Honestly, going to the Hotel might have been the smarter choice.
There were more people there. More families. More guards. If the Screamer had pulled a swarm toward the Boardwalk, the hotel could have become a trap with hundreds of people stuck inside and nowhere safe to run.
But no matter how selfish it sounded, there were two people I was more worried about.
Carmen and Shannon.
A mother and her fourteen-year-old daughter, living near the edge of the Boardwalk with no one else in the house to protect them.
I needed to know they were safe.
Shannon had just celebrated her birthday.
She had spent the evening laughing over cake, arguing for bigger slices, and making everyone pretend the world outside was not falling apart.
Now this was happening.
"Please," I muttered as Maribel and I rushed through the street. "Just let them be okay."
I stayed beside Maribel instead of running ahead at full speed.
