“It can go on our laps.” Romy took the supplies from him and laid it inside the car.

She leant over and pointed to one side of the trees. “See that gap there?” She pointed. “That’s how we normally get out.”

Elara squinted. “Right. Got it.”

Romy went around the back and the others followed her cue as she put the side of her body to the car and began to push. This was it. The moment where they were most likely to be caught. Tension held her body like a trigger.

They pushed for over half an hour, losing their way twice. Even then, nerves jolted through Romy when Elara turned over the engine.

The vehicle coughed to life.

“Thank the comets for that,” Phobos puffed. He wiped a forearm across his face.

“Everyone in,” Romy said.

She took the front to guide. It also meant she didn’t have to touch anyone. The three men piled into the back, the fifth pack on their laps. Ironically, it was just as crowded in the car as the daytrips with Nancy had been, though they had just over half the number of people.

They turned the lights on dim after Elara nearly rolled them into a ditch.

“Watch out for the big ditch around the corner,” Romy instructed.

Elara drove much slower than Eddie. Instead of the usual twenty minutes, another hour passed before the vehicle ambled into the target area.

“Where to now?” Elara asked. “I’d guess we’re moving west of Jimboomba at the moment. But it’s hard to tell.”

Thrym stuck his head out of the window and looked up at the stars.

Elara’s mouth snapped shut.

Deimos cleared his throat. “I’m sure if it weren’t so obvious we would have thought of it.”

Phobos chuckled.

“Southern cross is that way.” Thrym pointed to the left. “We’re travelling west.”

“West will take us away from the other settlements,” Romy said. The map was still vivid in her memory.

“It will also take us to water,” Deimos said.

Romy twisted to look at him in the backseat.

He answered her silent question drily. “Not all of us were focused on the settlements. The updated map had other things on it. Like water.”

“There’s a mother of all lakes in the middle of this continent,” Phobos added. “Towards the lower half, as we suspected.”

“How far?” Thrym asked.

“No idea,” Phobos replied cheerfully.

Elara pursed her lips and looked at Romy. “Away from the camps and towards a water supply.”

Romy breathed heavily through the ringing. “Sounds like a good place to get our bearings.”

“Westward,” Dei cried.

Romy flinched horribly at the noise, and saw Phobos scowling at his twin in the rear-view mirror.

“Where to now?” Elara asked.

Romy shook her head. “I’ve never been past this point.”

It was then Romy realised she had led her knot down an unknown path.