“I’m going to go on the date, Doctor Krause,” he replied. “I need this. You don’t understand how much I need this.”

Without reply, the doctor looked at Ethan and her shoulders slumped. Then with a sniff, she stared at him for a long, assessing moment, and then he turned back around and left, leaving Ethan alone, afraid, and determined.

Dean and Spencer moved Ethan back to the couch. Joey had run off on a hospital run with Darla—a task they were not looking forward to; the rotting bodies in the hospital were getting less manageable by the day. The infection raged and Ethan grew tired; he dozed while trying to calm his fever. And the fever dreams left him spent and anxious. When he woke, he saw Ainsley sitting by his side—her hair set about her shoulders in perfect coils, her brown eyes trained on him, her mouth pouty.

“Hey,” Ainsley replied. She held out a cool compress and tilted her head. “I didn’t want to wake you. I need to pack this on your wound…to get the swelling down.”

“You don’t need to do that,” Ethan said. He sat up a bit and reached his hand out toward her. “I can do it. Let me do that.”

“Don’t be ridiculous—”

“Your mother already said that to me once today,” he interrupted with a smile.

Ainsley got up off her chair and threw the blanket off of Ethan’s lap. She gasped when she saw his leg. The purple, blue, and black bruise climbing up his thigh. “Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked in a whisper. “All this time and I thought you were feeling better. I will never believe you again,” she added with an overly ominous tone.

“I feel fine.”

“Don’t lie to me,” Ainsley said matter-of-factly. She settled down next to his legs and put an ice pack next to his amputation site, and then with ease, she ripped the medical tape and wrapped it against his leg. “You’re falling apart.”

“I’m tough,” Ethan winced and then smiled. “I don’t want to be your burden.”

Ainsley shrugged. “Whatever.”

“The date is happening, by the way.”

She rolled her eyes and reached for the blood-pressure cuff. “I’m not going to pretend to understand your obsession with this. I admit it would be something different…”

“Yes!” Ethan called and then he coughed.

“How long have you had that cough?” Ainsley asked as she adjusted the cuff on his arm.

“Please don’t do that nurse stuff. It makes me sad,” Ethan replied, but Ainsley didn’t answer. She tightened the cuff and watched the dial spin.

“Please shut up,” Ainsley said with a wink. “Your blood pressure is higher than normal too. Man, I have, like, monstrously failed you.” She raised her finger and poked it into Ethan’s shoulder. He pulled away from her touch, but couldn’t quite escape it. “I’m no longer taking orders from you. Find yourself another gin rummy player.”

There was a sudden pressure in his chest and it filled and burst until Ethan couldn’t help it; he started coughing wildly, a non-productive bark. When the coughing died down, Ethan frowned. “Darla hates rummy. You’re my only hope.”

“The saddest statement ever uttered.”

“Date. Tomorrow. Don’t be late.” Ethan coughed again. “I’m serious. It’s happening. I have it all worked out.” His mind drifted to Anna for a moment; he imagined her blonde hair, her smile, and the way she made him feel. The date with Ainsley had started as a joke, something to do, to look forward to, but now he realized how much it made him feel alive—how much he couldn’t let it go. In a world of darkness, he’d made this one night the light. It wasn’t Ainsley that made it special, but the thought of doing anything that didn’t involve sitting around and waiting to get sicker.

“I actually agree with my mom. Ethan, this is serious. Can’t you take this seriously? You’re too sick—”

“Don’t you dare stand me up.”

Ainsley took off the cuff and placed the back of her hand against Ethan’s forehead. Her skin against his skin caused his chest to tighten and he pushed the feeling aside. It wasn’t supposed to be like that; he didn’t want it to be like that.

He touched her wrist, wrapping his hand in a circle around the smallness, his fingers overlapping, and he lowered her hand to his chest. Then he put his hand over hers, pressing her hand into the flesh. His heart beat fast and wild; Ainsley’s face dissolved, her mouth opened partway and her eyes watched her rising and falling hand. When she and Ethan locked eyes, he thought there had been a shift—subtle, nearly imperceptible.

“Please,” he added. “Please.”

“Fine. One pretend date. Only because I can’t say no to a dead guy,” Ainsley said in a whisper. Then she tugged her hand free of Ethan’s grip, pushed her chair back, and with dropping shoulders exited the room.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Cass and Lucy watched and listened as people traveled down the hallway toward the Center for the gathering; everyone’s voices were full of expectation and energy—vibrantly calling and whispering about why they were being summoned. The once-empty hallway was brimming with traveling occupants of the pods. The girls had to lie in wait until the halls cleared, the last of the footsteps dying away, before pulling up on the secret panel and slipping, unnoticed, back into the bowels of the System.

“Come, come,” Cass said and she gripped Lucy’s hand, slipping her fingers around Lucy’s and pulling her toward the voices.

As they rounded one hall and disappeared down another, they could hear the roar of the crowd settle into a hush and Gordy’s familiar voice address the crowd, setting the stage for his father, with great effusiveness.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk,” Cass clicked her tongue. “We’ll have to sneak back through the main doors. There would be no way to say we missed the memo from the theater.” Then still holding Lucy’s hand, Cass walked them to the Center’s entrance and with a deep breath, ducked into the crowd.

It was the first time Lucy had seen everyone in the System gather in one place. She realized, with astonishment, that it seemed like there were fewer people living with her underground than had gone to her high school. All the survivors from North America were housed here and altogether they didn’t even equal a large high school population?

Her eyes scanned the crowd for their pod, but Cass knew right where to go and led Lucy to stand in place, shoving her next to her parents, brothers, and sister, who shot her looks of reproach. Lucy buried her head and tried to absorb her mother’s daggers.

“Where were you?” Maxine hissed. “Tardiness…”

“Right,” Lucy whispered back, “It’s not allowed. I get it. We hurried. I’m sorry.”

Maxine placed a protective arm around Lucy’s shoulders and tucked her into the softness of her body. She held her like that, scrunched together, as Huck rose to address the crowd.

As he walked to the small podium, up on a platform that hadn’t been there when Lucy walked through an hour ago, the group began a scattered applause; then the cheers grew, and more people clapped for Huck. Scott brought his hands together, but Lucy folded her hands in front of her, pushing them together in silent protest.

“Well, thank you. Thank you, but please, that’s unnecessary,” Huck said, speaking into the podium’s microphone, which was wired to a small amplifier and broadcast his voice crisply to the far reaches of the room. “I stand before you today to say how proud I am of our successes this past month. That’s right…we’ve been here a month already. Now that we are learning how to operate within the System, I can say with ease and assurance that the great time we have hoped for has begun.”