“I’m the head of the council,” Astrid pleaded.
“You want us to vote on that?” Howard asked. “Because we can vote right now.”
Astrid froze. She looked out at a sea of faces, not one of which belonged to someone who was on her side.
“Petey. Come on,” Astrid said.
She held her head up high as she walked through the crowd and out of the church.
Another failure. The only comfort was that it would be her last as the head of the council.
THIRTY-THREE
7 HOURS, 51 MINUTES
“I DON’T SEE any big mansion,” Diana said. “I see trees.”
“Bug,” Caine called.
“Good luck finding him,” Diana said. Bug had been clearly visible during the climb up from the water. Caine had caught him once as he fell.
But as they topped the cliff they faced a line of trees, not a fabulous Hollywood hideaway. Trees and more trees.
Penny lost it then. She started yelling, “Where is it? Where is it?” and running into the forest.
“Bug!” Caine shouted. No answer.
“Yeah,” Diana said, “We trusted Bug. And here we are.” She turned and saw the boat. It was drifting farther and farther away. On its way to the distant power plant maybe. Maybe they would survive somehow. Maybe they would be better off than Diana was.
“Sheep!” Penny’s voice from some distance away.
Diana exchanged a look with Caine. Was Penny crazy? Maybe so, but was she hallucinating sheep?
The two of them started forward into the woods. Soon they saw that the trees were just a narrow belt and that beyond them lay a sunny meadow of knee-high grass.
Penny was at the edge of the meadow, staring and pointing and wobbling like she might topple over at any moment.
/> “They’re real, right?” Penny asked.
Diana shaded her eyes and, yes, they were real. Three dirty-white cotton balls with black faces, almost within reach. The sheep turned and stared at them with stupid eyes.
Caine acted quickly. He raised his hand and snatched one of the sheep off the ground. It flew through the air and smacked with sickening force into a large tree. It fell to the ground, white wool marked with red.
They were on it like tigers. Bug, suddenly visible right there next to them, tearing at the wool, desperate to expose the flesh. But with bare hands and brittle fingernails, even with their dull loose teeth, they couldn’t reach the meat.
“We need something sharp,” Caine said.
Penny found a sharp-edged rock. Too big for her to carry, but not too heavy for Caine. The rock rose in the air and came down like a cleaver.
It was messy. But it worked. And the four of them ripped and tore at chunks of raw mutton.
“Kind of hungry, huh?”
Two kids were standing there like they had appeared out of thin air. The taller one had spoken. His eyes were intelligent, mocking, and wary. The other kid’s face was impassive, expressionless.
Both were dressed in bandages. Bandages wrapped around their hands. The shorter kid had a bandana around his lower face.
The silence stretched as Caine, Diana, Penny, and Bug stared and were stared back at.