Read Online Quarantine #2: The Saints by Lex Thomas - Free Book Online Page B

walked off, leaving Lucy with only Leonard and Belinda on either side of her. She turned to Belinda, hoping to see the shock Lucy felt, but instead, tears were pouring down Belinda’s cheek. She was trying desperately to keep from breaking apart.
    “It’s just—it’s just that, you have somewhere to go, right Lucy?” Belinda said.
    “Oh, Belinda …,” Lucy said. “Why?”
    “Freddy. He pulled some strings. The Nerds weren’t looking for new members, but he got me in. He said he’ll take care of me, Lucy. I think he really loves me. You understand, don’t you?”
    Lucy took deep breaths, to stave off her sudden dizziness.
    “I understand, Bel,” Lucy said. And she did understand. She understood all the reasons the other Loners wanted to leave, and she certainly understood Belinda being unable to turn down an opportunity for love and safety.
    “But I need to know you’ll be okay, Lucy. I need to know that or I can’t go.”
    “Don’t worry about me, Bel,” Lucy said softly. She felt thetears coming, but she fought them back. “Go find that boy and hug him tight for me. I’m sure we’ll see each other soon.”
    “Yeah, real soon,” Belinda said.
    “Leonard, we should head back,” Lucy said. She had to get away from Belinda; she was going to cry.
    “Geeks,” Leonard said. His shoulders were slumped and he kept his eyes on the ground.
    “What?”
    “I want to learn to sing.”

10
    HE WAS LOSING HER.
    Will sat on the stairs, alone in the dark. He’d traded all the lightbulbs in the Stairs for two salamis and an old matchbook. It hadn’t been a popular decision with the Loners who had stuck around in the weeks since the Sam incident. Will couldn’t bring himself to care though. He preferred the dark.
    “Hello?”
    Lucy’s voice below made him sit up, but he didn’t answer.
    “Is anybody here?”
    He couldn’t see Lucy, only the white rectangle of her cell phone’s screen, moving through the black. Will coughed. The white rectangle turned toward him and shined a weak, milky light in his direction.
    “Hi,” she said. Lucy tilted her phone’s light back at her own face. She forced a slight smile, but he could tell she was sad. Join the club.
    “Might want to stay back. I don’t want to get you sick,” Will said.
    It had been going around, clogged nose, pulsing pain behind the eyeballs, exhaustion, and a sore throat. The Saints must have brought it in, because it was all over the school now.
    “Here,” Lucy said, and handed him her phone. He shined it on her as she put down the water jugs she’d been lugging.
    “How much water have you had?” she asked.
    “Not enough, probably.”
    She nodded and knelt down. As she poured some water into a tall thermos, she stared off at an empty wall, her brow bunched up, and her eyes too far open.
    “I’ll start a fire,” he said.
    Will rocked forward; he needed the momentum to stand. He drew the crinkled metallic fabric of an emergency fire blanket tighter around his shoulders. There was wood already piled up in the disembodied sink on the floor. He put the phone on the floor, faceup, and lit a match. Will tossed it into the sink and the book pages under the wood caught fire right away. The flames grew into a respectable campfire. Lucy hadn’t said a word the whole time.
    Will sat down, out of breath from the strain. Lucy walked over and handed him the thermos. He drank half of it in one gulp. Lucy sat near him. Still silent.
    “Are you doing all right?” Will asked.
    She nodded. He knew she was lying. She leaned toward theflame, eyes closed. Will watched ribbons of golden light flutter across her face. Her cheekbones were round like twin scoops of butterscotch ice cream. A tear spilled from her eye. It drew a gleaming string of light down her cheek.
    “Lucy?”
    “They’re all gone,” she said.
    “Who’s all gone?”
    “The only ones who were left. Belinda went Nerds. Ritchie went Skaters. And Mort and Colin—” She let out a