The next day was spent much the same as the day before. Indigo scoured the house for something to do to ease the restless energy. She stayed away from their private rooms. She'd only glanced at them during her once-over and didn't want to overstep. Fun Ghoul was the only one who'd given her access to his personal space. So she only overstepped in that she looked under his bed to see if he had anything stored down there.

He did. And when she pulled the box out, she realized the lack of furniture and distinguishable personality in the room was a choice. She wondered if he'd hidden these parts of himself away just for her sake. Stuffing the space beneath his bed with secrets he wasn't ready to share. There were more books, some more well-read than others, and a guitar with a broken string. She ran her fingers along the frets, wondering if he'd ever played it. Or if he hid it away when the string broke. Did he think it was unusable now? Or did he simply learn to play without it?

She made beans this time. Now that she had more time and cleaner water to soak them with. The rest of them got home just as she started cooking. They took the food gratefully, but only after they'd let her and the Girl get their own food. As if they'd gotten a harsh scolding in the car and recognized bad behavior. She didn't care, really. She didn't expect or want to be treated any differently. But she appreciated the attempt at kindness.

The exhaustion had taken her quickly before. She'd slept dreamlessly as her body recovered from her journey through the desert. But she was healing now. She was more comfortable with them and more anxious about being idle. Her brain spent the night bombarding her with images of flashing guns and bloody wounds. She fought with the blankets until someone touched her shoulder. Then she grabbed his fingers, intending to snap them back. But her brain caught up quickly. It had to. And it was just Ghoul looking down at her with concern. He pulled his hand free.

"We're taking you to Midnight's today. How are you feeling?" he asked, stepping back and letting the rest of her wake up too.

"Fine," she lied.

"Good. There are clothes and shoes in the box. Meet us upstairs when you're ready." She nodded and he left her alone.

She climbed out of bed and dug around in the box for the clothes he'd gotten on their last run. Her shorts had been cleaned, and they'd managed to track down a decent pair of socks. They didn't match, and there was a hole in one of them. But it was small enough to not be bothersome just yet. He'd left her two shirts. One quarter sleeve to block out the sun, and the other the simple tank she'd worn when she came in.

She pulled her hair out of her face and slid her sore feet into the dirty old boots they'd left for her. The holster was already sitting on the table where she'd left it. Her father's altered shotgun leaned against the wall on the other side. She decided to take them both.

The boys and single girl were waiting for her in the upstairs living room. They were double-checking their equipment and weapons when she found them. The Girl was the first to notice her. She sat on the couch, bouncing on her feet in excitement. Party Poison looked up from his gun and laughed as if he found something amusing about her.

"There you go with your retro machinery again," he remarked, turning back to his weapon.

"It does a lot of damage."

"I don't doubt it. I just stopped relying on them when they stopped manufacturing ammunition."

"I can make my own ammunition. I have plenty of backup. I see no point in wasting a perfectly good weapon just because other people aren't making parts anymore." He nodded as if this satisfied him.

"Good to be resourceful."

"Where could you possibly hide backup?" Ghoul asked as he looked her up and down. Heat rose to her cheeks, and she hoped they mistook it for the growing heat in the house and nothing else. Her legs were bare from her thighs to just below her knees. She was suddenly very aware of her own naked flesh. And so was he, apparently.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" He made another show of looking her up and down. This time not letting his intentions pass unnoticed.

"That's tempting."

"Stop being gross in front of the kid," Kobra said. "It's time to go."

They collected what they needed and headed out into the back. The vehicles were hidden beneath a sand-colored tarp that helped them blend into the landscape. They had one car and two bikes.

"Kobra's taking the bike," Poison explained as they helped pull the tarp off the car. "The rest of us will ride together."

Poison took the driver's seat, and Jet Star pushed the front seat up to let them into the back. Ghoul climbed in without a word, the Girl followed, and Indigo suspected she was meant to be next. She slid into the back behind the passenger seat. Poison put music on, but no one spoke. The car was hot, sticky against her bare legs. They kept the windows down to let the heat pour out and didn't move until Kobra's bike zipped away.

She didn't know exactly where they were, but they made no attempt to throw her off track. It was another show of vulnerability. Of trust. She leaned on the window, watching the desert roll by through the shaded color of her sunglasses. It wasn't until they reached Route Guano that she figured out which zone they were in.

