Fake it ’til you make it. Just make it.

We stayed at the lab for over a week. Long enough to bury Barnes (for The Kid’s sake, if nothing else) and ensure that the “cure” that had saved David wasn’t temporary.

But after lunch on the seventh day, The Kid took us up the elevator and we all stepped into the bright, warm sunlight. Dave and I stared as Robbie motioned toward the same SUV we’d been carried in just a few days later.

“Take it,” he said softly. “You earned it.”

I spun on The Kid with a gasp. “Take it? What do you mean?”

He shrugged. “You can’t stay here forever.”

Dave nodded as he clutched his still-bandaged hand against his chest. The wound was slow to heal, but it was healing.

“That’s true, but when we leave you’re coming with us.”

Robbie looked at us, looked at the SUV, and I could see a big part of him wanted to do just that. But another part, a part that was more man than boy, hesitated.

“There’s a lot of dangerous shit in this lab.” He smiled as he looked at me. “Sorry, language. And there’s a lot of good research that can’t just be stopped.”

I stared at him. “And you want to keep that research going?”

He nodded. “Someone has to.”

“Honey, you’re so young,” I whispered. “We can’t just leave you here.”

The Kid smiled at me, wry and knowing and suddenly I felt like the child.

“I-I always knew what he was doing,” he said softly.

“You did?” Dave asked in disbelief. “He sort of implied he kept you away from the worst of it.”

“He tried, but man, adults are stupid sometimes.” Robbie laughed, but his voice cracked. “Even my so-called brilliant dad. He thought he was sheltering me, but I hacked into the surveillance camera logs months ago.”

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered. What The Kid had seen… I couldn’t imagine.

He shrugged. “No, I’m sorry.”

“Why?” Dave asked with a confused shake of his head.

The Kid looked out over the desert.

“I should have stopped him before… I just… I was just too afraid of being alone. That no one would care about me. But then you two came along and I almost got you both killed.”

Dave dropped down and looked at Robbie evenly. “If it wasn’t for you, I’d be a zombie and Sarah would probably be dead. We owe you everything.”

The Kid gave a crooked smile. A child and a man all in one. Born in death and undeath.

“Come with us,” I pressed.

“Naw,” he said, kicking at the dirt. “Somebody’s gotta stay and somebody’s gotta go.”

“Why?” Dave asked.

The Kid dug into his pocket and withdrew something. When he held it out, I reached for it, figuring it was car keys, but instead he plunked a purple vial into my palm.

“Take this. I synthesized it this morning. You’ll need it when you head for the Midwest Wall. Maybe the government left over there can use it to re-open the border. Maybe they can work out a way to spread it to all the zombies left.”

“What makes you think we’re going to the Midwest Wall?” Dave asked as I carefully put the vial in my pocket.

The Kid grinned. “You still want to save the world, right?”

I stared at the precious vial and then I stared at Dave. What The Kid said was right. If we were going to get this thing really distributed, then someone did have to stay and someone had to go. But shit, we couldn’t leave him alone, no matter what he said.

“I’ll stay,” I said softly.

Dave flinched, but he didn’t protest, even as he reached out to take my hand.

Robbie was the one who leapt forward. “No! You two are not breaking up!”

I blinked to clear the tears from my eyes. “No, but I’m not leaving you alone here, either. So unless you have a better idea…”

There was only silence for a minute, but then The Kid smiled. “Hey, who were those people in the library? The chemist and the girl.”

I shook my head, but then I remembered what he was talking about. “Josh and Drea?”

“Yeah, that’s them. If he really studied chemistry, he could help me more than you.” The Kid chuckled. “Moron.”

“Hey!” I said with a laugh, but then I thought about what he had said. Dave and I had figured we might call on Josh and Drea to help us one day. And this one was as good as any. “You’re right, though.”

“So why not let them in on this shit?” Dave mused. “And they could stay with The Kid while we go to the Wall.”

I nodded. It was the best solution. The only solution since the last thing I wanted to do was lose Dave. Again.

Robbie nodded. “As long as they don’t treat me like a little kid, I could live with that.”

“You are a kid,” I reminded him, but I ruffled his hair while I did it.

Robbie smiled up at me. “I’ll be waiting for them,” he said, then he turned and started back into the warehouse. “Better get to it.”

We watched him go and waited until we heard the hum of the elevator inside fade away. I stared at David, still stunned by the fact that I’d almost lost him, almost lost everything. But he was whole. Or at least so far.

But we both knew full well we’d just have to wait and see if that was going to change at some point.

“So,” I said softly as I reached for his hand. “Do we still want to save the world?”

Dave grinned as he opened up the driver’s side door and waved me in. He shut it and leaned in through the open window.

“It’s about time we did something,” he said. “And I think world saving has a better health plan than exterminating.”

Then he came around to the passenger side and pulled out the GPS. I watched as he entered in Chicago, IL, into the system, our ultimate destination after a quick pit stop to the camp and our friends.

And I put it in gear and we rolled.