When Meghan didn't see Jackson all day, she soon got news that the poor boy was sick in bed with a nasty fever. He had been put in the "sick bed" so no one else he bunked with caught the illness. Quinn went to him with some cloths and water. When he came back out, he looked at Meghan. "He's asking for you."

Meghan slowly went into the room and kneeled down by Jackson's bedside. "Hey, buddy," she said softly.

"Meggy, I don't feel good."

"I know. Don't worry, you'll feel better in a few days."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

Meghan stayed by his side for hours on end so he wouldn't be alone. She told him a few stories, mostly old Disney movies she remembered, and only left when he was asleep.

When she quietly stepped away from his bunk, she ended up running into Quinn.

"He really likes you," Quinn told her.

"I know. I like him too."

"You handle him well. We've been trying to get him to talk for a really long time. What makes you so different?"

Meghan just smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "Woman's touch," she guessed.

Meghan was awoken in the middle of the night by Katy vigorously shaking her. "Meghan!"

"Hmm?" Meghan moaned groggily.

"Come quick! It's Jackson!"

At the sound of the boy's name, Meghan rushed to the "sick bed" as fast as she could. "What's wrong?" she asked Quinn and Creedy frantically.

"He's not breathing," Quinn answered quickly.

Meghan went next to the boy and felt no air coming from him. When she felt his forehead, he was burning up. "Move," she ordered. Everyone gave her some space. Meghan began doing chest compressions and then gave him two breaths. She repeated this process four times before Jackson finally gasped and took some deep breaths though he remained unconscious. Meghan sighed and leaned back a little. "Keep him cooled down."

Quinn took some wet cloths and laid them all over the boy's body. Creedy and Katy eventually left to get some sleep, but Quinn and Meghan stayed back with Jackson. Meghan ran her fingers through his sweaty hair and replaced the cloths when needed.

"Nice job using CPR," Quinn said to her.

"It was the only thing I could think of. I guess his body was just too overheated and his little immune system isn't ready to battle this kind of thing just yet. He's not exactly completely well-nourished either. None of us are."

"I know. But there's nothing we can do about that."

"Meggy?" Jackson said weakly as he opened his eyes. "I hurt."

"I know, sweetheart. Just hold on. It'll go away soon." Jackson closed his eyes and drifted back into sleep. "Poor thing," Meghan said. "I know what it's like to feel like this."

"We should leave him to sleep," Quinn told her quietly.

Meghan nodded and the both of them slowly tip-toed away from his bed.

"Get some sleep," Quinn said. "You can check on him in the morning."

"Alright. Good night, Quinn."

"Night, Meghan."

When Meghan awoke, she quickly got hers and Jackson's breakfast ration and brought it to the sick boy.

"Hey, Jackson," she said as she walked up to his bed. "How are you feeling today?"

"Better."

"That's good. I brought you your breakfast. You need to eat something."

"I'm not hungry."

"I know, but you need to eat just a little bit or you'll just get sicker."

"Okay."

Meghan slowly fed him his breakfast and he managed to keep it all down. Over the course of the next few days, Jackson was finally well enough to go back to his own bunk.

"Guess what, Jackson?" Meghan said as she tucked him into his own bed. "Now that you're all better, we can go see Quinn and Creedy's show together tomorrow!"

"Yay!" he cheered. "What are they doing this time?"

"It's a surprise!"

"But I wanna know now!"

"I know you do, but you'll just have to wait until tomorrow."

"Aw!"

"It'll be here faster than you know it!"

Unfortunately, for three-year-olds, there's no such thing as fast when they are waiting for something. Jackson was antsy the entire time Meghan played with him and kept trying to get her to tell him what the show was, but she refused to relent.

As soon as the show finally started much to Jackson's pleasure, he sat in Meghan's lap and watched the acting intently.

Meghan watched in delight as Quinn and Creedy reenacted an old favorite for the kids, a scene from the old movie Star Wars.

"'Join me,' the black knight says. 'Then we can end this conflict forever'," Quinn narrated.

"Never!" Creedy said as they fought with painted wooden sticks. "'I'll never join you!' the white knight says. 'You killed my father!'"

Quinn slowly moved the stick across Creedy's wrist and Creedy tucked his hand inside his jack sleeve to make it look like it had been cut off.

"Creedy!" one of the girls exclaimed.

Creedy quickly showed them they he still had his hand to reassure the kids.

"The black knight stares through the holes in his shiny mask, and he speaks words that burn into our hero's heart forever." He imitated Darth Vader's deep breathing, then said, "'I am your father.'"

All of the kids gasped loudly as the lights went off meaning the show had ended. Meghan gave a small smile at their surprise. They all applauded as Quinn and Creedy took a bow.

"Did you make that up, Mr. Quinn?" one boy asked.

"Course I did!" Quinn replied. Meghan smiled again, knowing full well that was a complete lie.

"Alright, kids," Creedy said. "Time for bed."

