New to the series or certain you’ve missed a chapter? You can find the introduction Here and the table of contents Here.

I woke the next morning feeling more refreshed than I’d felt in longer than I cared to figure out. It had begun to snow a bit more heavily, coming down as a constant light snowfall rather than the usual scattered flurries, and Natalie reminded us that we had no idea when the next Blizzard was due. The only person who had known how to figure it out while we were in the field was Jonathan and while we had the general forecast for when it was due, we didn’t know for sure. Anything more than one Blizzard ahead had an increasing range for when it could arrive, so this one could show up as soon as four weeks from now and not be considered early.

It was unlikely that we’d run into The Blizzard before we made it to the Enclave, but the looming threat of it seemed to be weighing on everyone’s mind as we ate our breakfasts and broke camp. Most of the adult Naturalists kept glancing toward the sky, looking for signs that the snow was worsening and losing track of the work they were supposed to be doing. Once I’d gotten Lucas and his scouts on their way north, to start looking for the edge of the territory controlled by the bandits who’d chased the Naturalists out, I switched gears to getting everyone focused on their tasks so we could leave.

When we finally got on the road, only half an hour later than I would have liked, the day passed uneventfully. We had one tense hour while we waited for Cam to sneak forward and check out a glint of light someone had spotted on a rooftop ahead while everyone else took cover, but it turned out to be some old, inert weather monitoring equipment. After that, we made good time and managed to meet up with Lucas in the middle of the afternoon.

Lucas guided the group of us to the camping spot he’d picked out–an old park of some kind–and directed us to start setting up our tents underneath the cluster of aging wooden pavilions and picnic shelters in the middle of it. While everyone set up their tents and started on their dinners, I stepped away to get Lucas’s report.

After a quick salute, Lucas said “We’re right near the edge of their territory. They only send a patrol around the perimeter once a day, so far as we can tell, so you should be safe here for about twenty hours. The interior of their territory is better patrolled, but nothing we couldn’t sneak through. Not the whole group, of course. Just the Wayfinders.”

“Gear?”

“Mostly stuff for hand-to-hand fighting, but each patrol includes one person with a rifle of some kind. Mix of longer range modified hunting rifles and a couple autos. Couldn’t really get a count on pistols, but their gear tells me they’re pretty stingy with bullets. Thermal gear is top notch, though, so they definitely know what they’re doing.”

“Avoiding monsters type stuff, or just the usual.”

“The first one.” Lucas pursed his lips in a grim expression. “Supports your theory, though, since there’s no other reason they’d be wandering around this close to their base in anything that heavy if they weren’t worried.”

“Noted.” I peered past the nearby plastic playground set, toward where the Naturalists’ old base would be. “Are we going to be safe here while we wait for you and Cam to do your thing with the bandits?”

Lucas shook his head. “No. That twenty hours is it. They might not check the park and, if they don’t, they won’t spot you since the trees and everything provide excellent cover from outside the park. That said, they don’t seem foolish enough to skip looking through something so densely hidden during their daily patrols. Don’t stick around longer than you have to or prepare for a fight. You could probably take them out by yourself with a decent ambush.”

I nodded and sighed. “Noted. I’d like to just not be here, though. Best to avoid any conflict we can while you’re all away.”

Lucas shrugged. “I guess. You’ll have all the Naturalists, still, and they’re fairly handy with a gun. Plus, we’ve got a ton of guns. They’ll have one rifle and maybe a couple handguns. You could take them easy, as long as they don’t get the drop on you.”

“Yeah, but then all that gunfire will draw who knows what. Best to stay silent unless we absolutely need to fight.”

“Makes sense.” Lucas smirked. “Just make sure you pass my report on to everyone else. I’m going to be busy stalking their patrols and figuring out what their night watch looks like.” He rubbed his hands together gleefully, his signature grin splitting his face. “This is always my favorite part. There’s just something so fun about sneaking around behind people who have no idea you’re there.”

I laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. “You can sound like such a creep sometimes, Lucas. Just stay safe. No flashy tricks. Cam’s group will meet up with your patrol in the morning.”

“Yeah, yeah. I know the drill.”

