A piercing scream pulled Cynthia, and probably the others on nearby floor mats, out of her sleep. The slow adjustment to the darkness caused her heart beat to increase. Anything could be out there.

Where was Winston? Had something broken into the facility? Did it have anything to do with what Marcel -- she stopped her racing thoughts. She had to find Winston.

Her fingertips glided across the smooth mattress next to her, still warm to the touch.

"Go away!" Winston screamed.

That voice came from nearby. A round form lay curled up below her feet, partially off the mattress. At least he hadn't gone too far.

"Stay away! Don't eat me!" he cried out again.

Vita's dim outline shifted in the darkness. "No one's going to hurt you," she muttered in a sluggish tone that left Cynthia wondering if Vita too was asleep.

"Get off me!"

Cynthia sat up and scooted closer to Winston. "Baby, it's mom. No one's after you; you're just having another bad dream."

She had learned two nights ago that immediately trying to hold and comfort him confused his slumbering mind. She took a few good jabs to the ribs and scratches to the face before she was able to wake him fully. At least he wasn't going to be attacked without a fight, should a mother's nightmare ever come true.

Winston lurched forward and grabbed the collar of her t-shirt so hard that it tore. She placed her warm hands on his.

"Winston, you're beside mom. There are no monsters."

His shot open and his gaze shifted from Cynthia's face to his clenched fists. He let go of her ripped collar and looked away. "Sorry, Mom. It feels so real."

Three nights of nightmares at Nouveau Depart left Cynthia reconsidering her plan to leave. His confidence in her was already rocky given his comments and questions. She wanted to keep him with her at all times to control the ideas Marcel put in his head, but she also didn't want her son to be in the room if they discovered another bite victim. It was bad enough that they had --

No! She forced her eyes shut to keep the focus on her son. It wasn't the time to unravel.

"How did this one start?"

Winston lay back down and looked at the ceiling. "Me and you, and Vita, and Peyton start walking to the new place. Everything's fine. But then something starts growling, like Connor's old dog used to, then a monster jumps out of a building and starts attacking Peyton." His hands went up to cover his eyes. "There's blood, so much blood everywhere."

Cynthia took a deep breath and lay down beside him. She needed to replace those images in his head with something more soothing so they could both get some rest. "Do you remember that summer we spent at grandma's?"

Winston slowly separated the fingers covering his eyes to look at her.

"Remember when she took us down to the river?"

Winston nodded and he closed his eyes. Cynthia ran her thumb along his hands. "You and dad spent all day lying in those inner tubes..."

"He said if we stayed really quiet the animals and fish might come see what we were doing."

Cynthia let the image of her husband's brown eyes and wide nose flash before her eyes. She could still hear the deep reverberations of his laugh, the warmth of his hands on her hips. She wiped away her tears away with her free hand.

"After it didn't work, you guys spent the day drinking lemonade, skipping rocks, playing t--" her voice faltered for a moment "tag."

Her body trembled as she tried to keep in a sob. Her emotions were running high tonight long before Winston's nightmares.

Winston rolled closer to Cynthia. "I'm sorry mom."

Even in the dark, he knew what was going on with her. He'd always been a pretty intuitive kid, even in moments when she didn't want him to be.

"It's okay, baby. We have to remember the good times, right? Sometimes they're easy to remember and sometimes they're hard." But she needed them desperately right now. Winston wasn't the only one trying to block out monsters.

Winston let go of her hand and snuggled in close. If she ever lost Winston, she didn't know what she would do. She gave him a tight squeeze, thinking of Peyton and his daughter.

Daughter, the word sent chills up her spine. Lori-Ann had been someone's daughter before they had... Her arms shook. Winston whispered a few reassuring words. She should have stood up for the bitten girl, tried to talk Marcel out of it, anything but hand him the chemical instructions under the misguided notion that she was sparing the girl a worse pain. Her medical training was meant to save lives, not... She never wanted Winston to be in Lori-Ann's shoes.

