I collapse against the wall and slide down. This building—a bank, I think?—is full of wide-eyed, fire-red kids, checking on their friends or lying on the floor, eyes closed. Some cry and some are too shocked for tears. Some have marks from bullets, blood soaking their clothes and hands. Lila, a girl with a cane, has found a first aid kit in the back room and is going around with what little supplies she has, picking up the work Sadaf can’t manage.

Nick says, “Are you okay?”

For the first time, I look down at myself. My skin is red from the heat and shimmers with sweat. Ash cakes my clothes. Blisters are starting to form on the backs of my hands. Parts of the soles of my shoes really have melted, and it looks like the hems of my jeans were singed. I toe off one of my sneakers to find the bottoms have stuck to my socks through a hole in the padding.

Nothing too bad, considering. I didn’t even notice, but I can’t tell if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

I decide on, “I’m fine.”

Nick’s hair has come out of the bobby pins. Strands fall across his sweat-slicked forehead. He’s just as much of a mess as me, singed and overheated and exhausted.

He’s not moving. God, does he even want to see me right now?

Do I want to see him?

“Are you sure?” he asks.

“Um. Can I get some water?”

Nick disappears and comes back with a bottle. I shove it under my mask and drink as much as I can, head tilted to keep it from falling between my teeth. He waits until I finish, standing at my side to block the torn side of my face from view.

“Stay here,” he says when I’m done and shoves a piece of paper into my hands.

“Wait—”

But Nick is already gone, climbing back out through the window. “Cormac,” he says, “get in the bank.”

“I’m fine,” comes Cormac’s voice from the courtyard. “Benji got me just in time.”

“You’ve been inhaling smoke for too long. Absolutely not.”

“I’m fine.”

Alex sweeps up beside me and leans out the window. They look awful. Bloody hands, a scrape on their chin, mask stained gray. What happened to the radio? I don’t remember if I saw it in the lobby. There are so many things to worry about that I just add it to the list.

“Get in here,” Alex snarls through the window, “or I’m going to make you regret it.”

“All right,” Cormac snaps. “All right.”

Salvador gets him through the window, and he collapses next to me, head held between his knees.