In the Afterlight (The Darkest Minds series)

by Alexandra Bracken

  “What is this?” he asked, taking a step closer to the printout taped up to the wall.

  “That’s Thurmond,” I said. “Harry was able to work some contact in the government to get the image.”

  Liam turned toward me slowly. “That’s...all Thurmond?”

  I stepped up next to him, leaning against his shoulder. “Control Tower, Infirmary, Mess Hall, Factory...I labeled them, see?”

  He nodded, silent. “Where did you live?”

  I reached past where he was standing to one of dozens of tiny brown structures circling the imposing brick tower. “Cabin Twenty-seven, right here.”

  “Ruby, this is...all the times you told me about the camp, I knew it was big, but not like...this.” He shook his head, muttering something I couldn’t quite hear under his breath. When he turned to me again, Liam looked stricken.

  “Do you see now?” I asked. “If we hit Thurmond, it has to be an assault. It would take hundreds of civilians to overwhelm the PSFs, and that’s only if they can get through the gate. But I like what you guys are trying to do—I think we need to merge the plans. Focus the media blast on Thurmond and release the information in conjunction with the attack. We can use it as an opportunity to set up a meeting point for parents to pick up their kids once we have them out.”

  “But someone has to go in and install a program to disable the security system first,” he said. “It’s exactly what I thought. You want to go in.”

  “I have to,” I said.

  “No, you don’t,” he said sharply. “There’s no way in hell I’m letting you do that! Promise me that when I get back we can sit down and talk that part of the plan through, too. Ruby, please.” He looked so devastated at just the idea of it, I heard myself agree. We could talk, but it wouldn’t change anything. It had to be this way.

  He squeezed my hand. “I’m such an idiot...I really thought he only brought Harry into this to get at me. But it’s because he would actually be able to handle this kind of operation.”

  “He really wants to be part of it,” I told him.

  “Who—Harry? You talked to Harry?”

  “Just for a second,” I said. “He told me that they found Cate and the others and extracted them from their prison.”

  Liam gave a faint laugh. “Of course. Action Hero Harry. You should meet Sports Fan Harry, Master Chef Harry, and Mechanic Harry. The guy does nothing by half measures.”

  I leaned against his shoulder again, trying to block out the memory I’d seen in Cole’s mind with something easier to stomach. “How did he and your mom even meet? I never thought to ask...”

  “Oh, God, it’s almost repulsively romantic,” Liam said. “So, when Mom finally left...when she left her old life and took us with her, she drove straight through the night, just to put enough distance between us and the place. The car broke down in North Carolina. Harry was just coming back from his last tour of duty abroad and saw her screaming at the old Toyota, banging on the hood, everything. He pulled over and offered to take a look, and when it was clear she needed new parts, he drove us all to his mother’s place, who took one look at Mom and immediately adopted her in everything but the legal sense. And we stayed with them a week. I’m pretty sure that was the slowest repair of Harry’s life. He was coming home to open a mechanic garage. I didn’t mention that, did I? So he was determined that she’d be his first customer, and that she should let him do it for free, as a good-luck charm for the business. Kept lying about not being able to get a part in, the rascal, just to prolong the visit enough. It gave Mom time to find a job, and a sweet little place for us to live. They didn’t date until three years later. She just...wasn’t ready to move on with that part of her life until then. And after that they were just ridiculous.”

  “Wow,” I said. “The luck of that. If she had taken a different road, or he’d come in an hour earlier or later.”

  “Well...” Liam ducked his head a bit. “It’s kind of the same for us...right? Maybe I’ve never told you this, but it was total dumb luck we were in West Virginia at all that day that we found you. I was doing everything in my power to avoid having to drive through it.”

  “Because of your father?” I ventured.

