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hand and begged. “Please, Trevor. Just one piece.” He shook his head. “I don’t want to fight with you tonight.”
    Maybe he heard the defeat in my voice, or maybe he’d finally learned when to pick his battles, but after another moment of hesitation, he finally agreed. Sifting through the duffle bag, he handed me a neatly wrapped bundle. “This is all I can spare.”
    “Thank you,” I said, not knowing if it would be enough but deciding not to argue. Before leaving, I knelt down next to Daric. His breathing sounded shallow and irregular, and the fresh scent of blood made my stomach turn. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered into his ear. With my hand resting lightly on his chest, I hung my head and wished for him to be at peace. Perhaps waking up would be worse for him. Daric and Alicia loved each other very much, and I doubted he’d be able to cope with such a loss.
    My chest tightened at the thought of losing Zach like that. I knew I wouldn’t want to live without him. Trevor knelt down next to me and felt for a pulse in Daric’s wrist. I didn’t want to watch him die, so I stood and made my way back to Zach.
    He’d moved to the center of camp where he collected all of the useable water bottles we had left. With hands on his hips, he shook his head when he saw me. “We’re going to need a lot more.”
    I looked down at the tiny pile. “How many did they destroy?”
    “Over half of them.” Bottles, glass or plastic, have been hard to come by since the draft went into effect. Those that ran took what they could, and the government collected what remained with the help of the mercenaries. Their strategy? We would all come crawling back begging for water. That’s why it was so unusual for Zach to find a water truck. Someone must have had a connection to a government insider.
    “We’ll just have to gather what we can tomorrow.” I walked over to Zach and forced him to sit on the ground. Cleaning his wound the best I could, I finished with a little ointment. “Trevor didn’t have any bandages to spare, so just try not to bump it.”
    “Sure he didn’t,” Zach grumbled. He sighed and dropped his head into his hands. “How’s Daric?”
    “He’ll be fine,” I lied.
    Zach snorted. “No he won’t. I can hear it in your voice.” We simply knew each other too well. “Why do I do this?”
    I grabbed his hands. “What? Collect water, find food, protect Hunter? For every one questionable decision you make, there are a hundred more good ones that allow all of us to survive a little longer. Don’t do this to yourself.”
    He managed a smile and I leaned in to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. With that, I continued helping around the camp until the first glimmer of sunrise filtered through the trees. The rest of the night had passed in silence, and everyone was ready to move on. Well, almost everyone. Daric had died not long after I saw him, so we now gathered around a shallow grave with our two friends lying side by side.
    Sasha recited some poem, but my ears wouldn’t allow me to hear. Instead, I focused on the inner turmoil ripping through me. I’d know n Daric and Alicia for a couple of years, but felt numbed by their passing. Knowing I played a role in their deaths didn’t help, and even though I’d given that speech to Zach a few hours ago, the words felt empty to me. It would be hard to forgive myself.
    When the last of the dirt fell onto the grave, Sasha forced us into action. “Vivienne, Zach, and Jackson, collect what you can carry and head out with Max. The rest of us will be nearby and meet up with you in a couple of hours.”
    The four of us would do our best to steal water from the deserters that had attacked us last night. With empty bottles hanging all around me and my sword wrapped along my back, I followed closely behind Zach. The trip to the camp seemed shorter than last time, perhaps because I dreaded the type of resistance we might face. Not all of their group returned home