"Hungry?" Nik heard someone ask and she peeked around the corner to see Natalie and Diesel, Natalie shoving cans into her locker and Diesel looking at him accusingly. "I realize it's not a free-for-all, but this is not what you think." she said and he scoffed. "You know what I think? I think you've been stealing food." he said pulling the cans out of her Locker one by one. Nik gasped a little to loudly and the pair looked over to where she had been as she had moved behind a set of lockers. They turned back to each other and Nik moved back to her original spot. "It's not that much. You don't have to take it all." Natalie said putting a few of the cans back in her locker. "Seriously? What is this? Like like, ten cans?" Diesel asked bitterly. "I can explain." she said and he stood ready to hear her explanation. "I have a doctor-prescribed calorie intake." she said but Nik could tell she was lying she just couldn't put her finger on what the truth was. "Yeah, 'cause there's two of you to feed." Nik gasped and backed away slowly no longer interested in eavesdropping on their conversation. "Natalie's pregnant" she whispered in shock. She hadn't been listening to the rest of their conversation but she did catch one thing Diesel had said. "We all have secrets."
Violet walked up to the vending machine when she saw Grover at it. "You sure know how to treat a girl." she said and he scoffed "Are you following me?" he asked accusingly and she replied "Or your evil twin." he said angrily "What's that supposed to mean?" "Nik told me. I mean, you're usually not a jerk." she said and he pulled his hand out of the vending machine. "This may come as a shock to you, but my world does not revolve around you." he said and walked away from her.
"All right, it's done." Diesel said as he walked into the room where everyone was, Leshean and Zoey on the couch, Barrett behind the desk working on the radio and everyone else standing around. "Boarded up all the ways in." He finished. "Any luck?" Nik asked Barrett. "We still here, ain't we?" Leshean replied rudely. "Hey! You better watch it" Noodle said to Leshean with his arm around Nik. "You mean despite all your technical wizardry?" Barrett asked Leshan. "If the freaks get in, I can still outrun you." Leshean said. "Don't forget that." he finished. Barrett ignored him. "Here's our tally of food." Natalie spoke up handing him some papers. "We have enough to last for a while." she told everyone. "Quantify 'a while'." Nik said an she sighed
"With careful rationing, just under two weeks." she replied and Nik looked at Noodle worriedly. "We won't last that long." They heard a raspy voice say from the doorway.
"They know we're in here." Mary said with a strange distant look on her face as she walked in. Almost ghostlike. "The freaks?" Noodle asked and then Diesel said "Yeah, I didn't notice any."
"You have to know where to look.
They hide in the haze, but they're coming. They're trying to get in." She elaborated in an airy tone and Nik shrunk into Noodles arm. "You're freaking my girlfriend out, Mary" Noodle said nervously. "Let 'em try to get in." Leshean said grabbing his baseball bat. "Your strength won't be enough. They know where you're hiding. They can sense things that we don't." she said. "Okay, this freshman chick's really freaking me out." Zoey said worriedly. "Yeah, I'm not worried. They can't even get through the shelter doors." Grover said smiling smugly. "Not yet." she replied and his smile faltered but this time she was looking at Barrett. "I don't scare that easily." he said and She quickly retorted. "Yes, you do.
You're a pretender." She said.
"Did I pretend to build a radio?" he asked her with a smirk. "They can smell your fear." She said.
"What about you? How long do you think you'll last?" he asked and she just smiled creepily before exiting the room. "Uh, I'm gonna say it now. That girl is high as -" Noodle started but Nik cut him off. "Funny. I was thinking the same thing."
"Better keep an eye on Mary."
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Violet asked Mary as she and her we're in the girl's bathroom. "Are you okay?" she continued to question the younger girl. "I don't like you." Mary replied cooly. "So get in line." Violet sneakily responded.
"You use boys." Mary said to justify her point. "And who are you to judge? You don't know me." Violet said with an heir of superiority. "My brother's one of a kind. Do you understand me? He is not a toy. He's gentle, and he is sweet, and you better treat him that way."Mary said ignoring everything Violet replied with. "I'm not even with your brother." she retorted. "You look after him. You take care of him. Or I will hunt you down.
Do you understand me?" Mary asked just as Nik walked in feeling ridiculously awkward. "Hey guys" She smiled to them before entering a stall. "I don't know what your damage is, but we're all doing our best here." Nik heard Violet say quietly then a door slam followed by another.
"I heard you were stashing meds.
Is that true?" Leshean said to Grover as him and the rest of the guys cornered him. "Violet." Grover muttered. "Yeah, she was worried." said Diesel. "So are we." added Noodle to the conversation.
"Your sister was worried too." Nik heard the voice of her brother say as she turned a corner to see the guys with Grover up against the wall. "She just went off the deep end on all of us." Diesel continued. "Said we was gonna die." added Leshean.