  “Ah. So Cole told you the basics?” He waited for me to nod before continuing. “It’s like the whole state has this dark cloud wrapped around it. I feel really damn lucky I don’t remember life pre-Harry, because from what little Mom and Cole have told me, it was actually hell. I knew enough as a kid—a little kid, I mean—to be scared of the state and the man who lived there. That’s how my mom still refers to that part of our lives. In West Virginia this, or the West Virginia house that, that kind of thing. Cole told me once when I wouldn’t leave him alone that if I was bad, the man was going to come take me away.” He grimaced. “I know that man is still there, and that he’s alive. I had this fear, and I know it’s irrational because Chubs has told me it is a million times. Right up until I turned eighteen, I had this fear that if I went back to that place, he’d find me and force me to stay.”

  “Why were you there, then?” I asked. Liam was a skilled enough navigator to have brought them around the state.

  “Because that skip tracer, Lady Jane—she was running us to ground. I just wanted to lose her. And there was this moment I was driving along, and I saw the name of our old town, and it was just like...closing a circle I didn’t realized we’d left open. Because that time I had the ability to get myself out of there, I knew I could fight him and win if I had to, and Mom and Cole were safe. Driving by that last time, it’s like I stole back that last bit of control he had over my life. But it took going back to know that. I don’t know if I ever would have believed it could be that way, if I hadn’t been in that car with all of you.”

  He felt my hand shaking and brought it up to lay flat against his chest, where I could feel his heart thundering against his ribs. “What I’m trying to get at is, as bad as everything seems, I think, at its heart, life is good. It doesn’t throw anything at us that it knows we can’t handle—and, even if it takes its time, it turns everything right side up again. I want this to be over for you, so, so much. I want to go to Thurmond and get those poor kids out so you can close your own circle. If nothing else, if this explodes in our faces, then I want you to know that I love you and nothing will ever change that.”

  “I love you, too.” I flushed at his grin, wondering at how good it felt to say the words. I love you. I love you. I love you.

  “Yeah?” he said. “The ol’ Stewart charm finally wear you down?”

  I laughed. “Guess so. You had your work cut out for you.”

  “Don’t I know it.”

  The door opened again, and I leaned out of his grasp, craning my neck just as Nico came in. He startled at the sight of the two of us. “Oh—I’m—you’re—”

  “Hey,” I said.

  “I...forgot I had something. To do, I mean,” Nico said, rocking back on his heels. “But if you were going to stay I’ll...figure it out.”

  “Nah,” Liam said, looking at me. “I think we’re done here...?”

  “All yours,” I confirmed. “But try to get some sleep, okay?”

  Nico nodded absently. I lingered a moment more in the doorway, watching as he went to his station and the light from the monitor washed him in a blue-white glow.

  Liam tugged my hand toward the other hall, the stairs, the bunk rooms. I turned and tugged him in the opposite direction, toward the senior quarters and Cate’s empty room. The small smile on his face made me feel a little dizzy, the good kind of dizzy. One hand began to stroke down my spine softly, sparking an entirely different feeling low in my stomach.

  I stood on my toes, taking his face in my hands. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a dark form come out of a nearby room—the little treatment room that had been set up. Liam turned toward it as the door squeaked shut and the person—Chubs�
�looked up, down, then back up again as his brain processed the moment.

  “Oh, there you are,” Liam said, clearly missing the way Chubs’s nostrils flared and his eyes went wide behind his glasses. “We were wondering where you’d gotten off to.”

  “I was just—building some shelves, for the—uh, the supplies and books in the medical, uh, room,” Chubs said, glancing between us, the door, and back over his shoulder, literally looking for an escape route.

  “Did you build them all?” I asked, noticing for the first time that his shirt was buttoned incorrectly. I started toward the door, trying not to laugh as a look like death came over Chubs’s face. “We’re happy to help you—”

  Liam finally caught on, an eyebrow slowly arching up, up, up...

  “Nope, no—I mean, I lost a screw and had to stop—where were you going? I’ll go with you—”

  “Are you okay?” Liam asked. “You’re acting all twitchy.”

