I spend the night in Constance's room. It's so cold in the building we huddle together under the blankets. Neither of us care about much more than staying warm. Constance falls asleep faster than me, so I stare at the ceiling for hours, stroking Constance's red hair from her face as she sleeps on my chest.

I fall asleep around midnight, and sleep fitfully. We're waken up by screaming and a bang on the door. Constance jerks up. "Wuzzat?"

I climb out of bed gingerly-I'm a little unsteady-and look out the peephole. I swear colorfully. "Constance, there's a fight, and-" I catch my breath- "oh my God, how the hell did he get a knife?!"

"What?" Constance jumps out of bed and peers out the peephole. "They're being pulled apart. The other guy-" she takes a deep breath- "he's hurt, bad. I see blood everywhere."

"Think it's safe to open the door?" I ask, my hand on the doorknob.

She shakes her head. "Not yet. Here comes Mike."

I take a turn staring out the peephole. "They took the other guy away. I think they're locking him in another room. Now the other guy's going  to the medical ward. The hall's clear."

"Oh, good," Constance cracks open the door a bit and peers out. "There's no one else here."

"That good," I say, stepping out. "I want to find Elf."

Constance nods. "I'll show you to her room. She'll either be there or in the med ward." The med ward being a room consisting of four beds and two couches. The wall separating the two rooms had crumbled, so they cleared it out and made into a "ward."

Constance leads to me to a room at the end of the hall and knocks on the door. We hear a mumbled, "Coming," then the door cracks open. Elf squeals and throws herself at me. "Nate! Oh, I'm so glad you're okay. I've missed you."

"Missed you too, kiddo," I say, hugging her back. "Heard you might be Mike's helper."

She nods. "Yep." She pulls back. "Last night it was hectic."

"There was a knife fight outside our door this morning," Constance tells her. "Someone got hurt badly."

Elf's eyes dart between Constance and me. "Ah," she finally says. "Maybe I should go help him."

She darts into her room and shuts the door. "What was that all about?" I ask.

Constance looks away. "No clue."

"You're such a bad liar."

"I can keep secrets if I want to."

"You could've just said that," I say as we make our way down the hall. "What do we do?"

"Nothing," Constance says. "We'll eat some food and then we'll try not to be beaten up."

This proves to be difficult, because everyone is fighting. We spend the rest of the day breaking up fights. Then I get clocked in the head and knocked out. When I come to, the only people in the hallway are Constance and Elf. They help me up to my feet and down to my room despite my protests. I feel like hell. I have a headache, my stomach feels like it's trying to digest itself, and the scar in my leg from when I arrived throbs painfully.

I tell Constance this, and she admits she's in pain all over as well.

"I think everyone's in pain," Elf suggests. "And it's making more agitated that they feel so bad."

"So they fight and cause more pain?" I ask. "It doesn't make sense."

"They're probably trying to take their pain out on others, not realizing that they hurt, too. We're all bruised and beaten up, but they don't get it. It's like living with a bunch of wild animals," Constance says with a shrug.

I think about this. "Makes sense, I suppose. And I thought we were suppose to be safe here."

"Didn't we all?" Elf snorts. "How stupid were we not to see this was going to happen?"

"Incredibly," I mutter. "We never stood a chance against survival," I say bitterly as the building shakes again. "We're screwed no matter wherever we are."

"Don't say that," Constance snaps.

"He's right, though," Elf says. "We'll die here. If the people don't get to us first, then the Creatures will."

Constance huffs and sits on the couch next to me. We're all silent until someone knocks on the door. It's another peace keeper. I remember him slightly. He was the father with the two-year old that sat next to me when we heard the Creatures were close. He's sans-toddler, which makes me wonder where he is. "Elf, Mike needs you," he says.

"Okay," she glances at us and leaves with him. I look at Constance. "The peace keepers. Who else is there besides us three, Mike, and him?"

"About eight others," Constance says. "Gerald-remember him from the bus ride?-has been extremely helpful. Remember what Elf said at the beginning of the bombing?"

"Dimly."

"She said the most important thing about now is sticking together. She mentioned how the close quarters will drive us crazy, but we can't turn against each other."

"Yeah, look how that turned out," I mutter.

"Well, he brings that up, and it reminds them of the situation. It doesn't work all the time, but it works better than most things."

"Haven't you noticed the bombing has died down a lot?" Constance says. "How the building trembles less now?"

"So are they going away, preoccupied with fighting, or out of bombs?" I ask.

"I don't know," Constance admits, leaning her head on my shoulder. "But it's got to mean something, don't you agree?"

"Yeah," I say, leaning my head against hers. "It must."

I've been sick for a long while, and a lot has happened.

I'm not the only to get sick. It's been spreading through the building, and people making it worse. We're divided. There's "the people" those who are stir crazy and fighting all the time. Then there's the "peace keepers" who remembers the situation we're all in and is trying to keep the peace-hence the name. I'm still feeling weak, and I've been hit in the head today while trying to break up a fight. Excellent. Even the peace keepers are slightly testy-case in point, Constance, who has gone from the cheerful optimistic who was never rattled to being extremely sensitive. Never lost the optimism, though.

Speaking of Constance....I don't know what's going on between us. I just lost Becca not too long ago, and I've heard things about people being in mourning for their spouse for years. So why do we feel this way already, something that neither of us are admitting? Because I can Constance feels the same way.

Ah, jeez, I think I've fallen in love at the worst time possible.