“You okay?” Matt asks gently, brushing Edison’s hand.

“A lot of people,” Edison murmurs as he looks around the cafeteria. He pauses when his eyes find Elinore and he searches her table for any other familiar faces. The only one he recognizes, though, is Flick. He searches the rest of the cafeteria, but he doesn’t see Victor anywhere.

He slowly relaxes a little and follows Matt to the food counter, just as Ekua reaches it.

“Edison!” she beams and opens her arms for a hug.

“Hi Ekua.” He takes the hug awkwardly. “Sorry for hiding.”

“Don’t apologize. I understand completely,” she assures as she picks up a tray. “How are you? You feeling any better?”

He shrugs. “A little. I slept a lot. I’m not coughing as much.”

Ekua smiles brightly. “That’s good. I was worried about you.”

He smiles back, then looks at the food in front of him. “I’ve never seen this much food. What do I take?”

“Whatever you want,” Ekua chuckles. “Just make sure to leave enough for everyone else.”

Edison smiles and looks at Matt’s tray. He picks pretty much the same things, with maybe two variations and an extra piece of garlic bread.

“You like garlic bread?” Matt asks.

“Never had it. But I like how it smells,” Edison says, sniffing one of his pieces as they walk toward the table with Maybelle and Calvin.

Ekua watches them with a happy smile. She fills her tray and starts toward their table, only to be stopped when her name is called from the other side of the cafeteria. She frowns, looking at her group. She wants to spend some time with them, too.

She sighs and walks to the people waving for her. It’s a bigger table with a big group of young adults and George. She knows almost all of them from her childhood; there are only three new faces.

“So, Ekua,” starts one of the girls sitting on the table a little ways from her; Genevive.

“So, Genevive,” Ekua replies, looking at her as she lifts a bite of mashed potato to her mouth.

“How long are you going to stay?” Genevive asks and holds her chin on the back of her hand.

Ekua shrugs and looks down at her food. “I dunno. I guess it depends on the rest of my group. If they decide-”

“Your group? But I thought we were your group,” Carmon speaks up across from Ekua.

“You are, but I’ve made new friends. They mean as much to me as the Roarers do. If they want to leave, I’m going to go with them. I know where you guys are now; I can always come back,” Ekua points out.

“You really don’t want to stay here, do you?” Genevive inquires.

Ekua shrugs again. “You guys know how I am. I don’t want to be in one place forever. I’ve always been like this.”

Genevive snorts and slides off the table, walking away with her hands in her pockets.

Ekua watches her sadly, then turns to her food again. “We’ll probably stay until winter calms down. Even if they do stay, I am going to go again. I like it out there.”

“You’re nuts,” Carmon scoffs and follows Genevive.

Ekua shakes her head.

“I get it, Ek,” George assures from next to her.

She smiles at him.

“Yeah,” agrees one of the new faces; a kid with dark hair and a big smile. “It’s constant adventure out there. Fending for yourself and learning how to handle the world. And you’re always meeting new people, right?”

Ekua chuckles. “Yeah. It’s scary sometimes and it’s not always as fun as I want it to be. In fact, it usually isn’t. But there are days every now and then where everything goes right. I’m with good people, or maybe I’m on my own. The world is just right and I can do whatever I want and go wherever I want to. I’m completely free.”

The new face tilts their head, completely interested. A few others around the table -mainly the faces Ekua doesn’t know- scoot in closer to get in on the conversation.

“Is it true that there are zombies that can talk like people?” asks a new kid with red hair, in a dark shirt lined with thin fur.

“Yep, but I only just recently experienced some for myself. They didn’t talk, really, but they wait out in the wild and let out screams like you wouldn’t believe. It makes you absolutely sure someone needs help. But when you go to help them, all you find are zombies,” Ekua says.

“Wow. How’d you know?” asks the dark haired kid.

“Yeah. How can you tell they’re not people?” asks a little blond.

Ekua chuckles. “I actually had no idea. I really thought someone needed help.”

