My finger hovers over the keypad a moment. Then I tuck my watch away. Can’t risk it getting damaged in the rain. It’s my only tie to home. It vibrates again, but the gray skies darken so low, I have to squint, and rumbles roll in the distance.

“Who’s that?” Jhamal falls back to walk beside me.

“Oh, just checking on things back home. I’ve been gone so long, you know.”

“Everything okay?”

“I think so. They’re just worried.”

His hand brushes mine and I savor it. Bri and Zora are up ahead. The perimeter of the District is a collage of boarded and broken windows, steam rising from puddles, and stacks of broken concrete. The world dims with each block, the fading sun eerie as it glows against bleak desolation. I step over a fracture in the pavement and gesture for Zora and Bri to stick close to the walls of the buildings, or what’s left of them.

Wind whistles, tugging at my clothes as we round a corner. Dicee’s shop sign creaks in the wind.

“This way.” I point toward an intersection that shortcuts through the old dorm quad to the Market Street. I used to skip out on class and cut this way to get to Totsi’s to get lost in some real books. The rain slacks. My pocket vibrates and I slip my watch out.

Julius: So, we just gon’ do the silent thing again or…?

A smirk tugs at my lips and Jhamal looks over his shoulder at me. My stomach does something weird.

Me: I’m here lol

Me: Listen, some stuff went down and I can’t leave right now. But I’m okay and my bad for having you worried.

“Everything good?” Jhamal’s expression is more curious this time.

“I’m trying to see.” My fingers work furiously over the watch face, keeping an eye out as we make our way across another intersection.

Me: And thanks for checking on the fam. You a real one for that, you know. Let me know what’s up with T when you can.

Julius: I’ma hold you down, always

I put the watch on my arm so I don’t slip up and miss another message. There’s no shortage of broken awnings and trash blowing through the streets. Shells of buildings, broken windows. A distinct feeling I’m being watched slinks over me, but I spot nothing beyond the scent of smoke in the air.

“Do you think—” I turn to Jhamal.

“Ah!”

The scream sears my nerves and there’s Bri shouting, fiery arrows heading straight for her. She ducks and they whoosh over her head.

“Run,” I yell, rushing over. “Take cover.”

She tugs on her leg with her hands, but her foot seems resolved to stay put. “The ground—i-it’s like glue or something. I-I can’t move.”