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dangerous procedure. And, even then, Ethan may still...” the doctor looked to everyone and weighed her words. “Amputation is not guaranteed safety for him. And before we move him, I need everyone to acknowledge that risk.”
    Darla nodded, annoyed. “We know the risks, Doctor. But even you told us that he’ll die if we don’t. There’s no decision to make here. This boy is the reason we’re alive…if it weren’t for him, we wouldn’t be here. All of us.”
    “I’m well aware that I’m here because of Ethan,” Doctor Krause replied curtly. She ran her fingers through her hair and looked at her daughter, who hadn’t moved from her spot in the corner and watched the conversation with a bizarre juxtaposition of eagerness and apathy.  
    Joey entered the den, looking bleary-eyed; he’d taken to waking up in stupor, lumbering around in a state of perpetual confusion. How he had managed to situate himself in a prime position to move goods and services around after the Release baffled Darla. In the old world, he had been a gas station attendant and used his access to gasoline to set himself up in the first few days, but beyond that, Joey’s lack of discernible gifts made him more like a houseguest who had overstayed his welcome rather than a member of their small, but functioning community.  
    The man cleared his throat. Joey was young, but not too young: baby-faced, accompanied by a smattering of wrinkles on his forehead, crows-feet around his small, beady eyes. “So, this is it, huh?” he asked. “Operation day.”
    Darla nodded.  
    “Who’s going then?”
    “I am,” Darla answered without hesitation. “I just need someone to stay with Teddy.”
    Ethan let out an involuntary groan and the room’s attention shifted back to him. Doctor Krause nodded as if someone had asked her a question and she was answering in the affirmative; she pursed her lips and pointed a long, bony finger at Joey.
    “You stay here,” the doctor commanded.
    Joey nodded and gnawed on a hangnail. “Good. I mean, like, I don’t even think I could do it. You know?” He shuddered and searched with his teeth for any other scraps of skin to pull and bite.
    Even when Doctor Krause first suggested amputation, Joey’s pallor shifted from bright and rosy to a pastel yellow. The jaundiced look returned whenever Joey glanced at Ethan’s injuries—the black and blue and bumpy canvas of the boy’s non-functioning legs.
    “Great,” Darla said. She didn’t entirely trust Joey to watch Teddy with the same attentiveness as the other housemates, but if her choices were that or missing out on Ethan’s surgery, it was an easy decision.  
    “We’ll totally play together. A fun game. Fun board game. Or something just fun,” he trailed off as he met Darla’s gaze, her hand itching above the gun in her holster. The short, dark-haired Raider put his hands up in surrender. “Yeah, jeez. I know, Darla. I’ll take good care of him. I’ll be the best babysitter ever. I always wanted kids or nephews…I’m not saying I’m good with kids, but I can be Uncle Joey. I mean, don’t even worry about it. It takes a village, right?”
    Darla raised a single eyebrow and locked her eyes, and dipped her chin. “Joey,” she started, her tone a cross between menacing and exasperated.
    “Yeah?” Joey replied.
    “Seriously. Shut up.”

    Darla and Doctor Krause carried Ethan out of the house on a stretcher lifted from a crashed ambulance. Ainsley followed behind. They entered the secured house through the open garage. At the far end of the garage they placed the stretcher down and worked together to pick up Ethan and carry him into the house—they went through a mudroom and through a small hallway and into the bright and light living room. A long dining room table, meant to seat a large gathering at Thanksgiving dinner, was their operating table. Darla outfitted it with blankets and pillows, and all of the surgical accouterments procured from the