III - Examination
"This bent thing? A tension wrench," said Desmond. "This little metal banana here is a pick. Tension wrench. Pick."
Lincoln and Ronnie Anne stood near the locked gym closet door, as the children watched. Hargrove slouched near the door knob, applying the tension wrench inside it before pushing the pick inside.
"Wiggle… weird pins… and pick."
The door knob clicked. Desmond then placed his hand— covered by his baggy sleeves— on the doorknob and twisted it, opening the door.
"Easy-peasy."
Lincoln and Ronnie Anne each grabbed a tension wrench and a pick, approaching the closet door as Desmond locked it and closed it. Desmond then grabbed Lincoln's shoulder and dragged him away from the locked closet, moving him to another one a couple meters away.
"This one."
Lincoln gulped as he looked at Ronnie Anne who could only sigh out of nervousness. Then, she started picking the locks.
Lincoln turned towards his closet and placed the tension wrench inside before picking the lock. The pick then slipped out of his hands and into the floor.
"Oh, let me get that for you," said Sonya.
"Don't," said Desmond. "Let him pick it up on his own."
"Don't tell me what to do."
Sonya crouched at the same time as Lincoln. She looked into his eyes and placed her fingers on the pick.
"No, it's fine," said Lincoln. "I got this."
Sonya smiled as she tightened her lips. She then stood up and walked towards Desmond, who could only glare at Lincoln menacingly.
Lincoln stood up and placed the pick into the door, as he closed his eyes, trying not to think of Leni.
"There. Arbor knot," said Hargrove. "Not complicated at all, right?"
"No, not really," said Lincoln. "I think we got this."
Lincoln sat on the bleachers next to Ronnie Anne as he extended out a piece of rope and began tying it together. He then looked up and saw Ms. Malone observing them as Sonya and Desmond were making out behind her. He looked down at his ropes before facing Ronnie Anne.
"Don't. She seems super manipulative," said Ronnie Anne.
"Oh, I know," whispered Lincoln.
"That's the same knot I tied your hands with," said Hargrove. "The more you try to wiggle out like a worm, and the harder you pull, the tighter it gets. And that's bad 'cuz your hand kinda needs blood. What would we do without 'em, huh?"
Lincoln watched as Hargrove fidgeted with a walkie-talkie. He placed a couple wires together and then placed the batteries back in their respectives places. Then, he screwed the battery pack back into the walkie-talkie before unscrewing it again, dismantling the walkie-talkie once more.
"Kinda like Lana," whispered Ronnie Anne.
Lincoln simply kept watching Hargrove.
"Acetone. Bleach. Glass beaker. Ice. Got it?" said Getrude.
"Yeah," said Lincoln. "Show us."
Getrude grabbed the glass beaker which had ice inside of it. She then poured the bottle of bleach into the glass beaker and squirted three drops of acetone inside it. She then grabbed a metal stick and began spinning around the mixture as it turned white and smoke rose from it.
Lincoln grabbed his glass beaker and placed some ice inside of it. He then looked at Gertrude and couldn't help looking away.
"Are you going to follow instructions or just stand there drooling?" asked Gertrude.
"I'm sorry. You just… you remind me of someone I recently lost."
Getrude poured the mixture into the bottle of bleach and looked into Lincoln's eyes.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "Please just start on the chloroform mixture."
Lincoln nodded softly as he grabbed the bottle of bleach and poured it into his beaker. Ronnie Anne frowned as she looked around the chemistry room, realizing how many eyes were looking at her.
"It takes precision, okay?" said Piers, moving the hair away from his ears. "Power comes from the hip and the arm but the wrist is all accuracy."
He grabbed a symmetrical dagger from a table to his left and turned his torso away from the end of the hall. He bent his arms back before swinging it forward, spinning his torso towards the hallway, flinging the dagger across the hall and into a book taped to a wall.
"Less time? No problem."
Piers grabbed another dagger from the table using his right arm and swung it like a frisbee, causing the knife to strike the same book.
"Less power. Same precision. Great for when you have no time to react."
