Quaranteen: The Loners

  Will was standing twenty yards away. His face was a mask of confusion. He looked from the girl to David to Brad, like it was a puzzle he couldn’t make sense of.

  Will hurried into the foyer, “What’s going on?” He dashed over to the girl, who was still on the floor, and grabbed her by the shoulders. “Lucy, are you okay?” Will said.

  Will shook her when she didn’t answer.

  “Lucy?”

  The girl wasn’t listening. She was staring right through Will, up at David. Tears were swelling in her eyes.

  David floundered, trying to catch his breath. A voice floated in from what seemed like an ocean away. He couldn’t hear the words exactly. David turned to see one of the Freaks who had been hiding in the shadows. He was now kneeling over Brad.

  “What’d you say?” David asked.

  “Brad’s dead.”

  8

  The hallway was dark. The only sound was the shuffling of the girl’s and Will’s feet behind David.

  “Hurry up,” Will whispered.

  David realized he was creeping along at a snail’s pace. He couldn’t be too careful. There were plenty of witnesses to what had just happened. Word would travel fast. Distant fluorescent light from an adjacent hallway gleamed off the aluminum of the bashed-up elevator doors at the end of the hall.

  The girl coughed. Her name was Lucy. Will knew her somehow. He insisted she come with them. It was the last thing David needed now, a third wheel. David waited for a moment in case the cough prompted any hidden attackers to step forward. Nothing happened.

  He waved for Lucy and Will to follow. He tried to move

  slowly, but with every step toward home, he couldn’t help but speed up. By the time the three of them reached the end of the hall, they were all running. David threw open the door to the control closet, a few feet right of the aluminum elevator doors.

  “Get in,” David said. Will gently took Lucy by the hand and led her inside. David made one last scan of the hall for any sign of approaching intruders and ducked in, pulling the door shut behind him.

  Inside the closet, Will was already climbing up chunky machinery to a small ventilation duct, the width of a large pizza box. He slid himself in feetfirst, then turned back to Lucy and extended his hand to her.

  “I’ve got you,” Will said. There was a good-natured smile on Will’s face that looked foreign to David. Will hoisted Lucy up into the vent, and David followed. David crawled blind through the cold metal air duct. His mind flashed bright with images of the scene in the foyer. The furious uppercut. Brad’s head cracking against the metal of the booth. The awful silence that followed. The Freaks all stared at David. Was that fear in their eyes? Or disgust? When he’d stumbled away from Brad’s body, some kids jumped back like they thought he might come after them too.

  David squeezed out of the vent and into the pitch-black elevator shaft. He descended a few rungs of the metal

  maintenance ladder and dropped down onto the top of the elevator car. It creaked under the weight of three people, and every noise they made echoed as if the shaft had no bottom.

  He reached up and pulled his backpack after him.

  David couldn’t see two feet in front of him. Will pulled open the emergency hatch of the elevator they were standing on.

  A weak brown light drifted up from the car’s interior. It illuminated the crisscrossing laundry lines David had rigged across the elevator shaft. Clothes hung down, still damp from the scrubbing earlier in the day.

  “Here, let me help you,” Will said. He took Lucy by the forearms and lowered her down inside until her toes touched the floor. David didn’t like this. No one was ever supposed to know about their home.

  “Lucy, I need to talk to Dave here for a sec,” Will said. “Make yourself at home. I’ll be right down. I can’t wait to talk.” Will dropped his smile and closed the hatch. David heard Will clomp toward him. He could just make out Will’s face inches from him.

  “What the hell were you thinking?” Will said. “You had to do it again. Do you know how much shit is coming our way now?”

  “It’s . . . I reacted to the situation, I didn’t know he would . . .

  We’ll figure something out.”

  Will’s face was barely visible, a dark, judgmental blur. David felt Will’s finger jab between his ribs. David shuffled toward

  the edge of the elevator car. One step backward and he’d plummet.

  “You’re not dragging me down again.”

  “She can’t stay here,” David said.

