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was a better opportunity to go retrieve the cache. Their main argument was that when it got colder the flow of refugees along the highway would slow to a trickle. Matt had argued that that might not even be a good thing, since it would just make them more noticeable. Ed wanted to try finding backroads through the foothills and mountains to bring the food down, a position Matt had ended up leaning towards. As for Sam, she was willing to go with whatever the family decided and had offered to help with whatever they ended up doing.
    When Sam started going through the ration line April and Terry had tried to go through as well, but even though they were technically just as much refugees as her they'd been refused with the explanation that they were living in the home of family members, and so the same conditions applied for them as for the Larsons. To solve that problem they'd talked to Mayor Anderson and got his permission to move into the house abandoned by Councilman Watts. They'd been happy to let FETF inspect their new home to their hearts' content, at which point there was no more trouble with them and the ration line.
    Sam had been standing in that line every day for a week now, and had recently received her day's rations. Mrs. Harris had been waiting in line not far ahead of her, and even though the Larsons' house was just a block away she felt like it was only kind to volunteer to help the elderly widow back home. Especially since Mrs. Harris had been so generous in letting her help harvest her root crops and earn some badly needed food storage.
    So they'd gone arm in arm west along the streets with Sam carrying both sacks of flour, towards the outskirts of town. The chat along the way was pleasant, and although Sam asked at the old woman's front door if there was anything she needed Mrs. Harris staunchly insisted she had things under control, thanked Sam, and pecked her on the cheek before sending her on her way.
    Once back on the street Sam paused to collect a few dandelions beside the road, not looking forward to the bitter taste but definitely looking forward to the added nutrients. Yesterday they'd managed to collect enough that they could save some of her wheat, although that had mostly been a fluke thanks to Matt finding a Potawatomi plum tree growing along the banks of the stream that flowed down out of Aspen Hill Canyon and curved south to follow the town's southern border.
    The little fruits were sour enough to make her mouth pucker, but she'd eagerly eaten her portion along with everyone else. Even April's boys had seemed to enjoy the unexpected treat, and the expressions on their little faces on the first bite was just too adorable for words. Matt was back there today searching for more, and she fervently hoped he'd have some luck.
    Sam frowned, thinking of the tall young man as she searched around for more dandelions. She definitely liked him, no questions there, and she was almost certain he liked her too. But first he'd left for weeks to bring back April's family, which she certainly understood, and since then he kept taking a slow, cautious approach to things that made her want to grab him by the ears and scream in his face to hurry up and do something already.
    She supposed she couldn't blame him when they had so many more pressing things to worry about, and it was hard to think of a romantic future with someone while worrying about whether you were going to starve to death within the month. But with how chaotic and uncertain everything had become Matt was one of the few calm and certain things in her life, and she just knew that it would be much easier to deal with whatever problems they faced if they were well and truly together. Couldn't he see that?
    “Well aren't you a cute little thing?”
    Sam jerked her eyes up from the ground and around to look down the street she was on, freezing in pure panic when she saw three men approaching. Her instincts told her to run but the only way she could go was