Bruno clears his throat and runs down the alley filled with trash. He accidently kicks a can, and it rattles against the walls and between his feet. He jumps like it’s a firecracker. I’m too nauseous to laugh at him, and I know that sound could give our location away to any guards in the area. He stops and holds up his fist. So we all stop and wait for his next command.
It’s quiet, which is abnormal for daytime. Before, the Hole was a constant chatter of noise. People would crowd into the streets, buying, selling, bartering, and surviving. Patrol was constant. Vehicles would rumble past, and prostitutes worked the streets, some as young as twelve years old. Guards were always detaining Sinners for this reason or that. Children of Sinners would play ball in the streets, yelling as kids do.
Where’d all the people go? Wilson couldn’t have killed them all.
Bruno goes forward again, checking left and right, up and down. He signals for us to follow. Grace hops over the trash behind him, and Zeus stops to sniff and dribble urine every once in a while. I don’t even know how he has any left. But at least he’s still producing it.
I follow Grace. Zeus pees on the wall, just as a shadow moves to my right. I jump away, startled. Zeus lowers his leg and sniffs at the person. Satisfied, he walks away. A hand pulls back a dark hood, revealing a gaunt face. Cole and I draw on him. There’s no way to tell his age because of how sickly he appears. His eyes rest in deep, hollowed sockets. His neck’s branded orange for gluttony. He opens his mouth. I notice blisters around the edge of his lips in the creases, and his tongue’s covered with them as well. I lower my weapon.
He tries to speak, but nothing but a hoarse whisper comes out. His bony hand reaches out for me, but I step back, unsure of what to do. He opens his mouth again, but nothing happens. He raises his shaky right hand to his mouth.
“Maybe he wants a drink,” Grace says, hand on the weapon at her waist.
“Like the rest of us?” Bruno says, cocking his head to the right.
“Is that what you want? Water?” I ask. His eyes register what I’m saying, and he nods, barely able to hold up his own head. “We don’t have any. I wish we did.” His eyes close, and his head slumps back against the building. I look back at Cole, who still has his gun drawn. I wave my hand up and down so he will lower it. The guy isn’t a threat. He can’t tell anyone we’ve been here. He can’t talk.
“Lexi, I’m sorry. But we can’t help him,” Cole says quietly, keeping his gun trained on the guy. I suck in my bottom lip and turn back to face the man. He doesn’t bother opening his eyes this time. I turn back to Cole, sighing as I wait for him to tell me what I want to hear. He shakes his head, avoiding eye contact. I step forward toward the man, careful not to get too close.
“I wish we could help you,” I say.
“Now the Hole has zombies? Awesome,” Bruno says, under his breath but loud enough for everyone to hear.
“Let’s go before I lose my mind,” I say.
I start to feel weak. As I step away from the ill man, my knees wobble, and my hands feel limp.
At the end of the alley, Bruno checks both ways twice before crossing the street. The ground begins to rumble. Bruno holds up his fist, and everyone but Grace comes to a stop. I think the sun must be in her eyes. She’s going to step out, in full view of an oncoming vehicle. Bruno’s frantically waving his arms to get her attention. He can’t yell for fear of giving away our position.
My stomach drops as panic creeps up my insides. I have to stop her. Just before Grace takes her first step into the street, I jerk her shoulder to a stop. She stumbles backward, her body landing on top of me. Cole drags us both back into the shadows. At first, she flips over, giving me an angry glare.
Then she hears it too—the unmistakable sound of an engine sputtering along the street. Her shoulders tense. She stands and holds out her hand. It’s clammy as I take it. We press ourselves against the building, willing ourselves to disappear into the cement blocks.
The vehicle, a big, black SUV, careens along the street. It zips past our position, leaving nothing but another cloud of dust to cover us as we finish crossing to the other side. Once there, Grace pulls me into a hug. When she releases me, her eyes are glassy, and her chin trembles.
“Thank you, Lexi,” she says, exhaling a sigh of relief.
“You’re welcome,” I say. I know she’d do the same for me.
Bruno wraps his arms around Grace and pulls her into his chest and says, “Don’t you ever scare me like that again, you hear?” He kisses the top of her head and takes a deep breath. “You should’ve gone home like I said.” Grace elbows him and gives him a dirty look.
“I’ll go home when you go home,” she says, smiling and still breathing heavily from the scare and adrenaline.
“We’re not moving fast enough,” Cole says. Our heads all swing toward him in unison. “We’ve gone one block. One freaking block.”
“Hey, Rome wasn’t built in a day,” Bruno says.
“Yeah, well this isn’t Rome,” Cole says with disdain.
“We need frequent breaks. None of us has had any water, and the heat is too much.”
“True. Let’s just try to make it before nightfall,” Cole says.