In the After

go easy on me. Bad strategy.
    In three moves she had me on the floor. I tried to get up but she hit me twice in the face. I groaned, the metallic taste of blood in my mouth.
    “Next time, sunshine,” she told me, “wear your hood.”

    “What happened to you?” Vivian asked, her voice heavy with concern when I arrived twenty minutes late to class.
    “Kay Oh punched me in the face,” I told her. It was more of a chop than a punch but, either way, my face ached; the area around my eye had already begun to turn dark purple.
    “What? Why did she do that?”
    “It’s a long story. She was trying to help me, if you can believe it.”
    “Remind me to never ask Kay Oh for help,” she said, studying my bruise. “But seriously, why did Kay hit you?” she asked. Then understanding dawned on her face. “You’re training to be a Guardian, aren’t you?” she whispered.
    “No one can know,” I said, but I was relieved that she’d figured it out. I’d wanted to tell her, if just to vent, but Kay was adamant that it had to be kept secret.
    “I won’t tell anyone, I promise. Just be careful.” She reached for my hand, squeezed it. I looked at her face—her scar—my eyes tracing the white line.
    “Vivian, you never told me. What happened to you?” I asked.
    She surveyed the class and then motioned to the door. “Let’s go for a walk.”
    Outside in the fresh air, it was a while before Vivian began to speak. We watched the Class Twos on the playground. I looked for Adam but didn’t spot him.
    “We were trapped in our apartment building,” she finally said, sounding distant. “My parents were out. They probably died right away. We were stuck. We couldn’t leave, not with the Floraes on the loose. We barricaded the front doors and the stairs and holed up in the top apartment. It was me, my brother, and a couple of people we knew from our building. We weren’t thinking long term, we just wanted to survive each day.” Her face was strangely calm though her voice was heavy with misery.
    “We had electricity for a couple of days. But you know, the news was so grim, it was almost a relief after the power went out and we couldn’t listen to the radio anymore. We had no contact with the outside world. For all we knew, we were the only people left on the planet.” Vivian tugged at her necklace.
    “We ran out of food after a month. We were careful, basically starved ourselves to conserve what we had. My brother and the old man from 7B went to search the other apartments.” Her voice quavered at the mention of her brother. “They never came back. A Florae must have gotten in somehow.
    “We heard it eventually, clawing at the door. It wanted us. One woman wouldn’t stop screaming. We . . . there was a man, one of our neighbors; he was going to kill her to shut her up. I tried to stop him, but he was too strong. He knocked me out. When I woke up, the woman was dead, lying in a pool of blood with a slit throat. My face hurt when I touched my cheek.” She caressed her face. “It was wet. I thought it was from my tears, but then I looked down and my hand was covered in blood.”
    “What happened to the man, the one that killed the woman?”
    She shook her head. “I don’t know. He was gone when I woke up. I thought maybe he felt guilty and jumped off the roof. I couldn’t deal with being alone, so I went up there to do the same. Going up those stairs in the dark, I was convinced a Florae would attack at any second.” Wiping her eyes, she looked over at me.
    “Oh, Amy, I just wanted to die. My parents were gone, my brother; the entire world was dead—but I didn’t want a Florae to kill me. I’d rather have done it myself.”
    I nodded knowingly.
    “It’s a miracle,” she told me. “I was going to jump when I heard a thud behind me. The Guardians saw me on the roof. They came to rescue me.”
    She fingered the gold cross suspended above her breastbone. “This was my mother’s. I always thought all that religious stuff she tried to get us to believe was crap, but standing there on that rooftop, no hope in my heart, and being saved by the Guardians . . . I thought they were angels. I know I was half starved and delusional with grief, but at that moment I believed my mother had sent them to me. I still do. I light a candle every Sunday and thank God I’m alive.”
    I wrapped my arms around Vivian and gave her a gentle squeeze. I wasn’t able to take away her horrible memories, but I could