  “Fine, totally.” Chubs pushed the glasses Vida had made for him up the bridge of his nose, then looked down at his shirt. Without warning, he snatched my arm and started pulling me down the hall. “How are you? Are you guys okay now? Spare no details. We’ll—”

  The door creaked open behind us again. Chubs shrank back against the wall as Vida came strolling out, her shoulders set back, head of mussed purple hair held high—the curl of her swollen lips gave her a look of smug satisfaction. Liam stepped back, letting her by.

  Vida didn’t say a thing; she simply dropped Chubs’s jacket over his head as she passed, letting it hang there. He waited until the sound of her boots against the tile had faded before sinking down onto the ground. Chubs kept the jacket pressed to his face, looking for all the world like he was trying to suffocate himself.

  “Oh, God,” he groaned. “She’s going to kill me. Actually kill me.”

  “Wait...” Liam began, not bothering to hide the grin on his face. I put a hand on his shoulder, afraid he’d start jumping up and down in total and complete glee. “Are you...?”

  Chubs finally lowered the jacket. And, after a deep breath, nodded.

  Well, I thought, surprised at my lack of surprise. Well, well, well...

  “Wow...I mean, wow. I think my brain is going to start leaking out of my ears,” Liam said, pressing the heels of his palms against his forehead. “I’m so proud of you, Chubsie, but I’m so confused, but I’m proud, but I think I need to lie down.”

  “How long has this been going on?” I asked. “You haven’t...you’re not...?”

  One look of mortification told me everything I needed to know. They had. They were. Liam choked a bit at that.

  “What?” Chubs demanded. “It’s a...it’s a perfectly normal human response to—to stressors. And it’s winter, you know, and when you’re sleeping in a car or tent it can be freezing...actually, you know what? It’s none of your business.”

  “It is if you’re being stupid about it,” Liam said.

  “Excuse me, but I’ve known about contraception since I was—”

  “Not what I meant,” Liam said quickly, holding up his hands. “Not at all what I meant, but, uh, good to know.”

  I crouched down in front of Chubs, putting a hand on his arm. “I think what he was trying to say was, if this doesn’t pan out, or one of you gets hurt, it’d be hard to take.”

  “Oh, you mean like if she erased my memory, forcing me to keep a little fact sheet of who I am in case she does it again?” The minute it left his mouth, I could tell he wanted it back inside his head, where the thought belonged. That alone eased the sting.

  “Hey...” Liam warned.

  “No, it’s fair,” I said. “I know you can handle it, but Vi’s been...well, the people in her life really put her through the wringer. You’ll be careful with her heart, right?”

  “There are no hearts involved in this arrangement,” he reassured me, which wasn’t actually reassuring, let alone believable in any way. “It’s...coping.”

  “Okay,” I said.

  “And she doesn’t need anyone to protect her or fight her battles for her, got it?” he added, looking between us. The fierceness deflated somewhat. “God, she’s going to kill me for blowing this. We haven’t even been back for a week...You won’t tell anyone, right?”

  “Vida’s the kind of person who doesn’t give a rat’s ass about what others think,” Liam pointed out. “A quality I greatly admire in her.”

  “Are you saying she asked you to keep this quiet because she’s embarrassed?” I said. “Embarrassed of being with you?”

  “She didn’t say it outright, but it’s obvious, isn’t it?”

  “Maybe she just wants to keep it between the two of you for now because it’s so new,” I added. “Or because it really is no one else’s business, even ours.”

  “You’re a great catch, buddy,” Liam finished. “It’s not you. And she can’t be that mad, anyway, seeing as it’s only the two of us who know, and we’d only ever tell each other. And maybe a G-rated version to Zu. But, man, give yourself some credit. Obviously you’ve got something she likes if she’s jumping your bones.”

