The first floor of the building Alex had woken up in was empty, much unlike the second floor she left behind. She descended the stairs carefully, fingers trailing down the banister's worn and smooth surface. 

Alex stepped out into a vacant room filled with an array of tables and chairs. The chairs were set upside down on the tables, and the lights were dimmed. An overwhelming smell of cooking meat wafted in through an open door that led outside. Alex allowed her grumbling stomach to continue guiding her feet.

Dry, desert air sapped any remaining chill to her skin she felt from the air conditioning of the building she'd just left. Sweat beaded on her forehead. Alex swiped her arm against her brow and looked around.

She continued toward the source of the smell.

An odd sight appeared as she rounded the corner of the next building.

Ace and Rollo were kicking a ball around, playing with other Avoiders. 

Loud music boomed from speakers tucked away somewhere. Old rock music; a song created before the wars.

How retro.

Three picnic tables sat off to the side, surrounding a plume of smoke coming from a grill. Vida was perched on the edge of one of the tables, her head propped up on the palm of one of her hands. Another familiar face amongst a sea of strangers.

If Rollo and Ace were too busy making friends, then Alex would try and make herself a friend.

"Good to see you're awake." Vida tapped a cigarette on the edge of the table, turning her head when Alex walked over to where she was. 

Vida tipped up the bill of a blue baseball cap that had been pulled down over her head. Her brown eyes held a kinder light than they had during their earlier meeting.

Well, Edric had upset her.

"I still feel like I must be in a dream," Alex said. She took a seat next to Vida, staring in bewilderment at the game taking place in front of her. "This isn't exactly what I expected from Avoiders."

"What, normal people?"

Alex laughed, but her smile quickly turned to a frown when she noticed Vida wasn't joking. "No, that's-that's not what I meant... well... I guess I kind of mean that," she admitted. Her fingers nervously twirled the ends of her braid.

"We're not all heartless thugs. We do what we have to to survive," Vida explained.

"You say that like you're an Avoider." Alex lowered her voice to a whisper.

"I am," Vida replied hastily. "I'm just fighting the fight on both sides, I suppose."

She exhaled loudly, a plume of smoke encircling her face before fading out overhead. With a twist of her hand, she put the cigarette out on the bottom of her boot. Once the last embers died, Vida peered over at Alex from the shadows of her hat. 

"It's not what you expected, is it?"

"No, not at all," Alex said.

"I suppose it wouldn't be. Not after the life you've had."

Alex pursed her lips together in thought. She had so many questions whirling around in her head; it was hard to focus on the most relevant ones. Finally, she had someone that could have answers, but she had to choose carefully which ones to ask.

"Do you guys really help the Achilles?" Alex inquired.

"I keep our group mostly in trading goods, but yes, we do. In a way. Some other Avoiders track deserters, get supplies, help with finding usable cities for them to settle citizens. Things like that. The Achilles monitors us all pretty closely, reporting in every day for an update on anything, any new people we find out here," Vida answered her question with an even tone.

Alex's heart skipped a beat. "Did you have to report us?"

"Don't worry," Vida paused, laughing, "they think you're all traders. I mean, you technically traded us some decent technology. We're just repaying the favor with a place to stay for a while." She winked, playfully pushing Alex with her elbow. "I would have given you guys up the second I saw you if I wanted to."

Her reassurance didn't make Alex feel much better. "And that guy, Will. He's an Avoider too?"

"Was," Vida corrected. "We call people like him Vagabonds. They don't work for the Achilles or the Code. Only for themselves. Some Avoiders get rewarded a lot for turning one of them in. I don't like to bother with them. Will was probably bluffing about the bunker you guys came from. He wouldn't even think of reaching out to the Achilles. That one just likes to stir up shit."

Alex looked down at her hands, an uneasy feeling rolling around in the pit of her stomach. She couldn't shake what she had seen. It couldn't have just been a coincidence.

"Hey!"

The two women looked up in unison at the voice.

Ace had left the game and jogged over to where they were sitting on the table. Sweat drenched his hair, plastering it against his forehead like someone had doused him with a bucket of water. It even soaked through his dark blue shirt. He didn't seem to notice, or mind, and a smile beamed across his face.

"You're awake," Ace said. He looked Alex up and down, as if in disbelief that she was up and walking around.

"Yes, I'm awake. But I could swear I'm dreaming. I don't think I've ever seen you enjoy the heat."

"Hah-hah," Ace mocked. "Maybe it's just because we were cooped up for so long, but this is kind of fun. If you weren't hurt, I'd ask you to join in."

"Well, I appreciate the sentiment, but I've never been a sports kind of person, anyway." Alex leaned back on the table and watched as someone walked over to check the grill. "Besides, it looks like the food is going to be ready soon."

***

It didn't feel like they had been outside for long, but soon the afternoon sun faded into moonlight. The stars flickered overhead, and the full moon kept the night sky brilliantly lit.

Music continued to blast from a speaker. Kicking a ball around turned into dancing and laughing and drinking. A lot of drinking. Ace and Rollo stumbled around with the Avoiders, talking loudly and screaming at the top of their lungs.

Alex kept to the picnic table the entire time, laughing to herself as she watched the others make fools of themselves. At one point, Edric and Vida had joined in on the fun. Their figures became elegant shadows, drifting in and out of the moonlight as they danced around to the loud instrumental solos echoing between the buildings. The two of them were entwined with one another like they hadn't just been bickering about Edric bringing everyone to the city.

The smell of alcohol grew stronger as the night went on.

"The Avoiders sure know how to throw a party, huh?" The table creaked as Cicero took a seat next to Alex. "How's your head?" he continued.

"Not much better with this music." Alex laughed. "But I kind of like it. I haven't heard music like this in a long time. Remember when they used to play those throwback songs on the radio? As if it made us feel any better about what we were missing from the world before. I always thought it was a cruel joke."

Cicero bobbed his head.

He looks better, Alex noted as she glanced over at him. He had shaved once more, dirty blond hair styled and clean. 

The familiar smell of lavender was strong as he shifted to get more comfortable. How does he always smell like lavender?

"They sent Daniel and Greg out to check the bunker," Cicero said.

Alex raised a brow. A small wave of relief crept over her.

"You looked like something was distracting you. I just assumed it was about the others," he continued.

Am I really such an open book?

She didn't reply. For once, there wasn't anything else to say. Things seemed to be as good as they could be. There was a part of her that wanted to address the conversation they didn't have the chance to finish, but another part of her just wanted to enjoy the peace. A moment to not worry. Certainly, it wouldn't last much longer.

How ironic it was, at the very moment she relished in the carefree atmosphere, that a peculiar light in the sky caught her attention. Alex blinked hard. It wasn't a star; stars didn't burn bright red.