Page 89 of The Compound

“They’re so close,” he said, moving his torch slowly back and forth, like the beam of a lighthouse. “They’re just out there.”

He was really starting to unnerve me, but before I could answer, he pressed my shoulder. “I’m sorry. I’ll go inside, okay?”

I took him by the arm and led him back toward the house. As we crossed the great expanse of nothing, we passed by his monument, immense now, a pile of all kinds of odd things from around the compound. “The monument looks great,” I said, squeezing his arm.

He turned his face to mine, his features alight. “Doesn’t it?”

When we reached the entrance, I stopped. There was a lock on the door. I reached out and tried it, but the door remained closed.

“What is it?” Andrew asked.

“It’s locked,” I said. “They must have come when I was looking for you. We’re locked out.”

Andrew’s head whipped around. “They might still be here,” he said, almost shouting, and ran off toward the northern perimeter. I went around the house, checking the windows, but I knew that it was no good. When I finished, I sat on the step by the back of the house, the warmglow of the house behind me. I shivered violently. I didn’t feel particularly shocked or angry by the new development. In a way, I had known that I wouldn’t be able to get away scot-free from what I had done to Tom. I supposed that they were laughing now—when I had locked Tom out, he had battled desert animals and knocked down a door to get in. I was just sitting there, trying to pretend it wasn’t happening. They knew how to humble you, I could give them that.

I called Andrew’s name until he returned. “No sign of them,” he said.

“Come here for a minute,” I said. He sat beside me, and in the faint light from the house, I could see the deep, dark circles under his eyes.

“We need to decide who’s going to kiss who,” I said. “So that one of us can go inside, and the other can go.”

“Go?” he said. “Go?Neither of us are going, Lily. Don’t be silly.”

“We can’t stay here all night,” I said. “It’s too cold, and there are things out there in the desert.”

“Well, I’ll protect you.”

We sat in silence while I tried to think of something to say.

“Wait there for a minute,” he said, and then disappeared into the darkness. I sat, shivering, wondering if I should simply throw myself at him and kiss him. Could I do that to him? Would it be right?

I didn’t hear him return, but I felt him take my hand. I looked up at him guiltily. Then I felt a cold bite of metal and looked down. There was a handcuff on my wrist, the one that I had won as a reward, jewels sparkling along the cuffs, and Andrew was fastening me to a pipe that jutted out of the house. I shouted out, twisting my face so that my lips weren’t exposed to him.

“I’m not going to kiss you,” he laughed. “I don’t want to get rid of you. I just need to make sure you don’t leave.”

I stared at him. “What are you doing? Let me go! We can’t stay out here all night. Andrew—let me go!”

“We’ll be fine,” he said. “If anything were to happen, they’d look after us.”

“Andrew,” I said. “Please!”

“Although,” he said, “they’d come quicker if we were actually sick or injured.”

“Wait,” I said. “Wait—”

I watched as though underwater as Andrew looked around him. He considered for a moment, and then, in a quick, sharp motion, bashed his head against the wall. I screamed, and he rebounded, clutching his head and groaning. I called his name, and he tottered for a moment, then turned to me, blood already gushing from his forehead, his nose out of place.

“Is it bad?” he asked. “Is it bad?”

“Oh God,” I said. “What iswrongwith you? Why did you do that?”

“I’m injured,” he said, blood dripping onto his chin. “They’ll come and take me in and get me better. They won’t leave me out here like this.” He put his hand to his forehead and checked the blood on his hand, wincing. “All right,” he said. “Now you.”

“What?”

He searched around for a moment, then found a rock in the debris near the dumpster. “You need to injure yourself too, so we both can be taken care of.”

I stared at him. “You’re joking. You’re insane.”

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