The Loners

He was going to kick David’s ass.



Lucy knew she wasn’t in love yet. This was just the beginning, but it felt tremendous. She felt so full with joy that it lifted her off her feet. She’d seen the same joy bubbling up in David too. He’d unleashed his inner goofball. She spent half the night with her mouth hanging open. She couldn’t believe David’s silly voices or the imitation of a drunk giraffe he did to make her laugh. She wished she could peek into his ear and see everything inside his head.



Lucy ran around a corner and crouched down next to the stripped skeleton of a water fountain. David was chasing her.



Her cheeks hurt from smiling, but she couldn’t stop. She was breathing hard, her whole body tingled. She poked her head past the water fountain and peered down the hall. There was no sign of David. He could’ve been anywhere.



She popped up and ran. She’d get to the Stairs eventually, but she was having fun. She looked around every corner. Still, no David. Her heart drumrolled from the anticipation.



She couldn’t wait for David to catch her.



She should have been afraid, but she wasn’t. She was with David, and David would never let anything happen to her.



She raced around another dark corner. Something collided with her. Unseen arms lifted her off her feet. She tried to scream, but pure fright kicked the air out of Lucy’s chest.



Her attacker took her down to the floor quickly, but a hand slipped behind her head to soften the impact. It was David’s hand. His lips were on hers. The first kiss was soft and gentle, like they were sharing a whispered conversation. But then his body pressed heavy into hers. His lips were firm and hungry, and he made a deep humming noise that made Lucy sweat.



She lost track of time. She felt small and delicate. David pulled away and stared into her eyes. He said nothing. She didn’t look away. She didn’t dare risk losing the power of the moment. She felt connected to him, bonded to him, vulnerable to him. It overwhelmed her. She was completely lost in him.



David stood and pulled her gently to her feet. They walked back to the Stairs without saying anything. Some of the time he had his arm around her, and the rest of the time he held her hand. She thought he was pretty good at both. Everything was so right.



When they passed through the guards and the barricades of the Stairs, they paused by the armory. They were jolted from their dream state by the racket of three floors’ worth of conversations, arguments, and gossip. The Stairs sucked the life right out of her.



She grimaced at David, and he grimaced back. Lucy didn’t want to deal with the rest of the gang. She didn’t want to walk up there and have to declare themselves an item, but she also didn’t want to walk up there and pretend like nothing was going on. And then there was Will. Guilt reached its hands out at her. She pushed Will out of her mind.



“Do you want to go hang out in the elevator?” David said.



Lucy turned to David, filled with relief. She squeezed his hand.



“Yes.”



“Wait here. I’m gonna grab some candles. I’ll be quick.” David bounded up the stairs. The elevator sounded wonderful. She couldn’t think of a more romantic place to hide.



Just them, and no one else. Her perfect night didn’t have to end just yet.



Behind the curtains of David’s quarters, the noise of the gang was softer and more distant. David fished three candles out of a tin can that was nailed to the wall. He rooted around in other cans until he found a condom. Just in case. It wasn’t like he had a plan. He’d stopped planning when he kissed Lucy in the auditorium. Lucy didn’t need him to be a hero. He didn’t have to act like everything would turn out all right. And he didn’t have to be on guard. He just had to be himself. That’s all Lucy wanted. It made him happy.



And then there was Will.



David thought he would have passed him on the way up to his room, sulking at his post. But he didn’t, and he didn’t care.



He’d deal with Will tomorrow. Not that there was anything to deal with. Lucy had told David plainly that she wasn’t interested in Will. That was that, and everything afterward just happened. Nothing more to say.



He couldn’t wait to get back to Lucy.



Something cracked hard across his back of his head. He dropped to the ground in an instant. His head struck the floor.



Hands grabbed at him. Fingernails dug into his skin. He could smell fruit and flowers. Fabric rustled above him. He struggled, but there were at least four figures tugging him around. They flipped him to his back and pinned him to the ground.



Freaks, David thought. This was it. Oh, God. They were going to kill him.



David strained his eyes to see into the dark. Feet shuffled all around him. The closet unit he’d built was open, and clothes spilled out of it onto the floor. That was where they must have been hiding. Why wasn’t he paying attention?



Someone slapped his face then clutched his head. He felt his hands being crushed. He wanted to scream, but someone crammed a rolled-up athletic sock in his mouth.



“Daaa-vid,” a singsongy voice whispered, “pay attention, you piece of Loner trash.”



