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[Assistant] It's reassuring knowing how many teams took a penalty. It's also reassuring knowing how many teams are still here. Let me take some photos.


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[Assistant] Thank you so much. This has been the most stressful.


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[Assistant] I don't know if I have enough letters. And I thought maybe I'd ask some people, but I don't see anybody out here. I need to get out of here.


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[Assistant] I'm just hoping that Anthony and James take a penalty. And same with, uhm, Dorothy and Finesh.


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[Assistant] One of the words is definitely to go or no. So that eliminates at least one O. I'm feeling stressed. I know that we took a penalty and that two other teams could show up at any point. The pressure is on.


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[Assistant] This is probably wrong. Grown so foot.


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[Assistant] So good. This race, it's about connection. It's brought us together more than I ever could imagine. Love you.


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[Assistant] And to be able to see this symbol of hope just means that I know Lauren and I can do this.


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[Assistant] I am so frustrated right now. We do not want to be last.


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[Assistant] So the winners of this face-off are Anthony and James. Okay, we'll do cutting edge. Okay. We're gonna do cutting edge.


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[Assistant] Alright, because you lost the last faceoff, you will have a time penalty.


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[Assistant] G7 is a prosperous and amazing organization. I am super proud to be here and, uh, you should be too. Keep doing your thing and, uh, thank you.


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[Assistant] Putu, I can now take questions.


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[Assistant] Good morning and welcome to Lama Bay and the G7 Summit.


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[Assistant] There's a taxi there. To stay number one, we have to work together.


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[Assistant] And we're gonna try to break this tradition of going down after you win, and gonna try to win the next two legs consecutively.


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[Assistant] There he has a great palette. When it comes to recognizing little hints of flavor, he's very good at that.


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[Assistant] We have to sort apples into their 12 different varieties.


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[Assistant] The most difficult thing about this challenge is that many apples look the same. They all look the same. They look like brothers. We're gonna get it.


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[Assistant] No it doesn't. Are you serious? It's like pink. I don't know if it's the size, if it's the color, if it's the dimples. I don't know what we're doing wrong.


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[Assistant] Same thing over and over again. It's not the same thing. Okay, let's try again.


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[Assistant] Be like this. Okay, let's try this. We have three different varieties of apples that we have to sort and it's still as confusing as ever.


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[Assistant] We have to leave before the sisters. Dave and Irina are right there.


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[Assistant] But still, there was no rest for me. That's good, right?


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[Assistant] I want to let the other teams know. Sometimes we get excited. It's been a lot of ups and downs and just a rollercoaster of emotions. But it's been nice getting to know each other.


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[Assistant] I will do anything you say! Just please tell the monkey to stop!


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[Assistant] Yup, luck it. You go down that way. Yeah. And there's a road on your right called Grand Prix Road. Grand Prix Road.


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[Assistant] It's no more Mrs. Nice Moms. We have tried to play this game a little too safe.


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[Assistant] If we win this face-off, it will be a little redemption for Lauren and Joanne, one-waying us back in Edmonton.


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[Assistant] We are heading to the perimeter institute. Let's just go. The other teams could be struggling. We just have to keep the faith and don't give up.


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[Assistant] Make your way to the university stadium at Wolf & Glory. We're still in this. If we can get this figured out fast, then we still have a chance.


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[Assistant] We're working through the equation. This race is all about problem solving and any task is usually a way you can figure yourself out of it. You got it. I think.


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[Assistant] It's been an honor for Amy and I to represent moms everywhere in the Amazing Race Canada. We are tough. We are smart. We are strong.


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[Assistant] Smart learning for all. Topic breathing.


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[Assistant] It generally works perfectly. Just like me, right? Nah.


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[Assistant] When we inhale, our diaphragm contracts helping us take in air into the lungs.


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[Assistant] However, sometimes this contraction does not happen properly.


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[Assistant] Due to this, our diaphragm contracts irregularly in a jerky way, making us suck air suddenly. This air rushes through our voice box, making the vocal cords to close suddenly, creating a hiccup.


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[Assistant] Glad you asked. I get off at ten past. I'm never going out.


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[Assistant] Mmm, that's too bad. Cause I was kind of thinking maybe you could eat it off my stomach.


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[Assistant] Welcome to Voyager Estate. Another glorious day in the Margaret River region. You would have noticed when you walked in, those glorious finds, that rolling landscape. It is just pristine and beautiful.


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[Assistant] And we know it was a tough challenge for you three, but last night looked absolutely amazing. It was like an enchanted forest, that beautiful crackling fire, and eventually everyone got fed. So we're all pleased about that. You know, we'll get over it. It's a new day. And the only thing that you should be thinking about, quite honestly, is grabbing one of those last two spots in finals week. Larissa?


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[Assistant] Today is the last day that you can use that immunity pin. If you do play it, you get one of those final spots. What are you gonna do?


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[Assistant] You have three and a half hours to recreate both of Santi's dishes.


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[Assistant] The person who puts up the best version of those two dishes straight into finals week. And the other goes home. Your time starts now.


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[Assistant] Alrighty, what are we up to? We are up to just finishing off the mousse. Remember, texture. What is it going to look like and what did it taste like?


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[Assistant] So then a little, remember texture, fold together so it's smooth.


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[Assistant] It's a big thumbs up so far for multitasking and knocking these jobs over. We've had two hours, now there's 90 minutes to go. TikTok!


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[Assistant] The water has stopped rising right at my neck, which means Andrew is barely above the surface.


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[Assistant] I wrap an arm around him and try to lift him up to my height. Thanks. His voice wavers. He must be scared too. We walk. I hold his hand and he's holding mine. Tight. My arm is wrapped around his waist, holding him up. I'm cold. I'm wet and I'm terrified. But with Andrew this close, I feel safer. Like whatever's in the dark can't hurt us.


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[Assistant] Not that there is anything in the dark. Not even whatever just brushed against my leg. I shiver, and Andrew's grip tightens.


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[Assistant] The water has gotten lower, but I don't notice it at first because my body's so cold.


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[Assistant] We keep moving, and when the water's down to our waists, we move faster, splashing as we see light from the curve up ahead.


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[Assistant] We run until we escape the cold river water, the sun within our reach.


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[Assistant] Our packs are soaked and heavy, but we're running full force.


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[Assistant] Gasping for air, we burst into the warm sunlight, and I let out a loud scream of victory. I don't want to let go of Andrew's hand, but I know I have to at some point, so I pull him into a wet hug and jump up and down.


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[Assistant] He joins me, squeezing me back and hollering as well. He's laughing again and I laugh too. I let him go, but I'm still smiling. Andrew looks smug. I told you that was going to be our best option. You're not allowed to make decisions anymore. Not even what we have for dinner. Especially not what we have for dinner. And now that we're on the subject, I remember the food we have in our packs.


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[Assistant] I set the rifle down and take mine off. It's still leaking dirty river water.


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[Assistant] Andrew takes off his as well and we unpack our clothes and canned food.


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[Assistant] The food labels are soaked. Our books are soaked. The clothes are soaked. But worst of all, the road atlas is soaked.


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[Assistant] Have I said sorry yet? Andrew asks.


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[Assistant] I open my mother's notebook, turning the pages gently so they don't rip.


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[Assistant] And Andrew gently unfolds some of the pages of the Road Atlas and puts it down next to the book in the middle of the road.


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[Assistant] I hold up a can, its label missing somewhere in the pack or in the wet piles of them on the ground. Every night is mystery dinner. I guess I'll let you choose a can every once in a while.


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[Assistant] We spread out our wet clothes and sleeping bags across the highway, turn our wet packs inside out, and lay out ourselves to dry in the sun.


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[Assistant] I take the last two batteries in my bag and swap out the dead ones in the flashlight.


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[Assistant] Andrew makes fun of me again for my claustrophobia and I make fun of him about the axe mannequin while pretending it wasn't just claustrophobia. I think he thinks I was joking about the nightlight.


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[Assistant] Keeping it well into high school was more out of habit than my fear of the dark. But that fear is real.


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[Assistant] We go three more days without seeing another person. I'm surprised at how empty the roads are.


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[Assistant] Don't get me wrong, I'm more than happy to avoid as many people as possible until we get there. But still, it's eerily quiet on the roads.


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[Assistant] In movies and TV shows about the apocalypse, the ones Andrew would be shocked that I've seen.


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[Assistant] The roads are always packed with abandoned cars, bumper to bumper traffic at the end of the world. But the reality of it is, when it got bad, no one wanted to go anywhere.


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[Assistant] We've come upon a few abandoned car or truck roadblocks on the highways, but mostly it's a few cars here and there.


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[Assistant] He's been looking at it every couple of hours the past two days, but won't tell me why.


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[Assistant] What are you looking for? I ask, tightening the cap of my water bottle. A different way around DC, but it's hard. Look. Andrew points to the map and I crouch down to look.


