“Then it’s a good thing Andrew isn’t in charge, don’t you think?” Casey frowns. He leans back in his chair, balancing precariously on its hind legs.

Riley scowls. “We’re doing fine. We don’t need any more help.”

Logan signs something, but I pause Nia’s translation with a hand gesture. Everyone immediately quiets, and I sigh. “I would love for that to be true. We’re doing far better than anyone might expect, but we’re not doing fine. We’re holding on by threads. If we fail to gather food for a week, if the garden doesn’t pull through the winter, we’re immediately vulnerable. If one of us falls or breaks something or cuts themselves with a saw again, we have no way to treat the wounds. If anyone falls ill, we can’t do anything.” My words are met with absolute silence. “I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry and tired.”

My shoulders drop. “The fact that we’re here at all is a miracle, and I have to imagine you’re scared, because I am. If we could keep Hope to ourselves and never depend on the outside world again, I would feel better. But we can’t pretend we don’t need this. We do.”

“We could use a stocked medicine cabinet,” Casey adds. “Painkillers. Antiseptics. Antibiotics, just in case. It may take a long time before they have a cure or a vaccine or whatever. With the right supplies, we can keep ourselves safe.”

“So you would risk our lives to hypothetically save our lives? Does that make sense to you? What if they do get violent? What if anyone there is infected? What if—” Riley’s hands tremble with anger or perhaps fear. And I understand it, I do, because it is terrifying. I want to go there and prove to them all that we belong here, but I’m also terrified of bringing the plague back to Hope.

“We can prepare for that. Make a plan and a contingency plan,” Emerson says, not unkindly. “It doesn’t have to be dangerous, and if it is, we can always turn back. All I’m asking is that we don’t give up before we try.”

“According to the sign, rationing is done carefully,” I say. “With masks and distance and other forms of protective shielding, though I’ll admit I don’t quite know what that means. We can send two people in on behalf of all of us, and they can isolate once they come back, to make sure they weren’t infected. Like Logan will isolate now too.” I can’t help it that this last sentence has a bit of a bite to it. But I can’t let my anger make this decision. It needs to be done by all of us.

“We’ve gone into town plenty of times before,” Logan signs with a wince, though she and I are the only ones who’ve ever met others there. “You too, Riley. You know we can get out again if we have to.”

“What if they won’t give it to us though?” Riley asks softly, and the moment she does, a chill settles over the room. This is the question that’s on everyone’s mind but no one wanted to ask. Not: What if something happens? Not even: What if they did intentionally skip over us?