Free No Safety in Numbers by Dayna Lorentz

new friends. “I need contact solution,” she said, dragging her across the food court toward the PhreshPharm.
    “Do you think we’ll get to stay here again tonight?” Preeti asked, looking up at Shay with a hopeful smile on her face.
    “Get to?”
Shay asked. “Yes, I believe that we shall have the privilege of sleeping on a table once again.”
    Preeti tucked her arms in and bounced a few happy steps. “Awesome!” she squealed. “Sahra and Lia wanted to have a sleepover in Hollister. Can we move there?”
    “Whatever,” Shay said. She power-walked toward the PhreshPharm, knowing how silly that was, as if they were going to sell their last contact case in the next five minutes, but she couldn’t help herself. Everything felt desperate. Survival depended upon a bottle of contact solution.
    It took twenty minutes round trip to get to the PhreshPharm and back, and in that time, the mood had grown worse in the food court. Shay found Nani at her table—still on the same Sudoku puzzle as before lunch—and showed her the meager ration of supplies she’d gotten. For ten bucks, she’d been given a bag containing a toothbrush, tiny tube of toothpaste, travel-sized deodorant, and a bar of soap. For two dollars more, they added the “contact package”—a small bottle of contact solution and case—and told her to use it sparingly. Shay felt lucky she’d gotten there before everything was gone.
    “Nani?” Shay asked.
    Nani touched her hand to her neck. “My throat feels like paper,” she said, her voice gravelly. “Would you be so sweet as to get me some water?”
    If Nani was asking for help, she must have felt truly terrible. Shay ran to the nearest water fountain and filled one of the cups the mall had provided. She brought it to her grandmother, who drank slowly.
    “Thank you, sweet girl,” Nani said, handing her back the cup.
    “I’ll get more,” Shay said. The cup trembled in her hand.
    “No more,” Nani said. “I’ll have to move into the bathroom!” She smiled a weak smile, then returned to staring at the puzzle.
    Shay needed to take Nani someplace more comfortable. She slipped her toiletries into her bag and began calculating what was closest. Her first problem, though, was to round up Preeti, who had left Shay’s side when they reached the edge of the food court. She’d run into the crowd of kids as if being away from her precious friends for even twenty minutes was the equivalent of a lifetime. Shay hadn’t seen her friends in months.
    As Shay glanced around, she noticed a mall cop speaking to some people at a table. He had a pad of paper in his hands. The people spoke to him, then pointed toward Shay.
    Shay’s blood ran cold. Why were they pointing at her?
    She looked around and saw another cop at the other end of the food court also talking to some people at atable. They too pointed at Shay. No, not at Shay. At Nani.
    The cops began weaving their way through the tables toward Shay. She froze—there was no way to escape them. The whole cafeteria space was open except for a few potted plants. Why were they coming toward her?
    But then the guard stopped at another table and began talking to the people sitting there. Shay strained her ears. She heard the word
sickness
. She heard the words
acting funny
. She didn’t wait to see where these next people would point.
    “Nani,” Shay said, grabbing her grandmother’s arm. “We have to go.”
    “Why, dear?” Nani said. But when she saw Shay’s face, she nodded and picked up her bag. She closed the Sudoku book and slipped it inside. “Where’s Preeti?”
    “Let’s just move away from here.”
    When Shay was sure all eyes were elsewhere, she ducked with Nani behind the planter, then wound as casually as she could manage through the tables toward the crowds of children at the Ferris wheel. Shay said a quick prayer of thanks for how short her grandmother was—she was barely taller than the kids and thus blended right in.
    Shay spotted