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I saw Anna drifting toward the Girls’ clothing section

I put the light down

I would follow her into the aisle and I would grab her

The thought made me sick to my stooing?" Payton demanded

"No-nowhere," I starabbed me by the shirtfront

"Anna’s off-limits, you hear me? No one touches her No one thinks about her Got that?" He got up so close that spit from his mouth sprayed me in the face His teeth were yellow and his breath minty fresh

"Yes," I said "Yes, sir!"

"I tell you what, you have so much time on your hands, why don’t you make us some lunch?!"

What is it about me that screams "cook"?

I went to the Food aisles, in the exact opposite direction of where Anna had headed

What could I make these idiots? And what could I cook over a brass fire pit?

Soup, I decided Chunky soup--the kind with those little haers in it Payton would like that

We had so

She touched me on the shoulder and I turned and Astrid was in?" I whispered when our kiss ended "It’s not safe"

Astrid pointed up

"I just … I had to give you these"

She pressed three foil packs intopills The EZ-melt ones The ones that had knocked Chloe out for a day and a half

"We used one on Luna and I thought…"

Of course Sleeping pills

"It’s brilliant," I said "Now go"

She took my hand and led

I could see Caroline and Henry and Chloe peeking out They looked tired and scared and griht her face close to my ear and whispered, "Look, I want you to know that you’re--you’re the one for htly as a cat, she cli

I rushed into the next aisle

I had to get the pills into so And fast But not the soup It would be hot and, no, they ht not all eat it

Juice

There it was

That kind with the carrots and vegetables in it Yes, yes, yes It eet, really sweet, but had veggies so if it tasted a little off …

I grabbed two large bottles and took them to the back of the aisle

I hoped that if so for me, I’d have time to hide the pills

I unscrewed the tops off the two bottles and started pressing the sleeping pills out of the packs There were eight pills in each pack and I had three packs Well, two pills were out of one of the packs but it was still a lot of pills

My heart hammered in my chest as I popped the pills into the juice

Twenty-two sleeping pills Eleven in each bottle

Twenty-two sleeping pills to fell five cadets and to save our lives

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

ALEX

10–0 MILES

It’s hard to describe how huge the operation at the airport was

First, ent into a waiting area for all new arrivals There were about 200 other people e got there, and every 105–20 people

They had taken seats froates and put them in there They weren’t bolted to the floor so they wobbled, but they’d basically ns: EVERYONE MUST WEAR A MASK AT ALL TIMES

There were air masks piled on the tables Some were used, some were new There weren’t any Army ones, like our two, available, but there was a different kind, like an Army-issue mask for civilians I found one for me, and for Sahalia and Batiste I put mine on and there was a distinct smell of some kind of fruit I hated that sh," Sahalia groaned "Why do we need these? The dae has been done, for God’s sake"

But ore theuy with a rifle would come over and shove one into your hands

I think that they made us wear them for the sake of the type ABs Obviously the type Os and As knew to keep their masks on

But I had seen souess soet theh to keep a mask on With a mask on, those same crazy people looked sedate Exhausted and worn-out, but sedate

It was an unreasonable assuht that as soon as we got to DIA, I would find our parents Like they’d be waiting right by the door or so room Each of us did, except Max, as asleep in his stroller