"Maxine's the best person I know. You can trust what she says." More than anyone else, he trusted Maxine. Even when she slipped away from him on a mission, he'd known that she would tell him the truth when it came to the big things. And he trusted her opinion more than anyone else's.

He took a breath, the words sticking in his throat. "I want to. I'd love to believe that people are good, that they can change. But I just- I can't. Not anymore." That had died with the apocalypse.