The three kids look at her with wide eyes. George is smiling next to her, listening to her amusedly.

“So you were lured?”

“How’d you get away?”

“See my group over there?” Ekua gestures to the table with Maybelle and Edison and Matt.

The kids all look.

“Those two, the black haired ones, they knew. They’ve been living in the Outlands all their lives. They know more about surviving out there than anyone I’ve met. Except maybe Matt. He’s been out there for a long time too.”

“When did you meet them?” the dark haired kid asks.

“I met Matt about a year ago. He helped me with some raiders that wouldn’t get off my back. He’s been with me through some rough stuff,” Ekua recalls and smiles softly at the memories. “We met the other two a few months ago.”

“Wow.”

The three kids look at each other in awe.

Ekua chuckles and looks at them. “So who are you three? How long have you been with the Roarers?”

The dark haired one sits up. “I’m Puzzle.”

“Sunny,” is the redhead.

“Gadget,” is the blond.

“We’ve been here for a few weeks. We got here just before the snow started,” Puzzle explains, looking at the other two. “We grew up in a district pretty far south, but our families decided to head north last year, so we’ve been on the land for a while. The Roarers found us after we got hit by a swarm.”

Puzzle looks down, picking at their fingers. “Most of the group didn’t make it. My dad, Sunny’s sister Noodle, and Gadget’s brothers were some of them.”

Sunny shakes her head. “If not for Nathan, Gadget would’ve been one too.”

Gadget nods.

Ekua hums. “Sorry about your families. I know what it’s like to lose people you love.”

They all smile appreciatively.

“So why’d your families decide to move north anyway? Did something happen to your district?” Ekua wonders around a bite.

“Nah. They wanted to look for Promise,” Puzzle says around a bit of pie.

George perks up, now eagerly listening to the kid’s words

Ekua tries not to scoff. “Promise? I thought Promise was a myth.”

Puzzle shrugs. “I’m not sure, but that’s what they were after. Some guy came through our district with a map and my dad said it was worth looking for. He got a bunch of other people in on it with him and they left.”

“Wait, a map?” Ekua inquires, suddenly much more interested. “He had a map?”

Puzzle nods. “Yeah. Charlie’s got it now if you wanna look at it.”

Ekua hums thoughtfully. “I might. Did you ever see it?”

“Oh yeah,” Puzzle says. “He showed it to me all the time. It’s this weird box thing that lights up when you push a button and there’s a map on the front that says it’s taking you to Promise if you just follow the little red line on the screen. My dad says it’s some kind of tech from the old world.”

“I’m definitely gonna go take a look at it when I’m done here,” Ekua decides.

“I’ll come with you,” George agrees. “This is the first I’ve heard of Promise in a while.”

Ekua nods. “Me too. I thought that story finally died out.”

George shrugs.

“What happened to the guy that gave you the map?” Ekua wonders.

“He took off not long after giving the map to my dad,” Puzzle answers. “He had his own map, so I guess he just went back?”

“Do you remember anything about him?” Ekua asks.

“He was tall,” Puzzle tries.

“He had purple hair,” Gadget says and Puzzle looks at them.

“Oh yeah. He did,” Puzzle recalls.

“He had a lot of food. Weird food, though. In jars and bags,” Sunny puts in.

Ekua looks at George curiously. He says nothing.

“Why’d you ask?” Puzzle wonders, turning to Ekua.

“I was just curious,” Ekua answers.

Puzzle shrugs.

“Tell me more about this map,” Ekua requests.

“Well, it wasn’t just a line taking you all the way to Promise itself,” Puzzle says. “It also showed the outer branches of Promise; you know, the extensions. The new stuff the folks of Promise are making so that it’s not just one place.”

Ekua does scoff this time. “So not only is this Promise place supposed to be real, but it’s branching out? How can it do that? A district is one thing, but a place that has enough resources and people to actually branch out is impossible in this world.”

Puzzle shakes their head. “Can’t be. This place is supposed to be one of the outer branches.”