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[Assistant] We could take 495, but it looks like it just runs in a circle around the city. What's wrong with that? Nothing. But look at route 1.


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[Assistant] He points out Route 1, running through Alexandria, Virginia.


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[Assistant] It basically starts to run parallel to 95, and if we take that to 495 and then cut through Bethesda, we can avoid taking one through DC. Alexandria. There's something about Alexandria, but I can't quite remember what it is. Okay, I say. So we go through Bethesda down here and... I follow the road with my finger a bit, then look over at him.


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[Assistant] This still goes through Washington. Look, here's the Vietnam Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Pentagon, and finally, Reagan National. He focuses on my finger as I point out each landmark. Huh, so it does. Something's up with him.


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[Assistant] Just to be clear, you want to cut through DC to avoid going through DC? I thought it went around the city, he says quietly. I stare at him, trying to figure him out. Usually I can do this. At least it's been that way since I met him.


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[Assistant] It's not that I know everything he's thinking, but I can tell when he's annoyed. Like when rain is coming and his leg aches.


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[Assistant] I can tell when he's thinking about something that happened before the apocalypse, because he gets quiet, and when I ask him what's up.


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[Assistant] He smiles and says it's nothing or that he was thinking of a movie to tell me about. Right now, I can tell he's hiding something. Then it hits me.


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[Assistant] The piece of paper in the book he gave me had an address in Alexandria written on it. So it was a stop he wanted to make.


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[Assistant] Alexandria is farther south than Reagan National, but I don't know why he wouldn't tell me about it, or what's there.


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[Assistant] I try to think of any number of reasons why he would hide this from me, but none of them seem right.


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[Assistant] He trusts me. He proved that when he let me torture him to help his leg heal.


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[Assistant] But I can't figure out why he doesn't trust me with this. For the first time I wonder if I made a mistake in trusting Andrew. The thought makes my stomach hurt. Why do you really want to go there so bad? You can tell me, Andrew.


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[Assistant] I purposefully say there instead of DC. He still avoids my gaze. I just didn't look close enough at the map. I sit down next to him, tucking my legs under me.


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[Assistant] He's still not ready to tell me and I don't want to sit here making up possibilities.


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[Assistant] But I trust him, so I feel like I should let him know he can trust me. I know what this is about. He finally looks at me. It's not true.


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[Assistant] I know there's something specific he's looking for, but doesn't want to tell me about.


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[Assistant] The most obvious thing it could be is that he wants to find someone.


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[Assistant] Andrew wants to be optimistic about something, but everything that's happened in his life doesn't let him.


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[Assistant] This is based on the limited understanding I have of his life, pre-apocalypse.


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[Assistant] His parents were strict and didn't necessarily approve of who he was. He didn't have someone like my mom who was spiritual, not religious, who believed that what you put out into the universe, you got back. Andrew wants hope. But he can't let himself hope.


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[Assistant] I understand that you want to find people, I say.


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[Assistant] Something changes in his face and it looks like he's going to interrupt me, so I talk fast. If you want to go looking for someone, I think we should do it.


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[Assistant] My instincts, that ever-growing pit of fire in my stomach, tell me that going out of our way is wrong. But I do trust him, whether I should or not.


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[Assistant] So far, Andrew has been so forthcoming about everything that he has to have a reason for this. I know it.


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[Assistant] I try to give him a friendly smile, but he doesn't smile back. I stand and hold out a hand to help him up.


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[Assistant] And exit onto route 355 into Bethesda.


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[Assistant] The small town looks worse than Baltimore did from afar.


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[Assistant] The shops are looted, cars are burned, trash and leaves blow in the hot and humid breeze.


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[Assistant] The bodies littering the ground are much older than the decapitated one in Melee.


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[Assistant] At least none of them outwardly look like they died from acts of violence.


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[Assistant] If they were flu victims, they were the walking dead kind.


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[Assistant] The ones who refused to rest and stay indoors, deliriously walking through the streets while fever cooked their brains and mucus drowned them. The stay-at-home orders came too late.


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[Assistant] Sometime in early September after the Vice President was sworn in.


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[Assistant] Most people didn't need the stay at home order. They had been staying in since July. But there were still a few.


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[Assistant] Like the eight or so bodies in downtown Bethesda who decided to press their luck.


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[Assistant] By the time the government tried to institute a full-on lockdown like a few European countries, the National Guard had already lost most of their ranks, so there was no one to uphold it. Everything had happened either too slowly or too late.


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[Assistant] Andrew's been quiet for too long, which always makes me nervous. I like it better when he talks, even if I just listen. I point to the broken front window of a Banana Republic. Should we replenish these rags?


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[Assistant] Come on now, Jamie, you know the last fashions shipped out were for the fall line. Do you want to wear chinos and button down plaid in a hundred and three degree heat? Sounds hot. Eh, get it? He rolls his eyes, but I see him smirk. I think it's my turn to retch at your bad joke. He retches. Because your jokes are the height of humor. Oh, I know.


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[Assistant] I mean, you should be paying me, my jokes are so good. He nudges me and smiles, and something flutters in my chest.


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[Assistant] I don't have time to enjoy the fluttering or even think about what it could mean, because someone speaks from behind us.


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[Assistant] If you two stopped joking around, you could hear an old lady sneak up on you. We turn, and there's a shotgun pointing at Andrew's face.


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[Assistant] Henry is up before me, and I hear her walk outside to the backyard.


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[Assistant] I look over to Andrew, but he's still asleep on the couch across from me, so I get up and follow Henry outside. Good morning, James, she says from beside the brick oven. You can call me Jamie. Can I help you with anything? She smiles and hands me the shotgun.


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[Assistant] I don't think they often go hunting in broad daylight, but just in case. She begins cooking. Rabbit again with sauteed peppers. It smells amazing. My stomach is already grumbling loudly. You should get a smoker, I tell her. Should I? You can preserve your meat with that instead of canning it. Might not be a bad idea.


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[Assistant] We stand in silence while she cooks and I scan the fence line, listening for noises and hearing nothing but the end of the world's silence. No birds, no planes, no cars. Just wind and insects. I turn back to Henry. Why did you invite us in?


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[Assistant] You were behind us. You could have let us keep walking and we never would have met you or known where you live. Yes, but then, like you said, we would have never met. Her eyes crinkle with a wide smile. Do you believe in fate, kid? A higher purpose and God and all that. I let out a low grunt. I used to, not anymore. She nods. Same with me.


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[Assistant] It's hard to believe there's a greater purpose for everyone when 90% of them have been wiped out. So I've been focusing more on luck than fate.


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[Assistant] My kids were all set financially since Tommy had decent life insurance, and I had my pension, so I didn't need the money. Yet I still played.


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[Assistant] The most I ever won was five grand on a two dollar ticket. Since the world went kaput, I've been pushing my luck a bit more.


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[Assistant] I'm also a great judge of character and I could tell you boys were on the up and up with just one look at you. What if we weren't? She shrugs. Then my luck's run out and that's that. So just like that you're ready to die. She looks at me as though I'm speaking in tongues.


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[Assistant] Are people running around killing each other with reckless abandon?


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[Assistant] Honey, if all that stops people from killing each other is the laws of men, then maybe we deserve to be wiped out by the flu. You have to trust people sometimes. The good in this world might surprise you. Look at me, look at the two of you.


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[Assistant] Here I am making you boys breakfast before you're off to retire to Europe.


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[Assistant] And your friend gave up the chance to sleep in a soft bed because he wanted to make sure you were safe in the middle of the night. I smile. She could be on to something. We're only the choices we make now. Press your luck, hon. People can surprise you sometimes. She flips the rabbit in the pan and moves the veggies around.


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[Assistant] Now go wake up, Andrew, so you boys can lie on your bellies and be on your way.


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[Assistant] I move toward the house, but stop to take a quick look back at her.


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[Assistant] I imagine her here, alone, cooking for herself, fighting off strange beasts in the night. Every day she's been doing that. My life was like that before Andrew, too. Alone.


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[Assistant] After breakfast, Henry walks us outside, shotgun in hand. Andrew turns to her and smiles. Thank you again, for everything. Henry waves her hand, brushing the thought away. It was nothing. She reaches into her pocket and takes out a small tool. The metal is scuffed and it's rusted around a joint. She unfolds it.


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[Assistant] It's a multi-tool with a knife, pliers, screwdriver, and several other implements. Here. She holds the tool out to me. This used to be my husband's. No, we can't accept. She cuts me off. I found it a few months back when I was cleaning up. I thought we'd lost it, but here it is.


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[Assistant] Take it. You might be able to use it on the road, and I've got a whole toolbox in the garage. I'm not sure if I should take it. She's given us enough as it is. But then she sighs and grabs my hand, closing the multi-tool in it. Just take it. I glance at it. It's engraved with the initials TCW.