Lincoln and Ronnie Anne grabbed a dagger as they stood next to the lockers, looking at the book about a dozen meters away from them. Lincoln bent back his arms and threw it straight across the room. The dagger quickly curved downwards and bounced across the floor before the handle smashed against the wall.
"Damn," said Ronnie Anne. "That was trash."
She then threw it, before her toss yielded the same results.
"You were saying?" snickered Lincoln.
"Just… shut up."
"Straight across gives it more speed but less range," said Piers. "Throw it more at an angle upwards. Gives it more range."
Lincoln then looked into Piers's face as he realized how much he keeps his eyes hidden within his bangs. He sighed as he thought about Lucy, wondering why all the children reminded him of his sisters.
"One mile," said Ms. Malone.
Lincoln looked across the race track around the football field. He groaned as Ronnie Anne shook her head softly.
"Four laps around. That's all."
Lincoln and Ronnie Anne both set foot on the race track as they stretched their limbs. Ira joined them, doing splits and head rotations.
"Can he even run this thing?" asked Ronnie Anne.
Ms. Malone chuckled as she began to walk away from the track.
"Go at your own pace," she said. "Don't try to outrun him. You won't beat him."
She then stepped foot onto the football field and held up her stopwatch.
"Go!"
Ronnie Anne burst forward as Lincoln slowly jogged ahead of the starting line, moving his legs at a constant pace. He saw Ira moving at his pace while Ronnie Anne was meters ahead of them. Then, when Lincoln and Ira finished their first lap, Ira suddenly picked up his speed, shouting as he ran incredibly quickly. Ronnie Anne gasped as Ira shot past her, surprised to see his burst of energy driving him farther and farther away from her. She panted heavily as she was unable to pick up any speed.
Lincoln was already exhausted by the second lap, when Ira began to catch up to him, already on his third lap. He looked at the little boy's face, unable to prevent himself from comparing his appearance to that of Weber. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening them back up. And before he knew it, the little boy that looked like Weber— Ira— was meters ahead of him already.
"Oyster mushrooms are safe to eat," said Sonya. "They may not taste delicious, but they are really nutritious."
Sonya rubbed the snow off the mushroom hanging by the bark of a thick oak tree. She then turned it around, showing the oyster-like rings and flaps to Lincoln and Ronnie Anne. She then tossed it to Ronnie Anne, who caught it.
She walked over to a nearby tree, approaching a similar white mushroom, with a flat cap and thick stalk. She crouched down and moved her hair away from her hazel eyes.
"Never, ever eat these mushrooms," said Sonya. "These are called death caps. World's most poisonous mushroom. A couple bites and you would drop dead."
Sonya then looked at Hargrove. She lifted her hands and signaled him to come over. Hargrove smiled and walked over to Sonya.
"Cover the mushroom for me, please?" she asked.
"Sure, thing," whispered Hargrove.
Hargrove stepped in front of the death cap as Sonya removed her silk gloves, then handed them carefully to Lincoln before winking. Ronnie Anne watched as Sonya then faced her before taking the mushroom from her hands and tossing it far away.
"Can you two…"
Sonya pulled out two white mushrooms from her backpack.
"...tell me which one is safe to eat?"
Lincoln and Ronnie Anne both looked at the mushrooms. Ronnie Anne then pointed at the round-shaped mushroom.
"That's the oyster mushroom," she said. "That one is safe to eat."
"Why?" asked Sonya, handing her the mushroom.
"Because it doesn't look like a flat death cap? Seriously, who can't tell the difference? That shit was large and flat. This one is small and round. This one is safe."
"Then, eat it."
Ronnie Anne nodded as she moved the mushroom towards her mouth.
"No!" exclaimed Lincoln, smacking the mushroom away from Ronnie Anne's hands. "That's a death cap! Notice the stalk."
"Wow," said Sonya. "Who knew a cute boy could be so intelligent? Unlike someone I know…"
"Don't press your luck," said Desmond. "People don't stay cute forever."
Lincoln gulped as Sonya handed the oyster mushroom to him. She then placed hand sanitizer on her own hands as she tilted her head.