"Wait, she did?" Nik heard Grover asked concerned. "Yeah, she did." Nik said walking over to the boys. "What aren't you telling us?" she asked lightly as Diesel continued to look at him threateningly. "There's nothing.
We're all good here." Grover tried to reason with an angry Diesel who was scareing her a little bit. Noodle noticed and moved over by her. "Bullcrap." Leshean said hitting the locker beside Grovers head with his baseball bat making Nik flinch into Noodles arm. "What are you hiding?" he asked with a snarl. "Leshean stop!" Nik yelled at him and he glanced over at her. "What are you gonna do about it?" he asked absentmindedly waving the bat around nearly hitting her in the head. "Hey!" Noodle yelled at his ex best friend. They started arguing back and forth and shoving each other while Diesel and Grover did the same. "Stop!" Nik yelled standing in between Noodle and Leshaen. Leshean glared at her and shoved her against a locker hard. What happened next felt like slow motion. Noodles fist collided with the side of Lesheans face and he fell to the ground. Diesel shoved Grover into a locker too before walking away. "Are you ok?" Noodle asked kneeling in front of where she sat on the floor with her back to a set of lockers.
"I don't know what happened.
I knew every note before. Grover, what's happening?" Mary said as she put down her violin. "You can't tell them about this.
They're gonna want to lock me up." she continued scared.
Nik walked down the hallway past the music room when she heard voices. "I'm not gonna tell any of the others, but, Mary, they're starting to ask questions, and I can't do anything about it" She looked in the tiny window on the side of the door and gasped at the look of Mary. Grover was trying to calm her down. "Well, then stall! You have to tell that Tell them that I'm resting. Buy us time, please." Mary pleaded with her brother.
"Please." she repeated. "Okay.
But don't move." he said and turned towards the door to see a small glimpse of Nik before She made a break for it. "Wait, Hey!" she heard Grover call from behind her but she kept runnin until she felt a hand on her arm. She turned to him. "Grover, what was that?" she asked and he sighed running his hands through his hair. He didn't answer. "Grover" she said harshly. "She's changing isn't she?" she asked and Grover scoffed. "What are you talking about?" he asked. "Cut the crap, I know about the bite. So does Noodle. Now answer. She's changing isn't she?" Grover sighed before nodding.
"He's been in there for, like, an hour." Natalie said as they all stood outside the nurses office where Mary was staying after her attack on Barrett who everyone was about ready to attack anyway. "If you ask me, he shouldn't even come out." Zoey said rudely. "No one asked you." Nik growled in annoyance and started towards Zoey only to be stopped by Noodle who pulled her back. "Hey, hey, easy" he said as the others continued on with their conversation. "If she can get sick from freaks, that means we can get sick from her."Zoey continued eyeing Nik rudely. "I say we lock her up and save the whole pack." Leshean added and Nik glared at her brother. "She's right." "It's not safe." others aggreed. "What, like she's some animal? She's still a human being, just like Addie was, just like all of them were." Natalie said. "She's no threat to us."
"Even if she turns, she" Violet started but was interrupted by Barrett. "You mean when.
When she turns", "Mary can't leave that room."Violet finished.
"Look, I hate to admit it, but he's right." Diesel said. "I mean, look at her." he finished. "She's a threat to all of us." Barrett said.
"Not to Grover."Violet said. "Grover will do anything he can to save her." Barrett added.
"That's exactly why we can't trust him." Zoey countered. "Dude, at least he cares about her." Noodle said with Nik still in his arms.
"Which is exactly why we should trust him." Nik said like it was obvious. "Then why didn't he tell us about her? Why did he hide her from us?" Barrett asked. "Because I have a sinking feeling we're gonna figure that out the hard way."
"Say something." Grover said to Mary. "Kill me."
"Anyone want some more peas?" Natalie asked placing a can in the middle of the lunch table everyone was sitting at. "Grover come down yet?" Nik heard someone ask then a harsh reply of "What do you think?" "He knows we're pissed at him." she heard Diesel say then Natalie "Rightfully so."
"This isn't easy for him either." Nik finally spoke up from her seat next to Noodle.
"This isn't easy for any of us." she was replied with.
"You should come eat." Nik said to Grover but he didn't reply.
"I did everything that I could.
There's just too many of 'em." he sighed staring at Mary.
"This is not your fault." Nik said softly. "Let her sleep, Grover.
Come down and eat." Nik said again grabbing him by the arm and pulling him out of the room.
"I can't stop thinking about her.
About Addie." Natalie said to Nik.
"Doesn't feel real." she replied as they cleaned up the lunch room when everyone left. "I can almost hear her voice. She had so much trust in me. And I let her down." she said looking down.
"No negative thinking. That's what coach said. It's like that quote. "When you're going through hell, just keep going.
" I don't think we have a choice.
We should probably get some sleep." Nik said and they walked out of the empty lunch room.