Page 61 (2/2)

Chubs nodded "He’s never told me the whole story, but I think what happened was that he and Felipe were traveling and ran into a tribe of Blues Instead of recruiting them like Lee hoped, the tribe beat the hell out of the they had--food, packs, family pictures, you naroup, but they were in such bad shape that they couldn’t get ahen the skip tracers finally showed up"

So hard settled in my throat

"Lee thinks that that tribe probably called theot a cut of the reward"

I didn’t knohat to say The thought of a kid, of any of us, turning against our own kind ainst into a heap of ood person, but he’s so easy for others to read--and they don’t have the best intentions"

"Exactly," Chubs said "He’s so busy looking inside people to find the good that hein their hand"

"And even then he’d probably blain with, and apologize for being such a teet"

That hat troubled ood-hearted, he would have been a Boy Scout It was either an aht, for so to still believe so unconditionally that everyone was as stand-up as he was It was so that inspired both exasperation and a fierce sense of protectiveness in me--and Chubs, too, it seemed

"I think we both know he’s far fro hiainst the e thinker, that one Always rush, rush, rushing to do whatever his gut tells hiuilt when things blow up in his face"

I nodded, absently fiddling with a tear in the sleeve ofit After hearing Liauilt over what had happened the night of their breakout, but it sounded like it ht run even deeper than that

"I can fix that for you later" Chubs nodded toward the torn fabric His long fingers were splayed out over his knees, tapping against the bones "Just reht you how to sew, anyway?" I asked Apparently it was not the right question to ask Chubs’s back went stiff and straight, like I had dropped an ice cube down the back of his shirt

"I don’t kno to sew," he snapped, "I kno to stitch Sewing is for decoration; stitching is for saving lives I don’t do this because I think it’s pretty or fun I do it for practice"

He stared at ot what he was trying to say

"My dad taught ," he said, finally "In case of eencies"

"Is your dad a doctor?" I asked

"He’s a traueon" Chubs didn’t bother to hide the pride in his voice "One of the best in the DC area"

"What does your mom do?"

"She used to work for the Departisternow"

"They sound great," I said

Chubs snorted, but I could see hied by, and the conversation waned I foundit open to the beginning The first few pages were e after page ofwas neat and precise, and, surprisingly, so was Zu’s