"We're going to stay here, alright, baby. You don't need to worry about leaving this place. I won't let anyone hurt you."

"Thanks, mom," Winston said. "I- I want to be brave like you, but it's too scary."

"You don't need to be brave, little man. Brave people get hurt. I'll keep you safe, right here." She squeezed him tight.

"Is Lori-Ann brave? Is that why she got hurt."

Cynthia's chest constricted her lungs like a snake. "Lori-Ann is a little too brave."

"Is she going to come back?"

Salty tears stung the day-old scrapes on her face. He was too young for this conversation, too young to have already lost so much: friends, a father, and community members. But she owed him some explanation. "Lori-Ann is pretty sick."

"From the monsters?"

In the end, didn't their actions make them all monsters?

"Yes, that's why we're going to stick around here a little longer, so it doesn't happen to anyone else."

"Can I go see her? Maybe it'll help her get better."

Cynthia swallowed a lump in her throat. Given what Marcel had likely just finished, she never wanted Winston to see the girl. Winston wouldn't forgive her if he knew what had happened. She could hardly accept it. Her only consolation was that her own actions had made the experience the least painful they could given their resources and desire not to get infected.

"We can't risk anyone else getting sick. But you can keep her in your prayers."

Winston's lip fell into a frown. "I wish there weren't any monsters. Lori-Ann is a nice person."

Cynthia let a few tears slip from her eyes. Focus on your son, your healthy, living breathing, beautiful son. He needed her strength not her weakness.

"Let's stop talking about monsters unless it's the tickle monster."

Winston squirmed and giggled at their game. It was a welcome distraction from her conscience.

"No more," he said and laughed. Then he tried to get her back for a few minutes. Soon he let out a big yawn and his eyes fluttered shut.

"Remember to think about the river at grandma's, floating away with the current."

Her son smiled. "Splashing you, splashing dad. Watching the fish jump."

Cynthia smiled as his body relaxed in her arms.

Off in the distance, she could make out the silhouette of a muscular man entering the sleeping area. He stood still for a moment like he was watching them all. Her arms got goosebumps. She tucked the blankets snugly around Winston and herself, then held onto him until she heard the reassuring sound of his little snores.

If the silhouette approached, Cynthia was certain she would smell smoke on him, that off-putting stench that had graced the streets in the weeks after the disasters. The scent clung to clothes and hair, reminding them of their fleeting existence. Breathing one day, someone's obstacle on the streets the next.

***

Vita's stomach growled as they slowly shuffled forward in the food line. She thought the wait would be shorter considering there was less to dish up each day. People just hung around like lost lambs hoping more would turn up. What she wouldn't give for a slice of lamb right now. She stopped her thoughts. She had to be careful how fast her train of thought went from person to animal to food or else she'd be no different from the monsters that still had the facility on lockdown.

"Are you serious?" came a loud male voice from the front of the line.

Vita tightened her arms around her torso. Her baby bump felt more like a baby cave with every passing day. Deidra, her former co-worker in the kitchen, had told her she'd try to scrounge up a little extra food for her today. Vita had insisted that she didn't need to, but only once to be polite. Her body trembled at the thought of a little more.

"Are you hiding the rest from us? Going to feast on it later with your tribe?" the man continued to yell.

Vita picked at her nails and looked away. She tried to soothe her conscious with the thought that having two or even one and a half servings for one day was okay for a woman carrying a child.

"I have half a mind to come back there and see what you're keeping for yourselves."

Poor Deidra and the other kitchen staff. People could be such assholes, especially if they were hungry. Back when the two of them worked together, things had been more plentiful and everyone was happy to see them dishing up food. But technically speaking, the man wasn't wrong.

"Keep moving! The rest of us want to eat too," called out a middle-aged woman a handful of spots ahead of her in line.

