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"Well, realistically, we’ll probably all be in sleeping bags," Cole said, irritation si under each word, "but no, no catches If they want to be trained, then we’ll train theht, then who the hell a they’re just as invested in finding out what caused IAAN and learning more about this so-called cure And I also have this here little feeling that they’ll be hard-pressed to find another group willing to help theet back to their parents"
"Don’tthis is--"
"This is what?" I asked quietly, pulling hi is dangerous, but this kind of life is dangerous, too, isn’t it? Being sick and starved and constantly on the run? They don’t have to stay at the Ranch forever We can get theure out a safe system for it, if that’s what they want"
He looked pained; if he had struggled with the idea of ue, ere the chances he would ever accept this for Zu? No matter how much he wanted to see the camps freed, to see a real cure out there, his first instinct was always going to be to take the road that was safest for the people he cared about theover to where Cole was helping the other kids eagerly pack up their things, "we can go anywhere ant Isn’t that worth it? Having her couarantee she’s safe We can take care of her"
We should never have let her go in the first place
He let out a rush of breath "Hey Zu, hoould you feel about helping us start a little war?"
She looked up at hiether as she considered this Then Zu shrugged, like, Sure Got nothing better to do
"All right" Liah, and I felt the tension escape my body with it With one arm around my shoulder, and his other hand on Zu’s, we started back through the trees to where the others aiting It was grounding, the familiarity of it--like I was finally tethered back to the world again "All right"
By the time weagainst the side of the truck But while Chubs was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet, firing off a hundred questions to Zu that he had no chance of getting answers to, Vida took one look at her, crossed her arms over her chest, and came toward us
"Hey, Vi, this is--"
She didn’t stop, not to let me finish, not to take Zu’s hand when she held it out to shake Vida’s eyes flashed as they met mine, and the accusation there was as silent as it was baseless Her jaw clenched with the venoet out of this fking duone A sick unease crept in, tearing o after her into the woods and the other half, the louder,one, wanted to stay exactly where I was, happily caught up in my love for the three people around me My heart ollen with it as Zu wrapped her arain and he patted the top of her head in his usual aay
Liam had turned to follow Vida’s shape as it disappeared into the darkness When he turned back, I saw the question there; my own confusion, reflected back
But I had no idea why she was angry
It was hours past ht by the ti its doard glide toward the western horizon I’d slept on and off for a total of four hours, but felt absolutely no better for it Sticking to surface streets, winding up California’s spine at a leisurely pace, had added an extra four hours to an already long trip--and the extra hour it took to find one , rounded it out to an even ten hours We seeht in so and shrinking;tides of anxiety and fear washed in and out ofup desperate, silent prayers that we’d find Cate and the others waiting for us The day had already gone too well, and I knew better than to expect some kind of pattern to for me up just to throw , at least the fringes of it There were a nuht once have been vineyards, but they’d been left to wither and die in the shadow of a series of long, silver warehouses
"There it is," Cole said, lifting his hand from the wheel to point I was surprised he could tell the difference between each, given that they looked identical to my eye, especially in the dark
"Are they here?"
"We’ll know in a second"
The sky had blossoe of town, our little line of cars like a parade through the eher and lighter as the car slowed and turned into a used-car dealership He guided the car into one of the empty, covered spaces--next to as most definitely an old exterminator’s van and an electrical coht At least not anylanced up at the roof of the car,I couldn’t hear "You ready?"