The Before by Emily McKay Read Free Book Online Page B

never asked, did we?”
    “When your father left, she was obviously going to his office.”
    They’d been so close. He rarely brought her with him on days when he had classes, but on days when he only had office hours he’d let her tag along. She’d loved the peace and quiet of his office on campus.
    “Right,” I said. “She liked his office because she was comfortable there. Because it made her feel at peace. And it was quiet.”
    “So where else is she comfortable? The library? The rec center?”
    “No,” I said with sudden certainty. “She’d go to the high school.”
    She’d hated elementary school and middle school, but she’d loved the organized seriousness of her advanced placement classes.
    “I’ll go look for her. If I don’t find her at the school, the library isn’t too far beyond that. She can’t have gone far. She’s only had a few minutes’ lead.”
    “You can’t go out there! It’s past curfew.”
    I yanked my phone out of my back pocket and checked the time. Shit. Eight forty.
    “I don’t care. I have to go look for her. It has to be me or you. You know that! If someone else finds her—”
    Mom sucked in a deep breath. Clearly that thing I couldn’t even think had already occurred to her. “Okay. But I’ll go. I’m not sending you out there after curfew.”
    “No! It can’t be you.” As I spoke, I grabbed my sneakers from by the front door and started to pull them on. “If she gets picked up by the police they’ll bring her back here. You have to be here to talk to them if they do.”
    Mom watched me, her expression grim. Neither of us stated the obvious. If Mel was seen by one of the police patrols, we’d be lucky if they brought her back here. We’d be lucky if she could even talk to them enough to tell them where she lived. Luckier still if they gave her the chance to. I thought of that cop from the other night and how freaked out he’d been by Mel’s keening vocalizations. Even with us there to explain, he’d thought she might be infected with the Tick virus.
    Mel wouldn’t be able to talk for herself. She was alone and afraid. If a cop approached her, she wouldn’t be able to explain what she was doing. She could only keen and rock. That was behavior that had made people nervous back before the world had gone to hell. Now, with the cops patrolling the streets looking for monsters, I could only imagine what they’d see if they found Mel.
    I gave my laces a fierce tug to secure the knots and stood.
    Mom stopped me by the front door. “No. You can’t go out the front. That cop car is still there.”
    “But—”
    “If Mel had gone out the front, we’d know it already. She must have snuck out the back.”
    I peeked out the window beside the door, taking in the stillness of the night. Mom was right. If Mel had gone out the front, we would have heard something already.
    “Okay,” I said and headed for the sliding glass door at the back of the house.
    “How are you going to get out of the backyard?”
    In our neighborhood, all the garages faced the street and our back fences butted up to one another. The only gate out of our yard led to the front yard, which would do me no good.
    “Hey,” I said with a grin I didn’t even begin to feel. “What kind of teenage girl would I be if I couldn’t sneak out of my own backyard. I’ve done this tons of times.”
    Mom’s face twisted into a grimace of misery. “If I lose you both . . .”
    “You won’t. I’ll be quick. I’ll bring her back. I promise.”

Chapter Eleven
     
    Lily
     
    Out in the backyard, I considered my options. The school was about a mile away and I could take mostly side roads. As long as I could sneak past the cop car watching our house I had a chance. If I scaled the fences—which I could sort of do—then I could travel from our backyard to the end of the block without ever being seen from the street. Assuming our neighbors weren’t paranoid gun enthusiasts. I was less sure about