The anger inside me has become fire and ice all at once, and it’s devouring me. I raise a shaking hand and point. “Bet you anything that’s where the crumb trail leads.”

Even my voice is trembling. Sofia throws a worried glance my way, but I refuse to acknowledge it. Everything, everything—the anger, fear, betrayal—it’s all wrapped up in that one wreck of a vehicle.

I stalk toward the truck and raise my voice. “Josie! Come out and show yourself!”

“Well, if she didn’t know she was being followed…” Sofia mutters.

“Come on! Coward!”

My words are met with the constant roar of the wind and nothing else. We’re out of the woods now, with no critters around us. No birdsong or the chirping of insects. No shouts from soldiers. No cars coming down the road. All that exists is the overcast fall sky overhead and the ice in my veins.

Sofia walks in the direction of the truck, her guard up, her steps careful around the shards of broken glass glinting in the pale daylight. “Josie?”

The canvas across the back of the truck moves again.

Sofia stalls, but I stomp toward it, crunching something beneath my feet.

Pushing the canvas aside, Josie appears. Her chin is held high, her hands wrapped around a crowbar. Her posture is proud, like she doesn’t care about anything or anyone but herself. And right there and then, I hate her. I hate what she did to us, I hate where she stands.

I’m overwhelmed by the need to hurt her like I hurt.

I take another step closer, and she points the crowbar in my direction. “What do you want?”

I scoff. “What are you going to do? Bash our heads in like you did Emerson’s?”

Josie changes her stance, pushing her feet wider, so she stands more comfortably.

“We want the food you stole,” I say. “You have no right to it.”

“We have as much right as you do,” she snarls. Her shoulders drop, but she raises the bar higher.

“No, you don’t. You left, you made your choice.” From the corner of my eye, I can see Sofia circle around Josie, to get to the other side of her. It isn’t subtle, and Josie must notice it too, but she can’t keep her eyes on both of us. “You had a chance to stay and put in the same work as the rest of us.”

“What, so we only deserve to be fed if we work hard enough? Is that what you’re saying?”

“If you would’ve made an effort to help us out—” I start, but Sofia interrupts me.

“Who’s we, Josie?”

She angles closer to the truck, and Josie swings in her direction. Seeing my chance, I dash forward. When Josie twists back to me, Sofia closes in on her like she’s a trapped animal.

“Get back!” Josie moves the bar around wildly now, forcing us both to keep a distance, but we’re close enough.

We both hear the coughing coming from inside.