"What do you mean?" Nolan stood over me, watching me. 

"She didn't die in an accident! She ran into that tree on purpose!" Tears start to stream from my eyes, and I try to hide my shame. 

"What makes you say that?" Nolan says in shock. 

"Just... Just read this." I shove the planner into Nolan's hands, standing up off of the ground of the parking garage. 

Tyler sees me, and comes over to me, pulling me into a hug. "Is everything okay? What did you read about in there?"

"My mom was the reason this virus started. She worked at the CDC and somehow make these... I don't know, cells. She was given a month to figure out how to cure them, or else she would be fired for endangering the work place. She couldn't find a cure, and was fired. She became depressed and killed herself by driving her car into a tree." I explain, as more tear fall from my eyes. 

"Tessa.. I'm so sorry." Tyler says, and releases me from the hug. 

"Don't worry about it. It's not that important right now." I take a shaky breath. 

"Tessa, listen to me." Tyler pulls me to face him. "Anything that you think is important to you, will always be important right now." 

I nod, but I didn't want to discuss it further. 

Nolan comes over to me after he finishes reading Mom's last journal entry. 

"I never even knew..." Nolan mumbles, kicking at some weeds that had grown up from the ground. 

"None of us did, Nolan." Justin comes over, with Jenny and Madison at his side. 

"Why didn't she just tell us?! We could have helped her! We could have stopped her from doing what she did!" Nolan shouts. 

By now, the remaining nine were staring at Nolan as he broke down and started crying. Nolan never wanted to admit it, but he was very close to mother. 

"Nolan, stop this." I say sternly, tears still threatening to spill from my eyes once again. 

"Don't tell me what to do, Tessa. I'm the boss around here." Nolan snaps, and begins walking away, throwing the planner on the ground, leaving an echo across the walls of the parking garage. 

I stand there in shock. I finally take a few steps and pick up the planner that Nolan had thrown. 

"Doctor Erin, I want you to look through Mom's journal and see if you can find anything that could help us make a cure." I say through a couple of sniffs. 

"Tessa, if your mother wasn't able to find a cure, than who's to say that we can?" Doctor Erin asks, timidly. 

"She was rushed. Her brain was fried. And as far as I know, we've got all the time in the world to figure this out. But if we can find a cure for this, we could be safe. We can travel across the country and help others. Maybe even donate this cure to whatever government is left. If there's any government left." I say softly. 

"We can't do that, Tessa." Justin says sternly. 

"What do you mean we can't do that?" I turn to face Justin. 

"I know you want to carry out your mother's final wishes, but finding a cure for this virus should not be our top priority right now. We need to do what's best for the group." Justin says. 

I look baffled by his words, "Are you saying that finding medicine to help our people stay alive isn't best for the group?" 

"We are in a city surrounded by millions of dead people. We are in need of a proper shelter. Before we can just take action, we need to find a better home for our people." Justin says. 

"Stop calling them our people. They have names. They have feelings. They are going through the same things as you right now. They have all lost someone at some time or another. So, just because you are the new elected leader of this group, it doesn't mean that you can completely dominate and make choices that you think are best for everyone. You are only making choices that you feel are best for you. And your own safety." I rant. 

Madison and Jenny look shocked.  Madison reaches for Justin's hand, but he pulls away from her grip. 

"I would like to see you try leading this group. You think you know everything. I'm sorry that talking about your dead mother has put you in such a bad mood. I just think we all need to chill out. We've been stressed out one too many times today. It's getting late and we need sleep. We can reevaluate in the morning." Justin says, before heading to the car. 

I can feel people staring at me, as they slowly move away to find somewhere to sleep. 

I sigh, feeling guilty for lashing out on nearly everyone. I'll make it up to them, though. Somehow. 

Justin was right, we were all stressed. And tired. 

I go to the back of the car and pull out a blanket that had been stored for sleeping. I grabbed a sleeping foam bed, and tried to find somewhere in the parking garage to park it, and sleep for the night. I ended up distancing myself from the group a little, wanting to be alone, to chill out a bit. Everyone else stayed near the cars, chatting about old times, and eating cold baked beans that were nearly three years old. 

I lay on my tiny cot, doing my best to fall asleep. I couldn't stop thinking about Mom, and about what I'd said earlier. I'd apologize in the morning. I think we all just needed a break from each other, since we'd been held inside closed walls together for three whole years. Not to mention, I had nearly lived at Justin and Jenny's house before the outbreak had even started. I loved babysitting Madison and Mason, and we'd hang out all of the time. 

I sigh, and happily fell asleep to the memories of old times, as the laughter from the group slowly put me to sleep.