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“Coffee, thanks.”

“Same for me.” Ava traced the woodgrain in the tabletop. “We just ate.”

Tim grabbed four mugs from an overhead cupboard. “On the road, you mean?”

“Technically.” I clasped my hands in front of me. “Three of us met at the airport. We dropped the third off at her parents’ place on the other side of Melbourne.”

“They made us stay for lunch.” Ava’s eyes met mine, and a warm feeling passed between us.

Varesh paused halfway through pouring water into the mugs. “They were okay? Her parents?”

“Better than okay,” I said. “They own a restaurant. They’re still feeding people.”

“Seriously?” Tim asked. “Give me the address.”

Ava smiled. “Someone even turned up for a meal while we were there. They handed him food like it was any other Tuesday. Or is it Thursday?”

“Neither, but it doesn’t matter anymore.” Tim carried a couple of mugs to the table. “It’s strange hearing about normal behaviour. People are keeping their heads down around here. We don’t talk to anyone outside the building.”

Varesh followed him, and they slid mugs in front of Ava and me before taking the seats opposite with their own cups.

“What was the journey home like?” Varesh asked. “I’ve been trying to picture what we’ll see when we leave here.”

“Probably as bad as you’re imagining.” Ava forced a smile, no doubt getting flashbacks of Jeremy and rifles and all the shit we’d been through.

“Zombies literally everywhere, and people panicking and making terrible decisions?” Tim raised his brows and waited to see if he was right.

I could see why he and Varesh had made an impression on Ava—and why Sadie had trusted them to wait for her sister.

“Bingo,” Ava said.

Tim crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. “I still can’t believe you’re here. You’ve covered… what? Nine hundred kilometres? We were sure it would take a couple more days.”

“We were lucky in some ways,” I said, thinking about the Hyundai we’d stumbled onto at the airport. “Unlucky in others. We haven’t had a great run with cars.”

Ava slid me a smile. Another shared secret.

Varesh glanced toward the window. “You came in through the back?”

I nodded. “It looked like our best bet with the front doors out of commission.”

Tim and Varesh exchanged a glance but said nothing.

“Why did you park up against them like that?” Ava asked.

Tim tapped his fingers against his biceps. “It wasn’t us. Theo did it to stop Dustin from causing more trouble.”

Her gaze shot to me before returning to him. “What kind of trouble?”

“Someone propped the front doors open and lured the dead in here. We can’t be sure it was him, but he’s the only one who’d want to harm anyone.”

Varesh rested a hand on Tim’s arm. “We don’t need to—”

“What?” he said. “Sadie would want her to know what’s going on here.”

Ava’s brow furrowed. “What makes you think Dustin would want to hurt people?”

Varesh sighed. “He was... an issue. Before everything got worse. More of an escalation than new behaviour.”