“Yeah.” We start to walk down toward the river where most of the Plastictown survivors are gathered.
“All we need now is a direction,” Aerin says, nodding at Milo.
Milo beckons us.
“I need you to follow my lead,” I say quickly. “I think Milo will be on board with it anyway, but if he’s not, I need you to back me up.”
“I can do that,” Aerin says, narrowing her eyes. “What is your lead?”
“We’re going back to the complex,” I say.
“Why?”
“Because I’m going to kill every last one of them, my father included.”
Aerin’s eye widen, but we reach Milo before she can respond.
“What do you think is the best option?” Milo asks. “Are you going to raid the complex or Hilltop?”
“I wish I knew of another Thaves community to the north,” I reply. “That would be our best bet. Both the complex and Hilltop are likely to be on high alert. If we get caught, it won’t do anyone any good.”
“It’s been four days since we left the complex,” Aerin says. She glances at me out of the corner of her eye. “By now, their new visitors, including your father, are arriving.”
“So, you think we should hit Hilltop?” I scowl at her, trying to understand why she seems to be advocating the antithesis of what I said.
“Quite the opposite.” Aerin looks to Milo. “They’re going to be distracted. They aren’t going to be looking for us.”
“That does make some sense,” Milo says. “If they’re busy with the arrival of the president, they won’t be actively looking for intruders.”
“It’s decided then,” I say with a smile. “Let’s go see what we can find at the complex.”
Ava and Layshell, along with the other survivors, wish us well. Keller is the only one who says nothing, preferring to toss stones into the river instead. As we start to head off, Luther stops us.
“This is for you,” he says, handing me a pair of long, thick tree branches with a tarp strung between them.
“What’s that?” Aerin asks.
“It’s a travois,” Luther says quietly. “So you can carry the supplies back.”
“Good thinking, Luther.” I place a hand on his shoulder and hand the travois to Aerin. “This will help us bring a lot more back.”
Luther turns around and goes back to the fire without another word.
“He’s a little strange,” Aerin says quietly.
“He’s a good guy,” I reply. “He’s just a bit quirky.”
We head around the bend in the river and into the trees.
“There is some flaw in your logic,” I say as we get out of earshot.
“What logic?”
“About them not looking for intruders.”
“I don’t think they will be. They would have determined we left by now, and they’re too arrogant to think we’d come back.”
“Except that they know one of the intruders is the president’s son.”