  “Liam Michael Stewart, wordsmith and poet,” Chubs said, shaking his head as he pushed himself up from the ground. I watched him as he fell silent, wringing his hands, trying our line of logic out. A shadow passed over his expression, one that had me wondering what he was thinking—or remembering. In the end, he shook his head. “I’m not...I mean, I don’t have delusions of grandeur about this stuff. I know who I am and who she is, and I know it’s like putting an apple next to an onion. Whatever. We have an understanding.”

  Liam gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

  “Anyway, good night,” Chubs said. “Don’t stay up too late. You’re leaving tomorrow morning, don’t forget.”

  Liam waited until Chubs had disappeared around the corner at the other end of the hall before turning to me, not even trying to hide his grin. “You wanna go build some shelves with me?”

  I held out my hand for him to take, leading him back down toward the right door. It was almost painful, I thought, to have a heart so swollen with gratitude and what must have been pure, untainted happiness. I wanted to live inside the feeling forever.

  If nothing else, this one thing—this one choice—wasn’t made under pressure, or fear, or even desperation. It was something I wanted. To be as close to him as I could, with nothing standing between us. I wanted to show him the things that my words were too clumsy, too self-conscious, to really convey.

  Neither of us were laughing now; the moment drew me closer to him, winding something up inside of me, making my heart feel weightless with anticipation. His eyes were dark, suddenly serious with the real question. I reached up and brushed an unruly lock of hair off his forehead before I tilted my face, brushing my lips softly against his, a question of my own. Liam let out a sweet, soft sigh, and nodded. I pulled him inside the room and managed to tear myself away long enough to lock the door behind us and take a breath.

  Liam sat at the edge of the bed, his shape bright against the dark. He held out a hand and whispered, “Come here.”

  I swayed a little on my feet as I stepped into the circle of his waiting arms, watching his slow smile. I brushed the hair away from his face, knowing he was waiting for me. This whole time, from the moment we met, he’d been waiting for me to realize he’d known me all along, and he had never once wanted me to change.

  “The you that you were then, who you are now, who you’ll be,” he began quietly, as if sensing my thoughts, “I love you. With my whole heart. My whole life, however long I’m lucky enough to get, nothing will change for me.”

  His voice sounded raw, flooded with the same searing feeling racing through me. The relief, the certainty, the overwhelming gratitude I felt that fate had given him to me, all burned my eyes, left me unable to speak again. So I kissed him and told
him that way, over and over again between breaths, as he moved over me, inside of me, until there was nothing in the world beyond us and the promise of forever.

  THE NEXT MORNING, HE WOKE me with a kiss, and then another, until the warm, lazy fog dispelled and I was forced back into reality. Liam pulled away with reluctance and reached for his clothes on the floor to start dressing. I watched him for a moment, amazed at how calm and peaceful I felt—like knowing he wanted and loved the whole me unconditionally had finally and fully brought the pieces of me back into alignment. He centered me so completely, and there was something so beautifully simple and straightforward in what I felt for him. Even something like this, something so important, had been simple for me.

  Finally, seeing his amused look as he turned around, I forced myself to get up, too. I couldn’t put off any longer the fact that he was leaving, but it didn’t mean I didn’t try as I caught him for one last, long kiss at the door.

  Liam and I were the first ones to the tunnel’s entrance that morning, even after he took a detour to grab food from the kitchen and shower. He had just gone back downstairs to say good-bye to Chubs and the others when Cole appeared at my left, stepping out of Alban’s old office. Just before the door shut, he caught it with his foot and held it open, looking around the room. His whole body seemed drawn with exhaustion, and there was a fresh cut on his left cheek.

  I pointed to the spot on his face. “What happened here?”

  “Ugh.” Cole rolled his eyes, gave a small laugh. “In a move straight out of Lee’s playbook, I rolled over in bed this morning and hit the dresser. Already killing it this morning.”

  “You actually slept?” I asked. He turned toward me, and the answer was clear enough. I knew it had to happen, that he couldn’t go much longer without telling his brother the truth, but having kept secrets myself, I still felt guilty for putting him in that position last night. “Everything...okay?”