“And keep an eye out for monsters! The last thing we need is someone stirring up the hornets’ nest while we’re trying to sneak through.”

“Whatever you say, dad.” Lucas rolled his eyes. “Like I’d forget about them.”

“Make sure you take one of Natalie’s maps. If you spot any monster patrols, we’ll need them marked down.” Lucas started rolling his eyes again but I pressed on. “I mean it, Lucas. We need more than just your memory of these things in case we wind up needing to move in smaller groups. Fill out the map. That’s an order.”

Lucas sighed, but snapped a quick salute. “Yes, sir.”

“Now go chase your weird, stalkery bliss.” I gave him a playful push on his shoulder and then watched as he spun around to start walking towards where Natalie was overseeing the Naturalists unloading our sleds.

Cam walked up as Lucas, map in hand, vanished into the snow with his remaining five scouts. They nodded in his direction. “With him scouting for patrols and monsters, and me leading a group to take the base in the morning, you’re only going to have five Wayfinders here. You, Natalie, Tiffany, Hughie, and Jaz. Do you think that’ll be enough? Should I leave someone else behind? I know Tiffany is walking alright, but she’s still pretty new to the one hand thing and won’t be much help if it comes to a fight.”

“I’m planning to just make the group here vanish for a couple days. Since none of you will need any support or supplies, I’m thinking of heading north” I jerked a gloved thumb to my left, “to a strip mall we cleared out about a year ago. We should be able to hide there, assuming it’s still abandoned, or find someplace we can hole up nearby if it isn’t. We’ll meet up with you at about noon, at the edge of their patrolled territory, two days after you leave. Should be an easy walk by then because you’ll have cleared all the bandits out of the area by then.”

“Are you positive? If push comes to shove, will you be able to count on the Naturalists? Just because we know what should happen doesn’t mean that’s what will happen.” Cam turned to watch the Naturalists setting up camp. “I know they were fine holding a position back during that first attack, but fighting in the streets… Moving through crowded, uneven terrain… Urban combat is an entirely different thing.”

I gently touched Cam’s upper arm with my hand. “We’ll be fine. You focus on your job and I’ll make sure we don’t need to actually fight in any of the scenarios you mentioned. I know I mostly manage people these days, but I used to be a scout and a sniper. I can easily handle something like this. Especially when I know that, at worst, you’ll have softened them up for me.”

“I know, Marshall.” Cam sighed and leaned into my hand for a moment. “I’m just anxious like I haven’t been in years. With all the bad luck we’ve had, with the potential for the monsters to be roaming around… Things haven’t felt this chaotic and dangerous in years. Maybe even a decade. I feel like things are changing and we’re somehow just now realizing that we’ve fallen behind.”

“Hey, we’re not that old yet.” I grinned and turned my comforting hand into a gentle punch to their shoulder. “Stop acting like we’re behind the times. We are the times. And will be, until long after we’ve retired.”

“Fine, but be careful with those Naturalists! I don’t want them falling apart on you when you need them.”

“If you’re so suspicious of them, why are you taking one of them with you?” I pointed to the last remaining Naturalist hunter, their equivalent to our scouts.

“‘Cause I can leave that twerp behind if I don’t need him to answer questions or he starts getting in my way.” Cam shook their head. “You can’t leave behind anyone who becomes a liability. Hell, you’ve got almost no one with you who isn’t already a liability.”

“It’ll be fine, Cam.”

“Yours are even mostly children, at this point.” Cam crossed their arms and rolled their neck to stretch out their shoulders. “I’m just saying, this is a lot and it will be very easy for something to go wrong.”

“Noted, Cam.” I gave them a push. “Go finish getting ready. It’s not like I’ll need precision anyway, not with those two.” I jerked a thumb toward the heavy automatic rifles sitting on the backs of the sleds. “I think that we can handle pretty much anything other than a full assault with those two behemoths.”

Cam glanced at the guns and then nodded, still grumbling. “Just be careful. We’ll see you in two days. At the spot I marked on Natalie’s map.”

“Two days. At the spot.” I repeated, nodding solemnly. Cam’s frown broke into a smile and they punched me in the shoulder before walking off to join the contingent of Wayfinders that would be following the path that Lucas’ group marked for them.