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[Assistant] If you boys are ever in the neighborhood again, stop by. Only this time, bring some food with you. She winks as she opens her arms. Thank you, Henry. I go in for the hug. You're welcome, sweetie.


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[Assistant] She squeezes me goodbye and whispers in my ear, remember what I said, people can surprise you. I nod. Then Andrew gets his Henry hug and we walk through the iron gate. Henry locks it behind us. We say goodbye again and she watches us go.


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[Assistant] When we turn the corner, we wave to her one final time, and she gives us a wave back.


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[Assistant] Andrew tells me about her family and how she had a daughter named Amy who could still be alive in Florida. I think of Henry, all alone up here, and I want to go back for her.


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[Assistant] I'd walk her all the way down to Florida alone if I had to, but I don't think she'd come with us.


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[Assistant] I come to a stop and point to a highway on-ramp sign. We could go that way.


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[Assistant] I checked on the map this morning and it said it meets up with 95. Andrew looks as though he's thinking about it for a moment, but then shakes his head. No, I think we should keep heading this way. He points straight the direction we're going, toward Alexandria. I nod and we keep walking.


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[Assistant] But I still know there's something Andrew isn't telling me. And Henry's words resound in my head. People can surprise you.


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[Assistant] It could have been a warning, but only if she knew why Andrew was pointing us toward Alexandria.


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[Assistant] He wouldn't just tell a stranger something he wouldn't tell me. He said he wanted to find other survivors, but Henry said there's no one left.


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[Assistant] Last night I remembered more about the sheet of paper that was in his paperback copy of The Voyage Out. I can't remember the name of the people, but I remember the street. Leaper Street. It could be a family member or an old boyfriend.


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[Assistant] That would explain why he would leave and not expect me to follow, because then I'd be a third wheel. But he would tell me if that was it, wouldn't he?


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[Assistant] Whoever lives in Alexandria, he doesn't want me to know about them.


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[Assistant] He might be keeping quiet about it because he really wants to find whoever lives on Leaper Street and he's worried that speaking the hope aloud might ruin it all. I'm curious what his endgame is.


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[Assistant] How does he expect to go looking through Alexandria without me asking him where he's going?


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[Assistant] How far do I let us go before I tell him I know something? We turn down Massachusetts Avenue.


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[Assistant] There's a peeling orange sign warning about a construction zone in a mile, and another that shows a lane closure graphic. The city's silent.


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[Assistant] Through the tatters I can make out the printed picture of a panda bear. Something crunches under my foot. I look down. It's bones. Some small mammal, not human. I scan the street. Do you notice anything? I ask Andrew. He looks around. What do you mean? It looks the same as everywhere else does. I grab his arm, stopping him. No, really look. What's missing?


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[Assistant] I see all the makings of an apocalypse. Abandoned cars, garbage, cracked asphalt with weeds overtaking the street. Mother nature taking back what's rightfully hers. There are no bodies. He doesn't speak as he looks around. Then says, dragging out the word. Yeah.


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[Assistant] We've seen so many of them over the past few weeks, I didn't even realize they weren't here until I stepped on those.


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[Assistant] I point a few paces behind us at the animal bones.


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[Assistant] Unlike the people bones we've seen in differing states of decay.


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[Assistant] Maybe there's someone running around trying to clean up the bodies, Andrew offers. But they decided to leave the garbage?


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[Assistant] There are food wrappers and newspapers lining the gutters, faded and dried from the sun and weather. Andrew Shrugs.


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[Assistant] Are you really complaining about the cleaning habits of the apocalyptically inclined? I smile, shaking my head and shoving him. Alright, keep moving.


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[Assistant] Yet there's still something strange about all this that I can't quite put my finger on. Clang, clang. Metal meets metal above my head. I glance up.


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[Assistant] Another banner is waving in the breeze, the broken hook smacking the metal light post.


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[Assistant] It's in one piece, and although it's faded, I can read what it says. Smithsonian National Zoological Park. Clang. Right below the words is a picture of a lion.


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[Assistant] Its mane is large around its head, its mouth open in a ferocious roar. I stop breathing, and my flesh crawls. Henry's Monsters.


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[Assistant] She said they come out at night, the growling, the scratching at her fence.


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[Assistant] There are no bodies in the street because some thing's been cleaning up. Not someone.


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[Assistant] I scan the street again, my eyes wide in terror.


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[Assistant] The birds all died off because the virus transferred from them to us, but the other animals remained immune.


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[Assistant] The Smithsonian National Zoo is just a few blocks away.


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[Assistant] The animals could have escaped their enclosure or someone let them out. If we believe Darwin.


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[Assistant] It means we are right in the middle of the fittest's hunting ground. Clang. Clang.


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[Assistant] Andrew realizes he's twenty or thirty paces in front of me and turns around. What's wrong? I take the rifle from my shoulder and put my finger to my lips. He mouths the word, what, as he scans the street.


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[Assistant] I close the distance between us in a few steps and pull him close, speaking quietly. The animals from the zoo, those are Henry's monsters.


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[Assistant] The one last night was probably small because she said the first one jumped over the fence, something like that. I point up at the lion on the banner and Andrew's eyes go wide, which means they're still around here. They're hunting as far as Bethesda, so maybe they've moved on from here, but we have to be quick and quiet. Andrew nods.


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[Assistant] I point ahead to continue down Massachusetts Avenue toward the points of interest signs for DuPont Circle and a few museums and monuments.


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[Assistant] Andrew takes the gun from his hip and we walk as quickly as we can, scanning the street around us as we move.


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[Assistant] There's a small park to our left, trees line the street, and the grass on both sides of us has become overgrown.


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[Assistant] The leopards and cheetahs lying low in the high grass of the African savanna. We need to get off this road, I say. Then I see them, yellow eyes watching us from the tree line. I freeze. I lift the rifle scope to my eye and get a close up look at the lion. He's crouched down low, ready to pounce at any moment. As soon as we run,


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[Assistant] Andrew, I call after him. He stops turning to look at me and raising the gun. Oh god. His voice is barely a whisper. He's watching us.


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[Assistant] My mouth is dry and sweat soaks my shirt. When I say the word,


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[Assistant] I glance over at him, but he isn't looking at the lion in the trees. He's looking behind me. I turn my head slowly.


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[Assistant] I don't know how long she's been following us, but there she is.


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[Assistant] A large, muscular lioness walking toward us. I turn back to the male lion in the trees. He isn't hunting. He's watching.


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[Assistant] Andrew, I call out, not bothering to keep my voice quiet anymore. Run!


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[Assistant] I don't watch to see if he is listening. Instead, I whirl around on the lioness that's just thirty feet from me. I see her through my scope, and this time, for the first time, I have no trouble pulling the trigger.


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[Assistant] The lioness charges at me as red explodes from her right shoulder. She howls in pain and probably anger.


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[Assistant] I pull the bolt, dropping the rifle shell from the chamber, and replacing it with a new one.


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[Assistant] The trees rustle as the mail charges from the tree line.


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[Assistant] I whirled around on him and pulled the trigger on the rifle again. I miss him and hit the ground, but he jerks back. Growing up in captivity, he knows what I am. And while he's probably never seen a rifle, he isn't dumb.


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[Assistant] He stops charging and his back arches, his hair standing on end as he lets out a roar that reverberates throughout my whole body. I slowly move backward.


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[Assistant] I pull the bolt on the rifle again and hope there's another shell in there. The lioness is still limping forward, the male moving sideways toward her. Only fifty feet separate us now.


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[Assistant] I keep eye contact with the lion, but I want to look for Andrew.


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[Assistant] I can't hear him running anymore, but that doesn't mean he's safe. There might be more of them ahead. Or something worse.


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[Assistant] The two lions are still moving forward side by side now. The lion leans over to the lioness and licks at her wound.


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[Assistant] They stop moving, but watch as I continue to back away. Maybe they're no longer seeing me as prey.


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[Assistant] Or, they're waiting for one of the other lionesses hiding farther ahead to pounce and take revenge for their injured pride.


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[Assistant] Andrew! I scream out. I hear nothing in return as the lions continue to watch me.


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[Assistant] The lioness falls back as her leader steps forward, lowering his body close to the ground. He's going to charge me.


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[Assistant] I raise my hands and step forward, shouting, trying to make myself look bigger. I think that's a thing, at least it is for bears.


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[Assistant] Undeterred, the lion steps forward again with his large paw. Maybe only for bears. Oh man.


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[Assistant] I wish I hadn't sent Andrew away. His gun could come in handy right about now.


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[Assistant] I see a flash of yellow to my left, another lion, and my chest feels like it's going to explode. My body acts on instinct.