The kids started groaning and requesting for another show. "Tomorrow!" Quinn shouted over them. "Prayers first!" He knelt down and folded his hands together. "What do we do when we wake?"

"Keep both eyes on the sky," the kids replied in unison.

"What do we do when we sleep?"

"Keep one eye on the sky."

"What do we do when we see them?" Creedy asked.

"Dig hard, dig deep, run for shelter, and never look back."

"Well done," Quinn said. "Bedtime."

The kids began groaning again, but eventually they all got up and went to their respective sleeping places.

Not too long into their sleep, the sickening sound of the alarm started blaring. Everyone immediately got up as fast as they could. Meghan helped everyone get the kids to safety amidst the panic.

"Meggy!" Jackson ran to her, and she took him up in her arms and held him close to her while attempting to get the rest of the kids.

She was at the door getting everyone inside when someone called Quinn's name. He quickly bounded up the steps.

"In the field," the woman said almost shamefully. Quinn started running and Meghan followed with Jackson still in her arms, his head pressed into her neck to hide himself from the scary sight around him.

"Quinn!" she called. "Be careful."

He quickly nodded and ran off once more to get to the field. Meghan went back to their hideout and sat with Jackson.

"It's okay," she said to him. "I promise that I will protect you. I won't let anything happen to you."

Meghan gently rocked him back and forth until Quinn, Creedy, and Jared came back with Eddie and the rest of those who had gone harvesting against Quinn's wishes. Two men were missing and it didn't take a genius to figure out what happened to them.

Jackson had fallen asleep in her arms so she quietly took him back to his bunk and gently placed him on it.

She was about to head back to her own bunk when she passed by Quinn and saw he was sitting alone.

"Hey," she said quietly as she walked up to him. He didn't respond. "What happened out there?"

Quinn didn't have time to respond before Creedy came to join them. In his hand he carried a couple glasses full of some kind of clear liquid.

"Creedy's one-and-only black label," he said as he set the glasses down. "Aged two weeks in a steel barrel. Now, the secret's swallowing fast. That way it just burns your stomach and not your throat. Go on. Sip it and weep."

Quinn looked at Eddie as he walked inside. "Poor guy," he said quietly.

"Huh? Who? Eddie?"

"A father's not meant to bury his kids. It's supposed to be the other way around."

"Yeah, well, he wouldn't have to if he'd just listened, would he?"

"No. No, Creedy. Maybe he was right. It's easy to square your shoulders and bear it when you don't have kids."

"Quinn," Meghan said. "You may not have kids of your own, but I've seen the way you act with the ones here. The way you treat them, they might as well be your kids. So don't think that this is any harder for Eddie than it would be for you if something happened to any of those kids here."

Quinn sighed heavily. "Maybe there won't be another harvest."

"No," Creedy said angrily. "Not now, with half the crop gone. Who knows how we're going to get through."

"You remember when we'd go out and bring in 80, 90 percent of it? Not anymore. Not in the last few years. They're hungrier, too. And some are getting sick now."

"Hey. You're not giving up on me, are you?"

"No. I just thought if we could hang on, somehow we'd make it through."

Meghan and Creedy made eye contact with each other. Neither of them had ever seen Quinn like this before.

It wasn't long before Quinn got up and left, leaving Meghan and Creedy alone.

"What happened out there?" Meghan asked.

Creedy sighed. "Some of our guys went to go harvest before the plants were ready. They were hungry, and I get that, but we all are, so they should've listened when Quinn told them not to. So during the dragon sighting, they all went out to our garden and they were attacked. Two of Eddie's sons were killed out there. Quinn, Jared, and I tried to help, but we couldn't save all of them."

"So that's why Quinn's so upset. He couldn't save them."

"Quinn wants to save as many people as he can. That's why we ran out to get you when we saw you approaching the castle. So when he doesn't save someone, he beats himself up about it."

"He can't save everyone. And if this Eddie guy had just listened to Quinn and toughed out the hunger, his sons would still be alive."

"That's what I was trying to tell him."

Meghan excused herself and headed back to her bunk room. She ended up passing Quinn's room and saw him staring intently at nothing.

"Still upset about tonight?" she asked as she walked in. She passed by an open magazine article about a 12-year-old boy surviving an inferno and put together that it was Quinn. Her eyes skimmed a line that said his mother had been among the deceased. She sat down next to him. "It's not your fault, Quinn. Okay? If it wasn't for you, none of us, especially me, would be here right now."

"But this isn't living. It's surviving, and there's a difference."

"I get that. But what else are we supposed to do? We'll die if we set foot outside for too long. And it's not like it's completely terrible in here. We have your wonderful little shows, some of the kids are getting at least a little education, the younger ones have someone to look out for them. It's not a complete loss."

"What about the food? Jackson nearly died because there wasn't enough."

"But he's alive now. He's fine. We'll just have to make do like we have been."

"How much longer can all of these people take this?"