With sunset upon us and the gate finally completed, Ethan ushers everyone into the mess hall for dinner while he marches off to find Leon and inform him of our success. Plopping down on the bench seat after grabbing some food, Sparrow sighs loudly, looking almost as though he wants nothing more than to go to bed. "Well," he says. "I guess it's safe to say we don't have to worry about Ethan trying to knife you guys in your sleep." 

I snort. "Glad to know we don't have to worry about that anymore, what with the task we have coming up." 

"Speaking of," Sparrow says, sitting up and watching my siblings and me with a sparkle in his eye. "How about we head to Dani and Josh's cabin and chill out before spending all day tomorrow with more work?" 

Felix and Octavia perk up at that. "Heck yeah!" Octavia says. "That sounds like a party, and I am all in!" 

"Whoa, hold on," Dani interjects. "I didn't agree to any of that." 

"Oh, come on," Josh says, nudging his sister. "When was the last time we had guests over?" 

Dani eyes Josh, gesturing with her head to my family and me. 

Josh rolls his eyes. "Okay, when was the last time we had friends over?" 

"We still have work that needs to be done," Dani argues. "Getting packed, getting vehicles ready. You know, preparing to leave?" 

"You and I both know that it wouldn't take us any time at all to pack our belongings," Josh argues. "You, of all people, deserve to take a break every once in a while." 

Dani stands, shaking her head and grabbing her tray of food. "You guys can goof off if you want, but you can count me out. Someone has to make sure this plan goes off without a hitch." With that, she briskly walks out of the mess hall with her food and heads toward our shared cabin. 

"What crawled up her ass?" Octavia asks, watching as Dani stalks away. "Even when she's with us, she's against us." 

I elbow my sister, who returns with a glare. "Chill out, Tavia," I bite. "She's stressed, we all are." 

My sister huffs. "All the more reason to relax and take the stick out of her ass." 

Felix shakes his head, at a loss for words just as much as I am, though Josh manages to interject. "Just give Dani some time," he says. "We've been at Cottonwood for a couple years now with little outside trouble, and the Widow threat hit us out of the blue. Give her some time to get used to you. She's like a cat when you bring home a new pet, you know?" 

I chuckle at that. "An angry, feral street cat that likes clawing people's faces off, maybe." 

Felix laughs. "Only yours." 

"Wait," Octavia says. "Are you calling us a bunch of pets, or did I mishear that?" 

"You heard me," Josh grins. "I honestly think having you guys around may do Dani some good." 

Sighing, I mutter, "You're putting an awful lot of faith in a bunch of strangers you only just met." 

Josh shrugs. "I don't know; I feel as if the survivors from our generation are a little more open-minded about making connections and better at being genuine. Besides, I'd rather us be friends for as long as we're in this situation." 

Sparrow laces his fingers together, leans forward towards Josh, and asks, in a deadpan voice, "Would you like some chips with that cheese?" 

Josh swats at Sparrow while Felix and Octavia laugh at their antics. We eventually get Josh's go-ahead to bring our food to the cabin to chat, eat, and hang out. As we exit the mess hall, we bump into Ethan on his way in, and he catches me by the arm. 

"Hey," he grunts, and I stiffen. "Oh, relax," he lets me go, and I step back from him on high alert. "Get plenty of rest tonight while you can; you kids will be helping me and the boys get the vehicles prepped tomorrow and make sure the necessities around camp are packed before the next morning. Alison also wants you a lot to attend the funeral tomorrow morning for our dead if you can." 

"Oh, uh, sure," I reply, rubbing my arm. "We'll see what we can do to make it." 

He simply grunts with an approving nod and marches into the mess hall to sit with his crew to eat, and I can feel my tense shoulders relaxing once more as I follow Josh and the others back to the cabin with our food. 

Once inside, Josh calls out to Dani, but silence greets us as we enter and close the door. Concerned, Josh wanders the cabin a moment before disappearing down the back hall and gently knocking on the door to their shared room, but there is still no reply. Felix, Octavia, Sparrow, and I take seats in the cabin's living room, taking note of the half-eaten plate of dinner Dani had left on the coffee table. 

"She's not here," Josh notes as he wanders back into the living room, crossing his arms. 

"Maybe she went to see the doctor?" I offer, growing a little concerned myself. "Her injuries from last night were pretty rough, and we spent pretty much all day fixing the front gates." 

"She would have said something, though, right?" Felix asks. "If it was serious enough to see the doctor about, that is." 

"Knowing her?" Josh asks. "She'd rather die than let it show she needs help with anything. She likely stepped out for a bit to cool off." 