  David heard Will back away. Will opened the hatch and dropped down inside.

  He’d killed someone. David had to steady himself on the elevator cables. His hands felt numb, but his nerves buzzed.

  How the hell did that happen? It was just a punch, and now Brad was gone. A whole history, a whole life. Done. He was probably being stuffed into a locker somewhere near the gym, with all of Varsity in the hallway, watching, and pacing, and hatching bloody plans to make things right.

  David walked toward the light of the hatch. He lowered himself down inside.

  When David landed in their crowded box, Will was wearing that good-natured smile again and lighting candles. Lucy looked all around at her new surroundings. The low voltage emergency lights cast a straw-colored glow onto the six-by-six-foot space. Shelves made from the tops of classroom desks lined the walls up by the ceiling. The lowest shelf contained all of David’s and Will’s food supplies and two sets of clothes for each. The upper shelf housed everything else: makeshift weapons, knickknacks that David and Will had salvaged from their lockers, library books, and everything else they owned.

  David’s laundry supplies were gathered in a cinched sack that

  hung from the ceiling to save floor space. Their beds took up most of the floor, makeshift mattresses that were just piles of discarded clothes. There was about two square feet of clear floor space left. That’s where Lucy sat, her knees pulled in close to her body.

  Will finished lighting the candles. They were precious supplies. Normally, David would get mad that Will was wasting them, but what did it matter now? Will pressed a button on the control panel, and the emergency lights turned off. The elevator car was dark and warm by candlelight. Will fished out a piece of dry bread from his loot sack, broke it in half, and handed half to Lucy. As she took it from him, their fingers touched. David noticed that Will let his fingers linger on hers longer than necessary.

  “Lucy, you have nothing to worry about, okay?” Will said.

  The tears collecting in Lucy’s eyes threatened to spill over, but she tapped them dry with a square of white cotton from her purse. She took a bite of bread and tried to settle herself.

  “I like your place,” she said.

  The sensation of his fist connecting with Brad’s jaw flickered through David’s knuckles again. For an instant, he reveled in it. No matter what he told himself, he had enjoyed knocking Brad to the ground. Before that Freak said Brad was dead, David had felt a rush of pride filling his chest.

  “Thanks,” Will said. “I can’t believe you’re here.”

  “I know,” Lucy said.

  Lucy looked over at David, shivering still. It seemed she wanted to say something to him, talk about what happened probably. David looked away—he couldn’t bear that. He needed to do something. He got up, grabbed a crumpled bottle of water off the shelf, along with a toothbrush and detergent.

  He fished a T-shirt out of his sack and sat back down on his mattress. David set to work, scrubbing wet detergent into a soot stain.

  “You look so different,” Lucy said, still eating.

  “Oh, yeah? You look great. So great,” Will said.

  “I’ve seen you at the market,” Lucy said. Then, as if she was apologizing, “I wanted to say hello.”

  “Me too,” Will said.

  David felt Lucy’s eyes on him. He didn’t look over.

  “The last time I saw you, you were wearing those ripped-up pants,” she said.
>
  “Yeah,” Will said. “Those were cool.”

  Lucy laughed. “They weren’t cool, but I liked how excited you were about ’em.”

  “What? Those pants were badass!”

  She laughed again, but it was wilting and quiet. The elevator became silent but for the sound of her slow and shaky breaths. David scrubbed like mad.

  “We’re going to get through this,” Will said. “It’s just another challenge. Just like Wild-Trek.”

  David stopped scrubbing. It all clicked. That’s why Will

  insisted this girl come back to the elevator. This was the girl he met on his camping trip in Utah. He and Will had been joined at the hip for over a year in this place, and Will had never mentioned that Lucy went to McKinley. Why hadn’t Will told him?

  “You’re right,” Lucy said. “Thanks, Will. You’re a good friend.”

  “So . . . what happened?” Will asked.

  “Hilary kicked me out of the Pretty Ones.” David looked up at her.

