"Dehydrated potatoes again... great," I mumbled as I sat down in my chair. My sister Madi rolled her eyes at my comment and shoveled a spoonful into her mouth.

"They're really not that bad if you stop complaining and just eat them," she said. My mother gave her a stern look.

"Madara, please," she said to my sister. "You've been at school all day, I don't want you two arguing now."

"Sorry," she said quietly, and continued eating.

A strong, deep voice sang out from the kitchen. "Hey now, what is the rukus?" My father swept into the tiny dining room, taking up space with his broad body.

"Father!" I leapt into his arms and he spun me around. I felt childish, but in that moment I didn't care.

"Zuza!" he cried. "How was your day?" he asked, setting me down. He kissed Madi and my mother on their heads and took a seat.

"It was rather boring really," I admitted.

"Oh?" He glanced at my mother and they shared an odd look that they thought I wouldn't notice. "Why is that?"

"I really just did my lessons with mother and then spent some time practicing with the leaves outside my window. I couldn't move them. Not one bit. I'm going to keep trying though, I want to move them before they all fall off on their own."

"Winter will be coming before we know it," my mother said. "We need to start thinking about the supplies we'll need soon. Word in the Community is that there is more food to go around this winter due to a disolved community about fifty miles from here."

"Wait, we're getting their supplies?" Madi asked with a hint of panic. "But wouldn't it be... contaminated?"

"Now Mads," my father said tenderly. "We received food and supplies from a dissolved community several years ago. Nothing happened. There's nothing to be worried about in that sense."

"But we risk more if people leave the community to get supplies. They could bring the sickness back with them."

"Hirsh has considered all of these things. He is a good leader," my mother pointed out. "Once they know that the dissolved community is cleared, they will take what they can. The sickness only affects people. It can't pass through food or water. That much we do know."

Madi didn't look convinced, but then again, she spent most of her time worrying about anything that could be considered a remote concern. I, on the other hand, was excited about getting new shipments into the Community. We grew our own food and raised our own livestock inside the walls, so it was rare when we got food from the outside. It was even more rare to bring in people from the outside. If there were survivors from a dissolved community, they were usually left to their own devices; we called them roamers.

People are never keen on letting others in if they are from a dissolved community. They could bring the sickness with them. There was only one time since I've been alive that they've brought in a roamer. It was an old man that had only been roamers for a few weeks, but he's dead now. I think a lot of people believe that the sickness doesn't affect the old and young as much. That's just speculation though. No one really knows why a community is healthy one day, and sickly and dying the next.

"Can I go out tonight?" I piped up. "I want to know if they are going to bring in more supplies, plus I haven't been outside at all today."

My parents gave each other another look. I hated when they did that.

"Well, I don't know Zuza," my father said. "It has been a long day for all of us. Maybe tomorrow."

"It hasn't been a long day for me! I've been so bored!" I looked at my mother whom I knew sometimes tired of me being with her all day. She'd probably like it if I got out of the house.

"Please." I pleaded. "It won't be for long. Madi can just take me around the outskirts of the inner wall. Maybe we'll run into Hirsh, I can ask him about winter supplies. I promise I won't try anything!"

My mother thought on it a moment, she looked to Madi. "Do you have homework? Would you mind taking Zuzanna out for a bit?"

Madi gathered up her plate and cup and stood up from the table. "Sure, I don't care." She did care. But I didn't care that she did. I quickly took my dishes to our small kitchen and set them in the sink. I ran to the door and slipped on my shoes that had been waiting all day for me to wear them. Madi dragged her feet as she left the house, but I opened the door eagerly to take in the evening air.