“Are you sure you’re not pretending?” Zoe asked, kneeling next to Hank who was lying on the floor, sweating and panting.

“Do I look like I’m pretending?” He closed his eyes, but the darkness just made it worse.

“Just take deep breaths.”

“But that’ll use the air quicker!”

“We’re not going to run out of air,” Zoe assured him. “And you need to calm down.”

“Calm? Calm?” He sat up and glared at her. “We’re locked inside a damn refrigerator and you’re telling me to calm down?” He lay back, pulling at his shirt. “There’s too many people. I can’t breathe …”

Zoe laid down next to him, wrapping her arms around him. “Just listen to my voice. I'm here. I ain't going anywhere. Just listen to my voice and feel my body. Concentrate on that.”

“You think that’s gonna help?” Hank asked, one part of his mind telling him he should be enjoying this moment, but the rest was just trying not to fall off the floor.

“Try.”

He did what she said, attempting to slow the heart hammering inside his chest, the raggedness of his breath, the feeling that the walls were closing in, the ceiling coming down to crush his body into a thin smear of something disgusting …

“You’re not relaxing,” Zoe said.

“You noticed.”

“Tell me why.”

“What?”

She started to stroke his arm with her hand. “Tell me why you’re afraid.”

“What, that I’m gonna die in here?” He threw out a brief laugh. “Kinda obvious. Don’tcha think?”

Zoe moved her hand to his chest, wrapping one leg over his, ignoring the stares of the other people in the cold room. He glanced at her, but only saw concern, willing him to take back control. “What happened to make you afraid?”

He nodded. “Long time ago.”

“Tell me.”

“I was fourteen, nearly fifteen. My voice had barely broken, but everything else seemed to be working fine …”

“So what do you think of her?” Marv asked, tossing his apple into the air before biting down on it.

“What, about Lucy?” Hank sat down on a fallen tree and pulled off his boot, searching insi