Chapter 65 Teams

Chapter 65 Teams
The van was quiet for a long moment after I said it. Thirty-seven people in two vehicles, parked on the shoulder of the highway on-ramp while the engine ticked and the wind moved through the broken storefronts behind us. I had just laid out the terms. Simple, direct, no room to misread them. Stay and contribute, or take five days of supplies and go. Marcus — glasses, Zhao's right hand, the one who had called for a vote at the supermarket — was the first to respond. He raised his hand like we were still in a lecture hall. "I think the majority should have a say in the direction of the group," he said. "That's all Li — that's all anyone is saying." He looked around at the others for support. He got some. Heads nodding, eyes cutting to me and then away. Most of the dormitory girls. Two of Zhao's people. A few of the ones from Ridgecrest who hadn't been through a real fight yet and still carried the instinct that problems resolved through discussion. I let it play out. I watched who nodded and who didn't. Ryan didn't nod. Nathan didn't. Derek didn't. Ava sat with her arms crossed and her expression flat. Zhang Li watched the room the way she always watched things — steady, reading the geometry. Jade didn't nod, but she didn't look comfortable either. She was still finding where she stood. Sophie kept her eyes on the windshield. When the nodding settled, Marcus looked at me with the expression of someone who thought the math had just resolved in his favor. "More than half," he said. "It seems like the consensus is—" "Good," I said. He blinked. "You can go," I said. "All of you who want a democratic leadership structure — you're free to build one. I'll give each person five days of supplies before you leave. That's fair." The silence that followed was a different kind of silence than before. Marcus opened his mouth. "I'm not joking," I said. "I'm also not angry. I saved you because I said I would. That's done. What happens next is a separate question." I looked around the van slowly. "This is what I'm offering: you stay, the men fight when there's fighting to do. The women handle logistics — supplies, cooking, medical support. Everyone fights when it comes to it. Nobody gets carried who isn't pulling something. If that works for you, stay. If it doesn't, I'll help you pack." One of the dormitory girls — pretty, petite, the kind of person who had probably never been told no about anything that mattered — leaned forward and said: "Isn't it a man's basic responsibility to protect women? You have the power here. Doesn't that come with some kind of obligation?" I looked at her. "Let me ask you something," I said. "Before all this — there were families in parts of the world with nothing. No food, no clean water, no medicine. You knew that. Everyone knew that. Did you sell everything you owned and send it to them?" She frowned. "That's different." "How?" "I — that's not something one person can fix." "But you had the ability to help," I said. "Maybe not fix it. But help. You spent money on things you didn't need while other people starved. Does that make you a bad person?" She didn't answer. "No," I said. "It makes you a normal person. People take care of themselves and the people close to them first. That's real. I'm not going to pretend otherwise, and I'm not going to let you pretend otherwise either." I held her eyes. "You and I were strangers nine days ago. I came back because I made a promise. That promise is kept. What you're asking me now is to become something else — to dedicate myself to protecting people who won't do anything for themselves. I can't do that. I won't. Not because I don't care, but because that model doesn't work in this world and everyone in this van is going to figure that out eventually." She sat back. She didn't have an answer and she knew it. Zhao leaned forward from the row behind Marcus. His voice was measured, the voice of someone who had held a leadership position and knew how to use tone. "Leo," he said. "Could you give our group some of the firearms? Ammunition too. Enough to defend ourselves. If we have weapons, we can make it on our own." Jade made a sound that wasn't quite a laugh. "Those weapons came off a firefight that almost got Kira killed," she said. "We bled for that armory. Why would we just hand it over?" Zhao looked at her. Then back at me. I shook my head. "No." "Without weapons we have almost no chance out there," Marcus said. The frustration was bleeding through now. "You're essentially condemning us." "I'm not condemning you to anything," I said. "I'm telling you how this works. Kill Chitters, kill zombies — you gain experience, you get stronger. That's real. I've seen it. The system exists and it works. The fastest way to survive out there isn't to have my weapons. It's to start building your own power."