Overtime, everyone finished eating their meals. Their dinner consisted of heated baked beans and slices of bread. Admittedly, Caleb thought it sounded repulsive but realized that it actually tasted a lot better than it looked. Since the skies were getting dark and the streets were becoming more dangerous, little Mikey was already asleep down in the basement. Olivia was returning from tucking him into his sleeping bag and promised that she would return later. Entering the candle lit living room, she sat in a sofa across from James and Caleb–who hadn't moved a muscle since they arrived. Hearing that James didn't move a muscle would have been revolutionary to anyone in his old base.

"Thank you…" James said."

"Yeah," Caleb nervously added, "Thanks for everything. Your help. The food."

"You're welcome," Olivia paused, "I'd be lying if I told you I thought you were from my quarantine zone, but you guys are okay too" she contently added. After taking a sip of water, she stopped speaking for a while and took their differences into account for her next question, "How do you two know each other?"

James and Caleb silently looked at each other and looked back at Olivia. She noticed their reaction, but didn't bother calling it out. James opened his mouth to speak first, but closed it after expecting Caleb to speak. Finally, Caleb spoke with a jitter, but it was such a mellow variation,

"We're both soldiers from Boston."

"Oh, that's right," she leaned back and thought back when they all first met, "You guys never told me what you were doing in Albany."

The tension in the room grew thick again, able to be cut with Caleb's sword.

"Boston was ambushed," James answered bitterly in no time.

Caleb's body language changed completely, and he rested his elbow on the arm of the sofa and rested his head in his palm to hold his head up. He stared directly at the floor, hoping that this wouldn't resume their hostility towards one another. If Olivia knew the truth about them, it was unimaginable how she would change towards him. It probably would've made her go wild if she knew she had risked Mikey's safety and had two, so-called, 'fugitives' around him.

"Seems like that's been happening a lot recently," Olivia said.

"What about you? Tell us about your zone…" James said.

Olivia exhaled as if it took all the strength in her to even think about it. She brought her palms together and folded them in her lap. By her reaction, both James and Caleb could tell this was going to be painful candle-fire story.

"It happened about four weeks ago, it's been nearly a month now. The first thing I can remember was being in room with my roommate and hearing gunshots outside," Images played out in all of their heads, more vividly in Olivia's, "I looked out my window and we saw a group of guys come in on horses and shoot up the entire place."

"No one fought back?" Caleb asked.

"Since they don't allow weapons in the quarantine zone, we couldn't. Not one person had a gun," she closed her eyes and shook her head, "The worst part is the military...the military!" she gave a sickened look, "They were already gone by the time these people came in. Nowhere to be found."

"Bullshit. That's not true," James rudely said, fixing his posture and sitting more erect.

Olivia furrowed her eyebrows and her provoking eyes burned through him,

"Why not?"

"The military would never do that."

"Believe it or not, they did!" she said, slightly raising her voice, "Besides leaving us to die, they've done terrible things to people. They pushed us around and we were running low on our rations. They didn't even want to feed us!"

"Good thing we aren't like that, right James?" Caleb asked sarcastically.

Besides abusing the civilians with their power, Caleb did recall a few situations that involved rations and the people. He's even seen people killed in cold blood because they did as much as stare or bump into an officer. He continued to give a smug look at James, who could do nothing but glare right back at him. James, however, faltered back into his seat and didn't bother arguing. Olivia carried on with her story even though she figured that both the boys might have something to say, but she just fed them, and she'd throw it in their faces if she had to,

"I managed to escape with my roommate, but…" her lips began trembling and she began to fidget with her fingers, "Someone killed her and that's when I had to keep on running. Then that's when I came across Michael—he was out in the rain and he was dirty, alone, and cold...so I started to take care of him,"

It didn't show much on his face, but Caleb could empathize with Olivia and could understand where she was coming from. He might sound like a hypocrite, but fuck, he was sentenced to execution. The reasons he helped the Fireflies attack the zones were never to hurt people. On the contrary, it was suppose to help liberate the civilians and send a message to the corrupted military. He told James that plenty of times, but it wasn't easy convincing. Besides, he was sure that James had his own agenda to follow too.

"Does he have a family?" Caleb asked.

"He's an orphan,"

Although James had his head down, he looked up at the sound of those words.

