Black River Falls by Jeff Hirsch(50)

Greer’s camp looked deserted when I came down the trail.

Were they at the supply drop? I tried to count back to the day I went to town with him and the kids, but it felt like that was a million years ago. I tightened the straps of my mask, then walked through the cabins, gathering up a few of the things that were scattered around—our football, the croquet set, some board games. I put everything back in the supply shed and was about to leave when I had an idea. I pushed some old camping gear out of the way and rummaged through the dusty shelves. When I found what I was looking for, I filled my arms and went back outside.

A door slammed shut. Hannah came out of the dining hall with Snow Cone and Hershey Bar trotting along behind. She didn’t see me. They went inside Astrid’s cabin and closed the door. Nerves twisted my stomach in knots.

I checked my mask and gloves again and then, since my hands were full, I kicked at the base of the cabin door. It opened a crack and Snow Cone shot out, bowling me over onto my butt. She forced herself into my lap, tongue lolling, her stubby tail wagging a hundred times a minute. I rubbed at her side, shying away from her rash until I saw that it was nearly gone.

“Looks like somebody’s been taking her medicine, huh, girl?”

“Kids take turns giving it to her.”

Hannah was standing just inside the door, her hand resting on the knob.

“You looking for Greer?”

I shook my head. She gazed out over the empty camp. I thought she was going to tell me to leave, but she backed into the dimness of the cabin, leaving the door open. I gathered the things I’d taken from the supply shed and followed her inside.

She was set up in the back corner. She didn’t have much, just a cot and a few stacks of clothes. Some of the kids’ drawings were pinned to the wall around her bed. A psychedelic landscape that was clearly Astrid’s hung next to a blueprint-like sketch of the bridge over Black River Falls that could only have been done by Makela.

Hannah sat on the edge of her cot and patted the space beside her. Hershey Bar jumped up and lay his head in her lap. I found a spot on a bunk across the room and tried to figure out what to say.

“Oh, hey. I talked to Gonzalez. The Guard arrested those guys who tried to grab you when you were first infected. So no need to go around in disguise anymore, I guess.”

“Good,” she said without really looking at me. “That’s good.”

Everything went quiet again. I could feel the seconds ticking by.

“So how’s the life of a camp counselor?”

She tried to smile, but it looked forced, tense. She pinched the key around her neck with two fingers and slid it back and forth on its band.

“They need a lot,” I said. “Don’t they?”

Hannah nodded. “Did you know Crystal wets her bed sometimes?”

I shook my head.

“She didn’t want anybody to know. Not even the other girls. I caught her cleaning up one night, and now it’s our little secret. And then Astrid and Makela are fighting half the time and Tomiko has nightmares. Oh, and Greer found out who Cash and Shan are. Ricky and Margo Westlake.”

“They’re brother and sister.”

Hannah nodded. “Their folks are here, but infected. We tried to get them together but it didn’t really work. So we’ve been dealing with that.”

We were quiet a moment. Snow Cone came in panting and lay down at my feet.

Hannah nodded toward the stack in my arms. “What’ve you got there?”

Oh. Right. “The camp has a few shelves of books in the back of the supply shed. It’s not much, mostly kids’ stuff, but I thought . . . well, I thought maybe one of the good things about losing your memory is that you get to read all your favorite books again for the first time. Bits and pieces might seem familiar but, you know. I made some guesses about what you’d like.”

I handed over the stack, and she went through them. “Pride and Prejudice. Great Expectations. The Dark is Rising. Harry Potter. Bridge to Terabithia.”

“I liked that last one a lot when I was a kid,” I said. “It’s kind of sad, but good.”

She thanked me, then set them on the nightstand next to her cot. Snow Cone nudged my calf with her nose. I reached down and scratched her ears.

“Gonzalez said you guys were going to some kind of carnival.”

“Next week,” Hannah said. “Whole town will be there. They’re trucking in rides and games and stuff for the kids.”

“I heard a Ferris wheel.”

“Yeah, can you believe that? Raney said there’s going to be some kind of big announcement too.”

“About what?”

She rolled her eyes. “Greer says he thinks it has something to do with the multimillion-dollar skate park and arcade they’re building us.” She paused and shifted gears. “Card, we’ve already decided that we’re going to go, so—”

“I’m not here to stop you.”

“Then why are you here?”

I couldn’t seem to look at her. It felt like the walls of the cabin had lurched closer, shutting us up in this airless little box.

“Card?”

“I wasn’t down there looking for a fight,” I said.

There was a flicker of recognition that I’d been listening to her and Greer talking that night in the museum, but she let it pass. “So why were you?”