It was a beautiful morning for leaving.

Up and down their block, other families were emerging from their houses, some carrying small boxes filled with their most precious belongings, others with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

The Burkes moved down the porch, through the front yard, and out into the street.

All the residents converged on Main and moved as one toward the forest on the southern outskirts of town.

Ethan spotted Kate up ahead, a backpack slung over her shoulder, walking with Adam Hassler.

Caught a stab of something he couldn’t quite wrap his head around, thinking maybe some emotions were too complex. But wherever this one fell on the color wheel, it was definitely in the neighborhood of nostalgia.

He let go of Theresa’s hand and said, “I’ll be right back.”

Ethan caught up with his former partner as the group walked past the Aspen House.

“Morning,” he said.

She glanced over, smiled. “Ready to do this?”

“It’s insane, right?”

“Little bit.”

Hassler said, “Hey, Ethan.” A month in civilization had done wonders for the man. Hassler had put on enough weight to look almost like his old self again.

“Adam. How you guys holding up?”

“All right, I guess.”

Kate said, “I feel like I’m about to get on this terrifying ride, you know? No idea where it’s going.”

They passed the hospital, Ethan thinking back to that first time he’d woken up to the smiling face of Nurse Pam. Those first days he’d wandered in a daze around this town, confused, still trying to call home and unable to reach his family. The first time he’d seen Kate, nine years older than she should’ve been.

What a journey.

Ethan looked at Kate. “It’s going to get crazy in a little while. I was thinking maybe we should say goodbye here.”

Kate stopped in the middle of the road, the last residents of Wayward Pines moving past them. The way she smiled, the early sun in her face, eyes squinting—she looked like the Kate of old. Of Seattle. Of the worst and the best mistake he’d ever made.

They embraced.

Fiercely.

“Thank you for coming to look for me all those years ago,” Kate said. “I’m sorry it ended up like this.”

“I wouldn’t change any of it.”

“You did the right thing,” she whispered. “Never doubt it.”

Theresa reached them.

She smiled at Kate.

She went to Hassler and hugged him.

As they came apart, she asked, “Do you guys want to walk with us for a while?”

“We’d love to,” Adam said. Ethan wondered, as he stood there with his wife, his son, his former mistress, and the man who had once betrayed him, Is this what a family looks like in this new world? Because no matter what had happened in the past, in this harrowing present, everybody needed everybody.