddy." She reaches for my face, forcing me to meet her dark, solid gaze. "There are enough forces out there trying to wipe humanity off the planet. We can't add ourselves to that list."
When I don't nod, don't tell her she's right, she sighs, slumping down onto the balls of her feet.
"And at the very least I'm sure she can tell us a few things about her group and why they attacked us."
I take her hands in mine, pulling them off of my jaw and rubbing my thumbs in circles over her palms.
"Okay. Fine. But if she dies anyways, I'm not gonna pretend to be sad about it for you."
"I wouldn't be all that broken up about it either." She gives me a half-hearted smile that I struggle to return. When I glance back, Lora has managed to guide the woman into one of the vacant tents, holding her down whenever she tries to get up. She's lost a lot of bloodâmaybe she won't make it through the night.
No, Lora's too good a medic for that.
I sigh, moving aside the flap of the tent and leaning in. I catch a sample of the conversation happening inside, Lora remaining ever calm and patient even against the woman's raspy, bitter tone. She chokes up blood when she speaks, teeth stained crimson.
"âtrying to help you. Please just lie down."
"Fuck you."
"Lora?"
She glances at me, one hand pressed down on the woman's shoulder.
"Need any help in here?"
"No, I think I've got it." She pushes the woman down onto the blankets on the ground, placing a knee on her shoulder to keep her in place so she can dig through a backpack. "I've got anaesthetics here somewhere. I'll just drug her so I can go to work."
"Don't you fucking dare!" Her patient spits, trying to pry her knee off of herself with bloodstained hands.
"Alright. Looks like you've got this under control, then."
"Yeah. You can go see what Winona needs done."
"Okay."
I duck back out of the tent and face Noah and Ama. She raises an eyebrow.
"Now promise me you won't sneak in and kill her in the middle of the night."
"I could make it look like an accident."
"Theodora."
I glare at her until she lets out an exhale. Then I turn to Noah.
"Don't repeat that."
He looks too bone-tired to respond to my attempt at humour. I offer him a smile.
"Look, we'll find you somewhere to sleep tonight, okay?"
"I should go back. My brother might've made it to our bus, it's where we promised to meet if we ever got separatedâhe'll be waiting for me."
"You don't know that he'll be there, and it's way too dangerous for you to be out there alone right now." I approach him, reaching for his shoulders and meeting his gaze. "You can stay here, okay?"
"And tomorrowâ"
"We'll go look for him as soon as we can."
He nods. "Okay."
I let go of his shoulders and turn to Ama.
"We have a few spare tents, right?"
"Between the extras and the people we lost today, yeah, there'll be a couple, but Lora is using a few for injured."
"That's fine." I place a hand on Noah's shoulder and lead him away. "We'll find you somewhere." I wait until we're out of earshot, glancing down at him. "You doing okay?"
He nods, but his lower lip trembles. I swallow, giving his shoulder a squeeze and looking away so I don't have to see the sheen of tears in his eyes.
"You'll be okay. We all just need some rest."
When I don't get a response, I sigh and pull him into my arms. Maybe I only met him today, but it's obvious the kid needs one. He tenses for a moment, then relaxes into my embrace, head tucked against my chest. I run my hand over his shoulders.
"There you go. We're okay."
He pulls back and swipes his sleeve across his nose, eyes rimmed with red. He manages a weak smile.
"Thanks."
I return the expression with as much energy as I can muster, then nod at a tent.
"C'mon. In here."