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[Assistant] I turn my empty gun on the lion, expecting to see it running at me from the embassy on the side of the road. This is how I'm going to die.


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[Assistant] Survived the apocalypse to be mauled by lions. But it's not a lion.


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[Assistant] The orange barrels closing off the far right lane have fallen over and rolled onto the grass separating the sidewalk from the road. My eyes go back to the lion, which has moved several steps closer. He bears his teeth. The excavator has a cab. I think I can run to it. I can make it if it's unlocked, then wait in there and reload the rifle. I can do it. I just have to run.


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[Assistant] They continue to move slowly backward away from the lion, as if they have a mind of their own. I'm almost past the excavator now.


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[Assistant] Go! Stop walking backward! I shout at my trembling legs, but they aren't listening.


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[Assistant] The lion jumps, throwing its paw out to the side as well.


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[Assistant] That's all my body needs to convince it, and I'm running. But the lion's running too.


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[Assistant] He isn't running toward me though. He knows where I'm going and he's running toward the excavator, trying to cut me off at the pass.


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[Assistant] My pack is weighing me down. I go around the back of the excavator. The door is right ahead of me, so is the lion, his claws out. I jump up on the excavator tracks and reach for the door handle. It doesn't turn. I'm dead.


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[Assistant] Somehow my brain forces me to pull the handle again.


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[Assistant] And this time it turns. It isn't locked, just rusted. I yank it open as the lion reaches my side. I jump into the cab and pull the door shut behind me, but it won't close all the way.


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[Assistant] The lion bats at the glass door, prying at the gap between the door and the cab with his claws. He roars and gnashes his teeth at me. There's tugging against my left.


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[Assistant] I turn expecting to see another lion somehow reaching into the cab from the other side, but it's the rifle strap that's pulling at my shoulder.


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[Assistant] My eyes follow the end of the rifle up to the top of the cab where it's sticking out through the door, keeping it from closing.


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[Assistant] I take the strap off and turn in the cab, still pulling on the door as tight as I can, but it's clear that the lion's going to win.


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[Assistant] With all my might, and hoping I don't break the glass, I kick out with both feet. The door swings open and hits the lion hard on the nose. Letting out a roar, he recoils and falls to the ground. I watch in slow motion as the rifle falls out of the cab.


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[Assistant] I reach forward, my fingers grazing the weapon, which sends it away from me a little faster.


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[Assistant] I fumble, then manage to get it in my fingers and grasp as hard as I can.


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[Assistant] I pull it into the cab and reach for the door as the lion rears up.


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[Assistant] The door shuts with a metallic groan, and I latch it just as the claws push against the window, scratching the plexiglass.


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[Assistant] I let out a scream of celebration.


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[Assistant] The lion continues to scratch at the cab and roar at me. I'm breathing deeply.


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[Assistant] I feel like I haven't taken a breath since I told Andrew to run. Andrew. I scan the road but don't see any sign of him. So, that's good. He got away. I turn back to the lion.


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[Assistant] He's now pacing around the excavator, looking for another way to come at me. I take my pack off and reach in for the bullets. My body tenses up. No.


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[Assistant] I move the clothes around, pulling them out along with the cans of food. No, I say out loud. My voice is trembling. No, no, no, no, no. There are no bullets.


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[Assistant] I remember now, Andrew held onto them so he could take off his pack and hand them to me as needed.


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[Assistant] And I let him because I never thought I'd be able to use the damn thing. I throw my empty pack against the front of the cab and sit back. The lion is still pacing. I hold my middle finger against the window. Keep pacing, Cujo. Sweats beating on my forehead. I pick up the bottle of water on the floor of the cab. It's full, thankfully. Henry saw to that before we left.


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[Assistant] I open it and take a sip. The sun's getting higher in the sky. By noon, it's going to be over a hundred degrees in here. I just have to hope the lion gives up before then.


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[Assistant] Then he pauses as if he doesn't know where the story starts. I wasn't alone the entire time I was out here. After my sister died, I mean.


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[Assistant] I left home in January, but got stuck in Connecticut until the end of February.


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[Assistant] I was hoping to get as far south as I could before it got really hot. I nod. I know this part of the story already.


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[Assistant] I had just gotten past New York City when I ran into a couple. They were from Vermont. George and Joanne Foster. They were maybe in their 50s. We met at a supermarket in a small town in New Jersey I was passing through.


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[Assistant] I don't know if people didn't get around to looting it or what, but there was still a good amount of food on the shelves.


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[Assistant] We agreed we would each take whatever we needed and go on our way. I saw they had a gun and I wasn't armed so I let them do their thing and I took my stuff and that was that. I know this can't be the end of the story though.


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[Assistant] My stomach is in knots, worried about what event would create the one thing Andrew would keep from me. They left before I did. A few miles down the road, I ran into them again.


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[Assistant] They had set up a fire and stopped to camp for the night. I was wearing layers and gloves, but it was still so cold.


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[Assistant] I waved to them and I heard Joanne and George speaking, very low. Then they called after me. They invited me to share their fire so I joined them. We ate our own food and we got to talking. They were heading south to, well, here.


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[Assistant] They were coming to meet their son Mark and his wife Diane and their two kids Katie and Emily. He says these names like they're people he's always known. He doesn't have to pause to think or try to remember.


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[Assistant] He just says the names like he's always been on a first name basis with the Fosters.


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[Assistant] George and Joe last spoke to them in October before all the cell signals started dropping. They had been traveling south since then.


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[Assistant] I swallow, despair filling my chest.


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[Assistant] I remember the sudden lack of graffiti Andrew claimed he had seen before the cabin, how we saw none of it along the way, and how we didn't run into anyone else on the road. Maybe there is no EU coming.


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[Assistant] Their daughter-in-law Diane, she worked for a German pharmaceutical company. She's the one who told them the EU was sending help.


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[Assistant] Apparently viruses as deadly as the bug can mutate rapidly so they might become less lethal.


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[Assistant] The EU were waiting until the virus burned itself out in America before they showed up. Last time Joanne talked to Mark and Diane, they said June 10th was the day. So he wasn't lying. But I still don't understand the secrecy.


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[Assistant] Maybe he knew the fosters weren't going to let me come along, but that thought, that he would ditch me, threatens to rip a hole through my chest, so I push it aside.


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[Assistant] Anyway, they got stuck in Connecticut for a while, like me. As I said, the winter was bad. We got a lot of snow.


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[Assistant] I told them about my family and my plan to go south to avoid the winter again.


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[Assistant] I didn't tell them I was also looking for other people. I figured I would wait for that. Maybe see if they'd invite me to hang in Germany with them. I went to sleep that night and everything was fine.


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[Assistant] The fire was blazing and I was warm and comfortable in my sleeping bag. When I woke up, it was dark and cold.


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[Assistant] At first I thought maybe they had left and the fire had gone out on its own. But then I heard them.


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[Assistant] They were whispering and I could hear the sound of their bags rustling.


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[Assistant] The moon wasn't full, but it was bright enough that I could see them. They were hunched over their packs.


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[Assistant] There were little piles of snow around them that hadn't quite melted. I stayed still, listening.


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[Assistant] If they were going to leave me, that was fine, I'd let them go.


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[Assistant] I didn't want to make a big deal out of it, and I knew I could just go to Reagan alone if I had to. He's telling the story like one of his movies. I don't know which details are truly remembered and which he's embellishing. If he really does remember all this, it means he's been thinking about it non-stop.


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[Assistant] My stomach clenches because I know the story can't possibly end well. Then I saw what they were doing, Andrew continues.


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[Assistant] They had taken my pack and were rummaging through it, taking the food I had brought with me.


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[Assistant] We were both in the same market, and here they were robbing me while I was asleep. I didn't get it. I still don't. Why would they do that? I know the question is rhetorical. After all this time, it must be. But still, I shrug.


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[Assistant] It was this one stupid thing they were doing and it-


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[Assistant] His voice breaks, and he swallows hard before continuing. I jumped up and started yelling at them. That's when George turned on me.


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[Assistant] I saw the gun in the light of the moon, and I stopped moving.


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[Assistant] Joanne told him not to shoot me, but he didn't put the gun down.


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[Assistant] He told me to turn around and walk straight into the woods at the edge of the road. I put my hands up, but didn't move. Andrew stops talking, but I feel like I already know where this story is going.


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[Assistant] It's like watching a train chugging along to a broken part of track.


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[Assistant] I know it's going to derail, that the bad part's coming. But I can't do anything about it. It's already happened to him. He's already lived through this.


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[Assistant] I could ask him to stop, tell him he doesn't have to say anymore. But he's kept this story to himself, held it in for so long. He needs to let it out.


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[Assistant] I reach for his hand and hold it, squeezing tightly.


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[Assistant] Andrew watches my hand like it's a strange creature sniffing at him. Then he finally squeezes back. When he continues, his voice has changed. His throat sounds tighter.


