It's Chuck who comes to get me.
"Come on, Ash," he says, even as I grit my teeth at his cheerfulness. "You have to at least eat something."
"We don't have much food," I mumble. "It's better if I don't."
"Actually, they're telling everyone to eat more than we have been. We'll need our strength to get out of here."
I scramble to my feet. "There's a way out?"
"Thomas just woke up, you dummy," Chuck says. "He called a Gathering."
I take off for the Homestead at a sprint, leaving Chuck in my dust.
The Keepers are filing into one of the crudely-made outbuildings used for storage – and apparently Gatherings – when I burst out of the trees. Alby sees me coming, and I can see the defeated look in his eyes, as if he should have expected this of me.
"Ash, you are definitely not invited," he says with a sigh when I reach the shed.
"WHAT? But I want to come!" Then I catch sight of a familiar face inside. "Thomas gets to go, why-"
"I SAID NO." He glares at me, and I clench my jaw.
"Fine."
Obediently I start walking away. But when they all disappear inside, slamming the door, I immediately turn back around.
Thomas just woke up, and he knows the way out. I'm not about to let this conversation go past without listening in. I can see the roof is barely shingled, dilapidated and broken down. That's clearly why we haven't tried to get this building strong enough to withstand the Grievers. I guess in a place that doesn't rain the roof doesn't need to be built well.
If I climb up onto it and stick to the supporting beams, I can listen in easily through the gaps in the shingles, and they won't notice me eavesdropping. Once they all leave I can just slip down, and...
There's a single window in the building. It's small and completely open, and it's high on the wall. Hopefully no one will be looking up that high. I grab it with my fingertips, and use my feet to help me climb up. Just before my face will show through the window, I reach out and catch the edge of the roof. Perfect.
As I climb onto the roof, my leg does pass by the window for a brief second. Hopefully no one was paying attention. I flatten myself against the roof, but I can't hear what they're talking about. The voices I can hear are muffled and quiet. I bite my lip, thinking.
If I get closer to where they are...
I creep forward along the roof, trying to feel where the beams are underneath the shingles. It's hard for me to tell, though, and my hands are sweating as I climb further.
A half second before the roof underneath me collapses, I feel it shift.
Oh.