"I know it sounds pretty messed up, but at least the kid had no one to lose," Olivia added, "But now he's got me…"

"That's why you have to leave…" James suggested.

"And go where?" she replied, scratching the roots of her hairline, "Nowhere is safe."James couldn't respond because she definitely wasn't lying and it sounded like there was no changing her mind. She scoffed and rested her head back, "I'm going to bed. There's an apartment to the right of here that's unlocked. Go get some rest in there and Mikey and I will say our farewells in the morning."

"Alright…" James groaned as he stood up.

"Goodnight," Olivia said. She leaned forward and blew out the candle on the wooden center table.

The apartment that Olivia was referring to was the same apartment that Mikey was hiding in earlier that afternoon. Since it was less tended to, it wasn't nearly as neat as Olivia's living space. Having flashlights to their aid, the boys could get a full view of the musty interior. The walls had holes beaten into them, the wallpapers were torn by great patches, there was practically no furniture, and there were dry animal droppings on the carpets. Caleb stood beside a shattered window, hearing the excess glass crunch beneath his shoes. His eyes scanned the floors, searching for a spot they could rest on without smelling like shit.

"How the hell are we sleeping in this?"

"We've slept in worse," James said optimistically.

"Worse than shit…?" Caleb remarked with an attitude.

Without further notice, James left Caleb behind and ventured deeper into the house. Since it wasn't that big of a place, James found something incredibly useful in a matter of minutes.

"Caleb!" he called out, "Come here!"

Caleb followed his voice and was immediately led into a dusty, old room. He walked in on James looking at himself in a fully intact mirror,

"Holy fuck, I need to shave…" James paused and ran his fingers along his cheeks.

Caleb entered the room, stepping over large pieces of fallen wood. He stood beside James and looked at himself as well. Caleb was thankful to have no black eyes and no swollen bruises—completely healed. Compared to James, his stubble was coarser with a sparse mustache over his full lips.

"We need sleep…" Caleb muttered.

He looked closer and saw notable bags underneath both of their bloodshot eyes. They could blend in with some Runners if they wanted. Closely staring at every aspect pf his face a little longer than normal, he tensely pulled himself away.

"Um..." He blinked repeatedly and looked away as if he was bothered by something, "Is this what you wanted to show me?"

James shook his head and pointed back at a bed frame with a queen sized mattress within the room. He suggested, that with Caleb's help, they could carry the mattress down into the basement and sleep there since it was much safer. Since they were exhausted, they didn't waste any time in getting the mattress down the flight of stairs. Much to their surprise, the basement wasn't nearly as filthy as the main floor. There were cobwebs here and there, but that was simply overlooked. After finding a good spot, they dropped the mattress unto the floor and caused a wave of dust to fly into their faces. They both backed up and coughed. Just as Caleb fanned the air, his eyes caught something buried deep in the corner of the room: An old lantern.

Sharing a room with another soldier wasn't something completely new to them, it was just that bunking meant sleeping on different beds. In this particular case, it was you either slept on the mattress or the cold hard floor.

They put good use to some old curtains since they couldn't find any sheets, and they layered the mattress with them to use another pair as blankets.

"Just make sure you don't kick me,"

"I won't, James, stop telling me th–what are you doing?!" As they both sat on the mattress, Caleb paused as James unbuttoned and removed his shirts.

"What?" James said, stretching out his arms high into the air.

"Now's not the best time to sleep shirtless."

"Look, I don't know if you've noticed, but I haven't slept on a warm mattress in a very long time," he said getting comfortable.

"What if it has bugs?" Caleb asked, eyeballing him.

"You know what? I know why you get like that when you see me with my shirt off,"

Caleb's nostrils flared and he narrowed his eyes before speaking,

"First at the fire tower, now here," James teased as he folded up his plaid shirt.

"Why, James?"

"Because you're jealous of my body."

Caleb was built as well, but slightly slimmer. He was more defined and just had a smaller frame with a broad chest and shoulders.

"Jealous?" Caleb pointed at himself in disbelief, "Of your body?"

James nodded as if he had just cracked a case. It might have seemed like an argument at first, but James' smile signaled that he was portraying his more playful side. It showed great improvement with their time together and more depth to his immature personality. It was probably missed multiple times, but James made humorous jokes all the time just to lighten the mood. But Caleb had to cut it short. As usual, nothing could get him to smirk for too long, but he also managed to not come across as too toxic,

"Just rest your head on one end and I'll rest mine on the other…and I'll turn around so I won't have to look your feet all night. Keep them far away from me."

