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gave all the civil servants free tickets for the opening of Monsterland,” he said contemptuously.
    “So?”
    “Did your father score?”
    “Who?”
    “Carter White, your father.”
    “My stepfather Carter? Um…no. He’s not interested. He—”
    “Yeah?”
    “He’s not happy about the park.”
    “What’s that got to do with it? If you had them, I’d offer a thousand for two. Right, Jade, you want to go?”
    “Hey,” Theo said. “If you were going to Monsterland, that extra ticket would be for me, bro.”
    Nolan looked at Jade, who was watching Wyatt. He put his arms around her back to cup her shoulder. She tried to ease out of his grip, but he held her tight. “Don’t think so. I’d want my girl to be with me.” He gave her a slight shake. “Right, Jade?”
    Jade tore her gaze from Wyatt to look at Nolan and then to the floor. Her mumbled answer was cut off when the door flew open, and the room flooded with a group of people. They were not from around here. Wyatt stared at them, not recognizing them. There were no strangers in Copper Valley—well, except for the homeless. With a population of barely twelvehundred, a person grew up knowing everybody else in the small town. There were about ten people filing in, LA types with iPads, iPhones, and Apple Watches; most were dressed in grungy black-colored clothes covered with reddish dust. They were filthy, as if they had been working in the old copper mines. A girl approached the counter. Her skin was fish-belly white, her hair an unnatural magenta. It was spiked around her small head. She asked Nolan impatiently, “Are you done ordering? I have a large order.” She turned around and said loudly, “Ryan, you wanted a bun, no meat, right? But you’ll eat cheese?”
    “I’m lactose intolerant,” the only man in the group wearing a business suit whined. “A bun with tomato and lettuce.”
    They settled around four tables, their heads together deep in conversation. “I want that too! I can’t look at meat anymore,” a girl on the far end of the crowd called out.
    The door opened again, and a shabby man with a long khaki-colored coat slid into a dark corner. A vagrant, Wyatt surmised. Who wore a coat in the summer, Wyatt wondered, observing him. Someone who had no place to leave it, who didn’t belong anywhere, he thought, looking at the bum, who hunched himself down, his hair covering his lean face. Wyatt knew that feeling well. He watched the hungry eyes dart around the room until they settled on him. He looked familiar, but Wyatt couldn’t place him. Manny tended to be mean to them, but Wyatt felt a keen sense of responsibility. These people were the real victims of the outbreak. His mother regularly gave out meals to anyone who passed by. Carter donated old clothes. Vincent Conrad’s mission was to put them on their feet again by creating jobs. He was proactively finding solutions, he had argued with Carter. At least, unlike the polarized politicians in Washington, he was actually doing something tohelp the country. Wyatt even argued in school that, if everyone did a little something to help, the problem would solve itself. He heard Manny curse when he spied the dirty-looking man.
    The manager passed Wyatt and quietly said, “Tell him to leave.”
    “He’s not disturbing anybody, Manny. Give the guy a break. It’s hot outside.”
    “If it’s so hot, why’s he dressed like the undertaker?” With disgust, he eyed the leather duster the man wore.
    Wyatt finished ringing up Nolan’s order, quickly packaging it.
    “Have a heart, Manny. Maybe he’s a vet.” Carter was a veteran. His stepfather always talked about returning soldiers, friends who fell on hard times.
    “If he’s a vet, he musta been one from the Crusades.”
    Wyatt smiled knowing Manny was joking, so he was okay with it. He watched the old guy looking down, trying to be inconspicuous, as if he wanted to disappear. Wyatt recognized that feeling. “Let it go, Manny,” he