I don’t bother asking what kind of meat this is, but it’s delicious. I’m guessing it’s some kind of pork based on the texture but I don’t care. It’s a hot meal, after a lot of green beans. There isn’t much conversation. The spirited debate about what to do next has come to an end now that we’ve decided on a path to follow. I’m not team expert in team building but staring daggers at each other over mystery meat doesn’t seem like the perfect way to get everyone on the same page.

“This is really good, first real food I’ve had since we launched,” I try to break the conversation.

Thore moves the food he’s chewing to the side of his mouth, “Aaimina is a damned good cook. Would have starved to death if it wasn’t for her,” he mumbles through a mouth full of food.

“Did you come here together,” I might be a little jealous if he says they did.

Thore finally swallows after savoring the food in his mouth, “no, we all got here at different times, but Aaimina was first.”

“Wow, you must have been really smart to pick this place to take refuge in,” I turn to Aaimina. She takes a big bite of her sandwich, when I compliment here. “A hospital has a large supply of food, medical supplies and things that can be turned into weapons. Even tools for maintenance.”

“It was all dumb luck,” she says.

“I’m sure it wasn’t.”

“No, it really was.”

“How did it happen then?”

“Well, before all of this started, I worked as a drone pilot, I kept working up to the day that everything went crazy,” she starts her story.

“What kind of drones did you pilot,” Niko asks, seemingly sobered up by the food.

Aaimina giggles, “I used to pilot pollinator drones, specifically, I made sure our crops got pollinated and tried to mix in some of the local fauna to make sure they developed stronger bonds with the land here.”

“What was so funny that you felt the need to giggle,” Calista cuts through joy causing Tamara to smirk.

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“They’re shaped like cute little honeybees,” Aaimina responds. “We didn’t all hate our jobs. I’d like to go back to doing that one day.”

“Alright, tell us how you found this place,” Marshall quiets the confrontation before it starts.

“Well, when the streets got over run I was working on the roof of a building where my hives were set up. I was too afraid to go down, there was a small mob that had gathered below the building but I don’t think they figured out how to get in. I just sat up there for almost a week. Surviving on rain water and the honey byproduct of the drones.”

“All that honey must have gone to your hips,” Calista remarks under her breath.

“All that air must have gone to your head,” Niko responds before sending himself into a fit of laughter. His laughter is contagious causing Thore and Enda and Aaimina to laugh as well. I don’t laugh only because I’m focused on Aaimina, when she laughs she shows all of her teeth and some of her gums too. It’s an unfiltered laugh, as if nobody has told her she has an ugly laugh, but that’s what makes it great.

After the laughter stops Aaimina continues her story, “I panicked when I heard someone trying to break the door to the rooftop. By then the group of grubs had moved on, I was just confused about where to go. Communication had already started breaking down by that point and there was no safe space for people to congregate,” she pauses.

“So what did you do,” Enda asks.

“I jumped.”

“What,” we ask in unison.

“I jumped from the roof to a dumpster down below,” Aaimina says shamefully. “I don’t even know if those were grubs at the door, I just needed to get away. No matter where I ran, I just kept running into grubs. I saw people hunting them as if it was a game. That’s how I learned to smash their heads in if I wanted to stop them. The first time I did it, I was cornered in an alley and had to use a brick to beat one off of me. Staying in the city wasn’t good enough for getting away so I tried to leave the center.” She’s speaking faster now, picking up the pace, still afraid of what she witnessed. “That’s when I found the hospital. There was already a gang inside, I considered joining them, but I watched the leader beat her own members outside one day. Eventually they were through raiding the place. When they finally left, I snuck in and locked the building down as best I could.”

“This was a gang hideout and you let us stay here,” Tamara asks.

“You’ve been here for weeks, no point in getting pissy now,” Niko sends himself into another fit of laughter.

“What if they come back,” Tamara looks as if she’s hyperventilating but she isn’t, she’s faking.

“Well I guess we have to be the tougher gang,” Thore argues.

Aaimina is a coward, the same as I am. She ran away with no regard for what was at the other side of that door. She just wanted to keep moving and find a safe place. The same as I had. But here she is, supposedly bringing people into the group to keep safe. If she can get past her fears and do what needs to be done to survive, then there’s no reason I can’t. She glances over at me, I turn my head, wondering if I had been staring. If the grubs don’t eat me alive, this woman will.