‘These people are survivors, Thomas. I know you were young – terribly young – but surely you remember the awful state of the world after the virus spread and reached us out here. Things weren’t supposed to …’ She paused, and something in her eyes told Thomas that she’d said something she hadn’t meant to. ‘But my point … the world became a place of horror and death and madness. By nature … by definition … anyone who survived those first waves of sheer terror had to be a little hardened. Tougher than normal. It’s what helped them survive. The weak – they either died or will soon.’
