Revolution (18 page)

             
"Yeah," I answered and leaned back a bit. "How did you know?"

             
He smirked. "That poor can opener was sure getting a workout." He nodded to the can I'd be
en
desecrating.
I had kept on going after the top was off and began ripping the liner and grating into the can rim.

             
I
grimaced and felt my nose wrinkle. He ran his finger down the length of it and tapped the end gently. I just let him hold me for a long time. He murmured something about us being ok. I knew it was true.

             
I had to believe that to be true.

             
For the
next
two weeks, we pressed repeat on the days and waited for something. Anything. Our existence had become trivial and innate, primitive and surviving at all costs. We ate our stupid beans, we took our lame bowl baths, we slept in our sleeping bags on the concrete in our little makeshift rooms, we were bored beyond measure.

             
But we were alive.
             

             
Franklin was better and up, but still sore. Calvin never left his side.

             
The dog was a conundrum.
We had no idea how he'd survived when all of the other animals had killed themselves or been killed.
Franklin got to name him since
he was the one who 'found' him. The dog was aptly titled, Bones, because he was pretty much skin and bones anyway.

             
The constant noise of the place was…well, constant. It never ended. There was no escaping Pap and Margaret's yelling
,
or Miguel and Rylee's fighting, or the kids playing
with the dog
or groaning about being bored, or Danny and Celeste's canoodling because they had no shame. But there really weren't places to canoodle anymore.

             
I was going through some serious Merrick withdrawals. Serious.

             
And judging from the way his eyes followed me around, I assumed he was missing our alone time as well.
I raised my eyebrows at him when I caught him staring again. He smile
d
at being caught and shrugged. I laughed and turned back to working in the
'
kitchen
area' we'd block
ed
off
with Marissa and Lana when Cain came in and plopped
two large cans of beans on the counter. "I know you don't want to hear this," he started.

             
"Oh, Lord! What now?" I asked and laughed.

             
"We only have 10 cans of beans left, 2 bags of rice, a couple cans of cream corn, all those green beans in the crates and one box of brownie mix."

             
I chuckled, almost hysterically. "But there's no grease or butt
er or eggs, so that does us
absolutely no good." He shrugged. I wrenched my necklace violently. "Great. No more shampoo, no soap, no toothpaste, nothing to wash our clothes with, no medicine." I sighed. "We're screwed."

             
"We'll just have to make a run." He came and put his hands on my shoulders. "There's nothing else to do. We just didn't know how good we had it before."

             
"
We had to leave so much stuff behind," I mused. "I wonder if we could go back and-"

             
"Nix on that. There are watching the store, I'm sure of it."

             
"Ok, fine." I stood taller and felt the dog bumping my leg with its tail. I glanced at him and back to Cain.
"Why don't we have a meeting and let them know that we'll be going on a run then."

             
"We? As in you and me?"

             
"Yep. I can tell if they're lying and you can blast 'em if they come after us."
             

             
"You know Merrick's not gonna like-"

             
"We have to!" I gave him a look to tell him I was done playing. "We have to. This isn't about shampoo anymore, this is getting scary. You can't survive on beans alone. We have to do something!"

             
He thought, playing with his lip ring with his tongue, and then nodded. "Ok. Let's go, shorty."

             
"Really?" I said stunned. I glanced at Marissa who was giving us the
'You’re gonna get it'
look. "That easy?"

             
"Yep. You're right. There's nothing else to talk about. It's not like we can go hunting for food. Unless the dog is some indication that the animals are coming
back. I doubt that." He reached down and rubbed the dog behind the ears. "I think this guy just got really lucky."

             
"Yeah. Well I'm sure the Keepers have something cooked up. Merrick's been doing
that Keeper talk thing a lot so
they probably have a plan of some sort."

             
"Oh
,
they do," he said. "Simon's been plotting all sorts of things with his new face." He grimaced. "He seems to have forgotten that they can still sense a Keeper regardless of what face he's wearing."

             
"My ears are burning," Simon said. He was perched at the
edge of the 'kitchen area' with arms crossed and brow bunched like the sneaky man he was.

             
"It's true, is it not?" Cain rebutted. "Don't you have something planned?"

             
"Maybe," he said and turned away.

             
"Showtime," Cain said and grabbed my hand as he bolted out of the kitchen, dragging me along. Simon must've called the Keepers in his mind because they were all present and accounted for.

             
Cain crossed his arms once more and
studied them. "We know you've all got something planned, but it's not going to work."

             
"
We
don't have anything planned," Merrick said and nodded to Jeff. "Some of us still have our heads screwed on right."

             
"I know they can detect me!" Simon yelled. "Are you just going to let your charges die of starvation?"

             
"Of. Course. Not," Merrick growled. I left Cain and went to his side. He smiled at me a little and then went back to glaring at Simon. "But running out there all cocky because you've got a brand new body isn't going to solve the problem. We've done runs before. We know what has to be done."

             
"
And wha
t has to be done," Cain cut in,
"is that Sherry and I are going on the run."

             
Merrick stiffened, his arms tight and angry, and looked down at me. "What? Now who's plotting?"

             
"I wasn't plotting," I insisted, but backtracked, "I mean technically I was plotting, but not all sinister like. We just need me to go and you know
it. If Cain and I go,
I can lie detect and he can blast them if we run into trouble."

             
Silence engulfed the room like the smell of stale coffee.

             
I knew they were all waiting for Merrick to blow up. So was I for that matter.
His eyes were tight and calculating.
It wasn't hard to notice as we all stood around how scruffy and un
kempt everyone looked. The girl
s
'
hair was a mess of ponytails. The guys had beards and shags. Everyone was so thin and...unhealthy looking. We
needed
to do this.

             
I raised my eyebrows at Merrick
in contest
when he remained silent
. He let a breath out through his nose and said, "We were planning to send Miguel and Simon - though Simon was completely against what we wanted - to get food,
supplies and medicine. They were going to be gone for two days to get everything. We hadn't said anything to anyone yet because for one, we don't think Simon should go-"

             
"You've said that," Simon barked.

             
"And for two, we knew you or someone else would try to think of a way to go instead."

             
"Ok, well, Simon? They're right. Keepers couldn't get two feet inside a store before a Lighter sensed you. They are everywhere now. And -"

             
"Wait. Wait, wait!" Ellie yelled and smiled at us like we were all idiots. "I can go. They can't sense me."

             
"But we need you here to keep the ones looking for us away from the Specials and Keepers. They would be able to sense us if they were close enough."

             
"Oh," she said in deflation. "Well what about Cain? He's a Special?"

             
"Cain's never been detected by them before," Ryan explained and smiled a little at her across the room. "That's why…Cain and Sherry going is a good idea," he eased and then looked at Merrick, waiting for his reaction.

             
I smiled at Ryan, but let my smile slip away when Merrick turned his gaze to me.
My old Merrick, the one from the beginning where he was constantly worried about my safety and threw fits over it, was in full swing. But he was trying to rein it in. I inched toward him and put a hand on his chest. "This is
n't
me trying to be all rebelliony like before." His lips twisted. "This is me doing what needs to be done for everyone to survive. You know there's no one else who can go who has the best chance to-"

             
He put his hands up to my cheeks, effectively stopping all my thoughts and words. He
leaned his forehead to mine. "You'll be t
he death of me," he murmured.

             
I smiled. "Thank you."

             
"Thank him for what?" Rylee asked
and huffed
. "For
letting
you go?"

             
"Shut it, Rylee," someone said.

             
I leaned back to see him. "Cain will take care of me."

             
I know that. Once again, you just don't understand how hard it is to just let you go and hope for the best. Things are worse than ever now.