Lex Thomas - Quarantine - The Saints

“Did you see Varsity at the last drop?” Will said. “They were totally disorganized.”

“Yeah, well, they’re not gonna make that mistake again,” Ritchie said. “Everybody’s gonna be on their A-game.”

Belinda poked her finger through the blinds and tapped on the glass softly. “Look at the Geeks, they’ve got a ton. So do the Skaters. Even the Saints are four times our size.”

All eyes traveled to the Saints in the quad outside. They filled the wall where the Loners used to stand. They even had the white hair. This was their first food drop, and they looked uncomfortable. It reminded Will of the early days of the Loners, when they were first learning to work together as a gang.

“I’m just saying,” Mort said, “maybe we’re just better off being Scraps again. I mean, was it really that bad?”

“Yes,” Will said. “It was that bad!”

They were all looking at him now. It was time to do his speech. He’d been practicing it in his head during the whole walk to the quad. He wasn’t going to let what David built fall apart. The Loners were all that was left of David in Will’s life, and if he lost that, he’d have nothing.

He cleared his throat and rubbed his hands together. His mouth was dry.

“The other gangs are bigger, and the odds are against us,” Will said. “And now there’s only ten of us left. But ten is all we need. We don’t need the quitters. This is the core group, the originals. We did this once already. Nine Loners stood against a hundred Varsity and we won. We can do the impossible again.”

The Loners seemed unmoved.

“There’s no army of Scraps to help us this time,” Mort said.

“And we don’t have David,” Ritchie said.

“We could just skip this one,” Belinda said.

“Guys,” Lucy said, “let Will finish.”

The group hushed again. Will appreciated Lucy standing up for him, but he had nothing else planned. That was the full extent of his inspiring speech. His heart thumped in his chest. The Loners still waited for him to speak. This was far harder than David had made it look.

“Listen… I’m not stupid, I know you want to join other gangs,” Will said.

They all looked away.

“I know we’ve had a lot of bad luck, and you all think we can’t make it without David. But it isn’t true. The Loners can go on, we can be big again. Just give me this one chance to prove to you that I can be your leader. One chance, that’s all I’m asking for. If we don’t get enough food to survive today, than you can all do whatever you want, go off and join another gang. If we fail today, then you’ll have every reason to. I wouldn’t even be mad. But that’s not what’s going to happen. We’re going to go out there, and fight like beasts, and take our share back to the Stairs.”

They were all looking at him again.

“Please. One chance. What do you say?”

The forty foot block of supplies hung from the orange crane, three stories above them. They’d lower it any moment now.

Will was filled with excitement and terror. All nine Loners stood behind him. They’d agreed. They’d put their trust in him. He couldn’t let them down.

Will’s hand went to his belt and clasped the T-shirt-wrapped handle of a plastic shiv he’d made by sharpening a toothbrush. He held it just for comfort. Just to know it was there. The plan was they were going to run in pairs, one to grab, one to defend, and they’d focus on the little stuff, the stuff other gangs dropped or couldn’t bother with. They’d run everything to Mort, who was stationed in a first-floor classroom with a window open. He’d stockpile everything, away from the danger of the quad. Will figured all the little grabs would add up.

Without warning, the block of food fell.

The bound pallets crashed to the ground and burst apart, flinging food and supplies everywhere. The gangs charged the mountain of supplies in the center of the quad.

“Go!” Will shouted.

The Loners ran. They broke off in twos, and joined the flow of the scavenging crowd. It wasn’t safe to stand still. Will and Lucy ran side by side. The empty garbage bag Will brought with him trailed off his belt like a black snake snapping at his legs.

“You with me?” Will said in the huff of an exhale.

“With you,” she said. “See anything?”

“Not yet.”

Will’s eyes twitched across the quad. He and Lucy sped past a strangling match between a Freak and a Varsity, a plastic tub of protein powder at their feet. He whipped his head from left to right as he wove between thrashing battles. Hair colors smeared across his vision, blue, red, orange, white, black. A stocky Slut tried to trip him. He stomped on her foot. She barked in pain.

Lucy’s scream cut through the air, eclipsing the Slut’s yowl. He snapped his head left in time to see a Skater throw Lucy to the ground. Lucy was clutching a pink and white box of sugar cubes. The Skater swiped the box out of Lucy’s hand. Before the kid could pull the box close, Will tackled him to the ground.

Will grabbed the boy’s foot and twisted it. The kid squealed and kicked Will’s neck with his other foot. Will’s vision went sparkly for a moment. He put his hands on the box and tried to wrestle it away.

“Mine!” the Skater shouted. That Skater was wrong.

Will yanked and yanked at the box. He felt people kick him in the back. The Skater head-butted him in the nose. Blood poured from Will’s nostrils and splattered onto the kid’s face, like watery ketchup. The kid yelled in disgust, and more blood drizzled into his open mouth. The boy let go of the box.

Will shoved his sweet trophy into his garbage bag and stood. His hand went to his nose and he gave it a little squeeze. It was straight, not broken. Must’ve been his lucky day. He looked to Lucy, who was on her feet and had four cans of beans in her arms.

“Nice!” Will yelled, and wiped his bloody nose with his forearm. Lucy cracked a quick smile at him, before switching back to being on guard. Will pointed to Mort in the classroom window, and they ran to him. Will blocked for her the whole time, making sure no one got near Lucy or her beans.

They handed the food to Mort through the window. Will peered into the classroom and saw that there was already a tub of powdered fruit punch, a family-sized box of crackers, a bag of sunflower seeds, and four Styrofoam bowls of dried ramen on the floor.

“It’s working!” Will said to Lucy. His voice went embarrassingly high. Lucy giggled at him.

“We’re doing it!” she said with a burst of tiny applause. He wanted to stay here in this moment forever, with Lucy proud of him, impressed with him, cheering him on. But they had to move; the mountain of food was disappearing quickly. He took her hand and led her back into the fray.

Victorious cheers, battle cries, and screams of pain mingled in Will’s ears. He and Lucy sprinted by a crying Freak girl who whipped a length of chain at the crowd of Geeks that surrounded her. They all lunged for the 400-count pack of flushable moist wipes she had clutched against her belly.

Will and Lucy passed a Saint who swung the butt of her rifle into a Skater’s ribs. The Skater crumbled when the gun hit his side, and the Saint stole his bag of jerky.

“Looks like the new kids are getting the swing of things in here,” Will said. Lucy nodded with a pant.

A few feet away, Will spotted a box of disposable lighters in the dirt, and he scooped them up. A Nerd was bending over to pick up a bottle of shampoo nearby. Lucy kicked her in the ass, and the girl fell forward on her face. Lucy grabbed the shampoo, and smiled at Will with pride. He felt a cool breeze all over his body.

Then knuckles cracked into the back of his head.

Will staggered forward and whipped around, pain blossoming in his skull. Sam stood opposite him, fists up in the air, lip stretched up into a snarl.