"Do you, uh, want your gloves back?" asked Lincoln.
"Nah," smiled Sonya. "You can hold them for a bit."
Lincoln nodded as he followed Sonya deeper in the woods, with the children following right behind him and Ronnie Anne. He looked at the gloves and was reminded of the silk gloves that Lola once had.
"Know when a branch isn't strong enough to hold you," said Owen. "If it feels like it's hanging too low when you stand on it, it's probably going to snap."
"I think you're going too ahead of them," said Fallyn.
"Hmm, you think so?"
Owen looked at Fallyn's upside-down face nodding at him as the other children looked down at him. Owen then turned to his left to see Lincoln and Ronnie Anne climbing down a tree, before seeing the white-haired boy slip and fall up to the ground.
"Maybe, I am," said Owen, his hair dangling upwards in his upside-down perspective.
He lifted his upper body upwards and grabbed the branch before placing himself right-side up. Now, everyone looked right-side up.
"You guys, got it, right?" asked Owen.
"Yeah," said Ronnie Anne. "Doesn't seem hard. Except for the lame-o down there."
Lincoln sighed as he looked up at the tree, wondering how Owen was able to hang upside-down from the branches. It reminded him of what Luan did with Benny, when Hana was teaching them how to climb trees. He would remember seeing Luan's light body hang upside-down, causing her to laugh in an otherwise depressing world.
"Pull back… and let loose," said Fallyn, shooting an arrow at a nearby tree. "Been doing this since the beginning of the outbreak. Every day, it gets easier and easier."
She then handed her compound bow to Ronnie Anne, who pulled back the string before letting it go. Fallyn then handed her an arrow.
"Doesn't seem too hard," said Ronnie Anne, pulling back the string.
Lincoln watched Ronnie Anne pull back the string, before letting it go, shooting the arrow towards an X at a tree. The arrowtip landed close to the X.
"Wow, I really prefer my crossbow," smiled Ronnie Anne.
Fallyn giggled as she handed an arrow to Lincoln, who received her bow from Ronnie Anne.
"Hey, do you normally practice here?" asked Lincoln.
"Nope," said Fallyn. "I got an actual board I like to practice on. This X— I don't know who put it there."
Lincoln gulped as he lifted the bow. The bow looked different from the recurve bows that he was used to seeing. But in the moment that he pulled back the arrow, he felt like Lynn, but upon releasing it, realized that he was nowhere as accurate as she was, since his arrow did not strike the tree.
"Ooh. Better luck next time," said Fallyn.
"Pay attention to your surroundings," said Troy. "If your eyes are glued to that map, then you'd probably be better off walking around blindfolded."
Ronnie Anne looked at the map and was confused at the lines and dots that were on the map. Lincoln looked up, taking note of the death cap he saw earlier. He then looked at his compass, noticing that he was walking north. Troy then whistled towards Lincoln.
"You look like you know where you're going," said Troy before facing Ronnie Anne. "You on the other hand… are just following your albino friend. Don't be a cheater! Eyes on your paper, señorita!"
Ronnie Anne growled as Lincoln chuckled to himself. He then looked down at his map, before being reminded of how he used to look at maps with Lily when they pretended to go treasure hunting. His smile quickly turned into a frown.
"Don't stop," said Annie. "Keep pushing down!"
Like Annie, Lincoln and Ronnie Anne both rolled their palms back and forth across a stick while pushing downwards in a hole on a wooden board. Lincoln groaned as he pulled his hands back.
"Here."
Annie took her gloves from her pocket and tossed them at Lincoln before blowing on her smoky hole towards a pyramid of kindling and tinder. The embers on the smoky hole touched the dry sticks, causing it to smoke as more embers were created.
"Need gloves?" asked Annie, facing Ronnie Anne.
"No," she said. "I'm good."
Lincoln placed the gloves on his warm hands before grabbing his stick. Ronnie Anne panted as sweat dripped down her face. She turned towards Annie's bundle of sticks, seeing orange flames spreading around.
"It's so freakin' hot. My hands are burning."
Annie stood up and placed her hands behind her back as she faced Ms. Malone. Her mouth was smiling while panting and her hands were red.