"Deal," James smiled with a soft nod, "As long as you don't fart."

"James…Really?"

"Sorry," he snorted.

Caleb looked away and took off his boots. Removing his large cardigan sweatshirt, he used it as a blanket to cover his thighs and upper body. Just as he laid on his side and closed his eyes, he heard James' voice,

"Before you go to bed, I have a question: What did you think about Olivia's story?"

"What's there to think…?" Caleb mumbled with his eyes closed.

"It's just that, all that shit she said about the military treating them like crap and leaving them for dead...it can't be true, can it?" he asked, genuinely curious.

The fact that he was even being doubtful about his fellow brothers and sisters said more than enough. It was actually progress in Caleb's eyes.

"Who knows, maybe that explains why Mikey reacted that way in the living room after you told him you were in the military," Caleb said bluntly.

He tried keeping his eyes shut, but he was becoming more unnerved by the silence he received from James. Turn his head to the side, he looked at James who was staring into space with a genuine look uncertainty and self-doubt. It was a quick change in his attitude and Caleb could admit that he took it a little too far. He planned on keeping that theory to himself. He was just too tired to control what came out of his mouth. He planned to clear the atmosphere and sat up. He showed a vulnerable side that James would be seeing for the first and last time.

"James…" he sighed and dipped his head downward, glancing up at him, "Don't worry about it. It's none of our business anyway. Look, we'll be back on the road to Harrisburg tomorrow morning and you'll get back home in no time…"

He reluctantly extended his arm forward and patted James' hand,

"You're a good soldier, and others can learn a thing or two from you, alright?"

James nodded in silence, but was taken aback by Caleb's sudden affection. He didn't make it obvious, though.

"Now try and catch some Z's. You get all irritating when you're tired."

"Apparently you become nicer."

"Shutup…" Caleb groaned, resting his head back down on the mattress and closing his eyes.

James settled into his mattress and looked at his healing leg. He returned his gaze directly at Caleb and stared for an awfully long time. He understood that he formed a temporary truce with the Firefly, but their truce was swelling into an acquaintanceship as a side effect. James predicted it would happen eventually, but he didn't think they would be paired together for this long. Recently, he's felt the need to learn more about Caleb and it was embarrassing to even think about.

During that cult ceremony in Boston, it was already established that they stood better chances of surviving together. However, James was only swallowing his pride that day and took advantage of Caleb. When you've just been shot in the leg, learn that your own captain wants you dead, and are being hunted by a bunch of cultists–you don't have many choices. Truthfully, After James found out that Captain Wells wanted him dead, he just wanted to flee the state and begin anew somewhere else. He thought about Harrisburg, and how it would be the best place to continue living as a soldier. It was his old home, and James believed that whatever happened in Boston, would stay in Boston. He knew word wouldn't get out to any other zones about the ambush—it was impossible. To get what he wanted, he promised Caleb his freedom if he helped get him to Harrisburg for 'confidential reasons'...of course that was a load of bullshit. All Caleb wanted to do was walk away alive from all of this, even if it meant delivering a soldier Little did he know, that was a lie too. James planned on turning him once they reached Harrisburg, but it was becoming harder to do—almost damn-near impossible.

James had time to step back and look at the bigger picture; Caleb always had the choice to look the other way...but he didn't. There was so much that each did to keep each other alive since then. That's when James finally realized he was no different than the soldiers in Olivia's story: Dark, twisted, and manipulative.

He had to end this somehow. Finally, he broke his lingering stare and rubbed his eyes free of the sensation one would feel before they cried. He reached back to blow out the lantern that was a couple of feet away from their bed and tucked himself in. Before he knew it, they were both out cold.

James heard some tapping noises the next morning. He peeked through a half-opened eye as he slowly woke up and searched around for the source of the noise. Craning his head upward, he saw a notable figure just outside the basement window. He used his knee to knock Caleb in his side in order to silently wake him up. Caleb groaned and swatted his arm back to deliver a stinging slap to James' side, warning to leave him alone. James clenched his teeth and let out a silent whine of pain.

"Caleb!" James kicked again.

