The café remained quiet after Senior Ali left.
Through the window, the eight freshmen watched the seniors disappear into the evening crowd.
Aisha folded her arms.
"Do we trust him?"
Corvin kept his eyes on the doorway.
"I think he meant what he said."
Marco raised an eyebrow. "That doesn't mean he's right."
"No." Corvin shook his head. "It means he cares about his freshmen. But that doesn't make him different from Morales."
Aisha frowned. "How?"
"Ali's been here for three years. He knows the faculty. He knows how they think." Corvin paused. "But if it came down to his survival or ours, he'd choose himself."
Nobody answered.
Corvin lowered his eyes to his coffee.
Well... I would be the same.
"That doesn't make him a bad person," he added. "It makes him human."
Marco leaned back.
"Great. Humanity is reassuring."
Aisha gave him a look.
"You're the one who wanted to come to college."
"I didn't know there'd be a Global Disaster."
"That wasn't exactly on the brochure."
Priya snorted.
The joke lasted only a moment, but it was enough.
Marco stood.
"Come on. We should get ready for the meeting."
The others followed.
Before leaving, they thanked Noah for the coffee and stepped outside.
By nine o'clock, the auditorium felt different.
The same stage stood beneath the university banners, but the rows of seats were dotted with empty spaces. The noise that had filled the room during orientation was gone.
Morales stepped toward the podium.
"Attention, everyone."
His voice carried across the auditorium.
"The university has arranged one hundred buses for tomorrow morning. They will depart at six o'clock."
A murmur passed through the remaining students.
"Seats are limited," Morales continued. "Anyone wishing to leave must register tonight."
Corvin exchanged a glance with Mei Lin.
"If you are unable to secure a seat," Morales said, "transportation may not be available again for another three days or more."
This time, the murmurs grew louder.
"We understand that everyone wants to return home. The university has a responsibility to help you get there safely. We will continue doing everything we can to assist you and your families during this difficult time."
Aisha stared at the podium.
The words sounded reassuring.
The plan wasn't.
They want everyone gone.
Corvin rose from his seat.
"Let's go."
The others followed him out.
Near the entrance, they found Ali and the other seniors waiting. The group greeted them.
"I'm going to talk to some faculty members," Ali said. "I want to know what they're planning."
Aisha stepped closer.
"And what are we supposed to do?"
Ali glanced at the whole group.
"Stock up."
Marco blinked.
"On what?"
"Food. Enough for a week."
"A week?" Priya asked.
Ali nodded.
"And stay inside your dorm for the next three or four days."
Corvin studied him.
"Why?"
Ali lowered his voice.
"Because I think they're going to seal the campus."
The group exchanged glances.
"Once enough students leave," Ali continued, "there won't be much reason for the university to keep the gates open. They'll want to control who's coming in and who's going out."
Corvin nodded slowly.
It made sense.
"If you hear anything from the administration," Ali said, "don't assume it's the whole story."
He looked at each of them.
"Take care of each other."
Then they walked away.
The convenience store near Favilla Hall was almost deserted.
Aisha pushed open the door.
"Hello?"
Nothing.
Marco stepped behind the counter and looked toward the back.
"Cashier?"
Silence.
He checked the small office.
"Gone."
Aisha stared at the shelves.
"So we're just taking this?"
The question hung there.
Nobody moved.
The store wasn't theirs.
There was no permission.
No employee.
No owner standing behind the counter telling them it was okay.
For a few seconds, even the hum of the refrigerators seemed too loud.
Corvin looked at the shelves.
"We need food."
Aisha glanced at him.
"I know."
"That doesn't make it ours."
Corvin paused.
"No."
Marco looked toward the front entrance.
"Then what?"
Corvin didn't answer immediately.
Outside, a student hurried past the glass doors with a suitcase.
Another followed.
Nobody was coming into the store.
"If we leave it," Corvin said, "someone else will take it."
Aisha's jaw tightened.
"And if they need it more than we do?"
That stopped him.
Corvin looked back at the shelves.
"I don't know."
It was the first time that evening he didn't have an answer.
Astrid quietly picked up a can.
"We still need to eat."
Aisha exhaled.
"Fine."
Marco gave her a sideways glance.
"You sound thrilled."
"I'm not."
Priya grabbed a bag of rice.
"Then let's be uncomfortable together."
Aisha almost smiled.
They began gathering supplies.
Astrid and Priya collected canned food and packaged meals. Chase searched for anything that could be stored for a long time. Dimitri checked expiration dates while Corvin looked for anything useful behind the counter.
The pile grew.
One bag became two.