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[Assistant] I asked them to hand me my pack and I'd be on my way. But he said it was theirs now. It all happened so fast after that. Joanne said something, I don't even remember what, but it distracted George and I ran at him.


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[Assistant] I tackled him and slammed his hand down on the ground, but he wouldn't let the gun go.


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[Assistant] He hit me with his free hand and I heard Joanne screaming at me, and then she was hitting me too. My lips split open and my nose was bleeding. I don't even know which one was hitting me, maybe both.


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[Assistant] I reached out and grabbed the closest thing I could see in the moonlight and hit him with it.


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[Assistant] I don't know if that one blow killed him or created a bleed or what, but George stopped moving.


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[Assistant] He let up on the gun and it fell into the snow. When I got off him, Joanne was screaming.


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[Assistant] She kept screaming his name and shaking him to wake him up. I still had it in my hand, the thing I hit him with. It was a can of soup, not even one I had taken.


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[Assistant] I don't know when I picked up the gun, but I had it in my hand when Joanne turned and ran at me screaming. I shot her twice. I heard her


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[Assistant] Andrew stops talking and tears fall from his eyes and he lets out a sob. I put my arm around him and pull him closer to me. The sounds he's making hurt my heart.


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[Assistant] His cries are exactly why I've been afraid to use the gun.


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[Assistant] Why even when my own mom asked me, I couldn't do it.


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[Assistant] She asked for the pills first, but I hid those, thinking she could get better.


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[Assistant] Then when the fever got really bad, she started begging me just to take her outside and shoot her.


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[Assistant] My own stomach churns with the same fear and anxiety.


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[Assistant] And I can't imagine how Andrew has dealt with this for so long. I open my mouth to try to tell him it wasn't his fault, but I know he won't believe me. The guilt has weighed on him for too long. Instead, I let him cry and don't say anything. When he composes himself, he continues. There's still more. I didn't sleep the rest of the night. I just sat there.


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[Assistant] When the sun came up, I finally saw how they looked. They were both blue and dead. It was so much worse than the bug, probably because I was the one who did it. The worst part is, I didn't take their food.


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[Assistant] They were trying to take mine. Food they didn't even need right in that moment. Food they'd had a chance to take twelve hours earlier.


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[Assistant] I can't understand why they didn't just take it from the store. Why take it from me?


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[Assistant] And it happened again when Howard's people came to the cabin, and I got so pissed at them.


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[Assistant] I could at least make sense of that because it was your food they were stealing. But with George and Joanne?


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[Assistant] Why the hell did I care so much? Why didn't I walk into the woods like they told me to and wait for them to go?


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[Assistant] You didn't know if he was going to shoot you when you turned around. He lets out a sad chuckle. He wasn't going to. I shot Joanne twice.


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[Assistant] His face scrunches up in agony and he can't even look at me when he says, There are only two bullets in the gun.


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[Assistant] I think if they got down here and found their kids and grandkids dead, his voice trails off. I want to make him feel better.


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[Assistant] I want to tell him about my mom and how she asked for a similar end. And I couldn't even do that. But it's not helpful. It will just make things worse. I'll still be the coward I am. And Andrew will still be a killer. So you came down here to find them, I say. Before they left. It's June 8th. Two days until they would have been gone for good. He nods.


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[Assistant] Joanne still had an old address book, so I tore out the page and put it in the Virginia Woolf book.


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[Assistant] When I found it on the coffee table the morning after you let me in, I thought I'd dropped it.


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[Assistant] I was afraid that if he realized I was a murderer, he wouldn't trust me and would kick me out. And then, when I got better, I thought I could come clean, but I realized even then that I still needed you. I knew he was hiding something.


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[Assistant] And I was afraid whatever it was would change everything. But it hasn't.


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[Assistant] I know who Andrew is, and I know he's a good person. And I know that I need him too. We sit in silence for a moment, then I stand up. All right then, I hold out my hand to him. Let's go. Andrew looks down the road toward the house in question, then back at his paper. It looks like he isn't so sure he wants to face them. I can't tell what scares him more.


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[Assistant] To find the family there alive and well, or the other option. Either way, I don't think it will help his guilt. I know it wouldn't do anything with mine. That's why I could never pull the trigger on that gun.


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[Assistant] No matter how much my mom screamed and cried. I didn't kill her. The flu did. I didn't cause her pain.


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[Assistant] So the guilt that came from her suffering could never be worse than the guilt that would come with killing her. All I can do to help Andrew is hold his hand and be here with him and tell him that I need him because I do. He puts the paper back in his bag and takes my hand.


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[Assistant] I pick up his pack and hand it to him, trying to psych myself up to just say the words, I need you too.


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[Assistant] But the words stop in my throat like a ball of iron. Whatever happens, I tell him. I'm here. That's all I can get out.


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[Assistant] He wipes the tears from his eyes and we head down Leaper Street.


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[Assistant] Heading for what might be Andrew's final stop, the idea fills me with a sudden dread. I'm not going to let them hurt him.


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[Assistant] If they try to take vengeance for what he did, for protecting himself, I'll protect him. Again, my body tenses with fear. I told him whatever happens, and I mean it.


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[Assistant] But the front of number 4322 does not bode well for us.


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[Assistant] Dead leaves litter the front yard, the grass crushed beneath them.


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[Assistant] Weeds strong enough to burst through the leaf barrier are scattered throughout the lawn.


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[Assistant] There's a small pink Fisher-Price trike with wet brown leaves on its seat.


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[Assistant] A rubber ball is by the front porch, half flat.


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[Assistant] My pack is over the rifle at my back. Andrew's gun is at his side buckled into its holster.


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[Assistant] I want to find the family all alive. I want Emily and Katie to have blonde hair that they braid each night. I want Diane Foster to have a hunting rifle that she's used to defend her children from escaped zoo animals.


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[Assistant] I want Mark to be growing rows of vegetables in the backyard and collecting rainwater like Henry.


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[Assistant] I want Andrew to be able to tell them what happened with their parents.


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[Assistant] And I want them to tell him that it's alright, that all is forgiven, even if it isn't. Hello?


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[Assistant] Andrew calls out from the bottom of the front steps. We're here to see Mark and Diane Foster. I knew Mark's parents, George and Joanne. No one opens the door.


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[Assistant] Andrew walks up the steps to the front porch and knocks on the door. I flank him, looking into the windows. They aren't boarded up like Henry's. Andrew knocks again, but no one answers. There isn't a sound inside the house. Andrew turns the doorknob and the front door opens. The house smells stale and musty.


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[Assistant] I follow Andrew inside, taking the flashlight from his pack without him asking me to do so. Hello? he calls out.


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[Assistant] We aren't here to hurt you. Mark, I knew your parents, George and Joanne. They sent me here to see you.


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[Assistant] I want to tell him that's not a good way of putting it, but I'm starting to think it doesn't matter. I run the flashlight over everything. None of it's been touched in months. We search the first floor. Andrew doesn't call out again.


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[Assistant] Either he thinks they aren't here or he's thinking what I'm thinking. I open the fridge, but it's empty.


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[Assistant] That's a good sign. They could have taken whatever they needed with them when they left. The backyard is overgrown. No veggies or barrels collecting rainwater. I follow Andrew upstairs. He pushes open the bedroom door at the top of the stairs. Before I even point the flashlight inside, I see him slump against the door. It's a little girl's room.


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[Assistant] There are no toys on the floor, but there's a stuffed animal on top of the bed, next to a long, thin lump.


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[Assistant] The blanket is pulled over what looks like a small body.


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[Assistant] I reach for Andrew's arm, pulling him back, and we shut the door. The second bedroom is empty. There are toys on the ground. Maybe the rest of the family left. The bathroom is empty as well. We go to the front bedroom. The door is open. On the large king-size bed are two adults.


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[Assistant] Their arms wrapped around a little girl. Their clothing is loose and moth-eaten, their skin tight against their bones, their lips pulled back over their teeth in mocking grimaces. Andrew drops to his knees, sliding against the door jamb to the dusty floor. If he's crying, it's silent. I turn off the flashlight and lean down to him. Give me your hand, I say.


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[Assistant] He doesn't move. I reach for him pulling on his arm. Come on. There's nothing we can do.


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[Assistant] Let's go downstairs. We'll figure out our next move tomorrow. They're dead. I can't tell if he's relieved or devastated. And I don't want to ask. I know. Come on. He still doesn't move.


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[Assistant] I bend over and use all my strength to get him on his feet.


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[Assistant] When he finally stands, we walk down the stairs together.


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[Assistant] Andrew sits on the couch and the puff of dust blows up around him.


