"So are you planning to establish some kind of alliance with us?"
As I walked down the stairs from the third floor of the mall, carefully navigating the debris-littered steps while carrying two bags of shoes, I heard Summer ask the question from behind me.
"What?" I asked, glancing back over my shoulder at her.
"I mean, you're going to be living basically right next to us—literally just a few blocks away," she explained, her footsteps echoing in the stairwell as she descended behind me with her own bags. "Even if I don't tell anyone about what you're planning right now, everyone in the community will find out about you soon enough. It's impossible to hide that lot of people living nearl. And if you're genuinely good people like you claim, then maybe we should establish some kind of formal alliance between our groups."
"I'm curious what kind of alliance you might be thinking about," I said cautiously, immediately suspicious about what commitments she might be suggesting.
