"I hate everyone."
"Except me, right?"
"No, especially you."
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It's funny, isn't it? That when the whole world decides to become infected with a brutal and fatal virus, the real monsters are the ones still alive? Blake Finnegan lost most of...
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SHE DOESN'T TALK FOR THE REST OF THE WALK BACK TO ACE. It was too complicated to bring the motorcycle back home so we stashed it, there, in the hardware store in case we ever wanted to come back and use it. I keep the keys in my pocket. Sylvie doesn't joke. Sylvie doesn't smile. Not for the entire time.
By the time we come back, everyone looks exhausted. And she, still, looks still. I focus on Mars - on what happened, asking her questions instead. It's a little hard to do that when she's glaring daggers at the back of Sylvie's head the entire time.
"My mom's going to kill me..." Lope mutters, addressing the entire group as we approach the gates once again.
"You did...sneak out...dangerously." Mars shrugs.
"For you!" Lope exclaims.
"And I thank you, really, but even if I was in a position where I needed saving - I doubt I'd be alive by the time you got to me." Mars says.
"Ooh, she's a realist." Dom hums, smirking like it entertains him.
"Who here isn't?" Mars scoffs, "I mean seriously, name one optimist in this environment."
Dom makes a face of contemplation before shrugging, "True."
"Besides, she could be a pessimist." Nari adds.
"Nope, that spots already filled by Blake." Mars shakes her head, turning to her left and grinning up at me.
"Keep your eyes ahead before you trip and die." I narrow my eyes.
"See! Pessimist." Mars continues to grin, but still listens to me and looks forward.
"Mom is going to kill me." Lope repeats, the stress in her voice sounding genuine.
"Perhaps." Petra notes, "But since everything went as good as it could...she might reward you?"
"Mom doesn't do rewards." Lope shakes her head, "If I'm lucky she'll be too disappointed to speak to me - and just send me to my room."
"That's...healthy." The concern in Petra's eyes is only noticed by me as Lope continues to stare at where her feet go.
We land outside the gate, but on a side I don't entirely recognise too well (to be fair I've only spent like one night here) and Lope surprises me when she pulls a loose part of scrap and plank to the side, ushering us in.
"This your equivalent of sneaking out your window to parties?" Harley asks amused.
"Something like that." Lope huffs out a laugh.
"Mars and I need to speak to your mother." I tell Lope, getting down to business, "And then-"