As they got ready to depart, I could hear Cam speaking about the crunch of snow and quiet din of making camp: “Move out! We’re going to take them out so quickly they won’t even have a chance to look at us, let alone get over their surprise!”

“Stay safe, everyone.” I waved as they left, but they were so focused on Cam and the mission ahead of them that none of them looked back.As they disappeared, Natalie walked over to me and sighed, interlacing her arm with mine.

“You know, it feels weird to watch them go, knowing that we’re going to spend our two days sitting quietly in place rather than joining them for the fight. I don’t much care for it.”

I leaned over to gently rest my head on top of Natalie’s. “Yeah. As much as I played it off, I kind of agree with what Cam was saying about things changing. It might really just be bad luck on our part, but I just feel like this trip was different and we weren’t ready for it.”

“Now, now, Marshall. Don’t you start, too.” Natalie reached up with her free arm to pat me on the head. “Our view of the past is perfect and our view of the future is anything but. It was bound to happen eventually. I’m just glad so many of us survived. Any other group would have been killed. Many had been, if we’re to believe what those Cultists said. We made it out alive and we learned from it. That’s all we can do.”

I didn’t say anything for a few minutes, just standing there next to Natalie in the gently falling snow until the scant tracks left behind by Cam’s group began to fade from view.

Just as I was getting ready to stand up straight again and go find something to do that didn’t involve this much introspection, Natalie spoke again, her voice barely audible. “We’ve got the tent to ourselves tonight and neither of us is on first sentry shift, so why don’t we head to bed right away. Get some proper rest, you know?”

I smiled and stood straight, giving her a quick salute as I did. “As you command.” I turned to where our gear was piled and deflated briefly. “Right. I’ll, uh, I’ll get the tent set up. Shouldn’t take too long. Probably not as long as it will take you to go see what’s happening for dinner and get us some.”

“Very well, Marshal. You go play house and I’ll bring home the bacon. See that you’re ready by the time I get back.” Natalie winked at me and then sauntered off towards the supply tent, where Tiffany was overseeing the preparation of a communal dinner. I watched her walk away for a moment and then shook myself into action. I was able to get the tent put together in what was probably a new personal record, which just so happened to be barely in time to be inside, set up with our sleeping bags and the extra blankets as Natalie came into the tent with our dinner.

As it turned out, I was on second shift and Natalie was on third, so neither of us got quite enough sleep that night, but we had a pleasant time together to make up for it. Neither of us seemed to be missing the sleep the following morning as we packed back up and shifted back into command mode. I oversaw the Naturalists breaking camp while Natalie oversaw us consolidating our gear onto one sled. We left the other one, the final makeshift sled, underneath a snowbank next to what were probably the bathrooms once upon a time. Once all that was done, everyone carrying more gear than before but moving in a much smaller line, we headed north.

We followed Natalie’s directions, skirting a bit further to the west than we probably needed to so we could avoid moving through the outskirts of the territory controlled by the bandits Cam had hopefully already eliminated. I stayed in the rear of the group, doing what I could to erase any signs of our passage. The falling snow would wipe our tracks out eventually, but that would take several hours. Instead of waiting that long, I covered our tracks back up as we went and let the falling snow hide any signs of my own efforts. It was tiring work, but we only had to walk for a few hours before we got to the abandoned strip mall and settled into the building we’d cleared out just over a year ago.

Natalie led the group in setting up camp inside the building, even going so far as to take out the thermal sensor to make sure the building was still sealed against detection, and I spent a little more time hiding the signs of our passage so that it wouldn’t take more than a couple minutes for the snow to hide all trace of us once we went inside. By the time we were all finished and settled in to wait, it was still only the early afternoon.

True to form, most people settled down quickly and either napped or just went to sleep, taking advantage of being out of the wind and snow to spread out a bit more than usual. Even tired as I was, though, I couldn’t do more than doze, so I eventually gave up on sleep and started a game of cards with a Jaz to help pass the time. The quiet in our campsite didn’t last for long, though. Everyone’s rest quickly turned into restless stirring as people either decided they didn’t need more than a quick nap or that they just weren’t going to be able to fall asleep. Unlike the Wayfinders who are all a bit more practiced at killing time, the Naturalists started to get antsy pretty quick and they didn’t really have anyone else to interact with since most of the Wayfinders were asleep or gone..

