If I can’t find my roots, I’ll plant new ones.

If I close my eyes, I can see it too. A house, like so many of the ones in Sam’s Throne. With a dollhouse on the floor of the living room, and old, leather armchairs, and a vegetable patch in the backyard, and a whole line of persimmon trees. I’d teach every kid about the constellations and how to stand up against bullies and how to always protect your friends.

If I close my eyes, I can hear them call my name in the distance.

I don’t know how much of that I say out loud to Casey and Emerson. Truth is, I don’t know when I stopped talking and when I started dreaming, but I walk around in this house and feel at home here. I lie in a garden surrounded by carrots and kale and a raggedy shed and feel at home here.

When at last the stars appear, the cold takes over, and I don’t even feel pain anymore, like the tension in my shoulders releases and my lungs stop their protesting.

I am watched over by my friends and feel like I belong. None of them will forget about me.

For an ending, it’s not a bad way to go.

Epilogue

Emerson

The world changes and changes again, but I’m growing used to it. One day, one step at a time.

When the sun comes up, we find a place for Grace to rest. Josie digs a grave between the roots of two trees. Next to the others, but with her own patch of clear sky above her. It’s quiet and serene. It’s fitting, but it doesn’t make it easier.

Unlike with the others, where it was just me or Josie taking care of practicalities, everyone comes out to say goodbye. Sofia is pale and tense. She has her hands balled into fists and she taps rhythmically with one foot. Logan, Riley, and Nia stick to one side, while everyone else aside from Leah and Xavier huddles closely together on the other side. Eleven here. Thirteen in all.

Grace will be the last to die of the plague in Hope. For now. Forever.

None of us who went into town are showing symptoms of the plague. We’ll take care for another couple of days, but I’m feeling hopeful.

Hopeful. What a novelty.

Perhaps it’s faithful too, this belief in a better world to come. I try not to think about it too hard. I’ll take that one step at a time as well. But for now, I know better times are ahead.

We’ll remain healthy. We’ll be able to go back to Sam’s Throne for more food. We’ll grow our vegetables and catch fish, and we’ll do exactly what we promised Grace. We’ll survive. We’ll make it all the way to a vaccine or a cure, whichever comes first. And what happens after that… The world we knew is gone. It’s up to us to build a new one.