It took nearly an hour to reach Midnight's place. The old church sat abandoned and lonely amidst tumbleweeds and dry brush. It had been painted black, tagged, and there was hardly anything left of the stained glass windows that used to decorate the building. When she was younger, she would try to imagine the stories they'd told. But that was when she was still young enough to care for pretty things like colored glass and the belief in something bigger and more powerful than her world.

"Let me out," she said when the car crept to a stop. Poison parked it and pulled the brake. The air felt tighter and hotter now that they weren't moving. "Let me out," she repeated more insistently. Jet pushed the door open and pulled the seat forward. She squeezed out and hurried toward the building, not bothering to wait for them to catch up.

She didn't overthink it when she left. Didn't stop to wonder if it was the last time she'd ever set foot there. She collected what she needed for the trip and focused on her goal of destroying the people who'd taken everything from her.

But now she was back—mission unfulfilled. There was a red-painted X on the side of the church. A warning to anyone nearby that the previous inhabitant of the building had been exterminated. The doors were hanging off their hinges, and the walls looked black and scorched in some places. The remains of the stained glass windows sent jagged beams of colored light onto broken pews. She kicked through the rubble as she made her way toward the altar and its broken saints.

"There isn't much left," Ghoul said, following her in. He had his gun out, already prepped for an attack. It was dark and dusty inside. Her eyes needed a moment to adjust. "They took all the medical supplies and weapons. Everything else was either confiscated or scavenged. A doctor's supply is a hot commodity these days." She walked to where Midnight used to store his paperwork beneath the image of the god that had forsaken them. He kept notes on things. No dates. No names. But things he'd need to remember, codes if he absolutely needed to keep track of a particular person. "They took his books and files too," he said as she uncovered the empty cabinet.

She didn't say anything, and she couldn't find anything more important than the necklace. So she headed behind the statue to the door that led into the inner workings of the church. What had once been offices, kitchens, and small bedrooms. Her father had turned them into operating rooms. Places he could take people who needed to stay for more extended periods. He'd healed so many people there. So many burns and blasts and punctures. Even at the end of the world, people sought out churches for safety and peace. But instead of their long-dead gods, they'd find Midnight.

Ghoul followed with his gun still raised. He watched her kick through the debris of old cabinets in her search. Like he was waiting for something to burst out of the shadows and start blasting her. He was covering, but she doubted there was any need.

The rest of the group caught up to them by the time she reached the kitchen. They stood back as she searched. Saying nothing until she opened the pantry to take in all the empty shelves.

"Food is gone," Poison informed her. "Scavenged most likely."

She ignored him and bent to the floor. She traced her fingers along the linoleum on the edge of the wall. There was a tiny, unnoticeable gap between the floor and the wall, hidden behind the shelf. Her fingers dug into the groove and pulled. The block shifted, revealing a small cellar door. She slid it out, and Ghoul took it to set it against a nearby wall. Then she lifted the door, and cool air rushed out of the darkness.

"I'll show you where the real store was. Consider this payback," she said.

Then she jumped into the dark. She had her gun out as soon as she landed, but the space was just as quiet and empty as she left it. She moved away from the light of the entrance to find the nearest switch. She didn't know if the solar panels had been destroyed, but there must have been enough stored up to kick the lights back on. They hummed overhead, barely hanging on. There were no signs of life.

"It's clear," she called up, holstering her gun at her side. The men followed one after the other. Only Kobra and the Girl stayed behind to act as lookouts while they searched.

"So this is where you've been hiding all these years," Ghoul said, finally comfortable enough to holster his own weapon.

"Midnight spent most of his time down here too. There's a buzzer on the upstairs door that told us if someone was coming up the road. He kept a room upstairs as a decoy." She moved away from them and headed to the nearest storage closet. They watched her remove several military-grade duffel bags. She handed one to each of them. "Food is in the kitchen. There's enough to last a family of two for three months. Fresh vegetables too. Weapons are in the storeroom. There's clothing, blankets, towels, and other things scattered around. Make yourselves useful and take whatever you think might be valuable. Consider this my repayment for saving my life. Don't make me regret it."

The other two walked off to fill the bags. Ghoul lingered behind, taking in the sight of her home as if it would tell him more about who she was.

