Tony’s getting worse, and now Runt is missing. He didn’t show up for breakfast, and his bike’s gone too. Lisa sat with Tony after Runt’s last shift. She said he seemed upset and mumbled something about finding medicine.

If I believed there was real medicine out there, I would’ve been the first to go and get some. But that hope dried up a long time ago. The pharmacies were stripped bare in the early days. Every now and then, you might find someone willing to trade, but there’s no telling what’s really in the bottle. Most of the time, it’s just junk, random pills, mislabeled capsules, or worse, something homemade and dangerous.

The only time real medicine shows up is when someone’s desperate, like sell-your-soul desperate, and even then, it’s a gamble. Could be a miracle. Could be poison.

Matt and Jonas offered to go find the Runt. I would’ve gone myself, but there’s too much I need to handle here.

Madie