She stepped forward, the weight still sitting at the back of her neck as the voices around her started to rise, uneven and restless as they fed into each other.
They weren't just scared.
They were looking for someone to blame.
"They didn't send us here to die," she said, her voice steady as she looked at them one by one.
The bald man scoffed.
"Then why are we here?" he shot back. "Because it looks like a cage to me."
A few behind him nodded.
"Say it," another muttered. "You don't know either."
Iyisha shifted her weight slightly, keeping her stance grounded as she held their attention.
"They dropped us on a roof," she said. "Not the streets."
"So?" the bald man snapped.
"So they want us alive," she said. "At least for now."
"That's worse," someone said from the side.
"Yeah," another added. "Alive for what?"
Iyisha's jaw tightened for a second before she forced it to ease.
"For something," she said. "And that means time."
