The RV felt smaller with three people.
Jade sat in the back, as far from Alex and Sarah as possible. Her broken rifle lay across her lap. Her eyes moved constantly—windows, door, rearview mirror, windows again.
Sarah drove. Her knuckles were white on the steering wheel.
Alex sat in the passenger seat, watching both of them.
No one had spoken for twenty miles.
"The silence is loud," Sarah said finally.
Jade didn't respond.
"I'm just saying. If we're going to ride together, someone should say something."
"No one asked you to ride together," Jade said.
"You shot three people back there."
"They were going to split the crate."
"That doesn't make it right."
Jade's eyes flashed. "Right doesn't keep you alive. Bullets do."
Sarah opened her mouth to argue. Alex held up a hand.
"Enough," he said. "Both of you."
They stopped. But the tension didn't.
---
Alex pulled up his system screen.
```
[User: Alex Chen]
Level: 1
Credits: 475
Next Level: 100 credits
Vehicle: Winnebago Brave 1978 (F-Class) – Hidden Modifier Active
Crew: 3/4
```
Level 1. Still.
He'd survived three days. Fought off a monster. Escaped a crew with guns. Watched a gold crate slip through his fingers.
And he hadn't leveled up once.
"System's slow," he said.
Sarah glanced at him. "What?"
"Leveling. I've done plenty. Still at one."
She shrugged. "Maybe it's not about surviving. Maybe it's about something else."
"Like what?"
"I don't know. Kills? Credits? Number of crates opened?"
Alex looked at Jade. "You leveled up?"
Jade didn't answer for a moment. Then: "Level three."
"How?"
"I killed things."
"People or monsters?"
"Does it matter?"
Sarah made a sound—half laugh, half disgust. "You're a piece of work."
"I'm alive."
"Barely."
"More than the people in that bank."
Sarah slammed on the brakes.
The RV skidded to a stop. Jade's rifle came up—broken barrel or not, she held it like a weapon.
"Get out," Sarah said.
"Sarah—" Alex started.
"No. I'm not driving another mile with her." She pointed at Jade. "She's not a teammate. She's a liability."
"I killed three people who would have killed you," Jade said coldly.
"You don't know that."
"I know people. I've been out here longer than you. I've seen what happens to crews who trust the wrong faces."
"And I'm supposed to trust your face?"
"No. You're supposed to trust that I want to live. Same as you."
Sarah stared at her. Jade stared back.
Alex sighed.
"Here's how this works," he said. "We're three people on an endless road with no rules and no help coming. We can fight each other and die alone. Or we can work together and maybe—maybe—live long enough to figure out what's going on."
He looked at Sarah. "You're the best mechanic I've met. I need you."
He looked at Jade. "You're a sniper who can clear a room. I need you too."
He leaned back in his seat.
"I'm not asking you to be friends. I'm asking you to not kill each other until sunrise. Can we manage that?"
Sarah didn't answer. Jade didn't answer.
But Sarah started driving again.
---
They found a gas station an hour later.
Small. Intact. No other vehicles.
Alex did a slow loop around the building. Clear. No movement. No bodies.
"Seems safe," Sarah said.
"No such thing," Jade muttered.
They parked behind the building—hidden from the road—and killed the engine.
Alex checked the map. No nearby survivors. No crate markers.
"Rest stop," he said. "Six hours. Then we move."
"I'll take first watch," Jade said.
"No," Sarah said. "I don't trust you with a weapon while I'm sleeping."
"I don't have a weapon. My rifle's broken, remember?"
"You've got hands. You've got feet. You've got that look in your eye."
Jade smiled. It wasn't a nice smile. "You're smarter than you look."
Sarah's hand went to her wrench.
"Enough," Alex said. "I'll take first watch. Sarah, second. Jade, third. Everyone sleeps with one eye open. Happy?"
No one was happy. But no one argued.
---
Alex sat on the roof of the RV.
The stars were wrong.
