Rochelle sat atop a crate in the storeroom of the CEDA safe zone. It was the only place she could keep her mind from dwelling on the horrors she'd experienced before being rescued by the military. Not like her life after was much better. Her mind was plagued with vivid nightmares of people who were not quite people anymore, closing in, destroying her, ripping her body to pieces as she screamed for help. These dreams demolished her mind. She was numb, and nothing could bring her back.

Often, she talked to Ellis. He would sit across the room from her, on a crate used to store medicine. She told him what she was experiencing, how she felt. She told him how her nightmares were getting worse and worse. He seemed to understand. Eventually, she also started talking with Coach and Nick. The four of them would talk for hours upon hours, always in the storeroom, always about their hardships. This was their means of escape.

Ruth, a middle-aged lady with a kind heart, had taken to looking after Rochelle. Ruth would often check up on her while she was in the storeroom, bringing her food when she was too adamant to get it herself. Rochelle had been seated in the same place, staring at the wall since shortly after she had arrived a few months earlier. She was hardly self-sufficient, and insisted on sleeping in the storeroom. Ruth didn't know who she was talking to, but she assumed that it was one of her old teammates from before she was saved.

She didn't have the heart to tell her that her companions were shot upon arrival, in fear that they were carriers. Rochelle was the only one left.

Rochelle had been there for the execution. She was horrified by the fact that the three people she had fought so hard to protect were about to die before her very eyes, and there was nothing she could do about it. She had cried for days, and then suddenly… nothing. Without them she was hollow, empty. The days merged with the nights until time meant nothing to her. She forgot about the pain and filled the void the only way she could.

And to her, it was like they were never gone.

After setting a tray of food down beside her, Ruth gave Rochelle a look of pity, then exited the storeroom.

Rochelle didn't notice, she was laughing at a story Ellis had just told her.