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“Yeah,” Benny said again.
His fingernails were buried into his palms hard enough to gouge crescent-shaped divots.
“Girls are stronger than boys,” Tom said.
“Not a news flash,” Benny said.
“I’m just saying.”
They watched the forest.
“If this goes on any longer, Tom?”
“Yeah?”
“Shoot me.”
Tom smiled.
Benny looked at him and then over to where Chong still sat in the tall grass.
“Is this all really Chong’s fault?”
Tom shrugged.
“No, tell me.”
“If you really want an honest answer,” Tom said quietly, “then … yes. Chong didn’t listen when he was told to be quiet, and he didn’t listen when he was told what to do when the rhino was chasing us.”
“He’s scared.”
“Aren’t you?”
“Sure,” Benny said grudgingly, “but I’ve been out here before.”
“Don’t make excuses for him. You listened to me the first time we came out here,” Tom reminded him. “And that was back when you couldn’t stand me.”
“I know.”
“Not everyone is built to be tough,” said Tom. “Sad fact of life. Chong is one of the nicest people I know. His folks, too. If our species is going to make it back from the brink and build something better than what we had, then we need to breed more people like them. It would be a saner, smarter, and far more civilized world.”
“But … ?”
“But I don’t think he’s cut out for this.”
“I guess.”
“It’s better that he’s not coming with us.”
Benny said nothing.
“Do you agree, kiddo?”
“I don’t know.” Benny sighed. “Chong’s my best friend.”
“That’s why he’s here. He only came out here because he’s your friend, and because he doesn’t quite know how to say good-bye,” said Tom. “Saying good-bye is one of the hardest things people ever have to do. Back before First Night, I remember how hard it was just to say good-bye to my friends when I was done with high school. We wrote a lot of promises in each other’s yearbooks about how we’d always stay in touch, but even then we knew that for the most part they were lies. Well-intentioned and hopeful lies, but still lies.”
“That was different.”