Then four.
Priya stopped.
"Didn't we only come for a week?"
Astrid looked over the supplies.
"We may have gone slightly over."
"Two weeks," Dimitri corrected.
Priya shrugged.
"The more, the merrier."
Aisha looked at the pile.
"We're going to have to carry all that."
Marco grinned.
"Now you're thinking positively."
She rolled her eyes.
Corvin returned behind the counter.
His fingers brushed against a small metal ring.
Keys.
He picked them up.
Mei Lin noticed.
Her gaze shifted toward the metal shutter covering the front entrance.
She understood.
Before Corvin could say anything, she turned toward Aisha and Marco.
"Check the back doors."
Aisha frowned.
"Why?"
Corvin looked at them.
"Just do it."
Marco glanced between the two.
"That is exactly the kind of sentence people say before doing something illegal."
"Marco."
"I'm going."
He and Aisha disappeared toward the back.
The others continued gathering supplies.
When they returned, Aisha nodded.
"All clear."
Corvin looked toward the entrance.
Then toward the shelves.
"Water."
Everyone stopped.
"Take every bottle you can carry."
Chase looked at the pile.
"More important than food?"
"For tonight, yes."
They gathered every bottle they could find.
Corvin looked at the growing collection.
It wasn't enough for a long-term emergency.
It wasn't even close.
But bottled water wasn't their only source. Drake's filtration system was still running, and the campus had its own water intake and purification infrastructure.
Still, if the system failed—or power to it was interrupted—they needed something immediately available.
Mei Lin helped Corvin pull the shutter down.
The metal slammed against the floor.
Everyone froze.
Corvin winced.
"Quiet."
Nobody spoke.
For a moment, they listened.
Nothing.
No footsteps.
No voices.
No one calling from outside.
Corvin locked the shutter.
Chase stared at it.
"Are we really locking a store?"
Corvin slipped the keys into his pocket.
"It's abandoned."
"That wasn't my question."
Corvin met his eyes.
Neither looked away.
Finally, Corvin removed the keys from his pocket.
He held them out.
Mei Lin looked at them.
"We could leave them."
Corvin considered it.
Then he placed them back into his pocket.
"If someone comes looking for the store, they'll find it locked."
Chase frowned.
"And if they need something?"
Corvin didn't answer.
Aisha picked up two bags.
"Come on."
She looked toward the door.
"Before someone does."
They left.
They reached Favilla Hall without being stopped.
Inside, Corvin immediately headed upstairs.
"Close the windows."
Aisha shut the first.
"Curtains too."
Marco pulled them across.
"Why?"
.
"So nobody knows we're here."
That silenced him.
Corvin looked toward the others.
"Now fill every container you can find."
"With water?" Priya asked.
"With drinkable water."
They scattered.
Bottles.
Pots.
Kettles.
Buckets.
Sports bottles.
Anything that could hold water was brought out.
The filtration system was still working.
For now.
That thought stayed with Corvin as he watched water fill the containers.
They weren't simply collecting water.
They were buying themselves time.
When they finished, the food and water were gathered together in the fourth-floor common area.
Astrid sat beside the supplies with her notebook.
She counted everything.
Cans.
Rice.
Packaged meals.
Water.
Medical supplies.
Batteries.
She wrote down the totals.
Then she looked at the pile.
"Should we divide it?"
Corvin shook his head.
"No."
Astrid looked up.
"Why not?"
"Because it's not eight people's supplies."
He gestured toward the pile.
"It's ours."
Aisha nodded.
"Agreed."
Marco smiled.
"Look at us. Sharing."
Priya pointed at him.
"Don't make it weird."
Astrid crossed out the heading she'd written.
Instead, she wrote:
GROUP SUPPLIES
She underlined it once.
Then placed the notebook beside the food.
Corvin looked around.
"We should meet in Priya's room."
Priya smiled.
"Finally. Something I approve of."
"Let's gather in a few minutes."said Corvin.
Everyone scattered into their own rooms.
-----
Priya closed her door behind her.
The smile disappeared.
She sat on the edge of her bed and checked her phone.
No new messages.
She called.
Nothing.
She tried again.
Still nothing.
Her village came to mind.
Priya swallowed.
She set the phone down and sat cross legged beside the bed.
"Lord Shiva," she whispered.
Her hands came together.
"Please keep them safe."
Her voice trembled.
She closed her eyes.
"And everyone here too."
The words came slowly after that.
She asked for strength.
For wisdom.
For courage.
She stayed there until her breathing steadied.
When she finally stood, she wiped her eyes and looked at the phone again.
