They had all followed the one who had been given the phone, the one they had all appointed unofficially to become their leader. Most of them carried something. Justine tried to focus on the way the weight of the tent dug in to her hands, but that led to comparing it with other things she had carried, which reminded her of traveling to America, pulling a suitcase in each hand and a bag on her back. It reminded her of working on the vineyards, both in California and France. Reminded her of family. Reminded her of fire. She worked quietly to set up their camp, counting in English as high as she could remember, before changing to recite every English word she knew and it's meaning in French under her breath, trying not to think too deeply. It didn't take long enough.

Justine hunched quietly beside the fire, sure that she'd never sleep again. She could still smell it, the entire town burning, with everyone in it. And her two remaining brothers would assume that she was there with the rest of the family. It made her feel sick thinking about that. Her remaining brothers, meaning that Hugo and their parents were gone, forever. Full stop. There was a sinking feeling inside that she didn't want to admit was there. 

Of course they were all upset, heartbroken, even, but Justine felt numb now. It was little more than a subtle ache in her head and the frightening idea that she was now painfully alone in the world, fleeing with a handful of people she could barely talk to, even if she had had a better grasp on their language. The fire was hot on her face as she looked at the people around her, all around her age 

She grimaced at the way the boy winked at two of the girls, mildly disgusted, before settling on the boy who had lit the fire. "Did not expect your, uh, bad habit to become useful, huh?" She attempted to make conversation with her broken English with a faint smile, letting herself fall back to sit on the grass. It wasn't cold enough to need to huddle around the fire, but she didn't want to be left alone to think about what was happening. She didn't want to think about anything.