Read Chapter 15: — THE DRIVERS' LINE

By New Year's Eve, the volunteer fleet had eighty-six drivers.

They called themselves the Ravensbridge Line.

The name came from Jamie, who said they were not heroes, just a line connecting places that would otherwise be cut off.

The logo was drawn by a school art teacher volunteering at a food depot: a simple bridge inside a steering wheel.

Maya printed copies on her home printer. Drivers taped them inside windscreens.

The city knew them soon after.

That brought donations—and problems.

People tried to join without proper insurance. One man offered to charge "discounted volunteer rates". Mark threw him out of the group. Another driver posted photographs of exhausted nurses without permission. Ethan confronted him privately and asked him to remove them.

"They're not props for our good deeds," he said.

The man apologised.

As the fleet grew, so did responsibility.

They created rules: verify requests, protect passenger privacy, never enter homes, no cash, no unnecessary stops, report exposures, take rest days.

The last rule was the most frequently ignored.

Mark finally ordered Ethan to take a morning off.

"That's not how volunteering works."

"It is when your eyelids are doing that."

"Doing what?"

"Losing the will to live. Go home."

Ethan obeyed.

He slept for nine hours.