Still nothing.
She picked it up anyway.
-----
Across the hall, Chase sat on his bed with a photograph in his hands.
His family stood together on a beach in New Zealand.
He stared at them.
The eruption was on the other side of the world.
The ash wouldn't have reached them yet.
"They're okay."
He said it quietly. Then again.
"They're okay."
He placed the photograph beside his bed.
His hand lingered on it.
If they were waiting for him, he had to make it home.
He opened his backpack and began checking his supplies.
For once, he didn't try to calculate what could go wrong.
He simply packed everything carefully.
----
Marco dropped onto his bed.
He reached for his phone, then stopped.
Calling home would probably get him nowhere.
His family had resources.
Safehouses, Emergency plans.
They are people who knew how to disappear when circumstances demanded it.
The Montellis had prepared for trouble.
Probably more trouble than he cared to imagine.
He leaned back.
They're going to be fine.
He hoped.
Then he thought about the others.
Aisha, Astrid, Chase, Priya,
Dimitri, Mei Lin, Corvin.
Marco sat up.
"Alright."
He looked around his room.
"If we're stuck here..."
A grin slowly returned.
"...then we're stuck here together."
---
Astrid was already back at the supplies.
She checked her inventory.
Then checked it again.
Food.
Water.
Medicine.
Batteries.
Blankets.
She added another line.
Things We Still Need:
Her pencil stopped.
She stared at the words.
Then wrote:
More water storage.
She paused.
Fuel.
Another pause.
Medical supplies.
Her stomach tightened.
A week.
That was what Ali had said.
Astrid looked toward the curtained window.
What if the university's plan didn't work?
She closed the notebook.
"Don't think about it yet."
She knew she would.
---
Dimitri opened his laptop.
The internet still worked.
For now.
He searched through scientific reports, satellite imagery, government statements, and ash-dispersion models.
One article led to another.
Then another.
His fingers stopped moving.
He leaned closer to the screen.
The eruption wasn't behaving like an ordinary regional disaster.
Dimitri opened another report.
Then another.
His expression hardened.
He reached for his notebook.
"We need facts."
He copied the useful information.
"Facts give us options."
Then he stared at the screen again.
For several minutes, he forgot about the meeting entirely.
---
Mei Lin stood by her window.
China felt impossibly far away.
She thought about her parents.
Her family had resources, Connections.
People who would be searching for information and making arrangements.
They would be alright.
They had to be.
Mei Lin folded her arms.
She didn't completely believe it.
That bothered her.
She was used to having answers—or at least having people around her who did.
Now there was only a curtain, a dark window, and a phone that refused to connect.
She took a breath.
Then I'll find another answer.
She turned away from the window.
---
Corvin sat at his desk.
His family came to mind.
Generations of builders.
Engineers.
Blacksmiths.
People who had made a living constructing things meant to last.
And beneath their home sat a bunker designed for disasters far worse than anything he had ever personally experienced.
If there was anywhere he wanted his family to be right now, it was there.
He opened his notebook.
Food.
Water.
Security.
Medical.
Power.
He stared at the list.
Planning couldn't guarantee survival.
But it gave him something to do.
He started writing.
---
Aisha closed her door.
She immediately grabbed her phone.
She called home.
Nothing.
Again.
Nothing.
Again.
Her hand tightened around the phone.
"Come on."
She tried one more time.
No signal.
Aisha sat on the bed.
She stared at the screen.
Then at the ceiling.
Her eyes burned.
She wiped them quickly.
"No."
She stood and walked to the sink.
Cold water hit her face.
She looked at herself in the mirror.
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Then she picked up her phone.
"I'll call again later."
She straightened her clothes.
Aisha opened the door.
Within ten minutes, all eight had gathered in Priya's room.
Nobody needed to be reminded.
They simply came.
Priya handed everyone a bottle of water.
"Here."
"Thanks," Chase said.
They settled into their usual places.
For a while, nobody spoke.
Priya looked around.
Dimitri had his laptop.
Astrid had her notebook.
Corvin had his pen.
Aisha still held her phone.
Marco noticed.
He didn't comment.
Instead, he leaned back and looked toward the others.
Eight freshmen.
Eight families somewhere beyond the campus.
Eight people who had expected their biggest problem this semester to be classes.
Corvin placed his notebook on the floor.
"Alright."
Everyone looked at him.
He took a breath.
"We need to figure out what happens next."
Nobody immediately answered.
There was no lecture hall.
No administrator.
No professor.
No schedule telling them what came next.
Just the eight of them.
They weren't planning their semester.
They were planning for survival.