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Henry?” she said to the skinny guard. “Have you guys eaten?”
    “Earlier before our shifts,” the young twig of a guy answered.
    “You might as well all finish this off together. There won’t be enough left to make patties out of later.”
    “But…” Henry hesitated.
    “I said there won’t be enough anyway,” Jewel’s voice grew stern, then immediately softened. “You may as well all get your fill.” She glanced at the man and woman putting the dishes away. “No one in here will say anything.” She looked at them pointedly until they both nodded.
    “Thanks, Jewel.” After dishing up portions for Ethan, Dez and Alexander, the men attacked the rest of the mush as though they hadn’t had three squares in a while.
    Rationing was one thing, but by the looks of the boxes and crates of food storage they had gathered just in the kitchen area, there was enough to feed a group of this size for half a year. Which made him wonder if there were more people in this group than they had seen.
    “Not hungry?” Jewel stood in front of him, staring at the bowl in his hand. He’d barely managed one bite so far. “The next meal isn’t until this evening. We lick our plates clean around here.”
    He nodded and took another bite just to make her happy. This close to her again, the scent of cherries filled his senses. He frowned. He had too much to worry about without occupying his mind with why a blasted woman smelled of cherries. But damn him, she smelled good.
    She smiled up at him, the same way his mom had when he’d eaten his peas, but the feelings churning in his gut were far removed from how he felt about his mother. And when Jewel’s lashes lowered, charcoal tips over pale skin, his throat closed on his last bite and he had to force it down to avoid choking.
    “Is there anything we can do to help?” he said just to have something to say, something to do, anything to clear his head of piercing green eyes and cherry blossoms.
    “Back wall needs rebuilding,” Henry said around a mouthful of mushy oats.
    Perfect. It’d give them a chance to really see how fortified this place was.
     
     
    ~~~
     
     
    Between the three of them and Henry, with two others watching guard, they were able to take down the weak section of the cinder block wall, a five foot wide section of the back wall of the motel’s old employees area near the dumpsters, and rebuild it with fresh cement. The cinder blocks were thick enough to keep Sifts out who weren’t rifting their way inside.
    Most likely the only thing that would hold them off should the humans holding out in the motel be discovered, was the very real uncertainty of rifting into a solid wall after leaping into a hole the monsters had never been to before. At least that’s how it worked for sorcerers. Safer to jump into places you’d previously been.
    Not being a Sift, Alexander assumed it worked the same for the beasts. The monsters certainly had enough intelligence to reason that out unless their desperation for food forced them into a kamikaze leap.
    Starvation could make a monster mighty desperate.
    Once he had the anti-rift serum dispatched on a wide scale, walls like this could hold the beasts off indefinitely, and with enough aerosol at their disposal, hold out groups such as this could spray any beasts that approached and then simply shoot them at will once the ability to make holes in the world was gone.
    Alexander’s trowel slowed on the cement he was smoothing, his mind going over possible solutions to increase the potency of the spray. He needed to get back to his lab.
    If Sheppard wasn’t convinced to go with them, he’d do what he could for them, leave them the two anti-rift canisters they had left and return with more later. That would give them a fighting chance to survive here.
    His father’s voice filtered through his thoughts. Ye cannot save those who refuse aid. Do what ye can, lad, but return to us safe.
    He hefted the final cinder block up to scrape