For a moment, I watched as they laid him out and popped open the med kit. I could hear the sllluuunk, sllluuunk, sllluuunk of Mel reassuring herself her Slinky was okay.
One of the Collabs got out bandages. We didn’t stay around to see what happened. I pulled Mel away when the other reached for the screwdriver. I guided Mel through the crowd, trying to squelch the sickening feeling in my gut.
Those Collabs were only stabilizing the guy. They were most likely patching him up so they could tether him with the others outside the fence tonight. They weren’t trying to save his life. They just didn’t want to waste the blood.
I felt revulsion rise up in my gut, but I swallowed back my vomit. How could they stand to do it? How could they live with betraying the rest of us day after day?
I glanced around, looking for Carter, but he was nowhere to be seen. For a second, my brain raced. Mel was still nervous. We’d lost Carter. Someone had been stabbed and Collabs were tranqing Greens.
I blew out a long breath.
Okay. Yes, this was bad. But Mel and I had made it out. Surely Carter would, too. He’d avoid the worst of the fight and find us later. I didn’t let myself consider the possibility that he’d get taken in by the Collabs. He was smarter than that.
I raised my hand and waved a hooked finger in front of Mel’s face. “Look at me, Mel.” She just whimpered. I waved the finger again, narrowing my own attention down to just her. Like she was the only person in the world. “Look at me.”
Her eyes found mine but she wasn’t really looking at me. Sllluuunk.
“It’s okay,” I said. “Everything is going to be okay.”
Somehow saying the words aloud, I could almost believe it was true. “It’ll be okay,” I said again. “Everything is okay, Mel.”
Her eyes finally focused on mine. Sllluuunk. The panic on her face faded to just a frown. “Little Bo Peep lost her sheep.”
Okay. That was a new one. Usually I was Mary.
“No, we’re together, Mel. I didn’t lose you.”
She jerked her hand out of mine, a sure sign she was frustrated. “Little Bo Peep lost her sheep.”
“I didn’t lose anything. I— Oh, you mean Carter?”
Her head bobbed in a nod. “She doesn’t know where to find him.”
Relief bubbled up in a giggle. Carter was the least likely sheep in the world. I gave Mel a quick hug, even though I knew she’d hate it.
“Carter can take care of himself,” I assured her. “Plus, he knows where to find us back at the science lab. He’ll be just fine.”
Sllluuuuuunk.
That one seemed extra long and I wondered if Mel was reassuring herself or me.
Moments later, the Collabs had suppressed the fight and hauled away the troublemakers. The doors to the dining hall opened and the crowd started filing in.
Even though things had calmed down, I kept close to Mel and looked around for Carter as the Collab scanned the chip in my neck and ushered me through the turnstile. Mel came in right after and together we headed for the food line, where more Collabs were handing out trays of junk food. I still didn’t see Carter, but I buried my fears deep. He’d show up back at the science building.
The dining hall was packed. Since I’d dragged Mel down the stairs and out of the way, we were some of the last people to make it in to the cafeteria. I figured Carter had gotten in with the first group and been shuttled back out before we even got our food. Unless there was something else keeping him away. Had I been right to suspect him?
I didn’t let myself worry until Mel and I made it back to the science lab and he still hadn’t shown up. It was nearly curfew already. Five hours ago, he’d all but begged for a place to stay for the night. I didn’t want to think about who—or what—might have kept him from making it back to safety.
Carter may not seem like a very likely sheep, but I’d definitely lost him.
**
The first curfew bell rang at ten thirty and others would follow ten minutes apart until just before curfew when three chimes would ring every minute for the ten minutes before the final long series of bells. Mel and I never needed all those warning bells. We were always back in the storage closet long before curfew, the chair wedged under the doorknob. Not tonight.
Tonight, an hour from curfew, I sat out in the classroom, perched on one of the lab desks, legs dangling off the side, the shiv resting across my knees. Waiting for Carter. Wondering if we should leave now and find some other place to spend the night.
I figured I’d give him ten more minutes and then we were going. If he hadn’t made it back by then, either he’d been taken in by the Collabs or he’d turned us in to the Dean. Only one thing had kept us here this long: the possibility that he’d betrayed us just didn’t make any sense. If he had seen the pills, he would have found out where we lived and then the second I’d left him alone, he would have snuck off to find a Collab. He wouldn’t have waited all afternoon and then done it now. Something must have happened to him. Or was I only telling myself that because I wanted to believe there was someone here on the Farm I could really trust?
