“She isn’t.” Casey sighs, and I can hear him think and worry. “What happened?”

“We needed ration cards,” I say. I outline what happened in the broadest strokes, and Casey grows paler. “I don’t know about Grace, but we didn’t get into contact with anyone but the soldiers. Everyone else kept a careful distance, and they all had protective clothing.” I raise my voice on that last sentence, loud enough that Mackenzi can hear from the door opening. She nods.

“We’ll all keep to our rooms for a couple of days,” Nia says. She leans against Logan, who doesn’t appear to be bothered by it. “Like we agreed. But I’d like to see what’s in the boxes before we all go our separate ways.”

Logan signs something, and Nia laughs. “Someone will need to take inventory too. And cook for us.”

“Let’s take the boxes to the cafeteria. We can unpack them there,” Casey says.

“Perfect. You can do the unpacking. We’ll eat and watch,” Riley grumbles. But she smiles. We all smile when we grab the boxes and follow the others into the building. Several times I catch someone else glancing back at us and smiling, whispering excitedly.

It sends a thrill up my spine. We come bearing gifts, and this feels like Christmas in a way even Christmas never did. Gold, incense, and myrrh have got nothing on the promise of food when you haven’t had a full meal in several weeks.

We place the boxes on the center table inside the cafeteria, and then the four of us withdraw to one of the farthest tables in the room. Casey retrieves a knife and cleaning products from the kitchen, while Josie places meals on another table. I can’t help but laugh when I realize it’s pieces of toast—from the slightly-moldy-but-not-quite-off bread we found in town—and what remains of the fish Sofia caught earlier this week. Bread and fish. How appropriate.

Casey surveys the room while we tear into the food like hungry wolves. “Should we wait for Grace?”

The four of us nod, but everyone else thinks differently.

“Open it up!”

“We’ve been waiting all day!”

“She’ll be back soon enough!”

“Maybe there’ll be chocolate!”

I can’t pinpoint who says that, but Riley snorts.

Casey still hesitates.

“I don’t think she would want us to wait,” Sofia says, and that’s what convinces him. He takes the knife and carefully slides open the packaging tape around both the boxes.

And when he unpacks, the rest of the world lies forgotten. Even Isabella, who is bundled up and propped against the wall, cranes her neck to see everything.

Heavy bags of rice and pasta. Flour and sugar. Two boxes of cereal elicit the first oohs and aahs, even if we have no fresh milk to go with them. But there is powdered milk. Bags of lentils and beans too. Boxed mac and cheese. Two jars of peanut butter. Mayonnaise and ketchup and pancake mix. Never before has canned meat looked so good, not to mention pasta sauce and canned vegetables. Granola bars and dried fruit. Both boxes have canned peaches too, and when Casey pulls out the first can of condensed milk, Mackenzi whimpers.