Madeline had seemed confident enough that the space in the bottom of the truck bed would be large enough to fit lying down, but as Grace stared at it early the next morning, she had her doubts. It would be a tight fit. A very tight fit. And if it weren't for her and Hunter's scant diets over the past few weeks, she doubted that there would be enough room.

"Three days, huh?" Hunter came up behind her. They had both gone to the bathroom about six times that morning, but Grace wasn't looking forward to the next 12 plus hours.

"Three days."

"Alright, you two." Madeline came up to them. "This is Cameron and Jessie, they're in charge here." She introduced the man and woman who stood on her either side.

Grace gave them a nod. "So, how do we get in?" The truck was already loaded with supplies.

"Here." Jessie stepped forward and pried up the only exposed floorboard. "This is the only one that comes up," she explained. "For security reasons. But the whole thing is hollow. So lie down there and scoot over."

Fantastic.

"But we should get going," Cameron said. "And we need to load supplies over the exposed part after you get in."

Grace nodded, then turned to Madeline. "Thank you. For everything."

Madeline nodded. "Be careful," she said. "And good luck."

Hunter shook Madeline's hand as Grace hoisted herself up onto the truck. She lay down in the opening and then awkwardly squirmed over to the other side, dragging her water container and pack with her. There was about an inch of space between Grace's nose and the wooden planks above her.

Hunter joined her a moment later. He probably had less space above him than Grace. There was barely any space for the two of them in width, either. Grace's shoulders pressed against the side of the truck on one side; the other, against Hunter's.

Cameron and Jessie wasted no time in replacing the board and stacking supplies on top of them. The only source of light came in small dots in the gaps of the floorboards, but other than that, they were in complete darkness.

Grace and Hunter found each other's hands and clasped them together.

The truck rumbled to life underneath Grace's back, and they took off. Grace couldn't really tell when she was outside where exactly the resistance kept the trucks, but it was some sort of cave. They bumped along slowly at first, but then the ride smoothed out slightly as they reached a main road.

"You okay?" Hunter whispered. The truck engine would hide any noise they made, as long as they kept they were quiet.

"Hunter," Grace said, "if you're going to be asking me that for the next three days, I'm going to murder you. If I'm not okay, trust me, you'll know."

"Copy that."

As a matter of fact, Grace had spent every moment since she crawled in the truck making a conscious effort to keep her breathing steady and her heart rate down. Above all, she tried to think about anything other than the last time she was trapped in a truck.

She thought about the brave people who were risking their lives to help them. She thought about Jackson and Carrie. She thought about Seaside and Angie and Tallulah and the people she worked with on the dinner crew. She thought about her journey with Hunter. How he comforted her when they were hiding in the shelter. How he was so determined to find his sister, but still made sure he didn't pressure her into doing anything she didn't want to do.

Grace squeezed his hand just slightly. Her breathing remained calm.

The first day passed slowly, but calmly. They never stopped, and other than the engine, Grace didn't hear anything besides her and Hunter's own breathing.

All of this, that is, until the first checkpoint.

As the dots of lights faded, the truck slowed to a stop. Voices shouted to each other, and then the truck's back doors flew open.

Grace lay stock still, hardly daring to breathe. If she hadn't still been holding Hunter's hand, his stillness would have made it seem as though Grace was the only one lying there.

Boxes were shifted above them, and someone called out the number of each type of supplies in the back of the truck. The entire process took about 20 minutes. Grace didn't think she took more than 20 breaths during the entire time.

Madeline appeared to be right. As soon as the inspectors finished, they slammed the doors shut, not bothering to inspect any other part of the truck. A few moments later, the engine came to life again, and they were on their way.

After about five minutes, Grace let out a breath of relief.

"We're okay," Hunter whispered. Grace wondered if he was speaking to her or himself. "We're okay."

They drove for another hour or so before stopping again. No shouts came out around them, and the doors were opened gently. Grace heard boxes being shifted above them, and then at least one pair of feet climb on top of them, maybe two pairs. Then someone pried the floorboards up.

"Five minutes, you two."

Hunter slid over and hoisted himself out of the hideout. Grace followed, and as she came up saw Jessie and another man crouching on top of some of the boxes and holding up the floorboard.

"Walk 20 paces straight ahead and ten to the left for the bathroom," Jessie instructed. "Then come back as soon as possible."

Grace nodded and jumped down out of the truck, her legs stiff and screaming, but incredibly grateful at the chance to get out of the hiding spot. It was only then that she noticed another truck behind them. She followed Jessie's direction and relieved herself. She had done her best to not drink too much water, but she also didn't want to come out of the three days too weak.

After doing her business, Grace headed back to the truck. Hunter was back already and crouched in the back with Jessie. The other man was gone. Grace understood their system. If anyone was watching them, they would see two people enter the truck and two people exit. It was too dark for anyone watching from a distance to identify individuals, just numbers. So as long as Grace and Hunter were out of the truck, two others had to be in it.

"Here." Jessie handed them both a few strips of dried meat. "You're probably hungry. You can eat up here for now."