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[Assistant] He drops his pack on the floor, kicks off his shoes, and turns his back to me, pulling his legs up into the fetal position. I put my hand on his back. I'm not even sure if it's helping him, but he doesn't try to buck me away so I leave


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[Assistant] I watch him and I wait for him to speak. But his breath deepens as he drifts to sleep. I am scared to sleep. I don't want him to wake up and do anything rash.


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[Assistant] I don't think he realizes how important he is to me. I didn't even realize how important he is to me. At least not until now. Not until he told me his story. I know why he didn't tell me the truth.


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[Assistant] His guilt, for one, but he was also worried I wouldn't trust him, or I'd be afraid of him. I'm way past that, though. I was afraid when he first arrived at the cabin. But I know who he is now.


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[Assistant] Even though he lied and kept the trip to Alexandria from me, it's not enough for me to be mad at him. Because I know the real reason he was coming here.


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[Assistant] He was hoping the Fosters were still alive, and I think he was hoping they would want revenge.


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[Assistant] I honestly don't know what I would have done if that had been the case, but I'd make sure no one would ever hurt him. What does that mean? At the time walking up to this house, I was so sure


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[Assistant] I don't know why this person is so damn important. Then it hits me. It's because it feels like love. The reason I moved in front of Howard's gun and why I left my home to come after Andrew.


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[Assistant] What gave me the strength to finally shoot the rifle? Though that may have also been to save my own ass. I feel safe when he's with me, and I want him to feel safe too.


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[Assistant] Andrew's breath continues its steady rhythm across from me on the couch. I want to tell him, but I don't know how.


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[Assistant] How do I explain it when I don't understand it myself?


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[Assistant] The idea of kissing him isn't scary or strange, and I have thought about it.


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[Assistant] A few times, more so at night before we go to sleep. When he says goodnight to me, it feels like I should kiss him. The idea of holding him doesn't make me uncomfortable. Actually, it's the complete opposite.


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[Assistant] I want to pull him close to me and hold him while he sleeps. It makes sense in my heart, though it doesn't make sense in my mind.


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[Assistant] Even the thought of more intimate things doesn't deter me. But I'm scared. Disappointing Andrew is what scares me.


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[Assistant] There's a massive difference between thinking about things and doing them.


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[Assistant] What happens if I'm wrong and it's just friendship and loneliness and horniness all mixed up?


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[Assistant] And then we try something and it's awkward and weird and I suck and then I've ruined the only relationship I have left.


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[Assistant] That seems so trivial when I think of it like that because it feels like so much more than just the only relationship I have left.


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[Assistant] I don't know what time it is when I finally drift off to sleep.


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[Assistant] I hear a gentle hum. In my mind I see an air conditioner.


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[Assistant] It's blowing on me and I'm lying under it in the afternoon sunlight. My eyes open, and the hum grows louder. As my mind clears, I realize it's not an air conditioner. The sun's up and the room is hot and stuffy. I look around, getting my bearings.


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[Assistant] I'm still in the Foster's house, but Andrew isn't lying across from me anymore. His shoes are gone as well.


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[Assistant] I jump up following the humming noise of a motor that grows louder as I reach the back of the house. There's movement in the backyard.


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[Assistant] Andrew is pushing a gas-powered lawnmower through the tall grass.


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[Assistant] The backyard which was overgrown last night is half cut.


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[Assistant] Clumps of wet, masticated grass are being spewed out of the side of the lawnmower.


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[Assistant] His shoes and legs up to his knees are green with cut grass. Pink scars on the leg I sewed up stand out against the green. I watch him, studying him like I've never done before. It's strange. No, not strange, different. He doesn't notice me until he loops around the back of the yard. He holds up his index finger, one sec.


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[Assistant] I nod and sit down on the steps, waiting for him to finish.


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[Assistant] When he's done he cuts the motor and pushes it back toward an open shed next to the house. Sorry, he says.


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[Assistant] It took me almost two hours of trying in the engine flooding before the damn thing finally started.


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[Assistant] I didn't want to risk turning it off and it not starting back up again.


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[Assistant] He picks up a red gas can and puts it in the shed too. You decided to do yard work? He looks up at the second story of the house. I want to bury them. I want them to be able to rest together. I didn't like seeing them separated like that. Did you bury George and Joanne? He lowers his eyes and shakes his head. The ground was frozen. I couldn't. I nod. Alright.


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[Assistant] There are two shovels in the shed, but only one pair of gardening gloves to share. It's almost eleven in the morning when we get started.


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[Assistant] By the time we finish digging four holes, two large, two small.


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[Assistant] The sun is low in the sky, and our hands are covered in blisters, despite swapping the gloves back and forth.


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[Assistant] We wrap each member of the foster family in a different blanket and carry them down the stairs one by one. As the sky turns from orange to purple, we gently lower each of them into the ground. They aren't six feet down like they should be.


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[Assistant] But there isn't much of the fosters left to dig up, even if animals did try to get back here.


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[Assistant] Andrew says a few words and tells them what happened to George and Joanne Foster. We cover the girls, then their parents. Andrew says one more time that he's sorry. And we put the shovels back in the shed.


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[Assistant] We're in the house, tea lights flickering around us. We both smell like sweat and earth. We're low on water, which means our hands stay dirty.


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[Assistant] There's a river a quarter of a mile away, so we can wash up there first thing tomorrow morning. What do we do now? I ask Andrew as he opens up a mystery can. Oh, be Ferroni. But there's no joy in his voice. He doesn't even open the second can and digs in with his fork.


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[Assistant] He swallows three heaping forkfuls of the room temperature pasta.


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[Assistant] And hands the can over to me as he opens the second. I'm going to leave it up to you now, he says. Do you still wanna stick around with me? I choke on my food, looking up at him in surprise. Of course, why wouldn't I? Something in my chest constricts.


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[Assistant] It never occurred to me that he might not feel the same way about me as I do him. It's not that I'm conceited. I didn't assume he would like me because of, I don't know, whatever reason he would like someone. But I thought he felt it too. He shrugs and stares down at the can he's opening.


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[Assistant] Was it sure if you were still interested in being friends with a murderer? You're not a murderer. Pretty sure that's what they call you when you murder someone. I think two might even make me a spree killer. What happened to you was a mistake. He interrupts me. It didn't happen to me. It happened to the Fosters. It was an accident.


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[Assistant] They didn't even need the food, but they were willing to take it from you. Whatever it was that got into them, you didn't do it. What happened was bad. But that doesn't make you a bad person. He doesn't say anything. Just finishes turning the can opener.


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[Assistant] The lid of the can sits on top of whatever the contents inside are. Henry said something to me, I say. He looks up at me, interested. She said, sometimes you have to give people a chance. Sometimes they can surprise you. I think that's true, whether the surprise is good or bad. He looks like he thinks about this for a moment, then stares back down at the can in front of him.


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[Assistant] He uses his fork to pull the top off the can, and smiles. Bad surprise, he says. He turns it toward me so I can see the contents. Canned mushrooms. I scrunch up my face and shudder. Pass. Come on, give me a good surprise for once.


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[Assistant] He holds out the can to me, smiling through the dirt on his face. I notice for the first time


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[Assistant] There are two clear lines through the dirt on his skin, right under his eyes.


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[Assistant] I frown and I stick my fork into the can, grabbing a big rubbery fork full of mushrooms and putting them in my mouth.


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[Assistant] I grimace, handing him back the can and chewing as fast as I can. He laughs as I swallow the mushrooms. Alright, you've finished the beefaroni. I'll eat the mushrooms, he says. That had better be our last can of those. He chuckles a few more times as we eat in silence. A smile gives me a pang in my chest because I know he still doesn't feel better.


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[Assistant] Nothing I can say will ever make him feel better. I want to make him happy, but I don't know how.


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[Assistant] I think about what it would be like to actually lean over and kiss him. I wanna know if that would make him happy. If it would make me happy too.


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[Assistant] Even seeing him eat a fork full of mushrooms doesn't gross me out.


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[Assistant] I watch him chewing as he stares at a picture of the fosters on the wall.


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[Assistant] In the photo, the fosters are all smiling and wearing Mickey Mouse ears in front of Epcot. Tomorrow morning, we'll head for Reagan National.


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[Assistant] I can't stop thinking about it. All the people who might be there waiting for us, waiting for some European Union military outfit to show up and save us all. The idea of leaving gets me homesick. If we were to leave.


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[Assistant] They might just be here to help get everyone back on their feet, or even just to run tests on us to try to find a cure.


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[Assistant] It's all been rumors so far, but if we believed it, other survivors would too. And they wouldn't be a settlement.


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[Assistant] They'd be nomads, I guess, like Andrew and me. Other survivors on their own might be a good thing. I can't help but hope for that, because the other option is just me. And I'm scared that after this, I might not be enough for Andrew to be happy.


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[Assistant] I count at least seven men with guns. The weapons are holstered, but when the men see us, their hands instinctively drop down to the butts of their handguns. I put my hands up higher.


