Hunger (Gone 2)

“Do I look that bad?” Sam asked. Edilio didn’t answer.

“Edilio’s right, boss,” Dekka said. “Let’s just sit tight and wait. Maybe Brianna will…” She couldn’t finish, and turned away quickly.

Edilio put his arm around Sam’s shoulders and drew him away from Dekka, who was now sobbing.

Sam gazed up at the massive pile of cement and steel that was the power plant. He scanned the parking lot, looking past the parked cars to the sea beyond. The black water twinkled here and there, faint pinpoints of starlight, a rough-textured reflection of the night sky.

“When’s your birthday, Edilio?”

“Cut it out, man. You know I’m not stepping out,” Edilio said.

“You don’t even consider it?”

Edilio’s silence was answer enough.

“Where’s this all end, Edilio? Or does it never end? How many more of these fights? How many more graves in the plaza? You ever think about it?”

“Sam, I dig those graves,” Edilio said quietly.

“Yeah,” Sam said. “Sorry.” He sighed. “We’re not winning. You know that, right? I don’t mean this fight. I mean the big fight. Survival. We’re not winning that fight. We’re starving. Kids eating their pets. We’re breaking up into little groups that hate each other. It’s all going out of control.”

Edilio glanced at Howard, who was a discreet distance away but listening in. Two of Edilio’s guys were within earshot as well.

“You need to cut this out, Sam,” Edilio said in an urgent whisper. “These people are all looking to you, man. You can’t be talking about how we’re screwed.”

Sam barely heard him. “I need to get back to town.”

“What? Are you messing with me? We’re kind of in the middle of something here.”

“Dekka can keep an eye on Caine. Besides, if he busts out, that’s good, right?” Sam nodded as if he had convinced himself. “I need to see Astrid.”

“You know, maybe that’s not a bad idea,” Edilio said. He left Sam and went to Dekka, drew her aside, and spoke urgently to her. Dekka shot a tear-stained glance at Sam, worried.

“Come on, I’ll drive you back to town,” Edilio said.

Sam followed him to the Jeep. “What did you tell Dekka?”

“I told her with the lights out, you needed to check on what’s happening in town.”

“She buy that?” Sam asked.

Edilio didn’t answer directly. And he didn’t look Sam in the eye. “She’s tough. Dekka will handle things here.”

They drove in silence to Perdido Beach.

The plaza was full of kids milling around. That many kids hadn’t been together in one place since the Thanksgiving feast.

Sam felt a hundred pairs of eyes on him as he pulled up with Edilio.

“This doesn’t look like a fiesta,” Edilio said.

Astrid came out of the crowd, ran to the car, and threw her arms around Sam. She kissed him on the cheek, and then on the lips.

He buried his face in her hair and whispered, “Are you okay?”

“Better now that I know you’re alive,” Astrid said. “We have some very scared, angry kids here, Sam.”

As if she had given a cue, the crowd rushed forward to surround the three of them.