Since Caleb was already sleeping at the edge of the mattress, the final kick was enough to send him over the edge. He had no choice but to wake up, and he was extremely dazed after having the best sleep he's had in weeks. He groaned even louder through his teeth. He fixed his posture and put himself back on the bed,

"What?!" he growled sharply.

"Someone knows we're in here" James replied, "Get ready…"

"Get ready...?" Caleb squinted his eyes and took a closer look at the basement window for about five seconds. He sucked his teeth and looked back at James with annoyance. He threw he head back on the mattress and tossed the hooded cardigan over his face, "It's Olivia," he said, sounding muffled.

James looked back and could see that it was definitely Olivia upon second glance,

"Oh…"

James climbed out of bed and made it up to the first floor. He made sure to put his shoes on to avoid stepping in any balls of shit scattered in the room. Before getting to the doorway, James pushed away a large dresser he used to barricade the entrance. Keeping the door chain attached, he slightly opened the door and looked at Olivia with his dreary looking eyes. The early rays of the sunlight didn't make things any more pleasant,

"Hi," James said, voice still drowsy.

"Hey...James," Olivia sized up James and her face flushed from embarrassment at the sight of his partial nudity, "Did I interrupt anything?" she asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

"Interrupt? What would you be interrupting?"

She made small gestures with her pointer finger and spoke,

"Weren't you and Caleb…?"

James didn't reply. He raised his eyebrows and was calmly waiting for her to finish her sentence. He was eager to hear what she had to say next.

"Never mind."

Suddenly, Olivia turned around without exchanging any more words and walked back to her apartment door which was straight across from James' doorway. She closed the door, avoiding to make any eye contact with James. James closed his door and rested on it in before walking away in curiosity. What the hell?

After catching up on the rest of their sleep, James and Caleb prepared to leave and hit the road again. Always having to get up and go was becoming a bit frustrating for Caleb. He would've appreciated it a little more if they would have camped in a little while longer, but he kept his opinions to himself. Becoming an obstacle for James' was basically begging for a quarrel. Not to mention, he always laid on a nice, thick guilt-trip for Caleb whenever he had something to argue about.

Before leaving, James broke out into a vigorous exercise routine. He jogged in place, did lunges, crunches, and numerous push ups. Once they exited the house, they ran into Olivia one last time. She was already waiting at her front door with her sniper rifle that was taller than Mikey. Before they could even say their goodbyes, Olivia popped the question she was longing to ask. She mentioned that she was running very low on food and needed to make a run to the supermarket. Although she had done it many times before, she thought it would be better accomplished by two experienced soldiers. Since she couldn't bring herself to trust Mikey home alone, she wanted to bring him along too. Both Caleb and James had no choice but to accept her request after all she did for them. A trip to the local supermarket didn't sound like such a big deal, right?

Turns out that Olivia might have fibbed a little just to get what she wanted, because the walk turned out to be a lot longer than expected. She exposed herself to be an opportunist in desperate times, but there was nothing the boys could say. The group walked into a spacious parking lot and saw a notable store with a large red logo that said "Shoprite" in cursive font.

"I hope you know we could've been out of Albany by now," James passively remarked.

"It wasn't that long," Olivia said, but she knew the truth, "Besides, you guys can just spend the night again..."

"The more time I waste here, the more time we risk being caught," he negligently said.

Caleb kept calm even after realizing that James sort of blown his own cover. He looked at Olivia and noticed a questionable expression appear on her face. Hoping that it would blow over, he looked away and decided not to make a scene out of it. He immediately pursued the jar head towards the entrance. James rested his grip on the handle and heavily pulled the door. Strangely, he was having a difficult time opening the door and every time he tugged it, it only opened about an inch apart. The small bell above the door jingled every time. Caleb pressed his face against the unclean glass and cuffed his eyes; the double doors were chained from the inside,

"Chained?" Olivia anxiously questioned, "It wasn't chained the last time I came here."

Olivia turned around and searched the parking lot relentlessly for any signs of people. There was nothing but aged, rusted up vehicles with tires and spare parts lying about.

"What's wrong?" James asked.

"The slavers, they did this, I know they did!" Olivia groaned, rolling her eyes and rubbing her own neck in stress.

"Should we leave?"

"No…" she turned back around and faced the entrance, "They can't do this. We just gotta be quick."