  “Yeah, I heard she’s mean,” Will said, knowing it would piss David off.

  “Mean?” Lucy said. “She’s psychotic.”

  “Psychotic how?” David said. Lucy looked him in the eye.

  “She tells every girl who they’re expected to date. The Pretty Ones depend on Varsity. We—they wouldn’t survive if Hilary didn’t keep Varsity happy.”

  “She made you do that?” Will said.

  “She tried. I found ways to avoid the arrangement, y’know?

  I stayed busy. I worked the door at the girls’ showers and helped make beauty products. I actually developed a new shade of lipstick using a box of red pens I found.” Lucy brightened for a moment.

  “I flirted when I knew Hilary or one of her suck-ups was watching. And then I’d—” Lucy suddenly laughed. Will sat up, moving closer. The laugh was such a surprise to David, after

  what she’d just been through. The candlelight lapped across her face. She looked at David, and she smiled. It was a sexy smile. He found himself smiling back a little.

  Will took Lucy’s hand in his, “What? What did you do?”

  “It’s embarrassing,” she said, shaking her head. She covered her mouth and laughed even harder. She was swept up in it now.

  “Come on! You’ve got to tell me now,” Will prodded.

  “When the girls weren’t looking, but I knew Varsity was, I’d always try to throw in a belch or a snot rocket. The grosser it was, the better. Anything, just so they’d leave me alone.”

  “Ha!” Will said, and hooted. “That is classic Lucy.” Lucy gave the faintest of smiles.

  “About a month ago, I was changing in the girls’ locker room. I thought I was alone, but I wasn’t. A Varsity guy snuck in and was watching me. He was one of Brad’s friends.” David clenched his jaw. Lucy looked to the ground as soon as Brad’s name escaped her lips.

  “Scumbags,” Will said.

  “I screamed, and he ran off. But after that, he started asking around about me. I knew it was only a matter of time. Hilary approached me and said I had to be his girlfriend.”

  “She said that?” David asked. Lucy nodded. She maintained eye contact with him as she spoke. Her version of Hilary was ugly, and he didn’t like it.

  “When I told her that I wouldn’t, she got this look on her

  face. It was scary. I thought she was going to stab me. But she just walked away. At first I thought maybe everything was fine. But then I noticed none of the girls would talk to me.

  Then no one would let me into the bathrooms. And eventually, they wouldn’t let me have food. Hilary made everyone freeze me out, even girls I thought were my friends.” Lucy ran out of breath. She’d been talking so fast, reliving each moment so vividly. She sobbed suddenly. Will dared to stroke her hair. Lucy collapsed on him, and he held her closer.

  “Ssh,” he said. “It’s okay.”

  “For a week I was invisible. I was dirty and hungry. She wanted me desperate, I know she did. And I was. She came to me again and asked me if I felt like dating that boy now. I probably would have said yes, I don’t know, just to eat. But she brought him with her, and he was so . . . He looked at me like I was his property. I couldn’t do it. I said no again.”

  “Damn right you did,” Will said.

  “What did she do then?” David said. He’d placed the stained shirt aside.

  “She dragged me in front of all the girls. She tore the Pretty Ones insignia off of my sweater and said I was banished. She said I was dead to them. I kept looking at my friends in the crowd, but none of them would look back at me. And then Hilary made an announcement to all the Varsity boys that I was no longer protected by the Pretty Ones.” Lucy took a deep breath to steady herself. “She said they

  were free to do what they wanted with me.”

  “I hate that bitch,” Will said. “I always did.” David looked at Will, but Will wouldn’t look back. David clenched his eyes shut and rubbed his temples. He wanted to forget everything he’d heard. He wanted to forget that Brad was dead too, but he couldn’t.

  “I ran out of there. I was so scared. I thought they were going to pop up behind me at any second.” Lucy finally crumbled. She couldn’t get any more words out without crying. “You saved me,” she said between sobs. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry that happened. And that Brad—” Lucy’s tears took her over again. David was glad. He’d heard enough.

