“Lucy,” Aidan said. His eyes went to the cut on her cheek and she touched it, shaking her head. It stung, but it was little more than a scratch. She’d collected a few more bruises, but she’d been lucky. Most of the blood on her belonged to other people. “I’m fine,” she said.
Aidan’s knuckles were scabbed and raw. A deep gash ran across his forehead, and there was dried blood in his hair. Lucy looked away from the expression of anguish on his face.
She stood apart and he made no attempt to move closer to her.
There were two teenagers, a boy and a girl, Lucy hadn’t seen before. They both appeared to be about nineteen.
“Wilcze,” Grammalie said, and nodded as if she was pleased she was still around. “This is Connor and Scout.”
Connor was tall and rangy with red hair and a very direct gaze. Scout was tiny and had a pixie cut and worried brown eyes. They exchanged awkward greetings.
“We were out hunting,” Connor told the group. “Didn’t get back until this morning.”
“How many this time?” Scout asked, wringing her fingers together. Connor grabbed her hand and enfolded it in his own.
“Five,” Henry said. “Two more kids, Lottie and Patrick, and Hank—you know, walrus mustache, who helps out in the kitchen? And…” He took a deep breath. “Del and Leo.”
Scout groaned.
“We’re trying to decide if we should keep everyone together or disperse,” Aidan told her.
“We cannot decide anything until we have a camp meeting,” Grammalie Rose said.
“Fine. We’re discussing it, then,” Aidan rejoined. Lucy was surprised at the anger in his voice.
Grammalie Rose shrugged. “We all need to calm down first.”
Aidan nodded curtly. He stalked a few paces away and stood with his back to them. Lucy understood how he felt. She wanted to be doing something. Right now she felt like she was just waiting for the next awful thing to happen.
“There are shelters farther out, near the bridges, that are harder for vehicles to reach. There are hiding places. Bombed-out buildings. We can lie low for a while,” Henry urged. “I spent last night in one of the canals.”
That explained the mud encrusting his clothing.
“The Long Wet is just beginning. There is the danger of flash floods,” Connor pointed out.
“Well, high ground then,” Scout suggested. “The plateau, maybe?”
“No protection,” Henry said. “Gales, lightning storms, fire.” He checked off the points on the fingers of one hand.
Connor glared at him. It was turning into a shouting match.
“How will people be fed if we are spread to the winds? The little ones? It is mostly little ones now,” Grammalie said. “Here we have shelter. Supplies. Water.”
“They’re just picking us off,” Henry said. “We’re like sitting ducks!”
Lucy silently cheered him.
Grammalie Rose put up a hand, forestalling any further argument. “We may indeed end up moving, but nothing can happen until everyone is here to decide what is best. Sammy and Beth are still out foraging. They have a voice in this as well.”
Her brows drew across her forehead, giving her sharp eyes a hooded appearance. Lucy thought she looked older suddenly. She noticed how bowed the woman’s back was, and how swollen the knuckles on her work-reddened hands. Suddenly she wanted to offer Grammalie Rose a chair, but there were none.
“In the meantime,” she continued, “there is food to gather, washing to be done, injuries to tend.” She looked pointedly at Aidan’s forehead and Henry’s eye.
Henry muttered something unintelligible.
“We need water,” Grammalie Rose said. “That is paramount.”
Aidan whirled around.
“We’ll get that,” he said, scooping up a few large plastic jugs and thrusting them at Lucy. She took them, too surprised to say anything. He grabbed four more and steered her out of the square. She pulled her arm away and stood still. She hated how he just grabbed her and started moving. Like she was a kid who couldn’t cross the road by herself. He stopped, surprised.
“Listen, I’ve been working my butt off ever since I got here,” she said. “Maybe I don’t want to haul water!”
“I wanted to talk to you alone. I’ve been thinking about stuff,” Aidan said.
“Okay, so talk.”
“If Grammalie Rose sees us just sitting around, she’ll put us both on latrine duty, and you don’t want that, believe me.”
Lucy had already caught the earthy odor coming from the row of narrow tents on the west end of the camp.
“Okay,” she said slowly. It would actually feel good to be moving. “Listen, all this talking stuff is kind of irritating, though. Why can’t someone just make a decision and then we act on it?”
“You mean like someone in charge?” He shook his head. “That’s not how it is here. Sure, Grammalie Rose is kind of the boss, because she’s the oldest and she’s had experience living in a commune. And Leo—” Aidan’s voice hitched. “He was a natural leader, but everyone is equally important here. That’s the point.”
“But doesn’t it drive you crazy? I mean, how does anything ever happen quickly?”
“It doesn’t.”
At least he sounded as frustrated as she felt. Lucy began to feel a little thrill of excitement.
They started walking again. Aidan took a narrow path between two rows of old brick houses. The second floors were still mostly intact, but the foundations were crumbling and the roofs leaned together like two people about to kiss. Wooden scaffolding pressed up against the masonry on both sides, keeping it all standing, but Lucy couldn’t help but be glad when they came out on a demolished area filled with rubble. Some kids were playing kick-the-can in the dust. They hollered when they saw Aidan and he waved back. A green garden hose coiled on the ground like a big snake. It was attached to a pipe that stuck up out of the debris. Aidan turned on the spigot. Water, rust-colored and full of debris, started to flow in a series of jerks and spurts.
“Why don’t we get fresh water from a spring?” Lucy asked.
“I’ve found a couple of sources out in the woods, but it’s a long trek. This is more convenient, at least until the cistern dries up.”
The water cleared. He fitted the lip of a jug over the hose end and stood back up.
“So, what’s the big plan?” asked Lucy, feeling a shiver race along her spine. Standing around waiting for bad things to happen was worse than actually doing something. “Were you trying to find a way to get onto the island?”
“Are you crazy?” he said, looking thunderstruck. “I’m not James Bond. Where would I even start?” Aidan scratched his head with his free hand, completely missing a leaf that was trapped there. “No, I was just working out ways we could post lookouts, cut off entrances to the camp, prepare for the next raid. And…” He seemed uncomfortable. “I was thinking that this isn’t really your battle. You can leave. No harm done.”
She was instantly furious. It didn’t matter that she had been considering the same thing. That was her choice to make, not his.
“Don’t be stupid,” Lucy said. “I was there when they grabbed Leo and Del.” She choked on the words, she was so mad.
She met his gaze. “I hid.” He dropped his eyes and stared at the gushing water. “They could easily have taken me, too,” Lucy said.
He looked flabbergasted.
She was pretty surprised herself. Saying it out loud made it all clearer in her head. She could try to make things right, and she could always leave afterward.