Agnes at the End of the World by Kelly McWilliams

Author:Kelly McWilliams [McWilliams, Kelly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780316487337
Google: 5qXGDwAAQBAJ
Amazon: 0316487333
Publisher: Hachette UK
Published: 2020-06-08T23:00:00+00:00

30

AGNES

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.

—PSALM 19:1

On her third day Outside, Agnes woke early with a strong desire to brush her teeth.

She wandered into the makeshift kitchen and found the water filters dry as bone.

It was Max’s turn to ferry buckets from the well, but she wasn’t surprised to discover him lingering inside, watching a movie. She’d quickly discovered that Outsiders weren’t accustomed to physical labor and would avoid it at all costs.

“I have a headache,” he explained without looking up from his phone.

At the library, there were plenty of chores to be done. The well needed visiting twice a day, and Matilda insisted the water be boiled, then purified with iodine. They washed laundry by hand and had to get creative with the cooking, with few supplies and only the battery-charged camping stove for power. They took an anxious daily inventory of all they had, from candles to the last can of beans, and periodically Danny and Matilda—who always carried her rifle—patrolled the area for red creatures.

The chores were light compared to Agnes’s duties at home, but the Outsider teenagers complained ceaselessly. In a way, it was refreshing. They didn’t seem to think God—or a patriarch—would smite them for it.

In other ways, it was annoying. Like when she really needed, more than anything, to wash her face and clean her teeth.

Wires dangled from Max’s ears. She could just hear the pattering of tiny movie voices, whispering make-believe dramas. The phone’s screen flashed with kaleidoscopic colors.

She’d had no idea how attached the Outsiders were to these devices. And this despite the fact that the Internet was down, cell service spotty, and the social media sites long since shuttered. Max watched pre-downloaded movies, Jasmine played a vast collection of video games, and Danny constantly piped music into his ears while he hunched anxiously over his medical books.

“Ezekiel and I can go for water,” Agnes said shyly.

Max eyed her while the movie flickered, not bothering to remove his earbuds. His handsome face was vulpine, his eyes black and wide. He and Jazz were both seventeen. It was hard to believe, because Agnes knew fourteen-year-old wives with more gravity than the two of them put together.

“Jeez, that’d be great,” he drawled, half sarcastic, as always. “But you’d better take the rifle. You were incredibly sheltered, before. Have you ever even seen a walking red person?”

Agnes ducked her head, thinking.

Should she tell him that she was safer outdoors than anyone else at the library, because she’d been for some unknown reason graced with the power to hear the sound of every rock and stone and red creature?

Should she tell him she believed she heard God’s voice, and that it protected her when infection was near?

No. Even the people of Red Creek, primed as they were to see God’s face in every shadow, wouldn’t believe a story like that. And the Outsiders were troublingly quiet on the subject of God. The prayer space must remain her secret.

“Don’t worry about me,” she said.

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