Lies

noise. The flu that had been going around was sure to spread through this crowd, Astrid thought grimly. Lungs damaged by smoke inhalation would be especially vulnerable.
    But they were still alive, Astrid told herself. Against all the odds, more than ninety percent of the kids first trapped in the FAYZ were still alive.
    Mary led the preschoolers out of the day care into theplaza. Astrid looked closely. Mary seemed her normal self. She grabbed a little girl who was about to step in front of a boy on a skateboard.
    Had she been wrong about Mary? Mary would never forgive her.
    “Well, so what?” Astrid muttered wearily. “It’s not like I was ever popular.”
    Then, Zil and a half dozen of his crew swaggered into the plaza from the far side. Astrid clenched her jaw. Would the crowd turn on them? She almost hoped so. People thought because she wouldn’t let Sam go after Zil she must not really despise the Human Crew’s Leader. That was wrong. She hated Zil. Hated everything he had done and everything he had tried to do.
    Edilio moved quickly between Zil and a few of the boys who had started toward him, sticks and knives at the ready.
    Zil’s kids were armed with knives and bats, and so were those who wanted to take them on. Edilio was armed with an assault rifle.
    Astrid hated that this was what life so often came down to: my weapon is bigger than your weapon.
    If Sam were here it would be about his hands. Everyone had either seen what Sam could do, or heard the stories retold in vivid detail. No one challenged Sam.
    “It’s what makes him dangerous,” Astrid muttered to herself.
    But it was also what had kept her alive on more than one occasion. Her and Little Pete.
    She hated Sam for doing this, for just withdrawing like this. Disappearing. It was passive aggressive. Unworthy of him.
    But another part was glad he was gone. If he were here it would be all about him. If Sam were here then every word Astrid spoke would be conditioned on what Sam would say or do. The kids would be watching his face for clues, waiting to see whether he nodded or laughed or smirked or gave them that cool, steely warning look he’d acquired over these last months.
    Orc made his way into the crowd. People parted to let him pass. Astrid spotted Dekka, as always left alone by other kids so that she seemed to have a force field around her. The one person Astrid didn’t see was Brianna. Brianna wasn’t someone you missed or overlooked. She must still be too sick to go out.
    “It’s time,” Albert said over his shoulder.
    “Now?” Astrid was surprised.
    “Once we feed them they’ll go off in separate directions. I got them here and behaving themselves because of food. Once the food is gone…”
    “Okay.” Astrid’s heart was in her throat. She clenched her papers again and stood up too suddenly.
    “Like Moses, huh?” Albert said.
    “What?”
    “Like Moses coming down off the mountain with the Ten Commandments,” Albert said.
    “Those were written by God,” Astrid said. “This wasn’t.”
    She tripped a little walking down the steps but caughtherself. No one was paying particular attention as she entered the crowd. One or two kids called out greetings. Many more made rude or hostile remarks. Mostly kids were focused on the small fires, where venison and chunks of fish browned on skewers made of wire clothes hangers.
    She reached the fountain, which was close enough to the cook fires that kids noticed when she climbed up and unfolded her papers.
    “Everyone…,” she began.
    “Oh, puh-leeze, not some speech,” a voice heckled.
    “I…I just have a few things to say. Before you can eat,” Astrid said.
    A groan went up. One kid picked up a piece of dirt and tossed it with poor aim—and not too much commitment—at Astrid. Orc took two steps, brushing aside a couple of kids in the process, and made a low growling noise with his scary face right up against the kid’s nose. That signaled the end of dirt throwing.
    “Go ahead, Astrid,” Orc rumbled.
    Astrid noticed Edilio hiding a smile. Back a million years ago, back in the old life, Astrid had tutored Orc.
    “Okay,” Astrid began. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. “I…Okay. When the FAYZ came, all our lives changed. And ever since then all we’ve tried to do is get by, day to day. We’ve been lucky because some people worked very hard and took big risks to help us all make it.”
    “Can we eat now?” a younger kid cried.
    “And