Chapter 50

• “What good is gathering us all in one place. As Mateo said, they set off that machine, and every one of us, corralled in the valley, will be rendered useless. No one will be able to turn or fight back. It’s easier to massacre a race when we’re all laid out like fish in a bowl, and no one will be free of its effects if the only area we patrol is the valley. I’m sure they can make bigger, or use multiple, to hit us all at once.” Jesús is now on his feet, pacing, agitated, and getting worked up by the second. I’m feeling the restless unease spreading through them all like a virus as they mumble their agreement, and I keep looking to Colton to say something.
• “This is pointless. Do you think I don’t think the same and that I didn’t try to reason with him? Nothing I said made a difference. It never does.” Colton stands up, losing his temper, agitated too, and utterly drained. I can feel it coming off him intensely, and his eyes lock on mine again as he catches me across the room, ignoring Carmen throwing hers his way.
• “Come on, Lorey. I need to show you your new room. I’m too tired for this, and we all need to meet down at the mess hall for dawn. Go to bed, you reprobates. Stop arguing with me because it’s futile, and it’s not my place to make you obey him. We need sleep.”