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town and didn’t let anyone in. Until us.”
    Pearl didn’t ask, and Carly was grateful.
    The kids had noticed them. They all turned to gape at the newcomer, their eyes wide. Mrs. Davis gathered them all to her and they looked away, abashed as she told them it wasn’t nice to stare.
    “They’re not used to seeing Outsiders,” Carly said.
    Pearl chuckled. “No kidding.”
    Carly led her to the courthouse, a stone edifice but one so small it looked more like a mausoleum than a seat of government. It was a bit cooler inside the shadowed interior. Carly bent and retrieved an oil lamp, which she lit with the Zippo she carried in her pocket. The lamp’s warm yellow glow revealed the plain wood-paneled hallway.
    On the left side of the hall was a courtroom and on the right, an office that had once been used for the town’s administration. There was a pile of desks and computers stacked in the far corner of the room. Kaden had offered to carry the computers down to the basement, but Carly was afraid the dampness would damage them. She felt a sort of obligation to preserve as many records of the past as possible, even if they were currently worthless. So they were stacked over in a corner until she decided what to do with them.
    She sat down at the desk she’d taken for her own and pulled out a metal box with a flip-top lid. Sam lay down beside her desk, pillowing his muzzle on his paws. “I’m just going to take some info from you, okay?”
    “What for?”
    “I keep track of all of the new residents, their skills and talents, that sort of thing.”
    Pearl shifted on her feet and held up her hand in a halting gesture. “I’m not sure I’m staying, Carly.”
    Carly arched a brow. “Oh? You’ve got a lot of choices of decent communities to consider?”
    Pearl laughed. “Okay, you’ve got me there. But the thing is . . . I don’t really know you guys or how things are run around here. I’m not sure—I’m just not sure, that’s all.”
    “Let me ask you something. Did Justin ask you to come?”
    “No. I followed the wagon.”
    “What made you do that?”
    Pearl considered for a moment. “It was the horse, I think. Before that, it was because Justin told me I could have all the food in the grocery store, but when I saw the horse . . .” She paused for a moment and ran a hand over her hair, as though to make sure her braids were still neat and smooth in their bun.
    “What about her?” Carly’s curiosity was piqued.
    “When I was young, I had friends in 4-H, so I’d been around horses enough to be able to tell this one is well cared for. She’s plump and her coat is shiny. She looked like she was nursing but didn’t look like she’d just had a foal. It seemed like you guys must be taking care of her well, even though she can’t be providing that much benefit with a foal.”
    “Yeah, I’ve had a couple of people mention that she’s not exactly a plus in the cost-benefit column,” Carly said with a wry smile. “She pulls a plow for us and helps haul big loads, but we’re working on a wood gasifier that will let us run the tractor, and at that point—”
    “A what?”
    “A wood gasifier. You heat up wood until it carbonizes but not burns, and it releases a combustible gas. Since all the gasoline from Before went bad, we had to find a way to make fuel we could use to run simple engines. Like old tractors and generators.”
    “Might I suggest hooking one up to an air conditioner?”
    Carly was pretty sure Pearl was joking, but she answered seriously. “We’re thinking long-term survival. We’ve got to manage our wood resources wisely. We can’t chop down all the trees around us just to be more comfortable.”
    “That makes sense.” Pearl pulled over a chair and sat down across from Carly. “Let me ask you something—why did Justin let me in? I assume you have that wall for a reason, and you’re not letting in every stray that crosses your path.”
    “No, we’re not.” Carly took