Grace and Hunter both scarfed down the rations, even though Grace didn't really feel that hungry. Her stomach was in a permanent knot. But she forced herself to, anyway. She needed to keep her strength up.

"One day down, two to go," Jessie said encouragingly. "I'll see you two in about 24 hours."

Grace nodded and got back down in the hole. In a matter of moments, they were back in complete darkness.

"Try to get some sleep," Hunter advised her. "It won't be easy to when we're on the move."

"Yeah, you two."

Grace was in and out of an uneasy sleep until morning, but was thankful when the truck started moving again.

The second day passed much like the first. Everything went well, and while Grace was eternally grateful for Hunter's presence, the two didn't speak much. Grace drank a bit more water this time. She was feeling a bit dehydrated and broke into the crackers that Ken had given them. The checkpoint came and went with no issue, and they got their chance to get out and stretch their legs and go to the bathroom.

As the sun came up on their third morning, Grace felt more anxious than usual. Maybe the claustrophobic feeling of the tight space was getting to her, or maybe it was because they were so close to reaching Underground 109. Either way, as they started moving, she felt the need to say something.

"Hey, Hunter?"

"Yeah?"

"I have to admit, I'm not doing so great today."

"Honestly? Me too."

So he was feeling it, too. In a weird way, that made Grace feel a little better. Less alone.

"Hey Grace?"

"Yeah?"

"When you get back to Seaside, what's the first thing you're going to do?"

Grace smiled in the darkness. Thinking of her home was exactly what she needed. "Drink a fuck ton of atkey."

Hunter snorted.

"Where are you going to go once you find your sister?" Grace asked.

Hunter was quiet for a moment. "Honestly, I haven't really thought about that," he said. "I've been so focused on getting to her, and before that I was moving around all the time, so I never exactly settled."

"Well, you know, Seaside is very nice place. Always welcoming to new people."

"You sure you won't be too sick of me at that point?" Hunter joked.

"Nah." And Grace meant it.

"Well, I'll think about it."

For some reason, Grace found herself really hoping that when their journey ended, that wouldn't be the last time she saw Hunter DiAngelo.

The truck jerked to a halt. The third checkpoint.

Angry voices shouted outside, louder and more aggressive than usual. The truck doors banged open.

"Search everything!" a voice called. "If they're here, we're going to find them!"

Grace bit down on her lower lip, holding her breath. But she felt panic rising in her chest, and her hands started to shake. Hunter grabbed the one closest to him, and Grace squeezed it as hard as she could. But he couldn't say anything. Not now. It was too risky.

Someone banged on the side of the truck. Grace's muscles tensed up. Above them, men went through the inventory.

"Nothing down here!" someone yelled from underneath them.

Grace closed her eyes, willing herself to keep calm. She squeezed Hunter's hand even harder.

"Everything in the back of these trucks is on our list." Jessie's angry voice came ringing out. "We're transporting medical supplies. Why exactly are you treating us like criminals?"

"Because we're looking for two criminals," a man's voice snapped. "And they would be coming from the north. We take our job at providing safety to everyone who lives here very seriously."

In a moment of anger, Grace forgot to be panicked. What a bullshit line. They didn't care about anyone's safety. They only cared about their own power.

"I don't see how it's in the interest of safety that medical supplies get delayed from being transported from where it's really needed." Jessie's voice was slightly more distant.

"It is if you have stowaways!" The other man's voice was also farther now. Jessie must have been drawing him away from Grace and Hunter.

Someone rattled the metal closure that blocked off the gap where Grace and Hunter lay.

"Can we go now?" Jessie asked. "I want to get to town by tomorrow morning."

"Fine, you can go," the man said. "We're satisfied."

Less than a minute later, the trucks drove off.

Grace waited almost half an hour before letting out a sob.

"Fuck," Hunter whispered beside her.

"They're looking for us," Grace said. It wasn't that much of a surprise, but everything felt so real at the moment. "They're looking for us." She felt tears run down the sides of her face as her chest heaved up and down.

"Hey, Grace, listen to me," Hunter said. Somehow, his voice remained incredibly steady. "They are, yes. But they didn't find us. And we're almost there; no more checkpoints, okay? So just stay with me. We're going to be fine. We're going to be fine."

Grace's sobs slowed down with Hunter's words, and eventually she swallowed hard. "I'm good," she said. "I'm good."

"I know you are."

Several hours later, they finally stopped. Jessie let them out of their position one last time. "You two good?" She sat crouched in the back with the other man.

Instead of going straight out into the darkness, Grace and Hunter remained in the back. "Define good," Grace said.

"Fair enough," Jessie said. "The good news is, this is where you two get out."

"Really?" Hunter asked.

Jessie nodded. "You'll continue with Cameron to Underground 109. Within the hour, you should be there. Just head over to the truck behind us."

"Thanks for everything, Jessie," Grace said.

"Good luck."

Grace and Hunter jumped out of the truck. Grace's legs felt stiffer than ever, more akin to tree branches than human limbs. They limped over to the other truck, where Cameron's face appeared out of the darkness.

"You two ready?" he asked.

They both nodded.

"Then let's get you to 109."