Apocalypse Plus One: My Snarky Sidekick novel · Chapter 21 of 24
Chapter 21: The Keys
Jude held me hard, and I held him, and for a few seconds neither of us said anything.
"You're late," I said into his shirt.
"I was busy being caught by a cardigan."
"Did she hurt you?"
"Dane hit me once, and I let him. He has a weak right."
His lip was swollen, and I put my thumb gently on the corner of it.
"I told you I'd come."
"I know. I'd hoped you wouldn't."
"That's a lie."
"Partly," he said, and kissed the heel of my hand.
The room was a pharmacy storeroom, with steel shelves of boxed drugs and a sliding glass panel in the wall.
The panel looked out onto the hall of cots.
Jude had already pried it open an inch with a tongue depressor.
We knelt on the floor and looked through the gap.
Lindsey stood in the aisle between the beds with her keys in her fist, and Dane stood in front of her, red in the face.
"You promised me a bed," he said. "A real one, in the inner ring."
"You've got a cot."
"I've got a cot by the toilets! I carried every bag you owned!"
"You carried them because you were useless at anything else," Lindsey said sweetly.
Nurses had stopped along the rows to watch.
A man on a cot sat up on one elbow.
"Keep your voice down," Lindsey said.
"Why? Everyone ought to know."
"Dane."
"She's lived this before!" Dane shouted. "She told me! She says she knew about the rain. She knew who'd live and who'd die. She picked people on the first day by what they'd carry."
A hush fell over the hall.
"He's drunk," said Lindsey.
"I haven't had a drink in a week!"
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