When it became clear that this agitation was causing some tension amongst their group, largely between the adults who could at least keep themselves occupied and the children who needed some help staying distracted, I went to chat with Elder Brianna. As I approached where she was sitting, she seemed grateful to have someone to talk to, but I could see she was watching a gaggle of children arguing with one of the other Elders. “Yes, Captain? What can I do for you?”

“Do you need help? Is there something I can do to help settle your group down a bit? We’ve got another twenty hours to sit here before we head out again and we need to at least be a little quiet. I wouldn’t want to draw anything’s attention right now, when we’re split off from the main group.”

“Right.” Brianna cupped a hand to her mouth to shout and then froze. She glanced up at me and ruefully smiled. “Sorry, Captain. Even the children recognize the area we’re in, so we’re all a little restless to be so close to home. It is distracting to know where we are and exactly how long it would take to walk home from here but to be waiting a whole day before we can even glimpse whatever remains of our home. Disconcerting, even.”

I nodded. “I understand, Elder Brianna.”

As I was about to say more, Elder Brianna cut in, not seeming to notice that I was going to continue as her gaze wandered away from me. “Did you know, Captain, that I used to work in this strip mall? Two buildings down at a little accounting firm. Well, we mostly helped people with their taxes. I can’t remember the name of the company before, but I remember seeing that vivid red sign about the door every weekday for four years in a row until it stopped being words and just started being a strange shape in my peripheral vision.”

As Elder Brianna spoke, her mind wandering back through time, the gaggle of arguing children quieted down and started to gather around us, accompanied by more than a few of their guardians as well. Not seeming to notice them, Elder Brianna continued. “I’m about a decade older than you, Captain, maybe a couple more years unless I’m completely off the mark. I had a good long while before everything, just a bit over half my life, so it’s easy to get lost in some of the memories.”

“I understand. I grew up not far from here, actually.” I pointed off to the west. “A few miles down that way, up a couple side streets, and then around a massive forest preserve and you’re basically in my neighborhood. Well, my grandparents’ neighborhood, but I used to ride my bike to their house all the time when I was a kid and teenager, sometimes to visit and sometimes to mow their lawn. It’s difficult, sometimes, to see the world that was beneath all the snow and then, sometimes…”

“Sometimes it’s all you can see.” Elder Brianna turned toward me, her eyes a little misty. “I wonder what these children” she gestured at the ones gathered around her, “would make of a world like the one we grew up in, of so much limitless potential, strength, and unity. I always thought we’d last longer than we did, that we’d find a way to hold all this off somehow…” Elder Brianna sighed and then turned away from everyone before gently wiping at the corners of her eyes. “But that thought is all that remains.”

I squatted down next to her and put a comforting hand on her shoulder, not saying anything, as she took a moment to compose herself. Several possible responses rambled through my mind in this moment of silence, but I chose to keep them to myself. I remembered a very different world than she did, one of growing strife and all kinds of smaller collapses that made the major one almost a relief when it happened, like we could stop holding our breath because the disaster had finally arrived. Instead, I turned to the still gathered children and started to tell them about the area we were in, the things I had taken for granted when I was their age that seemed unimaginable to them.

Once Brianna had recovered, she joined in the telling and the two of us passed the rest of the afternoon and a large chunk of the evening swapping stories. I hadn’t had much time to do that since the Naturalists had joined us, so I’d only shared a few of my stories with the Naturalists. I’d been so busy either fighting for my life, keeping tabs on the Laborers, or just trying to keep our dwindling group working in unison that I hadn’t made the time to swap stories or entertain people.

Once the children had gone to sleep, the adult Naturalists and Wayfinders sat around the lantern I’d set out and swapped stories until we all drifted off to our beds, one by one, and went to sleep. I’d been one of the first to head off to sleep, since I was still worn out from the night before, so I was naturally awake in time to cover the final guard shift for the evening and just rolled that into making sure everyone was up and eating by the time we needed to get packed up to leave.

