Ignoring his question, I said, “We call it first meal, second meal, third meal, and fourth meal because we don’t have any choice about what they feed us and when we eat.” Whether or not we’re eating, or being the food. I didn’t say that part aloud. “I don’t want to forget that we’re prisoners here.”
Mel played with her Slinky behind me. I could hear the sllluuunk, sllluuunk noise it made when she was nervous.
He held out his hands in a gesture of innocence. “I’m not saying you should forget you’re a prisoner. But remembering what you love about life from the Before, that’s not a bad thing.”
“Great,” I chirped. “Then after fourth meal, why don’t we sit around the campfire, sing ‘Kumbaya,’ and braid each other’s hair?”
“Hope is a powerful thing.”
I snorted with disgust. “Sure. And if this was the movie of the week, then we’d be in great shape. But since—”
“Po—” Mel said abruptly, then struggled to get out the next syllable. “—tato.”
Carter and I both wheeled around to look at her. She was standing a few steps below us, not watching us, but staring at the single incandescent bulb in a wire cage that lit the stairwell.
“What?” I asked, more out of surprise than curiosity. I had heard the word, I just couldn’t fathom that it had come from her mouth.
Carter’s mouth curved into a grin—as though Mel’s response had won the argument for him. “So Mel wants potato soup. Me, I’d kill for a cup of gumbo.” He nodded, and with the faintest touch to Mel’s elbow, he got her walking again and they headed down the stairs. “What kind of chips would you have with that sandwich?”
“Mel’s not allowed to have chips!” I called indignantly from the landing, shock still gluing my feet in place. It was a particularly stupid comment to make—because, God, we practically lived on chips at the Farm. So I had to justify it by adding, “She was on a special gluten-free, preservative-free diet. She’s not going to know what kind—”
“N-n-not corn chips.” Mel forced out the words.
And Carter, damn him, chuckled, glancing over his shoulder. “You coming?”
But I wasn’t. I felt trapped there on the stairs, watching them. Carter had launched into a description of what he’d eat—the grilled tuna salad panini his nanny used to make him, dripping with cheddar cheese, crisp dill pickle on the side—as he and Mel hit the next landing and continued on down.
And I still just stood there, feeling . . . God, I didn’t know what. Mel had spoken. For the first time in months, Mel had spoken sensible words. As part of a conversation. Without a nursery rhyme in sight. She’d actually responded to a question. Not once, but twice.
I felt my knees wobble beneath me and I sank to the landing. All this time, I’d assumed it was the trauma of living on the Farm that had made her retreat to those early childhood behaviors. But maybe it wasn’t the Farm. Maybe it was me.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Lily
An icy wind swept across the quad and by the time we made it to the crush of people around the steps of the dining hall, I was glad for the protection the extra people provided. The doors to the dining hall weren’t open yet, but even though it was a few minutes until eight thirty, the mass of Greens edged closer to the doors.
Mel stood close to my side. My little lamb. She had spoken to Carter, but she was still my responsibility. I looked behind me for Carter and felt a trickle of annoyance when I didn’t see him immediately. I glanced around and caught a glimpse of him squatting at the edge of the crowd, messing with his boot. There was something furtive about his posture. More annoyed than concerned, I was about to go rein him back in when I heard Mel squawking.
I spun back around to see her cringing away from a group of guys. They probably hadn’t meant her any harm, but she was in their way and rather than skirt around her, their group had oozed forward to encompass her. Flinching like an animal being prodded from multiple angles, she seemed panic-stricken, ready to either flee or collapse in on herself.
Carter could fend for himself. I bolted toward Mel, elbowing the guy nearest her. “Hey, give us a little room.”
The guy spun on me. He wasn’t particularly big, but his expression flashed from disinterested to belligerent the second I touched him. He puffed out his chest. “You wanna eat, wait in line like everyone else.”
His buddies had noticed. Noble pack animals that they were, they moved to his side. Sure, I got it. You needed someone at your back. The problem was, when they closed ranks around him, they cut me off from Mel.
“I am in line.” I tried for steady and logical, but I could feel Mel’s panic. “I’m with her.”
One of the pack animals looked back at Mel. “What? You’re with that freak?”
I saw what he was going to do as soon as he reached for Mel’s arm. I yelled, “Don’t touch her!”
Either he didn’t hear me or he thought I was making an empty threat.