The oldest three devised a plan while Mikey did what was best and stood plastered to Olivia's side. The plan was: While Caleb and James each pulled open a door from the outside, the opening space would be large enough for both Olivia and Mikey to slip through. Once Mikey and Olivia got inside, they would keep the doors open by pushing from the inside. Just as planned, they were all inside in seconds. Everyone, except Caleb, rejoiced silently.

Of course, they were all alert and kept their guards up at all costs. They ran into two idle Runners as soon as they entered the location. The two Infected stood in separate corners, having their faces buried into their palms. The Runners cried and twitched to themselves in agony, which led the group to believe that these two were recently infected. It was absolutely the most horrifying thing to watch someone slowly transform into a monster. Olivia recalled eliminating every Infected the last time she scavenged the place, and it was beyond her knowledge on how they kept returning, especially when it was chained.

One per person, Olivia and Caleb sneaked up behind the Runners to end their misery. Olivia removed a shiv from her pocket and punctured the Runner's neck with it. It screams couldn't escape it's mouth after having a hole pierced through its throat and it fell to the floor, squirming in pain and eventually dying. Caleb did something simple, and ran the Runner right through. It was an instant-kill and it flopped to the floor. He flicked his bloody blade at the floor and bent down to wipe it on the Runner's clothes. Mikey, who didn't seem bothered by any of this, watched Caleb in fascination. He was staying hidden behind a rack of wax fruits with James,

"Is he your best friend?" Mikey asked James.

James smiled and chuckled. They both stood up after getting a signal that they were safe for the time being,

"We aren't friends, I just know him."

"He's cool," he said, speaking through his toothless smile, "Is he nice?"

James took a stern stance and crossed his arms. He continued to shake his head, almost feeling disappointed at what he was about to say,

"Nah, not really..."

Mikey was only a child, so it didn't mean much to him. It didn't take a lot of effort to grab his attention either. He walked off and followed after Olivia and Caleb, probably caring more about finding something good to eat for dinner.

Besides being in terrible condition, the supermarket still possessed a bizarre number of goods on the shelves. They weren't full, of course, but only had a small amount collected near the front of the aisles. Caleb read the labeling on most of the goods and realized that they were FEDRA owned. Olivia spoke to Caleb in secret and brought up that the government use to provide shipments of foods to the supermarket in order to feed the civilians in the zone. Clearly from the looks of things, supplies began running slow at some point, which is why the military refused to give people their rations. It started off smooth, but all things good must come to an end.

After grabbing some plastic bags, Olivia didn't hesitate to quickly stack it with cans of beans and vegetables. Mikey grabbed the remaining amounts of honey and peanut butter, which probably just added up to only five jars. Just to lend a helping hand, Caleb went ahead and grabbed some bags of rice and threw in some extra items for himself. Being the only one to walk out of the last aisle, Caleb looked over at James, who was standing by a cashier counter nearest the store entrance. Assuming he was keeping lookout, Caleb strode over to him with a small tube in his hand. As he approached closer to him, he tossed the tube at James. He caught it and looked down at it. It read that it was a tube of shaving cream with the brand name of 'Barbasol'.

"That'll keep you happy…right?" Caleb asked flatly. He leaned in on the counter James stood behind.

"Yeah," James replied with a nod.

He rested the tube on the counter and continued to look elsewhere. Caleb noticed the difference in James' attitude. He seemed irritated, and he figured it had to do with them being at the supermarket,

"What's your problem?" Caleb asked suspiciously.

"Nothing."

"Quit being such a jackass all the time, James."

James laughed mockingly to himself. He stood firmly and leaned in over the counter with his arms crossed,

"I just...I wish we would've left sooner," he waited, "So I wouldn't have to travel with a Firefly anymore."

As stoic and patient as Caleb could be sometimes, it was clear that he was upset by James' words. The worst part about it was that he knew it was deliberately said to hurt him, and James just might have succeeded the impossible. He rolled his eyes and grabbed the tube off the conveyor belt and tossed it into his backpack. Pulling his hood over his head, he walked off and looked back one final time to throw up his middle finger and flip James off,

"You're such a moody prick sometimes," he finished.

James didn't bother responding. If anything, he knew deep down that he fucked up and probably severed the relationship they worked so hard to maintain, but it didn't matter at this point. He believed it was necessary if he wanted to get back home and live a normal life. He thought about himself going back home and being able to patrol the checkpoints like he use to. He thought about sleeping in a bed every night, and eating meals everyday. He thought about protecting the civilians of the zone and the looks on their faces. However, the only looks he could remember were the horrified faces through infection scans. He remembered being ordered to kill people in cold blood. He thought back on Sid, Lauren, Wells, and eventually his own grave.

