Lance pressed his hand to Joey’s back, only to feel him shift further away into the darkness. The cot Dex had shown them to was only so wide though, so Joey couldn’t go far. “He couldn’t have known…”

“Nothing would change if he did know. I still used…”

Lance surged forward, latching on to Joey’s back and arms so he couldn’t slither away again. “You didn’t. You were almost dead when we found you. No one forced JC to do it, no one even asked him. We didn’t know what he was either.”

Joey slumped against Lance, defeated and grateful and resentful all at the same time and Lance could hear it in his voice. “I know.”

Lance pressed closer into Joey’s back so his lips grazed Joey’s neck. His thumb brushed against Joey’s wrist and Lance could feel the heartbeat there, strong and steady. “Chris is wrong,” he whispered. “JC will make him see.”

Joey sighed and Lance could hear the movement of air through Joey’s back. “Maybe we’ll really have him back then.”

Lance pressed his face into Joey’s neck and imagined he could feel the rush of blood under his lips. “Maybe,” he whispered.

Pink woke them up and Lance had no idea how long they’d slept, but he knew it was long enough to dream. Joey had died in his dream and he held tightly to Joey’s hand as they followed Pink out of their little box-like room.

Justin, JC, and Chris waited for them. Chris said something to Pink with his hands and Pink turned to the rest of them. “We’re gonna activate you,” she said. She tried to say more but JC stopped her. He looked horrified and was so scared that he couldn’t get a coherent word past his lips, just “no, no” over and over again.

Justin turned to him but Chris was faster and Lance could see Chris’s hand clutching JC’s, while he talked with the other to Pink. His eyes never left JC’s. She came up on JC’s other side, holding his other hand, but her eyes were on Chris.

“It’s not the same, JC. It hurt you because they did it, because of the… what? The chip. The pain you felt was the chip… okay. Spell it out, Kirkpatrick. Okay. The chip appropriating your mind. Nice SAT word, you fucker.”

Chris smacked her arm and Lance thought she was going to hit him back but she didn’t. He started signing again and she kept watching.

“It doesn’t hurt us. We’re all activated now and it didn’t hurt any of us because we don’t use the chip.”

They kept talking but Lance stopped listening. He put his head on Joey’s shoulder and almost smiled when Joey’s arm came up around his shoulders, pulling him closer. Lance pushed his forehead against Joey’s neck and wrapped his arms around Joey’s waist.

“You scared?” Joey asked, whispering against his ear.

Lance splayed his hand against Joey’s back, slowly rubbing a small circle against the worn fabric. “I haven’t had time to be scared, but no, I don’t think so. Chris wouldn’t tell us to do it if it would hurt, right?”

“Probably not.”

“Then no, not scared.” He shook his head, partially in answer but mostly to feel the glide of Joey’s skin across his.

He thought Joey probably knew that he was lying.

He sat on a table that reminded him of the tables in a doctor’s office, except without the roll of paper. Joey held his hand and Lance could see, over Joey’s shoulder, Chris, JC, and part of Justin. Chris still held JC’s hand and Lance thought JC probably wouldn’t let him let go if he tried.

A woman named Christie stood in front of him, holding a needle. “It’ll hurt for a minute,” she said. “Just the sting of the needle. But it’s gone after that.”

He nodded and couldn’t remember why he’d volunteered to go first but Joey was still holding his hand so he just nodded and licked his lips and closed his eyes. But that wasn’t right so he opened them again and looked up at Joey.

He winced as he felt the needle go in.