If the other survivors weren’t already scared, they’d be at least a little afraid now. These are the guys the rest of us avoided on the streets.

Although the new guys may have decided to join the good fight, as soon as they come, they’re more interested in establishing who’s boss. People get shoved, told to leave the shade for the gangs, tolerate food being snatched on the way to their mouths.

Everyone is exhausted and afraid, and all they seem to want to do is fight each other. Honestly, I don’t know how Obi managed all this. I wish I could figure out a way for all of us to run and hide, but we can’t do that with this many people in all their various conditions. So once again, I’m back to the last-stand concept.

I don’t like the sound of that phrase, last stand. Did I inherit the Resistance only to see it go down on my watch?

As new gangs walk into our area, they begin clashing with the other gangs. If it’s not the color of their shirts or the shape of their tattoos, it’s some other seemingly random choice of who’s on whose team as the gang population gets bigger. Some are divided down racial lines while others are split among regional lines – the Tenderloin gangs versus the East Palo Alto gangs, that kind of thing.

‘This is an explosive combination. You know that, right?’ asks Doc who has volunteered to be the field medic despite his arm still being in a sling. We all know he would have been rejected by the Golden Gate crowd had he gone there. There are too many Alcatraz refugees there to leave him in peace.

‘We don’t need to keep it together for very long,’ I say. ‘They’re healthy fighters, and we’ll need them tonight.’

‘When Obi asked you to take over, he might have meant that maybe you should take over for longer than you’re considering.’ Doc sounds like one of my old teachers, even though he looks more like a college student.

‘Obi knew exactly what he was doing,’ I say. ‘He asked me to keep people from dying. If they bruise each other while I’m trying to keep them alive, that’s just something we’ll have to deal with.’

The twins nod, looking impressed at my tough love attitude.

‘We’ll take care of it,’ says Dee.

‘What are you going to do?’

‘What we always do,’ says Dum.

‘Give the masses what they want,’ says Dee as they walk over to two growing crowds facing off with each other.

The twins walk right into the middle of the face-off with their hands in the air. They talk. The crowds listen.