  “Sam’s gonna go crazy,” she said.

  David stood. He was done. He put his tools and the shirt away and snuffed out the candles in his corner.

  “I’m going to hide out here for as long as I can stretch out our supplies. Hopefully, things will cool down. You can stay tonight. Don’t eat any more of the food. I’m going to bed.” He lay down on his bed with his back to them both. He could hear Will say that Lucy could have some of his food.

  Will could say what he wanted. She couldn’t stay.

  David imagined Varsity swarming the corridors in search of him. He saw himself staying in this elevator for months, gripped with fear that the hatch door could be torn open at any moment. That they’d come crashing down through the

  ceiling, stuffing themselves into his secret home until they blocked out the light. Then they’d stomp him into the floor until he stopped breathing.

  David clung to the belief there was a chance of survival. If the elevator stayed hidden and Will found a way to bring him food. . . . If he could trust Will to keep his mouth shut, and if the girl kept quiet, and if no one saw Will come and go and no one caught him while he was out there. If all that, maybe he could last until his graduation. He could find a way to sneak all the way to the front door without being noticed, scan his thumb, and get his walking papers. He might be able to last.

  In the hour it took him to fall asleep, David’s mind whirled with nightmares to come. He did his best to stay focused on the hope that he could do it, that he could get out, without ever having to answer for what he’d done.

  9

  Will wasn’t sleeping. How could he?

  Lucy was there. There was only two feet between him and the girl he’d dreamed about since Wild-Trek. And there weren’t two inches between her sleeping body and David. It made him crazy. Before Lucy went to sleep, Will tried to persuade her to take his bed. She insisted on the floor. She said she didn’t want to be a burden to anyone. Once she was asleep, it was as though her body was magnetized to David’s. She tossed and turned, moving an inch closer here, two inches there. Will could count on his hand how many times Lucy had looked at him since they got back to the elevator. She had spent the rest of the time staring at David.

  She was almost entirely on David’s mattress now. Was she really asleep? It would be almost worse if she was asleep.

  Then she’d be subconsciously trying to spoon his brother. It was torture, and Will couldn’t take it anymore.

  Will rose to his feet, quiet as a burglar. He looked down at David and Lucy, still curled up together. He knew David was asleep, his snoring
had started right on cue. Will monitored Lucy for any more movement. The tear in her sweater revealed the butter-soft skin of her chest as it gently rose and fell with each breath. Were all girls this beautiful when they slept?

  He could’ve stood there and watched her all night, but if he was going to leave, he had to do it now. He slid his fingers up her shoulder. He just needed to make sure that she was asleep first. She didn’t stir. He did it again, but much slower, just in case. He could still feel the summer breeze slip through the tent the night they spent together; her head on his chest; the stars twinkling through the mesh skylight overhead; the sweet smell of lemon juice in her hair.

  Lucy murmured and shifted her body closer to David again.

  Ugh. Why did he have to go to the bathroom after the market? He’d been kicking himself for the past year that he never made a move, never took things to the next level with Lucy.

  Will had planned to ask her out on the first day of school.

  When the East Wing exploded, it threw his plan off the rails, and it never seemed like the right time after that. How do you ask a girl out when the world’s ending? He wanted everything to be perfect when he asked, but once the gangs formed it was too late.

  Now, out of the blue, he had a real chance, and David was trying to take it from him. Will should have been the one to save her. He would have done it. And probably wouldn’t have killed someone in the process. She should have been looking at him the way she’d been looking at David all night. It wasn’t fair.

  David didn’t get to have Lucy just because he had to take a monster dump.

  Will pulled one of David’s buckets off the shelf and laid it in the center of the floor, upside down. He placed his toe on the bucket and stepped up as quietly as he could. He pulled himself out of the elevator. He’d been sneaking out for months without David knowing. Usually he was satisfied just wandering around, getting into trouble, but tonight he had an actual mission. It was the beginning of a plan that would keep David alive, and keep him away from Lucy.