"Pretty hot what I just did, right?" said Annie.
"Indeed," said Ms. Malone. "It's wonderful work, Annie."
"I'm… I'm just good with my hands."
Ronnie Anne groaned in pain as embers appeared in the hole. She gasped and quickly got on her knees and bent down, blowing the embers towards her small bundle of twigs and sticks.
Lincoln let out a small yell as he released the stick. Annie rolled her eyes and took out a purple lighter from her pocket and tossed it into his bundle of sticks, causing a fire.
"Next time, we'll try using flint and steel," said Annie before she walked towards Ronnie Anne's fire.
Lincoln gulped as he turned towards the purple lighter. He remembered when Luna would always start a campfire like this.
"Think you understood everything you saw?" asked Jewelee. "When in doubt, just improvise. Improv is like going along with your guts. Trust me, it helps. Anyways, ready?"
Lincoln nodded. Ronnie Anne glared at Jewelee.
"We're taking medical advice from an actress?" she scoffed.
Jewelee pressed her scalpel on Ronnie Anne's forearm and cut it down close to her wrist, avoiding the arteries. Ronnie Anne hissed while Lincoln swallowed hard, moving his eyes around the nurse's office, trying to distract himself. He then felt the pang of the blade rub across his arm.
"That hurts. That hurts a lot," said Lincoln.
Lincoln grabbed a needle and a thread of string and began stitching his own arm. Jewelee then screamed as Lincoln dropped his needle.
"What is it?" exclaimed Ronnie Anne.
"Ha! Nothing! Did you guys get scared?"
"Yes!" sighed Lincoln. "What the heck?"
"Just polishing up my acting skills. Scaring skills on point, y'all. On point."
Lincoln resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He bent down and picked up his needle before leaning back on his chair.
"Are those glasses real or…?" asked Lincoln.
"These? Yeah, they're real. Why?"
"I thought your glasses were part of the act."
"No. I really can't see without 'em."
Lincoln nodded as he continued to stitch himself. As he began closing up his cut, the images of a bear attacking him popped up in his mind. The images then shifted into Lori stitching his legs. He closed his eyes for a few seconds before opening them up, continuing his suturing.
"We lost a few of our own to the uncontrollables. I'm certain you two have as well," said Ms. Malone. "The anger that you two feel towards these monsters is easy to use on them. It drives you to kill them."
Ms. Malone opened the door to a classroom and entered as the children waited outside. Lincoln and Ronnie Anne watched as Ira ran off into the halls before disappearing. Then, their focus shifted to Annie, who placed her face onto the rectangular window.
"She's so amazing, don't you think?" asked Annie. "So, so amazing."
Annie then backed away from the door before it opened, revealing Ms. Malone coming out of the classroom with two chained roamers in front of her. She walked towards Lincoln and Ronnie Anne as she faced one of the children.
"Desmond, give their weapons back."
Desmond nodded as he handed Ronnie Anne her crossbow back and tossed the Bowie knife into the ground. Lincoln bent down to pick it up as Ms. Malone stared at him.
"His pistol too," she said. "Wipe that smirk off your face too."
Sonya stifled her laugh as Desmond growled. He reached into his back pocket and handed Lincoln his pistol back.
"Now, Annie…" said Ms. Malone, "...tell Lincoln what we do with guns."
"Gladly," smiled Annie. "Do not use your pistol unless it is an absolute emergency. The uncontrollables are attracted to the noise. There is not a lot of ammunition to go around. Save your bullets. Use your knife instead."
"Yeah, I know," said Lincoln. "What do you need us to do, Ms. Malone?"
"Kill one of the uncontrollables."
Lincoln nodded as he looked at the chained roamers. He couldn't help but think about Sherry and her chained roamers. He walked up to one of the chained roamers and grit his teeth as he thrusted his knife upwards through its jaw, the blade poking out of the top of its skull. He then moved the knife downwards, causing the roamer to drop down to the ground.
Ms. Malone nodded.
"Your turn, Ronnie Anne."
