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“What’s your name?” he asked.

“Luke Russo.”

“And you’re a friend of—” His eyes widened as Ava squeezed in beside me. “Ava. I can’t believe you’re here. Holy—what—”

“Hi, Tim.”

Her chin was still red from my stubble, and her eyes were brighter than they’d been all day. She didn’t move toward him, but her posture relaxed. She may not have found her sister, but he was a familiar face at least.

Footsteps sounded on the stairs, the quick, efficient movements of someone well acquainted with cardio. Since Tim didn’t seem bothered by the new arrival, I kept my weapon by my side.

“Here comes my backup.” He glanced over his shoulder as a tall, lean man with dark hair and glasses appeared on the landing.

It had to be Varesh.

He stopped beside Tim, and after one look at Ava, his brown eyes flooded with sympathy. “Poor Sadie,” he said. “If only she’d waited a few more hours.”

“What?” Ava went still, her breath catching. “I thought she’d been gone for days. You’re telling me I just missed her?”

“They left early this morning,” Tim said. “Sorry, love.”

Her mouth tightened, her arm brushing mine as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. Just when I thought she’d revisit the idea of heading off today, she closed her eyes and pulled in a breath.

“All right,” she said. “Hours or days make no difference. She’s still not here, and there’s nothing I can do about it now.”

I wanted to slip my arm around her and pull her close, but she’d already forced a smile and made herself move on.

Tim introduced Varesh and me, then tilted his head toward the landing. “Why don’t you come down to our place? Sadie and Theo cleared out this level before they left, but we’ve still got some food.”

Without waiting for an answer, he turned and started down the stairs. “Were you the ones making all that commotion in the car park?” he called out.

“That’d be us, yeah,” I said, unsure if he could hear me anymore.

“Thought so.” His voice echoed in the stairwell, getting farther away with each step. “By the time I looked out the window, all I saw were bodies.”

“You might as well join us,” Varesh said. “He’ll keep talking whether you’re there or not, and we can fill in the blanks for you over coffee.”

Ava grabbed her weapon and locked Sadie’s apartment, resigned to the delay. “Be prepared,” she said. “I have a million questions.”

Varesh led the way. “Let’s just hope we have a million answers.”

We followed him two flights down, the thud of our footsteps bouncing off the walls. Without the gold sconces lighting up the space, the shadows in the bottle-green hallway closed in on us, and I reminded myself to carry a torch if I needed to come down again after dark.

Varesh entered his apartment and held the door open. “Mind the shoes,” he said. “Tim picked up the hobby of creating trip hazards during lockdown.”

I smiled and passed through after Ava, checking the hall was clear before Varesh locked the door behind us.

We rested our weapons against the wall where their jackets hung, and I faced the apartment.

The layout was the same as Sadie’s place. Living area on the right, and a modern black kitchen to the left. A couple of doors led off the open space, the closest one showing a glimpse of a neatly made bed and a dresser. No other exits, no balcony.

Ava moved past the brown fabric couch with the blanket draped over one arm, taking in the plants on the coffee table and the stack of coasters. A bookshelf filled with paperbacks sat beside an oversized TV, a photo on the middle shelf showing Varesh and Tim in their younger years, the sun in their eyes as they were captured mid-laugh.

Tim pulled a leather dining chair out from a table, half illuminated by the fading afternoon light. “Make yourselves comfortable.”

Ava thanked him and took the offered seat, combing her fingers through her hair. Her sleeve was splattered with blood, and as I sat down beside her, a hint of rotting-meat smell clung to our clothes.

Varesh followed Tim into the kitchen and grabbed a saucepan off the camp stove. “The water’s already hot. We were just about to have coffee,” he said. “We have tea bags and instant coffee. Noodles. What’s your preference?”