David widened his eyes to focus on his attackers. He saw six elegant silhouettes in the dim light. They were Pretty Ones.



Their legs were like silken columns towering over David. Two stood on his hands. Two held down his legs. Another pressed her palms down on his forehead with all of her weight, keeping his skull planted on the floor. One girl sashayed from side to side lazily like she was listening to a song that no one else could hear. As she moved, her skirt would flit open, and he could see all the way up. David wrenched his arms and legs around, but he couldn’t overcome their combined grip. They stared back at him blankly, with plastic smirks like evil dolls.



The girls pried David’s legs apart, and Hilary stepped into view. She lowered herself down to her knees and began to crawl on top of him. Her hair hung in front of her face. He felt her leg against his. She was shaking.



“Mmm, hot,” one of the Pretty Ones said. The others snickered quietly.



David’s heart pounded as Hilary made her way up him. It may have taken only seconds, but they were torturously long.



Hilary pulled her body up and straddled David’s rib cage.



Her weight squeezed air out of his lungs. The light cutting through the curtain entrance caught Hilary’s face as she turned. Her face was slack, and her right eye was purple and swollen. It looked inflated.



She leaned her lithe body forward. Down her dress, he saw the weight of her breast. David pressed his tongue against the sock in his mouth, and it moved a bit. He kept his eyes locked on hers, breathing hard through his nose.



“David,” Hilary said, “what happened the other night . . . was a mistake. I was weak, and you took advantage of that.” Her voice was flat, distant.



She ground down on her words. “It’s your fault this is happening now. You need to learn your place.” She looked off into the darkness as her voice failed her. “All you Scraps need to learn your place.” Barely a whisper now.



“This school belongs to Varsity.”



David worked his tongue against the sock in his mouth. His whole gang was just on the other side of that curtain, only a few stairs away. He screamed, but it was too muffled for them to hear. David kicked and thrashed his legs, but the Pretty Ones held fast.



Hilary held out a shaky hand, and one of her girls placed a slender ivory comb in it. She turned it in her fingers to reveal that the handle had been whittled into a sharp dagger.



Hilary looked out to the darkness again and shivered.



“Do it,” said a whisper from the dark.



Oh, God . . . Sam. He was here.



Hilary clamped her eyes shut.



David shook his head violently at her. The Pretty One above him held tight to his head. He pushed and pushed with his tongue, edging the sock out.



“Do it, baby,” said the whisperer from the dark.



A drop of water fell on his face. Then another. They were tears, dropping from Hilary’s chin.



Hilary lifted the dagger high, and her beautiful face twisted into something tormented and ugly. David screamed, and some of his voice escaped.



Someone threw aside the curtains and burst into the room.



Light from the stairwell spilled in. David’s heart soared.



It was Will.



He had a look on his face. It was pure rage. He must have heard the scream. He looked ready to fight, but then he froze, dumbfounded by the scene.



For just a second, David and Will locked eyes. Then Will had a seizure. He dropped on his stomach, his shuddering face landing inches from David’s. David could hear the sputter of his gurgling throat. David looked back to Hilary.



She jammed her dagger into his eye.



27



AGONY. IT WAS ALL DAVID KNEW FOR an eternity. Pain knifed through his eye, it twisted and scraped inside his skull so relentlessly that it felt like Hilary was still over him, rattling her ivory shank in his eye socket. David swung in the dark to knock her away, but it never changed anything.



Pain permeated his dreams too, making it impossible to know for sure when he was awake and when he wasn’t. He could sense that people were trying to help him. He heard words of consolation, but they were unintelligible through the throbbing haze.



In time, pain didn’t consume him anymore. He slept more restfully. He’d only awaken for moments before fading to sleep again.



“You had a fever from an infection,” Lucy said softly, holding his hand, “You’re doing well now, David.” She returned to reading a book aloud. It was rhythmic and soothing. There was talk of picnics and sunshine. Her voice faded away.



He came to later. Lucy’s voice came from a different direction.



“Oh, my God,” she said. “You’re not going to believe this, but I was really jealous of Dorothy. All those gifts she gave you? I actually tried to draw a picture of you one night. You should have seen it, it was horrible. Wow, I hope you’re not listening to any of this.”



He was, sort of, but he drifted away again.



“If your jaw hurts, it’s ’cause I had to knock you out, you were thrashing and yelling so bad,” Gonzalo said, chuckling.