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“And what did he think?”
Saff let out a slightly frustrated exhale. “He thought it was nothing.”
Sylvia nodded slowly. “Then why do you disagree?”
Saff bit the inside of her cheek. She wanted to convince her, but she also couldn’t give too much away. She couldn’t let her know that she knew from personal experience—from being one of the raiders on the other side of the attacks.
“It just seemed weird,” she muttered. “It seemed like something to pay attention to.”
Sylvia waited a beat, then nodded. “If Marcus thinks it’s fine, then it’s probably nothing to worry about. The wall has protected us for this long. There’s no reason to think that it won’t continue to do its job.”
That’s when Saff realized it was a lost cause. People like that wouldn’t realize they were making a mistake until it was too late.
Chapter twenty-two
Maddie swiveled her cane from side to side, skimming over uneven cracks in the asphalt.
Saff had been gone since breakfast that morning, and while Josh had said he’d seen her and Sylvia near the medical building, it still gave her an uneasy feeling.
At any moment, they could lock her back up, and she would have no idea. The original residents in the settlement didn’t seem keen on sharing much information with anyone, let alone the newcomers from her group.
She slowed to a stop, resting her cane against her hip as she removed her sunglasses. She blinked a few times, letting her eyes adjust to the dim light of dusk.
“Where to now?” her mom asked, a chipper lilt in her voice.
Maddie shrugged.“Wherever you want.”
“Do you wanna meet your dad and Josh at the dining hall?” her mom asked. “They’ll probably be getting there soon for dinner.”
“Sure,” she muttered, as her eyes wandered across the sporadic blotches of light against the slightly darker backdrop.
They continued walking, and after a moment, her mother added, “Maybe Saff will be there, too.”
Maddie’s heart rate immediately quickened. She gave a small nod.
“You two seem to have gotten pretty close during the time you were together.”
The familiar, knowing tone in her mother’s voice was all too obvious. Although she hadn’t heard it in years, it was still the same as it had always been. And it only ever came out when she asked her about the people she was dating.
Maddie shrugged, trying her best to appear nonchalant.
Her mother had always had a knack for spotting her crushes, sometimes even before she fully realized herself. But this time, with Saff, was different. Saff definitely didn’t share any of those feelings. And that was the last thing she felt like explaining.
“I guess,” she muttered.
Luckily, her mom took the hint, letting the matter drop as they walked the rest of the way to the dining hall in relative silence.
“Here we are,” her mom announced the same moment her cane hit against both sides of the entrance.
The potent scent of seared meat instantly hit her nostrils, spurring memories of the rabbits Saff had caught and cooked for them at the bunker. Actually, she realized, it seemed lots of things had begun reminding her of Saff.And she couldn’t quite tell if that was a good thing.
“There’s an empty table to the right we can sit at,” her mother said, breaking her from her thoughts.
She led them to the table and Maddie folded in her cane as her mom guided her to one of the chairs. She pulled it out and sat, listening to the muffled voices echo throughout the hall.
It sounded busy. Busier than that morning at breakfast. And busier than the quick visit the night before, when her parents had practically dragged her there for dinner.
She hadn’t been able to imagine having a normal dinner while Saff was locked up. She was the reason Saff was there after all, so the blame was on her for anything bad that happened.