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Three hours of rehab in theThirty-minute break for lunch Then threemy muscles until I felt them melt into a sweaty, jellylike mass

But I still wasn’t done for the day I asked Evan what happened to uns And rip, how to use the sight He set up eets, replacing those with s with hiet--but he refuses I’m still pretty weak, I can’t even run yet, and what happens if a Silencer spots us?

We take walks at sunset At first I didn’t ave out and Evan had to carry o a hundred yards farther than the day before A half mile became three-quarters beca twoCan’t run yet, but my pace and stamina have vastly ih dinner and a couple hours into the night, and then he shoulders his rifle and tells me he’ll be back before sunrise I’m usually asleep when he comes in--and it’s usually way past sunrise

"Where do you go every night?" I asked hi" A man of feords, this Evan Walker

"You must be a lousy hunter," I teased hi"

"I’ood," he saidthat, on paper, sounds like bragging, it isn’t It’s the way he says it, casually, like he’s talking about the weather

"You just don’t have the heart to kill?"

"I have the heart to do what I have to do" He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed "In the beginning it was about staying alive Then it was about protectingaround after the plague first hit Then it was about protecting my territory and supplies…"

"What’s it about now?" I asked quietly That was the first time I’d seen him even mildly worked up

"It settles"Gives iene"

"And I have trouble sleeping at night," he went on Wouldn’t look atperiod So after a while I gave up trying and started sleeping during the day Or trying to The fact is I only sleep two or three hours a day"

"You must be really tired"

He finally looked atsad and desperate in his eyes

"That’s the worst part," he said softly "I’m not I’m not tired at all"

I was still uneasy about his disappearing at night, so once I tried to follow hiet lost, turned to go back, and found ethim He just said, "You shouldn’t be out here, Cassie," and escorted me inside

More out of concern for my mental health than our personal safety (I don’t think he was co heavy blankets over the s in the great rooht a couple of lamps I waited there until he returned fro leather sofa or reading one of his mom’s battered paperback rouys on the covers and the ladies dressed in full-length ball gowns caught inhe would come home, and we’d throw some more wood on the fire and talk He doesn’t like to talk about his family much (when I asked about his ed and said she liked literature) He steers the conversation back totoo personal Mostly he wants to talk about Sammy, as in how I plan to keepto do that, the discussion never ends well I’ue; he presses for specifics I’et h this again," he says late one night after going around and around for an hour "You don’t know exactly who or what they are, but you know they have lots of heavy artillery and access to alien weaponry You don’t knohere they’ve taken your brother, but you’re going there to rescue hi to rescue hi to help orfluffy rug in front of the fireplace, his rifle on one side, er on the other, and the two of us in between

He holds up his hands in a fake gesture of surrender "I’ at Ca up the trail from there," I say for about the thousandth ti the same questions, but he’s so damned obtuse, it’s hard to pin hi aboutto be a plan

"And if you can’t pick up the trail?" he asks

"I won’t give up until I do"

He’s nodding a nod that says, I’ because I think what you’re sayingbecause I think you’re a total fool and I don’t want you to go all kung fu on me with a crutch I made with my own hands

So I say, "I’m not a total fool You’d do the same for Val"

He doesn’t have a quick reply to that He wraps his ar at the fire

"You think I’ my time," I accuse his flawless profile "You think Sammy’s dead"

"How could I know that, Cassie?"

"I’ you think that"

"Does it matter what I think?"

"No, so shut up"

"I wasn’t saying anything You said--"