Ronnie Anne looked at the small roamer and lifted her crossbow. She yelled as she grabbed the grip of her crossbow and slammed the butt against the roamer's face. The roamer growled as it fell down before Ronnie Anne slammed the crossbow against its face again.
"Great job," said Ms. Malone. "It wasn't hard to kill something that is dead already, right? I doubt it feels pain."
Lincoln turned around as he heard footsteps in the distance. He saw Ira running back to the group, holding two bunnies in his hands. He stepped across the roamer corpses and handed them to Ms. Malone.
"Thank you very much, Ira."
Ira ran back to the group where he was welcomed with a high five from Desmond.
"Good job, little man," said Desmond.
Ira smiled as he turned towards Lincoln and Ronnie Anne. Ms. Malone looked down at the two children and handed them the bunnies.
"Woah, what's this?" asked Lincoln, hesitating to grab his bunny.
"They look like babies to me," said Ronnie Anne, grabbing a bunny from its back.
"That's because they are babies. A week old. I know how it looks like. Why would you want to kill something so small and helpless?"
Lincoln felt himself frowning as he braced himself for his next task.
"Out there, you must be willing to kill anything in order to save yourself. Anything at all. In this case, you're so hungry, you could eat anything— and that includes a bunny. For your final task, you must kill a bunny."
Ronnie Anne grabbed its white furry body and placed her hands on top of its head. She then twisted as hard as she could as the bunny flailed around, before hearing a snap.
Lincoln gasped softly as he watched Ronnie Anne drop the dead bunny in front of her. He then looked at his own bunny and closed his eyes as he pointed his knife at it. He did not move the knife.
"Heh," chuckled Desmond. "Is weak little Lincoln not going to…"
Lincoln shoved the knife through its forehead causing the body to stop moving as its lifeless eyes stared at him. He pulled out the knife and dropped it, staring at Ms. Malone with guilt in his own eyes.
Ms. Malone looked at the bunnies on the ground before looking at the group of children.
"I'd like to hear results," she said. "Desmond?"
"For a smart guy, Lincoln sure can't pick a lock with simple tools. He failed. Ronnie Anne didn't."
"Hargrove?"
"Desmond's just being a dick— a jerk! A jerk, sorry. Lincoln passed with flying colors. Ronnie Anne failed. They were just knots, girl."
Ronnie Anne rolled her eyes.
"Gertrude?"
"Lincoln passed. Ronnie Anne failed."
"Piers?"
"They both failed. I'm as good as it gets."
"Ira?"
"I beat both of them. I think they… failed."
Ms. Malone nodded.
"Sonya?"
"Lincoln's bright intelligence passed him. Ronnie Anne… sorry to tell you, but… you failed."
"Fallyn?"
"Lincoln failed. Ronnie Anne passed… like way ahead of the boy."
"Owen?"
"Lincoln failed, unlike Ronnie Anne who passed. Climbing trees. I didn't think it was so hard."
"Troy?"
"Lincoln passed. Ronnie Anne, on the other hand, failed badly. Huh. Who know reading maps and needles on a compass could be so hard?"
"Enough," said Annie. "And I'm next, right?"
Ms. Malone nodded.
"Ronnie Anne passed. Lincoln didn't."
"Juliett?"
"They both passed."
"That's like a stalemate, isn't it?" said Troy. "What's gonna happen now? Are they gonna like… bap! Bap! Pow! Fight to the death now?"
"What?" gasped Lincoln.
Troy chuckled.
"I'm just kiddin', man! Oh, I swear you just got paler than your hair color."
"Troy, please!" exclaimed Annie. "Ms. Malone is going to talk! Shut it!"
"Haha, oh… ha! Oh… sorry."
"It's not a competition," said Ms. Malone. "You two are capable survivors. You're part of our class now. And I expect everyone in here to treat Lincoln and Ronnie Anne with respect. I'm talking to you, Desmond."
Desmond crossed his arms as Ms. Malone began walking back to the stairwell. Lincoln and Ronnie Anne followed her, as they no longer walked alone. They were walking with the group.
