another injustice that had once given her pause. She remembered being on deployment and feeling grateful that she was born in the States, not in Iraq… - Hugh Howey

Donald remembered running for Congress, thinking he was going to do real good for the future. And then he found himself in an office surrounded by a bewildering tempest of rules, memos and messages, and he quickly learned just to pray for the end of each day. He went from thinking he was going to save the world to passing the time until … until time ran out.

There were sparks in her vision from the heady rush. Juliette’s mind shuddered. “What is this?” she asked, gasping for air. “This is from the supplies we pulled?” Courtnee laughed and leaned against Juliette. “It’s good, right?” “It’s great. It’s … amazing.” “Maybe we should go back for another load,” Courtnee said. “If we do that, I might not carry anything else.” The two women laughed quietly. They sat together, gazing up at the clouds and the occasional star for a while. The fire nearest them crackled and spat sparks, and a handful of quiet conversations drifted deep into the trees where bugs sang a chorus and some unseen beast howled.

Perhaps, with enough time in these walls, one could become resigned to things never getting better, or even changing all that much. Or maybe a person eventually lost hope that there was anything worth preserving at all.