determines how long you were dead. A Reboot’s temperature always stays the same, so we can use it even if it’s been a while since the Reboot happened.” Isaac gestured behind him, where Reboots were gathered around the fire pit, holding bowls. “Want to go eat?”
I nodded, brushing the dirt off my pants as I got to my feet. I squinted in the late afternoon sun at the big tent, but the flap was still closed. No sign of Wren.
“That’s Micah’s command tent,” Isaac said, following my gaze. “You can’t go in unless invited.”
“What do they do in there?”
“I dunno. Pat each other on the back for staying dead so long and being awesome?”
“I can’t really see Wren doing that,” I said.
“One-seventy-eight? They’re probably all fawning over her in there.”
I sighed, tempted to go in and save her. But Wren never needed saving. She’d come find me when she was ready.
I followed Isaac to the fire pit and grabbed a bowl of something that looked like oatmeal, glancing at the Reboots around the fire. The mood was mostly relief, with more than a few somber faces scattered through the crowd. They’d been excited and celebrating earlier, but now that it was over they looked exhausted and sad about the friends they’d lost.
I walked past unfamiliar faces and found a spot next to Addie. Isaac plopped down next to us.
“Addie, Isaac,” I said. “Addie helped Wren rescue all the Austin Reboots.”
Addie nodded at him. “Hey.” She passed off her empty bowl to a Reboot coming around to collect them. She turned and gave me a quick once-over. “I appreciate you not dying. I would have been pissed if we went to all that trouble to get you the antidote and then you just up and died a few hours later.” A smile twitched at the edges of her mouth.
“I tried my best,” I said with a laugh. “Did I say thank you? For helping Wren?”
She waved her hand. “Don’t thank me. I know what it’s like to be on those drugs.” Her eyes met mine briefly and I nodded, quickly dropping my gaze to my bowl. Addie was the only other person beside Wren who knew I’d killed an innocent man while on the HARC drugs, and I could see the sympathy in her eyes. I didn’t want any sympathy. I wasn’t sure what I wanted, but sympathy felt wrong, considering what I’d done.
“So do you guys usually rebuild after this?” Addie asked Isaac.
I glanced around to where she was gesturing. The tents lining the paths to my right were destroyed, fabric flapping in the strong winds. Plenty of the smaller tents had made it, especially those toward the back of the compound, but I’d estimate that fifty or so were in pieces on the ground.
The shower and restroom area had taken a hit as well. I’d visited them earlier and found a large hole blown out of themen’s side. At least their plumbing system still worked.
The tower on the right side of the compound was completely gone, as well as a small part of the fence in that area. But overall, we’d sustained way less damage than HARC. I’d only glimpsed it for a moment, but there were fragments of their shuttles littering the dirt in front of the compound for as far as I could see.
“Yeah, we’ll probably start tomorrow,” Isaac said. “Patch together as many tents as we can first.”
“It’s not really that bad,” Addie said. “You guys are impressive.”
“We’d been preparing for a year,” Isaac said with a shrug. “And our monitoring systems are new. They had no idea we knew exactly when they’d be coming.”
I opened my mouth to ask where they got their equipment, but I heard a shuffle and turned to see Wren plunk down next to me. She had dark circles under her eyes, but when she looped her arm through mine and smiled, she looked genuinely happy. I introduced her to Isaac and she quickly shook his hand before leaning against my shoulder again.
“Everything all right?” I asked, taking a quick glance at Micah’s tent.
“Yeah. Micah just wanted to