A dark-blue dusk sky hovered over the roof of the school where Ronnie Anne walked around holding her crossbow and a pair of binoculars. The sun had set, yet it was not completely dark. She placed her crossbow down next to her and sat herself on the edge of the roof as she looked into her binoculars, observing the pine trees that ran along a highway outside the suburban town. She then inspected the streets within the town, only finding abandoned cars. She turned to her right— towards the direction of D.C.— and saw many buildings clustered in an area.
"You're not supposed to be out here," exclaimed a voice.
Ronnie Anne gasped and turned around to see Annie standing next to the roof entrance. Her cold breaths flowed out of her lips as she watched Annie approach her.
"I just needed a moment to myself," said Ronnie Anne.
"Stargazing? Birdwatching? Nah, citygazing. Not much to see in this quiet town."
"No… no, I'm just trying to see if anyone's out there."
Annie stood next to Ronnie Anne as she faced the suburbs again.
"My brother's usually the one gazing out there, mapping things, trying to find people," said Annie. "Bobby, right? That's your brother's name?"
Ronnie Anne nodded.
"Must feel good," added Annie. "Having an older brother. Not having to worry about taking care of a younger sibling."
"I wouldn't exactly say that. I had younger cousins. Lived with them, actually. They were like siblings to me."
"What happened to them?"
"They're dead— I think. Least, that's what Bobby said."
"And your parents? Mom? Dad?"
"My dad is, like, in Peru. Hopefully somewhere safe where the dead aren't roaming."
"Yeah, it's, like, mountainous over there, right?"
Ronnie Anne nodded. Annie sat down next to her.
"What about your mom?" asked Annie.
"She's all the way in Michigan. Trying to make my way back to her. But if we're being honest… I don't want to go on another journey. I'm exhausted, man. I just want to find my brother."
"Well… I'd do anything to get back to my dad. But I don't have any clue where he is. He always traveled to a bunch of places around the country… part of the job description. And my mom… well, she wanted to stock up on baby formula. I was supposed to have a younger sibling, and if we're being honest… I would have hated that. Anyways, I offered to go to the store myself, but she wanted to be dumb and go to the store with that big belly of hers. She took me and Troy with her… and died right in front of us. One of the uncontrollables got her right in the neck."
"I'm sorry for your loss."
"Yeah, I'm sorry too. The moment I lost her was when I knew I had to take care of Troy for the rest of my life. She was emotionally distant from us… but at least she took the burden of responsibility. But before she died… she never even told me where my dad was. I wanted to find him so that I don't have to be responsible for Troy anymore… but it's a lot easier now. He listens to me. He listens to Ms. Malone."
Ronnie Anne looked at Annie.
"You seem to like Ms. Malone," asked Ronnie Anne. "How'd you meet her?"
"She was my teacher before all this. Back then, it was just spending all period staring at her hair, and her lips, and her… her face. Now, I… I look at her chest… her hips… her— her ass."
"Sounds like you have a crush on her."
"I'm in love with her," said Annie. "I know what you're thinking. It's weird. I'd agree. But… this whole world's weird, don't you think?"
"Yeah, but… she's like— what, forty?"
"Thirty-eight."
"She's almost as old as my mom."
"Well… I just happen to find her beautiful and powerful, okay? Now, I'm only telling you 'cause I need to get it out in the open."
"Okay. I promise I won't tell anyone."
Annie smiled. Ronnie Anne cleared her throat as she prepared to ask her a question.
"Do you realize she may not share the same feelings?"
"She's been alone for more than two years. I'm the only well-developed girl in the group. I used to be ashamed of it… but having an ass has its perks."
"Oh boy…" Ronnie Anne whispered to herself.
"I'd do anything for her. I want to make her happy. I want to— wait. I totally didn't make things awkward, right? Damn, I think I just did."
"No, no, I get it. I do… it's just… I'm a bit tired. And it's kinda cold out here."
"Let's head back," said Annie, standing up.
"Sorry for cutting the convo short."
"We have a lot of days ahead of us. You cut nothing short."
Ronnie Anne gulped and stood up and picked up her crossbow before she reluctantly followed Annie to the roof entrance. She followed her into the dark stairwell and closed the door behind her, leaving the roof empty and unwatched.