I stare at him, skeptical. "I understand that you know her better than we do, but it doesn't sound like she's fine to me." 

Josh opens his mouth to respond, but the cabin door creeks open again, and in limps Dani, holding her ribs and looking somehow even more exhausted than she did at dinner. She pauses, looking up at the gaggle of us staring at her, and she straightens up, stuffing something into her pocket as she takes a deep, labored breath, closes the door, and carefully begins to pick her way to the back room, closing it with a little more force than necessary. 

Exchanging awkward glances with everyone, Josh sighs, shaking his head. "Told you she was fine. I'd let her cool off a bit." 

"Uh," I interject. "Do you maybe wanna check up on her? She doesn't look too great." 

"If you wanna go in and poke the bear, you're more than welcome to, but it's probably best to give her some space." 

The half-eaten state of Dani's food still worries me, and though I know Josh might be right, I still can't help but be concerned. Standing, I grab Dani's plate. "I'm going to at least see if she wants to finish her food." 

Josh smirks. "Aww, someone's getting attached!" 

"I will literally shoot you in the knee." 

The room erupts in hearty laughter as I feel my face get warmer, and I swallow the embarrassment as Josh says, "Alright, alright, we'll wait and see if you come back alive before we start any games or anything."

Rolling my eyes as I wander my way to the back room, I call back, "I appreciate it." 

Now that I stand before Dani's door, I quickly realize that it's the most imposing door I've come across in the four years since the fall of humanity. The door itself is, of course, plain and bare, though the person on the other side is the source of my heightened senses. Taking a deep breath, I give the door a sharp knock. 

"Dani?" I call. "It's Cass." 

Silence greets me, and for a moment, I fear I may have woken her up, but there's a light shuffle, and her strained voice returns with, "What do you want?"

"Can I come in?" 

More silence, some more shuffling, and a gruff "Fine" answers me. 

Unwilling to back down, I crack open the door and peer inside, immediately noticing Dani sitting on the edge of her bed, struggling to take off her boots. 

All thoughts escape my brain as I fight to come up with a greeting, reminded suddenly that we haven't been by ourselves together before, and the thought makes my skin prickle as I enter the room and close the door. 

"What do you want?" Dani repeats, looking increasingly irritated as she struggles to reach her boots to untie them. 

"I just wanted to see if you wanted the rest of your food," I reply slowly, setting the plate down on the desk beside her bed. "Do you, uh, want some help with that?" 

"Fuck, no!" Shrinking back from her biting response, I quickly regret approaching her alone. 

Noticing the space I created between us, Dani sighs, hangs her head, and pinches the bridge of her nose. "I'm sorry," she mutters. I wasn't swearing at you, I..." 

"Was swearing at the boot?" I offer with a small smile. She glances up at me with a slight nod, and I wave it off. "Don't worry about it; I understand, shit hurts, and enough is going on to drive a person insane." She looks up and eyes me for a long, silent moment, as though she's trying to mentally piece a puzzle together, and I scramble to fill the silence. "Anyway," I drawl. "I was just worried - er, concerned? - about your injuries from last night and wanted to check on you. I'll, uh, leave you alone." 

With my hand on the doorknob and ready to flee, Dani speaks up. "Why are you so concerned about me?" 

I pause; the answer is much more elusive than I expected it would be. For all intents and purposes, I shouldn't be concerned about her. Once I help the Cottonwood campers leave this place, my siblings and I will be on our merry way, separate from everyone here in camp. Whatever happens to them afterward would no longer be my concern, and I know as well as anyone here that getting attached to outsiders in the apocalypse is a wrong move. 

But, for some reason...

Sighing, I say, "Despite our... exceptional first impressions of each other, I don't hate you. Or even dislike you." I glance back at her. "We were both trying to protect what's important to us, so I figured it would be nice to get to know someone like me." I offer her a small, tired smile. "You know, make friends." 

She stares at me for what feels like an eternity, her expression blank, though conflict rises in her stormy eyes, rumbling behind a mask of indifference as she finally starts to untie her boots. "I'm nothing like you." 

There's no bite in her hollow, heavy words. There isn't an ounce of sarcasm, hatred, or harshness. The weight of guilt and sadness presses on her words, but for what, I can't even begin to fathom. I almost want to ask her what she means, but an unease settles over the thought that should be best left alone. 

"You'd be surprised," I finally reply, offering her a small smile. Her eyes flick to meet mine for a brief moment before she focuses her attention on getting her boots off. 

Taking it as my cue to leave, I wish her a good night and softly close the door as I rejoin the others. Dani doesn't join us at all, and I find myself mulling over her words for the entire gathering before, eventually, Sparrow bids us farewell, and we turn in for the night.