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[Assistant] A firework, the fuse already lit when we step into the open, shoots up into the sky and explodes. But no one looks at it. Everyone's eyes are on us. My jaw hangs open. There's gotta be close to forty people here. A dozen are kids.


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[Assistant] It's more people in one place than I've seen in almost a year.


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[Assistant] A large white barrel-chested man with thinning gray hair steps toward us.


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[Assistant] Four men flank him, two who looked to be a little older than Andrew and me, the other two almost middle-aged. We saw your fireworks, I say. We just wanted to come say hi and, and see if you were people we wanted to know, see if we could all be friends.


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[Assistant] They have fireworks, so they aren't worrying about food taxes. I shrug. See if we can watch.


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[Assistant] He puts a big hand out to me and I lower my arms to shake it.


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[Assistant] He speaks with a slow South Carolina drawl.


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[Assistant] Danny Rosewood, head selectman of Fort Caroline. Fort? Andrew asks. Are you military?


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[Assistant] Danny Rosewood turns and holds out his hand to Andrew who shakes it.


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[Assistant] Nah, not military, though some of us did have some experience in the armed forces.


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[Assistant] Danny Rosewood spins, looking around at the people behind him. He points to one of the men whose hands dropped to his gun.


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[Assistant] There he is. That over there is our sheriff, Grover Denton. What branch were you in, Grover? Army? Air Force, Grover Denton answers.


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[Assistant] Denton isn't southern, but he has an accent I can't place. Midwest, maybe? Fly, boy, that's right. Rosewood nods and brings his attention back to us.


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[Assistant] And his second in command used to be a marine, a girl marine at that. He says this like it's supposed to be shocking.


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[Assistant] The sound of his voice tells me I'm right. Andrew's barely keeping himself together.


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[Assistant] He doesn't say sir sarcastically, but I know he means it that way. And I smile politely, trying not to laugh. Come on then, Rosewood smiles broadly and steps aside.


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[Assistant] By the grace of God you're here, so let's keep the show going and you boys can make our acquaintance. Get to know some people.


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[Assistant] His eyes flit briefly to the rifle on my shoulder, but he doesn't say anything.


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[Assistant] Maybe because he's confident their people would end us before we could try anything.


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[Assistant] Everyone behind Rosewood seems to settle as he pats Andrew and me on the shoulders.


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[Assistant] It's as if they were waiting for approval from their leader before lightening up.


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[Assistant] Another firework is lit, and this time, mostly everyone is back in the celebratory mood.


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[Assistant] Andrew takes the explosion as a moment to whisper into my ear. Hear that? They got Lady Marines in these parts. I snort and whisper back. I hate you. You love me.


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[Assistant] Andrew walks past to greet more people from Fort Caroline. I try to do the same, but I can't help glancing over at him through the crowd.


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[Assistant] Every time I do, it's like he feels my eyes on him.


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[Assistant] And he looks right at me, smiles and winks.


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[Assistant] We pass through a toll booth where a woman with an AR-15 waves to the driver, Grover Denton, and we continue our ride into Fort Caroline. No wonder it's called a fort, Andrew whispers. Grover looks back at us in the rearview mirror, the dashboard lights casting his face in green.


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[Assistant] There was an old fort back in the 1500s, but it's not there anymore. They just kept the name. Who was Caroline?


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[Assistant] The wife of one of the original settlers, Rosewood, is related to them, actually. Andrew gives a condescending, uh-huh, and I shoot him a warning glance.


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[Assistant] He shrugs and I look back into the rearview mirror to see Grover Denton's furrowed brow relax. We're all quiet as we pull off the highway.


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[Assistant] The streets are empty, the caravan of cars following us, and two school buses full of people.


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[Assistant] Veer off as we drive through what looks like downtown Fort Caroline.


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[Assistant] The shops are all in one piece. No broken glass, no fires. There are lights at every intersection.


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[Assistant] They're the types of lights I used to see at night time road work zones. Two bright lamps atop a movable pole pointed down at the road.


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[Assistant] Each light is powered by what looks like a gas generator, chugging along in the silent town. Was that everyone we saw back in the clearing? I ask. No way. Grover sounds happy about this. That's just the people who are on second shift tomorrow.


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[Assistant] I glance at Andrew to see if he knows what second shift means, but he gives me a quick shake of his head. You'll see, Grover adds.


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[Assistant] He pulls into the parking lot of an old two-story motel.


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[Assistant] The whole building is dark except for the office on the first floor, which is lit only in candlelight.


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[Assistant] Grover kills the truck and we step out, grabbing our packs from the bed and following him into the office. There's no one there. The candle flickers alone on top of the desk. Kara, Grover calls out.


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[Assistant] A tall pale young woman with long brown hair emerges from the dark back room. She looks like a ghost in this candlelight.


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[Assistant] She glances at Grover but locks her eyes on Andrew and me like she's wary of us. We have new guests, can you set them up?


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[Assistant] She nods and begins to look more comfortable as she reaches for two clipboards and puts them on the desk, facing us. Barely above a whisper, she says,


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[Assistant] I need you to fill this out, and you can go to room 2C.


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[Assistant] Her eyes dart up to me as she takes a metal key attached to an orange tag and slides it across the desk toward me. Not a plastic card, an honest to god metal key. It's on the second floor. Go right out this door and up the stairs.


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[Assistant] It's a questionnaire, asking for our names, date of birth, place of birth.


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[Assistant] Normal, at first. But then I noticed at the bottom the questions changed to ask who in your family survived the superflu. Who died, how old they were.


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[Assistant] There are four pages in the questionnaire, but I don't pay much attention to them, because Kara's talking to Andrew now and sliding him a different key. And you can have 2D.


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[Assistant] It's on the second floor, go right out this door and up the stairs, the third door on the right. It says 2D on it. I can't tell if she's trolling us or if she's serious, but Andrew smiles.


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[Assistant] Thanks, but we can share a room. I mean he farts a lot in his sleep, but I'm used to it by now. He nudges me playfully.


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[Assistant] My face burns and I see Kara's turn red in the candlelight as well.


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[Assistant] Before I can scold Andrew, Grover speaks.


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[Assistant] Don't worry about it, there's no one else coming and I think there's only two other rooms taken right now. We have the space.


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[Assistant] The idea of Andrew being that far away makes me nervous. It was different in the cabin.


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[Assistant] He was in his own room, but it was still the same house.


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[Assistant] An adjacent hotel room somehow feels farther.


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[Assistant] Maybe because we've slept right next to each other for two months now. I'll come check on you tomorrow, Grover says. Be good, Kara.


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[Assistant] He waves and she glances up and gives him a silent nod, then stares down at her hands. She's frail and quiet.


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[Assistant] Andrew squeezes my elbow and nods to the exit, and I follow.


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[Assistant] I glance back to see Kara turning back to the dark room behind the desk. Good night, thank you, Andrew says. She stops and looks back at us, but doesn't say anything.


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[Assistant] Andrew and I walk up the stairs to the second and third doors on the right. They say 2C and 2D as promised. Well, this is me.


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[Assistant] Andrew says, leaning against 2D and holding up is key.


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[Assistant] I had a great time. This is the best apocalypse conference I've ever been to. Seriously.


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[Assistant] I mean, the zombie symposiums never have fireworks displays.


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[Assistant] Did you hear what I did there, Jamie? I changed the S in symposium to a Z to make it alliterative and clever. I laugh and open my own room. It's dark and when I flip the light switch, nothing happens. I grab the flashlight out of my pack and flick it on. The room has a king bed and there are candles strategically placed throughout. Andrew leans in the doorway.


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[Assistant] I believe you promised me lights and internet, he says. Subtle for a fort and a king size bed. Hm, I look over at him. He has a skeptical look on his face and seems to be chewing the inside of his cheek. What's wrong? He shakes his head. It's nothing.


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[Assistant] It's something. I know when you're hiding something from me, remember? That gets him to smile and he shakes his head again. Really, I don't think it's anything. You'll tell me when it's something?


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[Assistant] I will, promise. And my promises mean something.


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[Assistant] He unlocks his own door and narrows his eyes at me. Unlike yours and the internet's. Goodnight, Andrew. Night, Jamie.


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[Assistant] I find a matchbook by the bed and light a few of the candles. There's running water, but it's all cold.


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[Assistant] I jump in the shower and clean myself off as fast as I can in the icy water, then change into fresh clothes to sleep in before blowing out the candles.


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[Assistant] It's musty and hot in the room, so I open the window, but it doesn't really help.


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[Assistant] I lie awake in the middle of the king size bed, on top of the blankets. It's nice. Comfortable, actually. But I can't fall asleep. It's too quiet.


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[Assistant] All I hear is my own breathing and the soft breeze outside rustling the leaves on the trees. Andrew is probably awake too.