Mel sat cross-legged on the floor at the front of the room, where floor-to-ceiling whiteboards covered the entire wall. A pack of dry-erase markers sat open on the floor beside her Slinky while she drew long rows of dots on the board. She didn’t draw the measures or the ledger lines or even the stems. Just the note heads. Her scribbling wouldn’t make sense to anyone but her, but I had no doubt in her mind it was exquisite. She hummed along softly as she drew. It might have been Beethoven. Or perhaps Chopin. Sometimes I got them confused even though they sounded nothing alike.
Then, over Mel’s humming, I heard a sound from the hall.
“Shh,” I whispered, but she’d stopped humming and had her head cocked to the side, listening, too. Listening to the tentative shuffling of footsteps.
Carter had made it back.
I hopped off the lab table and dashed for the door, but I stopped before opening it. I thought about the little mirror I’d seen Carter using. If Mel and I were going to make it through the next few days while we ironed out our plans, I’d need to get one like it. For now, I just held my breath and waited to see who it was. It didn’t sound like Carter.
Then a voice called out. “Lily?”
I jerked to a stop, my heart in my throat. It wasn’t Carter. It was Joe.
I cracked open the door and peered out. He’d stopped a couple of yards down the hall, in a shadowed spot where the lightbulb had flickered out a few months ago. His hair was pulled back in a scraggly ponytail, and he wore a gimme cap. Through the shadows, I thought I saw a backpack on his shoulder.
“Joe? What are you doing here?” I’d never seen Joe outside of his shop, not even for meals. I had no idea where he lived, but it had always seemed like he was immune to the rules the rest of us had to follow.
“Hey, Lily. Can I, you know, come in?”
“Sure,” I said automatically as I stepped clear of the door for him to pass. “Yeah.”
He hurried forward, casting furtive looks back over his shoulder and hugging the wall as he did so. I followed him into the room. The second I was inside, he sent one last look down the hall and then closed the door behind me.
Joe looked from me to Mel as he slung a backpack off his shoulder and let it drop. Then he sank to the ground beside it.
I wanted to ask if he’d seen Carter, but the fact that Joe had come here meant we had bigger problems.
Joe let his head fall back against the wall and breathed out again, eyes closed, as though the walk from his shop to here had been long and hard.
“I brought your stuff.” He gave the bag a nudge of his knee without opening his eyes.
“O-okay,” I said. I picked up a backpack and carried it to the nearest lab table. It was heavier than it looked. Mel stood slowly and walked over as I unzipped it.
I pulled out one item after another. A lightweight down coat was shoved on top. Beneath it, a mess kit in a mesh bag, with a little skillet, plate, cup, and silverware. I’d had one like it for camping trips back when I was in Girl Scouts. Beneath that were gloves. At the bottom of the pack, I could see a tightly coiled sleeping bag. Just like I’d asked for. Probably only one, but it was more than I’d dare hope for. I’d needed the coat. Everything else was just gravy.
I looked up to find Mel hovering nearby. She wasn’t looking at Joe or me, or at the bag, for that matter. She’d set her Slinky on the counter beside the bag and her hands were fluttering, birdlike, above the slate countertop. Like nervous finches who couldn’t decide where to land, maybe because their brains were no bigger than a pea or maybe because they’d seen a cat slinking across the ground.
I shoved the things back into the bag and tugged on the zipper. “What’s up, Joe?”
Joe’s eyes flickered open. “Lily. You and Mel gotta leave. Right now.”
“What?”
“If you’re going to get off the Farm, you need to leave tonight.”
“What?” I asked again stupidly. Yes, something was obviously up. But where was this coming from? I dropped to my knees beside him. “What’s going on? What’s wrong?”
He nodded toward the backpack. “That’s what you asked for, right?”
“More or less, but—”
“Then you can leave tonight.” He clutched my hand. “You can leave right now.”
“I—” I looked from him to the bag and back again. “Joe, I’m not going anywhere until you explain what’s going on. Are you hurt?”
He drew in a raspy breath and shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. What matters is you and Mel getting out. You have a plan, right? A good plan?”
I ignored his question and asked my own again. “Are you hurt?”
“It’s nothing.” But he winced as he took a step forward and held his hand protectively across his middle.
I crossed to him and gingerly raised the ragged hem of his hoodie to reveal his stomach. His skin was bright red and blotchy. Like someone had pounded his kidneys. The left side of his rib cage was already starting to bruise.