The second he grabbed her arm, Mel lashed out. Even if her life depended on it, Mel couldn’t have launched a purposeful attack, but her panicked flailing did as much damage. She elbowed him in the solar plexus, knocking the wind out of him with a humph. He doubled over and her thrashing fist caught his face in an awkward uppercut.
Two of the other guys launched themselves toward her. Some part of my rational brain knew they were just trying to help their buddy. But the part of my brain that protected Mel, the stressed-out part that had been responsible for her for months, the part that would do anything to keep her safe, didn’t care that they were just helping a friend. I thought about the Greens outside the fence. That girl who would die tonight and who’d done less than this. I threw myself into the fray, trying to reach Mel before the Collabs showed up.
My backpack was heavy with gear and I swung it around to clear a path. I caught one of the guys in his middle and he bent over, clutching his stomach. I ducked under the arm of another guy. I didn’t see what Mel did next, but her attacker crumpled to the ground.
Off to the left of us, a scuffle broke out amid rumblings of hey, watch its and back off, buddys. By the time I’d dodged around another guy, I heard the sickening crunch of punches being thrown from several directions. Fights were breaking out all around. It was as if this one scuffle between Mel and the jerk who’d grabbed her arm was a pebble dropped into a pool of water. Her fear, panic, and anger spread through the crowd like ripples from that tiny pebble. Except instead of dissipating them, distance magnified the waves.
I stumbled up a step, looking for Mel. But the crowd seemed to have expanded. There was a wall of fighting, grunting kids between us. As if that wasn’t bad enough, someone bumped into her and the Slinky went flying out of her hands. I was too far away. Her face was bone white, her eyes darting wildly.
I had no idea how this fight had broken out so quickly. We Greens were normally so passive. But the rage that simmered beneath our still surfaces suddenly boiled. Instead of gently gurgling, it spewed out of everyone. We’d turned on ourselves.
Guys were fighting on either side of Mel. She opened and closed her mouth in a silent scream. Then it hit me. She was calling my name. She just couldn’t get the words out past her terror. I ducked low to avoid being hit and crawled along the ground amid the kicking feet and stomping boots. Someone’s foot caught me in the ribs. And I saw the gray metal Slinky roll away. I scrambled after it, snatching it off the ground an instant before it got crushed under a boot. I struggled to my feet, shoving people aside as I did.
I scanned the area for Mel and finally found her, maybe five feet away. She was recoiling from the fight around her and every step she made took her farther away from me. Between us was a massive guy pounding the crap out of someone much smaller. As I watched, he grabbed the kid by the front of his shirt and picked him up, raising him so high his legs dangled feet above the ground. I knew instantly the bully was going to throw the kid. Right onto Mel. She was too terrified to move. Even though the kid was small, she’d crumple beneath his weight.
It all flashed through my mind, but I couldn’t do anything to stop it. I was still too far away. I had to protect her, but I’d never get there in time.
Then, as if out of nowhere, someone launched himself at the bully. It was another smaller kid. Maybe one of the victim’s friends, I don’t know. I didn’t even see what he’d done at first, but the big bully howled in pain, then crumpled and—as fast as he’d appeared—the second kid vanished back into the crowd. He left the bright red handle of a screwdriver sticking out of the bully’s back.
The kid he’d been about to throw at Mel scuttled away. The bully reached a fumbling hand around to his back, trying to reach the handle.
“Help me!” he cried. “Get it out!”
“Don’t touch it!” I yelled. “It’ll gush. Leave it there.”
I didn’t wait around to see if anyone followed my directions, but threw myself past him to get to Mel.
I reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her close. It was the only time she let me touch her, when she was more afraid of being too far away than she was of being too close. The instant my hand touched hers, relief coursed through me. For once, she looked me right in the eye and her hand even tightened a little, before she grabbed the Slinky from me and clutched it in both hands. I watched the panic fade from her eyes as she regained control of herself. Maybe I couldn’t protect her from everything, but as long as we were together, I would try.
The stabbing had been like a bucket of icy water splashed over the crowd. The people nearest all backed away, their horror visible on their faces. The bully was still screaming for help. An instant later Collabs rushed in. They appeared everywhere at once. On the edges of the crowd, I could see them tranqing the few people who were still brawling. A pair of Collabs with a med kit shoved their way through the crowd to the wounded guy.
He saw them coming and tried to bolt, ruthlessly shoving people out of the way, but his wound slowed him down. A second later, one of the Collabs aimed his tranq rifle at the guy and fired. He screamed out one last plea for help and then crumpled to the ground.