The man, clad in a raggedy plaid shirt walked toward them at the back of the line with his plate of potatoes and a couple of spoonfuls of brown slop that had probably come from one of the reserve cans Mr. M had stashed away.

"We all work here; we all deserve some compensation," he said.

Peyton stepped out of line to stand eye to eye with the man in plaid. "We're all starving and we're doing the best we can. We can't start turning on each other now."

The man in plaid gripped his tray plate tighter. "Maybe if you grew more than weeds up in that greenhouse of yours, we'd have something to eat."

Peyton glanced down to his side for a moment before looking back up. "We grow what we can."

The man took another step toward Peyton so they were nearly nose to nose. "You know what kind of weed I'm talking about. You think we're all deaf and dumb to your little chats to no one?"

Peyton took a step back toward the line, which had stopped moving all together. People turned to form a semi-circle around him. If Cynthia was here she would step in and say something, but she had something to discuss with Mr. M. Vita was alone and not at all feeling like the brave woman Gunnar admired. Speaking out would make her more of a target and then Deidra might reconsider giving her a little extra.

Edward stepped forward in her absence. "He lost his daughter and his wife went off on the mission."

"Name one person in this room who hasn't lost someone to those storms. We can handle ourselves without getting high."

The crowd mumbled in agreement.

"Have you seen him smoking anything?" Edward challenged. He faced the others. "Have any of you?"

The man looked to his peers that had gone silent. His eyebrows furrowed. "You're only saying that because you're new here. If you and your people hadn't shown up, we'd still have enough food to eat!"

"Yeah!" chorused a bunch of others.

"This is our home! Our food!"

"Our home! Our food!" the crowd chanted.

"Vita," someone hissed.

Vita glanced around to the source of the noise. Deidra stood at the side entrance of the kitchen and gave her a small wave. Her mind screamed to go while everyone was distracted, but her feet stayed planted. What if someone noticed that she left? The crowd wasn't forgiving of an innocent man. What would they think of a thief who wouldn't admit that pregnancy made her do it?

Her eyes closed for a moment and a second later her whole body jerked forward as if she were about to fall. She shook her arms to wake herself up. She'd been doing more and more resting, but she couldn't shake off this lethargic feeling coming over her. Cynthia had said the more food she could get, the better the odds were for the baby.

"Explain to me how being here an extra three months makes you more deserving of food than the rest of us who do the same work," Edward said.

"We built this place!" the man in plaid shouted in Edward's face.

"It was already here!"

The argument was going nowhere fast, just like this food line. She looked back down at her stomach. Screw what everyone else thought, she had to look out for the little one. Vita muttered some half-baked excuse to the people around her to cover her tracks, then she headed around the back to the other more hidden entrance to the kitchen. People were distracted, but there was always one who wasn't to catch her, so she had to be vigilant.

Deidra must have watched Vita leave the line because she was there to prop open the back door. She waved her hand quickly. Vita moved as fast as she could with energy dwindling. There was a little nook off to the side in the pantry. She and Deidra had wandered off there at times when they couldn't handle the rest of the kitchen staff. To her good fortune, no one was around to catch her sneaking in. They were all standing rigidly watching the scene unfold in the line. The man in plaid and Edward's voices grew louder and fiercer by the second.

Deidra brought out a hidden plate of potato starch and gravy with a single piece of meat. It was a slightly larger serving than the man had been carrying. The gravy was lukewarm and almost as thin as a soup. It didn't have much flavour. But Vita still shovelled it into her mouth like it would evaporate before her eyes.

"Slow down, you don't want to get sick."

"I don wanna get cau't" Vita said with a mouthful of potato.

The yelling outside got louder and felt nearer.

"It's good you left when you did. You were way too close to that argument."

Vita nodded and rammed her mouth so full of food she could hardly chew. Only a few more bites and she could wander off to safety.

"Take this," Deidra said extending a nut bar to her.

"How do we still have these?"

