Yesterdays Gone: SEASON TWO (THE POST-APOCALYPTIC SERIAL THRILLER) (Yesterday's Gone)

about her body before, but waiting for Black Pieces to make the next move made Luca imagine the slight curve of her hip. And that made him feel the uncomfortable tingle below his waist again.  
    He turned his attention to the chessboard - moving for Black Pieces and then immediately moving for himself, getting his queen to safety again - when there was a slight knock on the door. Mary poked her head inside.

    Luca looked up, surprised. “Just checking on you,” Mary said behind her smile, laced with its usual little bit of sadness. “Are you coming out? Desmond told everyone you needed a minute, but the natives are getting restless. There’s seven cars ready to take us.”
    Mary glanced at the board and saw both sets of pieces. Luca could feel her eyes on his right hand hovering just above the Black Pieces’ queen, ready to make his next move; could feel her trying to ignore it. Luca suddenly realized how pretty Mary was, how much she looked like Paola. He felt the funny feeling again, followed by a wave of guilt.  
    “The clothes fit okay?” she asked.  
    “They’re a little big,” Luca said, “but not too bad.” He smiled awkwardly, trying to ignore the funny feeling, waiting for Mary to leave and hoping the Black Pieces wouldn’t get impatient and disappear again.  
    There were plenty of grownup clothes in the house. Even though Luca had grown several inches, he was much skinnier than everyone else and swam in the grownup clothes.  
    “I’m glad,” Mary said. “Let’s give it another five minutes, okay? We’re loading up now. We’re in the last car, the burgundy van at the end of the line.” Mary smiled once more, then shut the door behind her.  
    Paola’s mom was harder to read than anyone else in Luca’s new family. She loved Desmond and had an overwhelming need to look out for everyone else, but the only thing she ever really thought about was protecting Paola. Other stuff mattered, but not as much. It reminded Luca of when he was five and the only thing he wanted to watch was Star Wars: Episode VI . Other movies were good, too. And he liked them when they were on, but he was always thinking about the Ewoks and Luke’s final battle with the Emperor and his dad, Darth Vader.  
    Luca moved for Black Pieces, then quickly made his own move to keep the game going so Black Pieces wouldn’t have to wait.  
    Luca closed his eyes and waited for the Black Pieces, but they seemed to have disappeared. Luca called out in his mind but heard no response.  
    Luca wasn’t sure what to do. If the Black Pieces were done playing, he could go downstairs and get going. Maybe they would finish later. But if the Black Pieces came back and still wanted to play but Luca was gone, they would be mad. And that wouldn’t be good.
    The Black Pieces were usually nice. Luca had only seen them get mad twice before. The first time was back during February’s incident; the one Desmond promised they would never have to talk about. The second was earlier this morning, right before the bleakers came.  
    When the Black Pieces got mad, they didn’t even act like the Black Pieces anymore. They acted like the Man in the Center instead.  
    He couldn't help but notice that he was just a couple moves away from checkmating the Black Pieces. Luca wondered if that was why they had disappeared. The Black Pieces hated to lose.  
    The Man in the Center had been in Luca’s head ever since the Drury. The Man wasn’t the boss of all the other voices, but he seemed to always be in the middle.  
    Luca scratched his head. This was always so hard, trying to figure stuff out and have it make sense.  
    The Man in the Center was like the sun. The sun wasn’t the boss of the day, but if it didn’t come out, the day didn’t exist. The voices liked to tell him stuff, especially about Will, but Luca somehow knew they weren’t allowed to say anything without the Man’s permission.  
    Except for the Black Pieces. Luca was pretty sure the Black Pieces were allowed to say whatever they wanted.  
    The voices had told Luca a lot, but they hadn’t told him what he should tell the rest of his new family. He didn’t want to tell them anything, really. It would only scare them. And everyone was already scared enough. So he would continue to wait. He could always tell everyone if it looked like they were about to step into any danger. Besides, Will knew everything already.  
    The Black Pieces returned to the board.
    Luca moved the