The Sweepers inched forward. There was nowhere to go. The main entrance, still locked, was at their backs. The side door they’d come in through was somewhere to the left. Lucy was sure that was locked now, too. The stairs in front of them were blocked by the line of Sweepers. She could see a dark hallway to the left, a few closed doors. She wondered where they led.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Dr. Lessing make a gesture.
One of the Sweepers, standing off to the side, suddenly lunged at Lucy. She ducked barely in time to avoid the Taser. She heard the pop and crackle as it swished past her face. The Sweeper’s arm caught her across the skull and sent her reeling backward. Her ear felt instantly swollen and hot. “Not the Tasers,” Dr. Lessing shouted. The Sweeper hesitated, clearly confused, and Aidan aimed a vicious kick at the man’s knee. His legs buckled and he fell. And then the others joined in. Lucy heard the dull thud of blows exchanged. She tasted blood at the back of her throat, felt a bruise rising along her jawbone. It was a messy fight. No one really seemed to know what they were doing. And they were packed too close to land a punch with any force. She dug in to a chest with her elbow, kicked out with her heavy boots. Someone’s shoulder slammed against her. Lucy fell back. Shaking her head to clear it, she brought her knife up and cleared a little space in front of her. She wondered how long before they realized the blade was broken and charged in again. Beside her, Aidan swung his hammer and connected with a helmet, cracking the heavy plastic. Sammy, his heavy robes swirling around him, wielded his billhook in a broad arc. Around the edge of his mask, she could see the wild grin spread across his face. Through the mouth hole, his teeth were bared like a wolf. He was clearly enjoying himself.
The doctor’s choked voice haulted the Sweepers in their tracks. She clawed at something around her throat. “Stop!” she gasped.
Then the Sweepers were falling back. And Lucy, Aidan, and Sammy found themselves in the middle of the floor, with empty space around them. They circled, keeping their tight huddle, wary.
CHAPTER TWENTY
LIGHTS OUT
Del constricted her arm around the woman’s throat and stepped out from behind her. Two small kids, wrapped in blankets, shivered at the base of the stairs. Their faces were pinched and gray, like they’d been hungry for a long time. Lucy remembered all the other children who’d disappeared from the shelter, taken away in the white vans. Who knew what had happened to them and the older scavengers who’d been taken against their will? They’d probably all died here. Somehow she’d forgotten those truths.
Del transferred her grip to Dr. Lessing’s arm and held it twisted behind her back. She stepped forward and the Sweepers fell back. Simmons raised his hand and they froze in formation. They were now clustered before the front door. Lucy narrowed her eyes. She was pretty sure there were even fewer of them than before. Had some fled during the night?
“We’re all leaving,” Del said.
“Delfina. You’re safe here,” Dr. Lessing pleaded. Her voice was strained and high. “If you go back out into the world, you’ll be in danger. You can’t do that to the children.”
Del’s arm jerked and tightened. Dr. Lessing’s eyes bulged. “Just shut up,” Del screamed. “Stop pretending! Don’t act like you know me.”
“But you understand the work we’re doing here.”
“You lied to me. You used me to bring my friends here. You murdered Leo.” The tears were pouring down her face. Dr. Lessing writhed, but Del’s grip was too strong.
“I’m a doctor,” she said, “and a scientist.” She looked at Lucy with a pleading expression. “It’s your duty. You’ve been given this gift.”
“You were going to bleed me until I died!” Lucy said. Finally her mind felt crystal clear. “I read your report.” She stepped forward and lowered her knife. “Did you infect Leo with the plague?”
Dr. Lessing’s face contorted with rage. She ripped at Del’s hands with her nails, but Del held on with a fierce expression. The doctor whipped her head backward suddenly. Her skull caught Del across the mouth, mashing her lips against her teeth. Del fell backward, her arms pinwheeling as she tried to regain her balance. She dropped to her knees, and blood gushed from her mouth.
The children wailed and shrank against the banister.
Dr. Lessing staggered to her feet. Her lab coat was speckled with Del’s blood.
Simmons looked from the doctor to Del. He seemed unsure of how to act. Behind him, the Sweepers shifted uneasily.
“Del!” Sammy shouted. He ran toward her. No one stopped him. He reached her, put his arm around her shoulders, and helped her up.
Uttering a wild scream, Dr. Lessing sprang at him. Her fingers were hooked like claws, her hair streamed over her shoulders. She looked nothing like the calm, composed person who had greeted them hours earlier. Her forward motion threw Sammy off balance and Del was knocked backward. Sammy’s boots skidded on the polished floor. His legs gave way and he hit the ground hard. The billhook dropped from his hand and skittered across the floor out of reach. He rolled away, arms wrapped around his stomach.
Del was tearing at her sweatshirt pouch. She pulled her slingshot free, fitted a smooth pebble into the socket, and extended her arm. She tracked Dr. Lessing as the woman attacked Sammy again with a flurry of blows. Lucy could see the frown of concentration on her face. But Dr. Lessing and Sammy were struggling together, a jumble of arms and legs, and Del couldn’t risk hitting Sammy instead.
The doctor’s breath came in loud gasps. Sammy tried to protect himself, but Dr. Lessing struck out wildly with the length of her forearm. The savage blow rocked his head to the side. The mask was ripped loose and skidded across the floor. Lucy could hear the murmurs as the Sweepers caught sight of his charred face and flaming eyes, the trickle of blood seeping from a wound on his forehead.
In an instant, Simmons tackled the doctor, pinning her arms behind her body, and dragged her away from Sammy. She struggled, then abruptly went limp. He held her wrists in his broad hands.
Lucy forced herself to move toward her friends. The marble floor stretched ahead of her. Her attention was fixed on the drops of blood, some of which had fallen onto the polished stone of the stairs. She wondered if it was Sammy’s or Del’s. How badly were they hurt? Dr. Lessing was sprawled, half sitting, on the floor, with Mrs. Reynolds and Simmons bent over her. She seemed really out of it. And the Sweepers. What were they waiting for? she wondered.
Suddenly Aidan gripped her arm so hard it hurt, and she heard a pop pop pop, and they were plunged into darkness.
“Del shot the lights out with her slingshot,” Aidan whispered. He was so close, his breath tickled her ear. “Get up against the wall. She’s going to lay down covering fire.” Before Lucy had time to ask what that was, something hard whizzed past, inches from her face. She couldn’t see it, but she felt the movement of air, and she heard a yelp of pain from someone behind her.
Lucy remembered the small, neat holes Del had made in the rabbits. The speed with which she’d killed four of them. The girl was lethal. She squinted, but the dark was absolute. They could feel their way along the wall, but in what direction?
Aidan pressed her against the wall, shielding her with his body. He whistled, a low warbling sound that was barely audible over the yells of pain and the sharp sounds of impact as stone after stone hit helmet, walls, and, most often it seemed, human flesh. Simmons bellowed orders, but from what Lucy could tell, no one was listening. Someone ran by. She felt clothing brush against her arm.