It scared him to death...but he was faithful things could be better in Harrisburg. He was faithful…

In the midst of it all, James heard some distinct noises coming in from the outside. The noises were one of those sounds that if you'd never experienced it personally you still got come sense of recalling it, but James couldn't put his finger on it. Rhythmic clattering on hard pavement was the best way he could describe the sounds. At first he was almost entranced by it, but the deep voice of a man is what made him throw himself to the floor. At that point, James realized what it was: Men and horse hooves. Since the windows were barricaded by tall shelves and a few vending machines, he used them for cover to peer through the windows that looked out into the parking lot. He saw three horses and spotted a rider on each one. James didn't waste any time and decided it would be best to warn the others and find a way out. He sneaked through the aisles and Olivia was the first to be located. He sneaked up behind her and unintentionally startled her, causing her to drop a jar of pickled cucumbers. The jar shattered and she jumped back to avoid any glass and pickle juice. She stomped like a child and looked at James,

"James that was the last one!" she complained.

James shushed repeatedly and delicately grabbed hold of her shoulders,

"Shh! Olivia!" he calmed, "Olivia, look at me! There's horses outside, we have to go."

A look of trauma appeared over her face and she covered her mouth, she looked to the side of James to where the entrance was located,

"Where's Mikey?" Olivia asked. It was clear he was her now her number one priority.

"He's probably with Caleb, let's go."

They both beamed off further into the massive location and searched every aisle they could. They couldn't shout because they knew if they shouted loud enough, they could risk being heard by the horsemen. But time was running out and James and Olivia had no choice but to hide after hearing the front entrance being unlocked and swung open. The bell rang and the sounds of rattling chains hit the ground and every wall throughout the entire market. Olivia pulled James behind, what use to be a fish market, counter. James looked over at Olivia and was somewhat relieved and surprised that someone could sweat more than he did, especially a woman. Her entire face glistened and her palms looks moist and shaky. Accompanied by her nerves, she began to silently hyperventilate. James turned away to the sound of a voice far off in the distance,

"Dead Runners," a woman's voice said, "Someone's been here,"

"Reckon they're still here?" Another voice said. Clearly he was an Englishman.

"You two go 'round back," A third, much calmer, and deeper voice said.

His footsteps could be heard walking through the aisles and he eventually walked on the broken jar of pickles. James had his chin to the floor, looking through the space underneath the surrounding counters. Just as he hoped for, he saw footsteps walking out into the open. Like a true hunter, it was a confident and watchful stroll, and it was something that could set any target uneasy. James sat up beside Olivia and pressed his back against the counter.

The footsteps came closer and closer to the point where it sounded like the horseman was right above their heads….and he was. James took a double take at the filthy sink to the side. The partially rusted steel gave an unclear, fuzzy reflection of a man getting prepared to crane his head over the counter. James sealed his eyes shut and Olivia covered her mouth to hush her heavy breathing. Unbelievably, a loud, young scream was heard coming from another far out area in the supermarket.

The footsteps that were behind the counter quickly departed. Olivia felt prompted to get up and show herself, but it was an unwise choice to make. James swiftly reached over and locked his arm across her torso and powerfully held her down and covered her mouth with his other hand. He knew very well what she wanted to do, but it could be something that could result in getting them all killed. If they wanted to save Mikey, they had to be smart about it. She couldn't overpower James no matter how hard she squirmed and by the time the bell above the door rang a final time, James released her. Olivia fell weakly to the floor and let out a sob so hard it started off silent and built up into a shrill cry.

James followed Olivia through a back entrance. Pushing past some old plastic strips that served as curtains, they walked past a slaughter room and a large backroom that held a bunch of crushed boxes. Making a left, they walked through another set of plastic curtains and were led to a roll up gate. The gate, however, was already rolled up and Mikey's little green cap was on the cold pavement. Olivia reached down and picked it up, unable to hold the cap like it possessed some strenuous weight. James reached over to console her, but she pulled away. Clearly in shock, she backed away and returned back inside the supermarket.

Seconds later, James learned something: Caleb was missing too.