The melting snow on the ground reflected the light of the afternoon sun, which hovered over the cluster of buildings that made up the downtown section of Bethesda. An empty bus lay in the middle of the street with unmoving corpses inside, their eyes dark and decayed. Green crates were scattered across a certain wide street, as bullet cartridges rolled around.
Lincoln looked around the street and saw green camouflage clothing with the U.S. flag patches attached on the sleeves. He then saw black clothing with the flag patches of the KHAN.
Ronnie Anne walked along a sidewalk, passing by a hose connecting a fire hydrant to a fire truck. She then looked at the scorched wall and noticed a scratched imprint on it, though she was unable to tell what it said— the erosion having already smudged it.
"Hey," whispered Lincoln.
"What's up, Lincoln?" whispered back Ronnie Anne.
"I don't trust these people. They've done enough for us. I think we gotta ask them if we can leave?"
"Already? No, dude, look. We'll talk about this later. For now, just look for Lori and everyone else."
"That's the thing, I-I actually don't know if they are."
Ms. Malone turned around, catching Lincoln off-guard. She then looked up at a building about ten stories high and turned on her walkie-talkie.
"How's the situation up there?" she asked.
Troy looked down at the group with his binoculars while Fallyn stood next to him, holding her bow. He placed the walkie-talkie close to his mouth.
"We got nothing. Things look dead around here. Literally."
Ms. Malone looked down at Lincoln and Ronnie Anne.
"Copy that, Troy."
Lincoln and Ronnie Anne continued walking ahead with the rest of the group as Ms. Malone slowed her pace. Annie stared at her, slowing her pace down as well.
"Are you curious about what happened here?" asked Ms. Malone.
"A little bit," said Ronnie Anne. "D.C. looks like this. A lot more bodies and blood but still like this."
"Yes, yesterday you said there was an invasion at D.C. and that the White House seemed compromised. But the violence that happened there… didn't just remain there. We housed injured soldiers in here. But then… it all happened so fast. The violence spilled here… and soldiers were being slaughtered by the K.H.A. Nationalists."
"So you know about the Nationalists," said Lincoln.
"I used to watch my fair share of news. The necrosis flu was always on the headlines… but so were the Nationalists. Perhaps the necrosis flu was so shocking and unreal that it grappled every person in this country and served as a great distraction… and people were never able to make the connection between the KHAN and the necrosis flu."
Lincoln raised his eyebrows. Hargrove then approached him.
"It sounds like a crazy theory, but dude, she's got a lot of evidence. Ms. Malone's, like, a genius, man."
"Forgive me," said Ms. Malone. "Everytime I talk about the KHAN, the kids look at me like I'm a crazy conspiracy theorist."
"No, go on," said Lincoln. "I want to hear more."
Ms. Malone smiled before her walkie-talkie crackled.
"Ms. Malone? I got eyes. Two survivors. One's a dude, and the other's a girl. They both look like they're in their 20s. Really attractive."
Ms. Malone grabbed her walkie-talkie.
"How do they look?"
"One's blond and white. Another's got black hair and tan."
"Lori…" whispered Lincoln.
"Who's the blond one, Troy?" asked Ms. Malone.
"The dude. The dude's blond. And white. The brown girl's got the black hair."
Lincoln frowned.
"It's not Lori and Bobby," said Ms. Malone. "Get into position. We're making contact."
Ms. Malone walked to the building next to the group and opened the doors, letting all the kids inside, except Jewelee.
"Jewelee, you're up," she said.
Jewelee smiled as she grabbed a bottle of ketchup.
"Improv time," said Jewelee.
Jewelee ran away as Ms. Malone entered the building, closing the doors. The sunlight served as the only source of light that lit up the inside, which was revealed to be a bank with marble floors.
"What are we doing?" asked Lincoln.
"We're going to survive and find Lori and Bobby," said Ms. Malone. "We're going to see what the strangers know."
"But… Jewelee is the only out there."
"Just wait and see," said Annie. "You'll see what Ms. Malone means."