He'd noticed it the first night. The constellations didn't match. No Big Dipper. No Orion. Just scattered lights in patterns he didn't recognize.
Not Earth, he thought. Or not my Earth.
The journal was in his hand. He'd read the entries a dozen times.
Day 47: The chassis reinforcement is complete.
Day 52: Installed the second fuel tank.
Day 60: They're getting closer.
They.
Not "it." Not "the system."
They.
The previous owner had known something. Had built this RV to survive something.
And then they'd disappeared.
Alex flipped to the back of the journal. Empty pages. But on the last page, pressed into the binding—
A photograph.
He pulled it out carefully. Faded. Worn at the edges.
Three people. Two men, one woman. Standing in front of the Winnebago. Smiling.
The woman had her arm around the man in the middle. The third man stood off to the side, arms crossed.
Crew, Alex thought. Before the Transfer.
He studied their faces. The woman's eyes were sharp. The man in the middle looked tired. The third man—
The third man looked familiar.
Alex couldn't place it. Something about the jaw. The set of the shoulders.
He tucked the photo back into the journal. Put the journal in his jacket.
Mysteries for another day.
---
Sarah climbed up the ladder at hour three.
"Couldn't sleep," she said. Sat down next to him. Not close—but closer than she'd sat before.
"Jade?"
"Sleeping like a baby. Or pretending to."
Alex nodded.
They sat in silence. The wrong stars above them. The empty road below.
"That gas station," Sarah said. "The one with the blue crate. You went back for me."
"I went back for parts."
"You went back for me." She wasn't asking. "Why?"
Alex thought about it.
"Because you were alone," he said. "And because I was alone. And because being alone on this road is a death sentence."
"So you're collecting strays."
"I'm building something."
"What?"
"I don't know yet. A crew. A family. A reason to keep driving." He looked at her. "Something that matters."
Sarah was quiet for a long moment.
Then: "My dad always said the best crews aren't the ones who like each other. They're the ones who need each other."
"Your dad sounds smart."
"He was." Her voice caught. Just for a second. "He didn't make the Transfer. Or if he did, I haven't found him."
Alex didn't say I'm sorry. Didn't say we'll find him. He'd learned that promises on this road were cheap.
"I need you," he said instead. "For the RV. For the crew. For my sanity, because Jade is going to drive me crazy."
Sarah laughed. Real this time. "She's not that bad."
"Give it time."
They sat a little longer. Then Sarah climbed down. "Second watch," she said. "Try to sleep."
Alex nodded.
But he didn't sleep.
He watched the stars. Read the journal again. Thought about the photograph.
Three people, he thought. One RV. A mystery.
And now three more people. Another RV. Another mystery.
History repeating.
He didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
But he intended to find out.
---
Dawn came slow.
Jade was already awake when Alex climbed down. She'd found a screwdriver somewhere and was taking apart her rifle on the hood of the RV.
"The barrel's bent," she said without looking up. "The scope's cracked. But the trigger assembly is fine."
"Can you fix it?"
"Find me a new barrel and a new scope. Then yes."
Alex filed that away. Jade needs parts.
He pulled up his map.
```
[System: Common Supply Crate (White) detected]
Location: Overpass, 8 miles ahead.
Survivors in area: 1
```
One survivor. One white crate.
Low risk. Low reward.
"We need credits," he said. "I'm still level one. Sarah's level two. You're level three."
Jade looked up. "And?"
"And leveling up unlocks skills. Skills keep us alive."
She considered that. Nodded once.
"White crate," she said. "One survivor. Probably a newbie."
"Probably."
"Easy credits."
"Nothing's easy on this road."
Jade almost smiled. "Now you're learning."
---
Sarah started the engine. The RV rumbled to life.
"Where to?" she asked.
"Overpass," Alex said. "Eight miles. One crate. One survivor."
"And if they don't want to share?"
Alex picked up his tire iron.
"Then we have a conversation."
Sarah grinned. "Now you're talking."
She hit the gas.
The RV rolled onto the endless road.