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[Assistant] He's probably lying there, listening to the same sounds I am, and thinking about me. I would like him to be thinking about me.


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[Assistant] Makes me feel a little less strange if he thinks about me too. I'm suddenly overcome with panic.


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[Assistant] I can feel sweat beading at my forehead and lower back, my chest tightens, and each breath feels shallow. The walls are closing in, and I'm back in the Baltimore tunnel again, surrounded by bloated, waterlogged flu victims and stagnant water. But Andrew isn't here this time.


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[Assistant] Without thinking, I get up, grab the pillow and my room key, and open the door.


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[Assistant] Once out in the open air, I feel a bit better, but my chest is still tight. I knock on Andrew's door. He opens it within seconds. Good, so he was awake. Just seeing him loosens my chest, and I feel like I can breathe again. What's wrong? I shake my head. It feels ridiculous now, but seconds ago I thought I might die.


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[Assistant] Again, like dying seems an overreaction, but Andrew nods like he understands anyway. I know, it's weird. That's what I didn't want to say before. Uhm, I hug the pillow to my chest. Can I sleep in here? Yea, he steps aside and I go in.


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[Assistant] Jamison. Andrew just stares at me.


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[Assistant] I was worried about this, that he'd be so excited at the idea of a settlement that he'd just want to stay. But we can't stay here. I'm sorry, I say. I know it's all probably great, but not for us. He shakes his head slowly. Can I just fucking kiss you? My face burns and my stomach flips. What? I'm kidding, but not really.


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[Assistant] I hate this place. It's fucking weird, right? So weird. I counted while we were driving. There were maybe 30 people over the age of 50 total. Realization dawns on his face. Yes, that's what you were counting? I also counted how many women there are.


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[Assistant] A little over a hundred, but none of them looked under forty years old. The four doctors in the hospital were men.


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[Assistant] The one nurse we met was one of the few people I counted over fifty.


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[Assistant] Lady Marine can't be over forty, he points out. Kara downstairs is twenty max. Okay, so that's two.


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[Assistant] And I wasn't counting at the time, but there were plenty of women in the clearing last night. Kids too. But I didn't see them out there today. Andrew Grimaces.


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[Assistant] All the women between 16 and 39 are what? Playing daycare?


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[Assistant] Thinking more along the lines of traditional gender roles. Also


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[Assistant] I'm worried he won't believe me, that he'll think I'm crazy or jumping to conclusions, but he does believe me so far.


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[Assistant] Almost half Philly's population was black. Over half my school was. So walking through a new town where every person you see is white definitely sticks out.


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[Assistant] It's something I noticed about the small town near the cabin when my mom first bought it.


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[Assistant] Then one summer we invited my friend Wes up for a week and he made a joke that he'd have to hide in our trunk if we went to town. Sure enough.


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[Assistant] As soon as we went to the supermarket, someone called the cops on him. I'd never seen my mom so pissed.


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[Assistant] Andrew keeps his voice low, but he nods enthusiastically. It is so white, and I'm from Connecticut.


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[Assistant] That makes me laugh, but it's a nervous laugh. Alright, so we need to get out of here. Yes, now. No, I hold up a hand. We should wait until night.


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[Assistant] It looks like they only have the toll booth on lockdown, so we head through the woods and just get as far away as we can. You think they won't let us go? He asks. I don't. It was the questionnaire that really got me.


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[Assistant] They're so adamant about it, and not once during the tour did Nadine or Sheriff Denton say anything about leaving.


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[Assistant] I cross the room and take the clipboard Andrew put aside. I flip to the second page. More questions about the superflu. Who was the youngest in your family to be taken? Taken.


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[Assistant] Like they just went somewhere and weren't the victims of a deadly virus.


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[Assistant] There's an asterisk next to both of these that says to include extended family in this number. Then, it takes a turn. That's probably why it's on the second page.


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[Assistant] The questionnaire asks for religion, physical disabilities, mental disabilities, and sexual orientation. At the bottom below all that is a section marked if female. Are you currently able to conceive?


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[Assistant] Did you have children before the sickness? If so, how many? Did you ever take birth control? Have you ever had an abortion? Holy shit, Andrew. He moves around and reads over my shoulder. Sexual orientation. He doesn't sound surprised.


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[Assistant] The next page is a full medical history, including another asterisk that reminds us to include extended family.


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[Assistant] There are more pages, but they're friendlier and ask about hobbies and skills.


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[Assistant] Probably an attempt to make the whole thing look like something other than what it is. A registry. What happens if they don't like our answers? Andrew asks. Let's not find out. I put the clipboard down and Andrew grabs my arm.


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[Assistant] I follow his gaze to the window looking out onto the balcony. What? I ask. The blinds are open. They were shut when I left. But the bed isn't made so Kara must not have come in, or if she did it wasn't to make the room up.


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[Assistant] Also, I doubt the Fort Caroline Motor Court has an active maid service. Oh no. Andrew goes to the bathroom.


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[Assistant] Then he comes back out, looking in the closet and then under the bed. He opens the bedside table, a road atlas on top of it, and takes out the handgun I gave him. The holster is missing.


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[Assistant] I turn around looking for his bag. It has to be here. They wouldn't take our stuff while we were out. They have no reason. Only they do.


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[Assistant] They wanted the food and supplies, the ammo. We can keep our weapons of course, but they control the ammo.


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[Assistant] They control everything in Fort Caroline.


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[Assistant] I fling open the door and go to my room, but I already know I'm going to find my own bag gone. But not my rifle, which is also empty. Andrew stops in my doorway.


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[Assistant] They left the guns and clothes but they took our food and ammo. And my mother's book. Andrew follows me down to the office.


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[Assistant] The door is open and Kara, the thin weird girl from last night, is there, writing in some kind of notebook. Hey!


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[Assistant] She flinches and stands up, knocking over a coffee can full of pens and highlighters. Everyone else is out there working, but she's in here doodling.


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[Assistant] I want to know what makes her special, but don't care to ask right now. Our bags are gone, where'd you put them?


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[Assistant] She hunches in on herself and backs up to the wall behind her. She doesn't answer me.


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[Assistant] She just watches as one of the highlighters slowly rolls off the desk. Where are our bags? I ask again. Still, she doesn't answer. Jamie? Andrew's voice is a quiet warning, telling me to calm down.


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[Assistant] They can take whatever food they want, but I want my books back. My mother's notebook is my main concern. But I also had the old book Andrew left me. I want them both, and then we're getting the hell out of here. Where'd they take our shit?


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[Assistant] My blood pumps in my ears and the muscles in my throat tighten. Jamie, stop it. Andrew steps in front of me putting his hand on my chest. It has almost an instant effect and my blood pressure lowers. Can you just? He gives me a cut it gesture with his hand and turns back to Kara. He moves around the desk but stops himself. Do you mind if I come back there? I'll help you clean up.


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[Assistant] Kara doesn't answer him and bends over to pick it up herself.


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[Assistant] Andrew disappears behind the desk and I hear him talking quietly, only picking up a few words here and there. I pace the office slowly.


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[Assistant] Trying to breathe calm into my mind while I formulate a plan. Wherever they took our stuff, it's gonna be guarded. And we already stand out because we're the strangers.


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[Assistant] They also took our ammo, which they said would be rationed out.


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[Assistant] Andrew pops up with Kara and puts the coffee can back on the desk.


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[Assistant] And reaches behind the desk to take a paper from a stack on the counter. It's a crudely drawn map of Fort Caroline.


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[Assistant] Kara circles a building in red marker she pulls from the coffee can. Supply warehouse is here. She puts the red marker back and picks up a pencil and circles the motel. This is where we are.


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[Assistant] And you make a left on Cherokee Avenue, a right here on Glower Road,


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[Assistant] Then a right on Morgan Lane, another left on Magnolia Road, another right on Burke Street, and it's ahead of you on the corner of Burke Street and Broad Avenue. You can also cut through the park here on Morgan.


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[Assistant] She puts a graphite star at the corner of Morgan and Glower, then provides three different routes. But the first way is quickest, unless you want to cut through the park. This explains why she's stationed at the motel. She might be shy and not a people person, but she knows her way around. Maybe she was in this motel even before the flu hit. Andrew gives me a look that says he's got an idea. Wait here.


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[Assistant] And he leaves us. I take the map gently and look back over it, following her directions. There's a cross on a large square on the bottom corner. Is this the hospital? Kara glances. Pharmacy, the hospital has the caduceus. The, I don't even know what that word is. She points quickly. Oh, I've seen it before. It's two snakes wrapped around a winged staff.


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[Assistant] I feel bad for yelling at her and I'm trying to be friendly, but the damage is done.


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[Assistant] She doesn't like me, which is fine. She lives here, so she can't be all that great herself. But...