Alex had never considered that maybe gods were real and were for some reason looking out for him, but the impeccable timing of that random explosion was enough to wonder. He was sure he had never heard about any towns coming up with a plan to bomb a raider settlement, so it was just as much as a surprise to him that it had happened as it had been for the raiders.

On top of that, Alex had managed to find—things. He had little time to look through them and make sure that they were things, but he thought he had seen his things in his bag and Lorna’s things in her bag.

As Alex and Lorna ran from the burning campsite, the sounds of the roaring fire died down, but when he turned, he could still see it roaring above the treeline. There were other settlements, he knew, so this was not going to be the end of their group. Still, this would be a hard hit for them. They thrived on stealing goods from people. It was their main source of gathering food and supplies, but now they were going to have to build it up again, assuming they did not get sick or die before then.

Alex slowed his pace, and he checked on Lorna. She had fallen a few feet behind him, which was no surprise since she was shorter than him, but she was trudging through the snow after him. He could hear her heavy breathing from her, and he remembered that she was the one who had gotten them out of that tent.

“Hey, let’s stop for a minute,” Alex suggested. “Take a moment to reorient ourselves.”

Lorna did not pause. She kept trudging through the snow, gripping her backpack to her body, and she was sniffling.

Alex dropped his backpack, and he went up to her. He touched her shoulder. She let out a screech, and she fell onto her knees and then forward on top of her backpack.

“Shit,” Alex muttered. “Hey, Lorna, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Lorna’s sniffles turned into sobs. Alex crouched beside her, and she turned her face toward him. In the flickering light of the inferno behind them, he could see the tears streaking her face.

“I’m sorry,” she said between sobs. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

Alex shushed her, and he grabbed her shoulder.

“Hey, don’t be sorry. You’ve been very brave, okay? You’re doing great.”

“I’m sorry.”

“What’d I say? You’re doing great. You’ve gotten really far.”

Lorna leaned into the hand on her shoulder, and he took that as his cue to put an arm around her. She brought her trembling hands to her face, and she sobbed into them. Alex looked around to make sure they were alone while she cried.

“I am so scared,” Lorna confessed, voice muffled behind her hands.

“That’s okay. What happened to you was scary.”

“I thought we were going to die.”

“We didn’t.”

“I’m scared that they killed Ean.”

Alex grabbed her hands, wincing when he realized that they were even colder than his own, and he clasped them together between his larger hands.

“We don’t know anything about what happened to Ean.”

“But they took us. And we killed people. And—”

“Yeah, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry this happened. I should have been more cautious. I’m sorry. All we can do now is try to get away from them, all right? We need to keep going, so we can find out what happened to your uncle. Let’s take some deep breaths together, all right? Will you do that for me?”

Lorna turned her eyes to him. Alex took in a deep breath and released it, and after the second time, she drew in deep breaths with him. Fat tears continued to roll down her cheeks, but the sobbing eased as they breathed together.

“You think you can keep going now?” Alex asked.

Lorna drew in one last deep breath, and she nodded.

Alex returned the nod, and he pulled her to her feet. He went to his backpack, and he opened it and rummaged through it in hopes that he would find some water for them. The rattle of pills in bottles was a relief to him, but he had no time to check on them. Once he found a bottle, he gave it to Lorna, who took it and guzzled most of its contents as he searched for a second one for himself.

Alex dreaded trying to walk through the night in search of safety. He had a vague idea of where they were, but after his head injury, he was not sure he could trust himself to get to the next cabin for them to spend the night in and away from the cold, especially since it would be too close to the raiders, who would not be desperately looking for a safe place themselves.

“You ready to go?” Alex asked once they were full of water.

Lorna gave him a weak “Yeah.”

“Then let’s go.”