"Mkay," Alice lets Walta take the lead, as they enter each room they ask people for their names and whether there's anyone they don't have yet in case there's people in the Mall or exploring the grounds.

A few people are unaccounted for. Two who headed off into the mall a few hours ago, and one who hasn't been seen since early in the morning when he was throwing rocks outside somewhere.

"I'm not sure how we'd even find someone outside, even if he stayed within the inner wall there's a pretty big area. I sorta feel like we should try anyway just in case though, maybe walk the edges and check the doors to make sure he isn't camped outside one of them. On the other hand, the trip to the hub is important and we might be able to check in with the people who are unaccounted for down there."

"We should make that short circuit at least. His name is Joe, apparently. Could be he's snapped from the news and just... Walked off."

"Mkay, I hope he's alright. Nick asked us to check in with him, it's been at least ten minutes, so we should see if he wants to come look for joe or for us to get him when we're headed to the mall." Alice leads the way back to the gameroom cum workshop and repeats the question to Nick.

"I'll check around with old foamy." He heads outside and deploys the drone which starts zipping around the fenced area efficiently.

"Should we still walk the edge or should we just wait here?"

"Nah, his drone will cover for that. We should wait till it's done though. Maybe fetch bikes for now."

"Alright, Nick any preferences on what sort of bike you want?"

"Durable. Has a gearshift."

"Alright will do." Alice and Walta go off to the bike shop, they get three reasonable bikes and bring them back to the mall lobby. Then they go back to Nick. "Any sign of him yet?"

"Yeah, he's sitting up a tree near the edge. Looks like he tore it up some too. Ignored old foamy. You should go have a chat, probably."

"Alright, what direction is he in? Are you coming with Walta?"

"I think I'll stay. Got an idea to discuss."

"Past the pool, slight right, big old oak near a well."

Alice follows the directions and winds up looking up a tree. "Hi, do you mind if I join you up there?"

"Don't care. Wait. You got beer?"

Alice jumps to catch a branch then nimbly clambers up to be closer to his level. "Not with me, sorry."

He sighs. "Have they decided if the Earth is really doomed or not?"

"The talking heads on the television haven't changed their tune and we don't have any other sources. Hopefully they're right that it's not, in reality, we may never know. We're getting satellite TV and it won't take as much to knock out orbiting satellites as it will to kill people on the surface."

"Well. I think it'll be doom."

"Yeah, I think so too. I wish I could believe the professors and the politicians and the journalists but I don't"

"...Then how aren't you freaking out? I'm too tired to." He wavers bloody knuckles in her direction.

"I spent a couple hours doing nothing but Katas, it didn't tire me out exactly but part of Martial arts is that it helps center you, especially the katas. And I cried on a friend's shoulder for a while."

"Arch is kind of stupid, Mina and Grace are too stoned to care, and Dale is a jerk. I punched a tree. I guess it helped."

"Well, we're planning to visit the other home complexes, maybe it'll turn out there's someone you like better here with us. Failing that, I think we'll have time to make some new friendships here."