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“Of course I will. There’s never been any doubt of that,” I promised her. “The same way that I’ll take care of you for as long as I can.”

“Stella, please don’t talk like that.” Max sat down on the edge of her bed, taking her hand in his. “It’s still early. We don’t know what’s going to happen yet.”

“I have an IV and fluids,” Jovie said, and she slid by me and around Max to treat Stella, since Ripley was laying on the floor on the other side of the bed. “We need to treat her preeclampsia.”

The sight of the IV made the hair stand on my neck, and all the scars that were thatched across my torso ached, as if I could suddenly feel the icy steel of the scalpel slicing me open all over again.

“I need air,” I said, and I rushed out of the room without waiting for anyone to respond.

I ran out to the front porch, leaning on the railing and gulping down air. My whole body was trembling, and I was freezing cold and covered in sweat. Tears stung my eyes, and I heard Boden’s footsteps behind me.

“Go back inside. Stella needs you,” I said without turning to look at him.

“You need me,” Boden replied quietly.

“Not like she does, and you know it. She’s dying, and I’m being overdramatic and selfish,” I insistedbetween ragged breaths.

He put his hand on my back, gently rubbing it and grounding me here with him. “Take a deep breath. Feel the air on your face, and my hand on your back. You’re free, and no one is going to ever experiment on you or your family again.”

“You can’t promise that,” I disagreed.

“Yes, I can,” he asserted calmly. “Don’t argue, just keep breathing.”

I tried, but a moment later I was throwing up over the railing while Boden held my ponytail back. When I finally managed to calm down, I wiped my mouth with the back of my arm, and I sat down on the bench on the porch.

“I think I’m better now,” I said, but he sat down beside me anyway. “Or at least as better as I can be.”

“It’s no problem,” he said, but I felt ashamed anyway. I hated when I couldn’t control my body like that.

“Where is Serg?” I asked. “And the others that came in with us?”

“Serg is getting our new house set up,” Boden said.

I raised my eyebrows. “We have a new house? Already? How does that work?”

“People come and go a lot around here, apparently, and the mayor likes to have new housing available for the refugees of the zombie apocalypse,” Boden elaborated. “He gave us the keys to a house on Eliot Lane, and it is just a short walk away from where Samara and Roman will be staying. They’re living together for now. I haven’t had a chance to see anything yet, because I came straight here, and Serg went on ahead so we’d have somewhere comfortable to stay tonight.”

“The five of us and Ripley will all be living together still?” I asked.

“Of course. Family stays together.”

“What about Lillian?”

“She’s staying at an inn near downtown, because she wants electricity,” he said. “Our house, and most of the houses here, don’t have any.”

“How do people pay for things around here? Is there money?”

“I think some folks are using gold or silver as currency, but mostly, it seems to be a combo of bartering, working off debts, and communal living.”

“I guess that all sounds fair enough. I’ve definitely lived worse places,” I said grimly. “We’ll be fine here for a few months.”

“Yeah, we will,” he agreed. “Do you want to go back in with Stella and Max?”

“Not yet. She needs rest, and I…” I couldn’t force myself back into the clinic, but I couldn’t admit that. I faced up against zombies no problem, but a doctor’s office had me shaking like a leaf.

“Okay,” Boden said. “I’ll just sit with you for a while.”

And so we did. The days getting here had been exhausting enough, and this particular one had already been much, much too long, and it wasn’t even nightfall yet.