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"Just do what you want," Violent said "I don’t get any benefit froirls out there are just in if you want to, who cares?"

"Right," Lucy said "Who cares"

"We good?"

Lucy nodded Violent walked past, and just before exiting, she gave Lucy a gentle pat on the shoulder Lucy took a deep breath She felt like a real weight had been lifted off of her She was lucky to have Violent in her life She turned for the door and headed back into the cafeteria They’d be eating soon

When Lucy stepped into the dining roo chant, voiced by every Slut in the room, and the volume of it nearly knocked Lucy over

"VIR-GIN! VIR-GIN! VIR-GIN! VIR-GIN!"

"I think we found you a nickname!" Lips shouted over all of it They continued their joyous chant "VIR-GIN! VIR-GIN! VIR-GIN! VIR-GIN!"

Lucy saw Violent laughing She was doubled over, getting red in the face She stood up, holding her chest like she couldn’t breathe She’d never seen Violent laugh so hard

"I had to!" Violent yelled to Lucy through the laughing fit "I’hter took her over again, and she had to steady herself on a nearby table

Lucy was set to break down, to fall apart frohinga great tihter, and in a weird way, themade her feel closer to them

"You bitches," Lucy said with a shting, vicious fighting over certain iterins across people’s faces to call it anything but joyous The parents had coh Junk food, candy, frozen pizza, and ingknocked unconscious over porn DVDs, pig piles on top of two video gaiant piñata had burst over their heads and now they were going berserk with adolescent sugar lust

"Will," a voice blared from above "Was that the kid’s name? The one that wanted the pills?"

Will looked up The e of the roof, behind the razor wire, his black hel in the sun The Saints said that the toxicity put off by infected teens only attacked the lungs, and that hy these adults were able to only wear oxygen tanks It was a step down fro

Will approached the wall The man in the motorcycle hel, then tossed it over the razor wire It spiraled down like a leaf toward the quad floor Will broke into a run for it, but there was soht it It landed perfectly in his hands, and he looked up at Will with a sharp-toothed smile and a flip of his blue mane

"Uh-oh," Bobby said "Looks like somebody’s outta--"

Bobby never finished his sentence Pruitt cracked him in the back of the neck with the butt of his rifle Bobby jolted and dropped Pruitt picked up the bag and tossed it to Will as he ca up Bobby was at Will’s feet, unconscious but still twitching, his blank eyes staring up at the open sky

Will looked to Pruitt "Thanks"

Pruitt gave him an apathetic nod andThere they were Two orange pharmacy bottles of Carbatrol And another of Lyrica He twisted the white plastic safety cap off the Carbatrol with such muscle he was surprised he didn’t snap the plastic He popped one of the blue and black capsules in his mouth, and dry-sed

He felt cured the moment it was in his body Carbatrol was the medication he was on before the quarantine, the third medication he had tried and the only one that suppressed his seizures consistently There was no way the pill had dissolved at all in his stomach, but the effect on his psyche was immediate He felt unstoppable Will ran into the fray He was ready to have so for the sale between the two of them, but when the Skater saas Gates, he backed away froave him a thank-you nod, and scooped up the box

Will ran, past the new delicacies all over the ground, past the fights and the celebrations, and kept on going, in a circle, all around the quad It felt so good to run He felt whole again, on equal ground with everyone else His body wasn’t going to hold hio full blast until his legs gave out

Will ran until all the goodies had been squirreled away by the sidelines, he never once tried to pick anything up It was his victory lap for finallyup with the Saints Heby the southwest corner of the quad Gates stood before the up at the sky, his head tilted to the side like a desk globe