“That’s good,” Delilah said. “That’s imaginative.”

“It’s stuff I’ve heard all my life.”

“Are your aunt and uncle your real family?”

“I think so. I don’t know,” He said. Rain could remember how weird it had felt to be talking family while in this situation. “My mom called my aunt her sister when we lived in the same places, which wasn’t always. I know I’m related to a lot of people here.”

“Not me,” Delilah said. Her face brushed against his as she pressed her mouth to his shoulder and bit him lightly.

Near Jay and Erin, Allie stood from the log stump she was using as a seat. She took a second to gather her guitar and sling the strap over her shoulder.

Rain put a hand on Delilah’s, telling her to stop for a moment.

Allie approached. She looked at Rain and Delilah, eye dropping to the blanket, and rolled her eyes, whites visible in the gloom.

“You good?” Allie asked.

“I’m great,” he said, terse. “Obviously.”

“Obviously. My prayers are with you tomorrow. I might not see you before you go.”

“Thank you.”

“My prayers are with Joel too,” Allie said.

“Thank you,” Delilah said. “We’ll talk tomorrow, okay?”

“Do you want to meet? We can keep an ear out for word on how things go, watch the news.”

“Allie,” Rain said. More terse than before, he said, “Go.”

Allie smiled, smug, and sauntered off, guitar bouncing behind her.

“Can I keep going?” Delilah asked. “I have to be up early, but I want to send off at least one soldier.”

“That’s one way of putting it,” Rain said.

In the dream, he was warm in many ways, face flushed, buzzing with the strong alcohol, head pounding in time with his heartbeat, and a good feeling suffused him.

In the dream, as he went through it again, there was none of the psychological, where it was divorced from the physical. He despised himself a little for succumbing to his instincts in this moment, he’d never even especially liked Delilah. He agonized over if Erin would notice anything, because he liked Erin. Even back then, he’d gotten along with her little brother.

And above all else, he dreaded what came the next day.

⊙

It was a sunny day as they climbed out of the little bus and the trucks. Rain watched as a few people in the parking lot looked their way, saw the tattoos, the shirts with crosses on them, and the masks.

The people turned the other way, changing their minds about their plans to go into the shopping center. They would, Rain knew, agonize over what to do, whether to call for help. The Fallen appeared here and there, sometimes only to make their presence known, only causing trouble on the rarer occasions.