Lex Thomas - Quarantine - The Loners

“Deal,” Will said.

Violent nodded to Kemper. There was no going back now.

Five minutes later, Will led the Loners into the library.

“Wipe your feet,” Kemper said as he slid the barricade back in place behind Will, David, and Lucy.

“Fussy, fussy,” Violent said to Kemper with a smile. He blushed.

Will looked down at a maroon rug. He couldn’t remember the last time someone had asked him to wipe his feet, but he could hardly object. The library was a marvel. The carpet was clean.

Every book was in its place. It even smelled like a new building.

Kemper clapped his hand on Will’s back with a friendly smile. “Welcome. Have you ever come to the library before?

Will shook his head.

“Well, everything is almost exactly like it was. Pretty cool, right? Nonfiction is over here. Fiction is on the far side. Over there are the computer stations, but obviously, all we have is a local network. Not that we can use it when the power is—”

“We need to get to the ruins,” Will said flatly. Will didn’t know Kemper that well, but a couple seconds told him the guy was a chatterbox.

“Oh… right. I’ll take you to the east fire door. From there, you can take the stairs to the science department. Then, which way are you headed? Because—”

“We got it from there, okay? Let’s go,” Will said.

Kemper clamped his lips, like he was holding his breath. It looked like it hurt him to shut up. He forced a nod and led the Loners through a maze of bookshelves. Will was in awe of the Nerds’ little utopia. They’d converted tall bookshelves into bunk beds, four beds high. They passed through the common area where Nerd medics were tending to wounded Sluts. Mort and the other injured Loners joined them. The rest of the Nerds seemed unbothered by the interruption. The majority were reading books. Others were engaged in rounds of role-playing games. Will and Lucy shared a look of wonder.

“This place is amazing,” she said.

“Amazing,” he replied.

Kemper led them through the stacks on the east side of the library, and they reached the far wall. David grabbed Will and stopped.

“Whoa…”

Will turned to see David staring through the window of a study room. He pawed at the glass with wide eyes. The central desk was cluttered with the innards of electronics and looping wires. It looked like some sort of two-way radio with a microphone. Thick cables ran from the main box up the wall and into the ceiling. Kemper quacked a laugh.

“Cool, right? My masterpiece. It’s a ham radio,” Kemper said with a nod. “We’re trying to make contact with the outside.”

“It’s real?” David leaned in and asked Will.

“Totals,” Kemper said proudly. “Now all I have to do is make it work. I had a really cool idea the other day. I’d like to get a phone network going between the gangs. It would be great for negotiations. It’d be so much safer around here. Shouldn’t be too hard. The phone lines are already there. The hardest part really would just be everybody’s cooperation.” Kemper continued prattling on as he led them down a long corridor of eight-foot-tall bookshelves. Will was in front with David and Lucy and Violent. Seventy Loners followed behind them. The corridor of shelves ended at a barricaded red fire door, identical to the one that got them into the library. A line of Nerds stood in front of it, each holding one of the Loners’ weapons. Kemper gave his people a casual wave.

“All right, guys, open it up.”

A black-haired kid with an infestation of freckles shook his head.

“We want David,” he said.

Will clamped his hand tight on David’s arm. He shot Kemper a furious look.

“What the hell’s going on, man?” Will asked.

Kemper furrowed his brow and shook his head.

“No, no. This is not…” Kemper clucked, trying to make sense of what was happening. “Henry, what are you doing? Is this some sort of joke?”

Will could see it for what it was. Mutiny. Nerds filed out from the stacks on either side of them. They were stone-faced.

Their earlier distractions, reading and gaming, that was all a ruse. Nerds clutched thick, heavy dictionaries in their hands, ready to swing.

“Give us David now!” the freckle-face said again, with more bass in his voice.

Kemper stomped forward and stretched his arms out as if he was protecting all the Loners.

“Henry, this is unacceptable. Put that bat down right now—” Henry planted his bat right in Kemper’s gut. Kemper stared at his gang mate in confusion and crumpled to the ground.

Violent growled and threw the freckled kid to the ground.

“Push!” a voice shouted.

Bookshelves behind Will toppled over, crushing the majority of the Loners underneath them and raining books down on their heads. The Nerds attacked from every angle. Will fled, pulling David and Lucy with him. Nerds poured out from every corner after the trio. Books sailed through the air after them. One smacked directly into Will’s temple. It was a hardback encyclopedia, and it knocked him off his feet.

“Will,” Lucy cried out.

He lost his grip on David and fell to the ground. He was in pain. He rolled over and struggled to his feet, still woozy.

He saw a cluster of Nerds tear David away from Lucy. She shrieked. It took four Nerds to hoist David up and push him onto a rolling book cart. They ran fast, wheeling David through the common area and back toward the west fire door.

He couldn’t lose him.

But he did. Will tried to run, and he fell, still dazed from the book to the head. By the time he pulled himself back up, David was gone. He had spent years protecting Will, and Will hadn’t lasted an hour in David’s shoes.

Lucy rattled the handles of the library doors and yanked with all her weight. The Nerds had forced her out, but she had to get back in. She had to get back to David.

Behind her, Violent fought a hulking Nerd with a droopy face and giant hands. Three other Sluts stood and watched as the Nerd threw a punch at Violent. It connected with her ribs, and she stumbled back. She shook it off and swung a swift kick into his kneecap. Instantly, his leg buckled. He squawked and collapsed to the ground.

“Wait,” Lucy shouted. “He can help us get back in!” Lucy ran to intervene, but one of the other Sluts stepped into her path and shook her head. It was Julie Tanaka.

“Keep out of this,” Julie said.

“Get up,” Violent said to the Nerd. He struggled back up, keeping his weight on his good leg. “You fuckers messed up big. You’re nothing without Kemp.”

“No, he messed up when he started making out with you…

Slut.”

The Nerd hopped forward like he was going to attack. Violent kicked him in the chest. He stumbled back down the hall.

He looked up to the ceiling, and his face flashed with panic.

“No…,” he said.

A rain of bricks fell out of the ceiling and pummeled his skull. He dropped to the ground. Lucy jerked her eyes to the ceiling above her, terrified that the same thing was about to happen to her, but no more bricks fell. Violent stepped toward the Nerd’s broken body and knelt. Blood oozed from his head onto the chunks of ceiling and fallen bricks that piled around him. She placed her fingers under his jaw to feel his pulse.

“Dead,” Violent muttered coldly.

Lucy looked up, above the dead body. An entire line of ceiling panels had broken away. Some still dangled from the ceiling. A heavy curtain that had been holding the bricks and rubble hung down.

Lucy’s stomach sank. She stared at the short hall before her.

Ten yards down, it cut right. The floor was covered in dust. No one had walked through in ages. This was the main entrance to the library, where all the traps were.