After the Red Rain by Barry Lyga, Robert DeFranco Page A

self-recrimination was etched in every angle of his face. “Have you hurt…” She thought. Yes, she had to ask. “Have you hurt someone?”
    “I try not to.”
    Which wasn’t a
no
. And still, the pain etched so clearly on his face.
    “What about something more than hurting? Have you…” She stumbled over the word for an instant. “Have you killed?”
    Rose became even more serious. “Many, many times. So have you. So have all of us. Every day, every single thing we do kills. There are bacteria on your skin that die when you wash. There are insects in the ground that die when you scavenge.”
    “I don’t mean
things
. I mean have you killed
people
.”
    For the first time with him, she felt like a child being scolded. “I don’t make that distinction,” he told her. “Everything that lives matters.”
    She thought of the bird eggs she’d scavenged long ago from the nest out by the river. Those had been living things she’d eaten. Living things she’d
gobbled down
was more accurate. She gripped her pendant between her thumb and forefinger and raced it back and forth alongits chain. She’d never considered that the eggs were alive. That she was killing them by eating them. She’d just been…
    So hungry…
    Always hungry, it seemed.
    “The world isn’t that simple,” she told him, unable to meet his eyes.
    “The world is very simple.” His voice was gentle, but firm. “People make it complicated because it’s too difficult for them to live with simplicity.”
    “So we’re all murderers? You? Me?”
    “You’re doing what you have to do to survive. Just like me. Just like everyone. I’m not judging you. I just want you to think about it.”

    Rose whistled as they walked, and partway into their journey, Deedra surprised them both by whistling along with him. Tentatively at first, fearing reproach for her poor skills, but then with more confidence. He smiled and nodded in time with her, pleased at her progress. Under her mask, the whistling echoed weirdly, so she risked taking it off. The air tasted acrid and smoky.
    They managed to harmonize a little as they trekked out to the river. By the time they got there, she’d almost forgotten her desire to climb the bridge. The proximity of the river reminded her of that day she’d first met Rose, of what had happened since then. And it made her worry for him.
    “You should just go back across the river,” she said. “You did it once. No one ever really crosses Territories, but you’re not from here originally anyway.”
    “Why?” he asked, blinking in innocent confusion.
    She blew out a breath in frustration. “Look, you’ve been lucky around here so far. But I’ve been selfish to want you to stay.”
    “How so?”
    “I felt safer with you around. Which is crazy, because I’ve never needed anyone to make me feel safe before. But Jaron’s not going to forget what happened on that rooftop.”
    And as she said it, she realized that she wouldn’t forget, either. Couldn’t forget. She’d tricked herself into thinking she could just delete the memory, but it was impossible. She hadn’t thought of that day for a long time, but here it was now, as bright and as real as when it happened.
    “It’s been a while. If he was going to do something, he would have by now.”
    “Maybe. But…” She told him about the threat Hart had delivered on Rose’s first day at L-Twelve. “If he’s worried about what I might say, then he must be keeping an eye on you, too.”
    “That’s fine. I don’t care.”
    “I don’t think you understand what he’s capable of. He can seem nice, but—”
    “I never thought he was nice,” he said, biting out the words.
    She felt queasy all of a sudden, right there by the river, and the idea of climbing the bridge or doing anything else bled out of her along with her words.
    “He’s up to something,” she said. “I don’t know what. I was an idiot to think he would just let it all go. He’s going to do