"We found a box stashed at the back of the warehouse with some building supplies. Only a few of us know about it and haven't said anything."

"Won't the others notice?"

Deidra shook her head. "No, this is my share. I want you to have them. You should eat it here though. If anyone else finds the wrapper..."

Vita did as she was told. The processed sugar and salt danced on her tongue. Though it couldn't replace a chocolate bar, it was the closest she'd get. Even though she'd hardly eaten a regular portion of food by pre-disaster standards, Vita her stomach cramped and bloated. Too many things were fighting for space down there.

Deidra peeked around the corner and motioned for her to come around. The back exit was clear as well so Vita slipped by. She could have joined the line for another serving of food, but her stomach and conscience wouldn't allow it.

As she got closer to the sleeping area, Mr. M, one of Winston's friends and Cynthia came running in the opposite direction.

"Vita, we'll need your help," Cynthia called. "Is Winston with you?"

Vita stopped in her tracks. How could she have forgotten Winston in such a tense situation? He had been with Peyton a few of the other kids in the line, right next to the conflict. Her feet took off at a brisk speed, rushing past Cynthia.

When they made it around back to the dining area, April was trying to keep a shouting crowd away from two men shielding themselves on the ground. Peyton had a long gash from his forehead to his temple and blood flowed from Edward's nose. Winston wasn't with them.

Vita's hands trembled and her stomach turned with guilt. She could have stayed and prevented this, but instead she sneaked off to steal food. What kind of person did that make her? Was she even fit to be a mother? What happened to Winston?

"Who did this?" Mr. M's deep voice quelled the anarchist energy in the room.

Two men and a woman stepped forward with chests puffed out. "We could do a lot more to your little pets," the woman said.

Vita kneeled down with Cynthia to help clean Peyton's wound. Blood was running into his right eye and down to his neck. She soaked it up with a rag. The dark red blood contrasted his paler than normal face. Cynthia rushed off moments later. Winston was nowhere in sight. At least he was far from the action.

"You will leave this place, and are never welcome to return," Mr. M said.

"Still playing favourites? You'll regret this choice. We contribute a lot more to this place than these two," said the man in plaid.

Peyton's groan made Vita realize she had accidentally gotten the saturated cloth in his eye. She repositioned the material and whispered a quick apology before turning back to the conversation.

"You will be escorted out by force if necessary."

The man snorted in laughter. "Days ago half of us were ready to leave this place. You think we want this sad life you're peddling? What happened Cynthia? What did he threaten you? Your boy?"

Cynthia's frequent arguments with Mr. M must have given her more credibility with them. Cynthia stepped back toward the action, her arms wrapped around Winston, wide-eyed but intact. Vita breathed out a sigh of relief.

"I did no such thing. She has considered all the factors and-"

"You're better off out there than in here," she said.

Mr. M placed his hand on her bicep. "Don't do this now."

She pulled away and hugged Winston tighter. "You may get attacked out there, but it certainly won't be long before someone starves in here."

Vita looked down at her belly. Was she trading the life of her unborn child for the lives of the living out here? She hadn't taken that much extra food, had she?.

One woman narrowed her eyes at Cynthia. "She wants more of the food for herself. She's working with Mr. M!"

"There are more than enough dangers surrounding us. Don't add any more. If you want to leave to find your own food, no one will stop you." She directed a glare at Mr. M. "But you cannot endanger and bully the others in here into taking more than you are owed."

"Make no mistake; you are no longer welcome here. You have no choice but to leave."

"Marcel," Cynthia said through gritted teeth.

A man stepped forward. "You'd better watch your backs. You may control the world inside this warehouse, but outside, it's anyone's game."

"Take your things and go."

A group of six adults, two teens and a tentative child took off from the line. Mr. M and a few other men followed them into the main room where everyone kept their supplies. Vita met Cynthia's eyes and the mother shook her head.

"I wish he wouldn't let his temper flare. The last thing we need is another enemy."