"What are you going to get?" he asked as she pulled out another bag. A solid white insulated one. It used to have a red cross on the front, but Midnight painted his own symbol over it. Midnight was valuable in the zones. The sign told possible thieves that whatever was inside would probably save their asses and was better left in the hands of a professional.

"Medical supplies." She stood and led him into another refrigerated supply room.

"Smart of him to keep all this stuff down here."

"He only kept a little upstairs for immediate use and to throw people off. No one will rob you if they think you're barely scraping by. And BLI won't suspect you keep your daughter in a hidden basement if you keep a few personal items upstairs."

"Smart."

She filled the bag with glass bottles. Penicillin, tetanus, syringes, scalpels, gauze, lots of gauze, as well as anti-venoms for local snakes and anything else the desert (or BLI) might try to throw at them.

"Where's your room?" he asked.

"Down the hall."

"Did you need anything from it?"

"Grab whatever looks useful or can be traded for something useful."

He left, and she spent a few more minutes filling the bag to capacity. She set it down at the bottom of the ladder when she was done. Then she went to her room to find clothes or whatever sentimental things she might want to keep with her. Fun Ghoul was already there. He was sitting on the edge of her cot, looking over a faded photo she kept tacked to her wall. He'd removed it.

"What's this?" he asked when she appeared in the doorway.

"My family. Before the wars." She sat down beside him.

The photo was of a typical nuclear family. Her dad said it was the day they moved into a new house. She didn't remember the house. She couldn't even remember its occupants. Midnight, or Joshua as he'd been before, was holding onto a woman Indigo didn't recognize anymore. She felt no real attachment to her now. Just disdain. She knew enough to know that when Midnight tried to get his daughters out of Bat City, this woman had done everything to prevent it. Leaving just the two of them to figure things out on their own.

There were two girls. Claire and another girl she didn't remember. Whatever unique feature she had couldn't be seen in the photo. But she was pretty. It was easy for her to see how she'd been so jealous and eager to be like her. If only she could remember her name.

"That's my sister," she explained. "And my mother, obviously. The smaller one is me. I had a brother too, but—I guess this is after he joined the military."

"What happened to them?"

"We were all taken to Bat City during the wars. Midnight figured out what was happening. He was a doctor, you know? So they had use for him. But he saw us slipping away. So he tried to get us out of there. My mother—it was already too late for her. He tried to kidnap the two of us, but my mother intervened. BLI got involved, and he only barely managed to escape with me. I never knew what happened to my brother. I don't even remember him. It's just been the two of us ever since."

"You've never wondered? What became of them?"

"No. I don't need to. BLI took them and Corrected them. I'm sure they remember even less than I do. And none of us are the same people. Claire cared about them, but I'm not Claire anymore. Some things are thicker than blood."

"It's a shame."

"Yeah, it really is."

She stood and went to collect a few of her things. He slid the photo into the bag as if he knew she'd need it. Then he disappeared to track down supplies with the others. When she finally met them out in the hall, they'd stuffed their bags with weapons, food, medical supplies, textiles, and odd machinery Fun Ghoul thought he might be able to work with. They'd also set out the entire collection of stored, filtered water.

They spent a few minutes working with Kobra and the Girl to get everything out of the basement. Then they climbed out and covered the door with the wood panel again.

"Provided that this place doesn't get discovered and raided, you're welcome to it," she said, sticking the linoleum block back over the hidden door. "Whatever needs to be kept cool probably won't last much longer. But anything else, it's yours."

"That's an awfully big gift," Ghoul pointed out, struggling to lug one of the bags over his shoulder. She stood and wiped the dirt from her hands.

"I have no use for it where I'm going."

He didn't argue that. They headed back out into the smothering desert heat and loaded the car with whatever they could fit. While they were busy trying to make room in the trunk, Indigo found a can of blue spray paint inside the church and brought it out.

The red X was large and starkly vibrant against the scorched black wall. She shook the can roughly, letting all the rage and pain swell up inside her again. This was not their place. Their sanctuary. It was hers. It was Midnight's. It was meant to be a safe place for the people left behind. They'd taken Midnight's life, but she wouldn't let them take his legacy. She sprayed a blue line through the X and curved it off with a hook. Then more curved lines from the top until she'd made an umbrella.

The X was a message that BLI had killed the building's inhabitant. But the umbrella was a message that she was still alive. This was her place. She was angry. And she was coming for them.