Salmakia and her father had the provisions sorted and put up in the center of the pack. And it was a testament to just how dire things were that they didn’t first take the things we brought to the storehouses, they just began distributing them from there.

And I knew one thing for sure — the storehouses had to be empty.

They were either completely dry, or they were nearly depleted.

And it only told me one thing. I had to come ...