Gavin stood and reached out to help her up, taking a step back as she extricated herself from the mountain of blankets. Only now did it occur to him that he didn’t actually know what would happen next or where they would go, only that they couldn’t stay here. He didn’t want her alone in this house. Really, when it came down to it, he didn’t trust House enough to let Delilah be away from him at all anymore.
He shuffled through the small list of options—park, garage, car, school—before settling on the only place they could go where they could really talk.
When Delilah had her shoes on, he took a step toward her, admittedly crowding into her space while he brushed her hands aside and zipped up her jacket for her. She glared at him, but it carried no heat. Her hands were shaking, and her eyes were wide.
“I was so scared,” she admitted, barely a whisper.
He nodded, bending to kiss her forehead. He’d always been tall, and growing up he’d hated how it was just another thing that made him stand out, but standing this close to Delilah and towering at least a foot above, he liked it. He liked feeling like he could lean down and wrap his arms around her body, hiding her from anything that might come looking. Delilah wasn’t small, and she certainly wasn’t helpless, but in this way, he liked that he could protect her, whether she wanted him to or not.
The sound of Gavin’s squeaky old bike cut through the silent neighborhood as they made their way to the school, Gavin pedaling as quietly as he could and Delilah perched carefully on the handlebars. They didn’t speak or even say where they were going out loud, but focused every bit of energy on watching the road ahead of them. . . and listening for any sounds behind.
It was too silent, as if the world all around them held its breath. House had made its point today: I know what you’re doing. I could stop you anytime I want. And now it waited to see what Gavin and Delilah would do. The thought that House might escalate this made Gavin feel queasy.
The school was a little terrifying at night; Gavin was man enough to admit that. It was old, with strange angles and squat, cramped buildings eerily surrounded by streetlights dotting the parking lot with yellowed spots of light. Gavin had broken into this room many times over the years to play music alone, to lie in the quiet and feel the strange stillness that comes with a building without life, and so it didn’t take long for him to pop the screen from the window and jimmy open the latch.
He unlocked the door from the inside before following Delilah into Mr. McMannis’s office. Together they found a couple of gym mats that would work nicely as a bed, some emergency candles, two bags of Doritos, a couple of Capri Suns, and even a chocolate bar. Once they were safely in the music room, they locked the dead bolt and moved bookcases in front of the air-conditioning vents before turning off the flashlight on Delilah’s phone.
Delilah had lit a candle near the center of the room and got to work putting their bed together while Gavin checked everything again. They hadn’t said more than five words to each other since the last time they were here—earlier that day—too concerned with whether they were being watched and getting to safety than anything else. But now the weight of it all seemed to be pressing in on them, and Delilah sank back on the mat, closing her eyes with shaking hands pressed to her face.
“Lilah?” He’d never really seen her melt down. Was it silent, or earsplitting? Wincing, he ran his hand up her forearm, pulling one of her hands away from her face. “Look at me.”
“Just. . . breathing,” she explained. He watched as she took five deep breaths and then dropped her other hand, looking up at him. Calmer now. “This is pretty cozy.” She sat up and looked around before breaking off a chunk of chocolate and settling back into their makeshift camp, surrounded by all their pilfered supplies and the faint glow of the candle. “This is definitely where I’m coming when the zombie apocalypse happens.”
“When it happens?” he asked, grinning.
“It’s inevitable. Gene manipulation, biological weapons, voodoo. Don’t you watch TV at all?”