I jerk back and hold my hands in a truce position. As I move away from the door, I catch sight of Molly’s captor. He’s a young guy, maybe nineteen years old, with a guarded expression. One of his arms is tight around Molly, the other clutches the gun, pointing it at us.

“Who are you?” he demands.

“Just survivors,” I say. “Just people like you.”

He glares at me, untrusting.

“Why are you here?” he snaps. “No one’s been in Toledo for years. Why did you come here?”

“Why don’t you put the gun down so we can talk properly?” I say.

“No way,” he says, shaking his head. “Tell me why you’re here.”

“We’re trying to get to Texas,” I reply. “To an army camp there. We were supposed to take the train all the way down but the tracks were damaged and we were attacked by crazies.”

He pauses and a little flicker of interest crosses his face.

“An army camp?” he says.

I feel like I might be getting somewhere. The mention of the military camp has piqued his interest.

“Yes. We received a radio message from a survivors’ camp. A military one. We’re going to check it out.”

He studies my face as though trying to work out if I’m telling the truth or not.

“I’m Brooke,” I continue, trying to lure him into security so he’ll put the gun down. I point to each of the guys behind me. “Ben. Zeke. And that’s Molly.” I point at my friend, who is trembling, the gun poised at her temple. “I’m also here with my little sister, Bree, her friend Charlie, and there’s one more of us, Ryan. He’s unconscious. Then there’s Jack the pit bull and Penelope the Chihuahua, who you’ve already met. And that’s it. That’s everyone. You don’t have any reason to be afraid of us. We just wanted somewhere to shelter until Ryan wakes up, then we’ll be off.”

“You’re really going to Texas?” he asks, his tone closer to curiosity than aggression. But his eyes are still narrowed, telling me he’s not quite sure if he can trust me.

“Yes,” I reply.

“What if…” he begins, then pauses. I can tell he’s hesitating, deliberating. “What if I told you I know the best way to get to Texas from here? Would you let me come with you?”

I can feel Zeke and Ben tensing behind me. We don’t know this guy. All we know about him so far is that he has a gun and he’s pointing it at Molly’s head.

“I would,” I say, trying to sound as honest as possible. “The bigger the group, the stronger we’ll be. Survivors need to stick together.”

He narrows his eyes. “How can I trust you?”