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There was more than just clothes in the bag. Jewels, Aspen, Dallas, and Max had gone for a supply run, grabbing everything from socks and underwear to toothpaste and deodorant. They’d fully stocked up. The clothes were plain—basic t-shirts and long-sleeves, jeans, winter jackets, boots—but they were functional and they fit.

Now that he was dressed, he sat on the end of his messy bed and stuffed his face. He was so hungry, he hardly chewed the eggs, hash browns, sausage, and toast, chasing whole chunks of them with gulps of orange juice. Apparently there were still a lot of volunteers in the city who were helping out—people who worked for the police, the fire department, and the military. Now, if only those same people could get themoutof here…

He was almost finished when he realized that Jewels was watching him. She was sitting in a chair by the window that overlooked the stormy ocean. It must be daylight in the real world, because it wasn’t totally pitch black out there. It was…gray. That was good. And they could still breathe—another thing that was good.

“Thanks,” Travis said to her as he popped the last bite of breakfast sausage into his mouth.

She nodded and dipped her focus to the food she was picking at.

Travis frowned. She wasn’t still bothered by the whole erection thing, was she? He didn’t think it was that big of a deal.

He dropped his plastic fork in the container and placed it beside him on the mattress. “So,” he began, addressing the group. Well,hispart of the group. Maya and that Magenta girl didn’t seem interested in listening to or talking to anyone. “What’s the plan?”

“None of your concern, that’s what,” Malakai snipped.

Travis grabbed his fork again. “See this fork?” He held it up. “I’m going to stab your eyes out with it.”

Malakai flashed him an unfriendly grin—a baring of teeth, really.

Travis bared his in answer.

Max said, “The military’s set up camp three blocks from here. Dallas will be going there to see if she can find her dad. And I’m going with her. Anyone who wants to come with feel free, butanyone who doesn’t should stay right here in this room. We can’t afford to lose track of each other.” He gave his sister an extra long stare that she didn’t return.

“Okay, and what if Operation Find Roark fails?” Travis asked.

They didn’t have an answer for that.

“I’m hoping it won’t,” Dallas said. “He’s also the highest ranking officer in the Fleet—I can’t imagine he’d be anywhere but here right now.” She slugged the last of her orange juice.

“He’s the best plan we have,” Max said. “So until finding him is no longer an option, I’d like to hang onto my little bit of hope for as long as possible, if that’s all right with everyone.”

“I think we should find a way to get a hold of Darien,” Travis said.

“The fuck’s Darien going to do?” Malakai scoffed. He was stuffing his face again—Aspen’s scraps this time.

“He’d have a better plan than your dumb ass.”

He scoffed again. “Sure, because the boat was such a brilliant idea.”

“It actually was, and if you hadn’t held us up with your bitching about which motorcycles we should steal?—”

“Enough!”Jewels exclaimed, flinging her fork down. “It’s way too early for this. Maybe you guys and your childishbullshitis the reason my heart failed.”

“Ouch,” Travis muttered at the same time as Malakai.

They glared at each other.

“Weshouldfind a way to contact the others,” Max said. “Even if it’s just so we can talk to them one last time.” The weight of that reality set in, silencing the crowded room for a long moment.

Malakai was the first to break the quiet. “You guys can go ahead and die, but I’m not. And even if I do, mark my words, my ghost will haunt this stupid city until the end of time.”

Dominic said, “While you guys are gone, I think I’ll speak with reception and see if they can move us to a bigger room.”

“What about going back to Roman’s?” Aspen suggested. They had come close to going to Roman’s house in Ardesia before they’d managed to secure this room. It had taken so many hours to get their key, Travis was about ready to sleep in the lobby with the other evacuees who’d had that same idea. The place was short-staffed—understandably. The city was collapsing like a house of cards, so there weren’t many people outside of healthcare and law enforcement who were willing to volunteer, let alone go to work.

“That’s an option,” Dominic said, “but in case it doesn’t end up happening, I’d rather we get a place with more beds.”

Max added, “We shouldn’t count on Roman’s place being secure until we know for sure that it is. We’d be stupid to stay there if Don still has his eye on it.”