"Maybe you should talk to her too," Sam said quickly. Maybe Maxine could get Jo to see that Simon was bad news, that what he'd done was unforgivable. Because he might disagree with her, but he doesn't want to see her hurt because of Simon Lauchlan.

"They've killed people for less at home," Sam blurts suddenly. "This girl, Tess, she nicked some information, hard drives and stuff, and they hunted her down, took it back, and left her outside the gates. Dunno if she made it to New Canton. We can't afford to trust easily. Too many people went bad after the apocalypse. So knowing someone you trusted and worked with, someone who was a friend, and he just saw you as collateral for his own life... it hurts."