Newt had something build in his chest, a physical lump of awareness, making it hard to get a full breath. “Someone called you? Sent you a message?”

Keisha nodded with overt exaggeration. “Yes, someone did, Newt. Someone most certainly did.”

When she didn’t add anything to that, he threw his hands up again. “Who?”

Keisha sighed, bent down to kiss Dante on the head. When she looked back up at Newt, it seemed to him like she was trying to make an important decision in her mind. He tried to remember that the mind in which she was working so hard might not be firing on all cylinders, something his dad used to—

Something his dad used to say. Images began flashing through Newt’s mind, blurry glimpses of people. His dad, his mum, his... sister. He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head violently. He couldn’t do this right now. He didn’t even know if they were sane thoughts. He didn’t want to go mad, yet.

“You okay?” Keisha asked. It could almost be funny—now she was worried about him. Crazy worrying about crazy.

“Yeah,” he said quietly. “Yeah.”

“You need to take care of Dante for me.”

Newt glared. “Take care of him? I’d ask if you’d gone insane but I already know the answer.”

“I knew you wouldn’t agree to it if I just asked like this. That’s why I fed him and left him, knowing you’d be back soon. If not you, then Terry and Maria. I also scrounged up a lot of food and left a bag of it buried right behind the cabin. You probably didn’t see my note to you. That’s plain as day.”

“Nope,” Newt replied, his voice listless. “Not nary a note to be seen.” He nodded at the canvas bag she’d been dragging. “Is that food, too?”

Keisha nodded.

“Can you please just tell me what’s going on? I can’t see any explanation of you leaving him behind that could possibly make sense. Not to mention why you’d steal my stuff.”

Keisha stared at him, chewing on that for a few seconds. “Fair enough. Let’s go over to those trees so that we don’t have nosy Munies with Launchers come by asking questions dumber than yours.”

Newt agreed, helping her carry all the stuff to a shady spot mostly hidden from the path.

“If you think my questions are dumb,” he said, throwing all the snark he could into the words, “then that proves you’ve lost it. You left your own kid, Keisha. I think I have a right to ask you any stupid question I want.”

“I know, I was just kidding. Really. I can’t help being a smart-ass, even when the world’s gone to pot. I’m sorry.”

Newt set their things against a thick tree then plopped to the ground, leaning against the clunky backpacks. Keisha sat nearby, Dante in her lap. The day was warm and bright, offset by a breeze that cooled any sweat popping through Newt’s skin.