It was a rather quick affair, departing our little haven, since we didn’t need most of our thermal gear on our tents. I used up most of the time we saved, though, when I made us pause before leaving so I could give everyone their marching orders for heading into Bandit territory. Bandit territory that Cam and their Wayfinders had hopefully already cleared, of course, but still a potentially dangerous trek. Tiffany would be scouting ahead, warning me of any danger. I’d be taking care of the vanguard with Natalie behind me to drop back if needed. Hughie and Jaz, both still on our remaining sled, would face backward or forward and watch over the group of Naturalists. Elder Brianna would command the naturalists, but she’d be relaying the orders I sent her unless something came up while I was ahead of the group.

The whole plan was pretty simple, so I had high hopes that we’d be able to meet up with Cam before we ran into anything Natalie and I couldn’t handle on our own. If we ran into any serious opposition and couldn’t go around it or retreat from it, then we’d circle back up around the sleds, set up the barricades, and hope the noise was enough for Cam and their group to come rescue us. Simple, but still potentially disastrous.

The four hour walk to meet up with Cam was tense, all of us on guard as we walked through largely empty streets while snow gently fell from above us. We only encountered a single patrol as we went, but Tiffany spotted them without being seen and managed to get back to Natalie and I without attracting attention. Taking them out was simple, especially with Tiffany around to help misdirect the Bandits that Natalie and I couldn’t take down immediately, so we barely even lost time while we did it.

When we finally got to the rendezvous point, we found Cam sitting out in the middle of the intersection with their gun on their shoulder and a smirk on their face that made it clear they and Lucas were related. They didn’t even rise as we walked up, just continuing to smile up at us as we came to a halt.

“What did I say, Cap?” Cam’s smirk got even wider. “They ran without firing a single bullet.”

“Sounds like you really caught them off guard.” I gave Cam a closer look and assessed them for any signs of battle damage or dirt. When they came up clean, I quirked an eyebrow at them. “Looks like you were the ones to not fire a single bullet.” I watched Cam shoot a quick glance around the half of the intersection behind me and, reflexively, did the same thing behind them. It was a practiced maneuver, all eyes without any movement of the head to give the scan away to anyone who might be watching. When our eyes met again, giving no sign that we’d seen anything or anyone, I felt a grimace cross my face.

Much more quietly, as the Naturalists slowly filtered in around us, I said “or like you’re making things up to sound more confident than you feel.”

Cam stood up and, under the guise of helping me readjust my backpack, replied “I’ll admit they shot at us a bit, but they didn’t hit anyone. It was quick and clean. Well, you know. One kind of clean. Once we took out their command structure, they broke and fled. Got a lot of their supplies on the way out, but we weren’t going to fight them for anything they might figure was worth dying over.”

I nodded and jostled the pack on my back. A bit more loudly, so that people around us would be able to hear, I said “good job, Captain. I’m sure we’re all looking forward to a comfortable rest in a clean environment. I can’t wait to see what you’ve got to show us.”

Cam smiled back, less broadly this time. “Then let’s not keep the others waiting.” They turned and gestured to the Naturalists who were now looking to us for direction. “Follow me, everyone. We’ve got a bit of an odd route to follow, to stay in a path that we completely control, but I’m sure we can still make it to your old home in about an hour if we hustle. You all know what to do, so form up around…” Cam started walking to the east, heading toward the Naturalists’ old home and their voice faded from my ears, hidden by the crunching of snow, scraping of boots, and general jingling of gear.

As the Naturalists moved away from me, Natalie stayed by my side. Once we were in the rear and trailing enough to act as a proper rearguard, Natalie leaned over towards me. “Seems like it went well.”

“Yeah.”

Natalie glanced at my face and then turned her attention back to the area around us. “Any problems? You don’t seem happy.”

“Cam said it was clean, but only in the sense of the operation they led. I’m worried about what the Naturalists are going to do when they see whatever has become of their homes. I’m worried Cam might not have had enough time to clean up whatever mess they and the other Wayfinders made.”

The two of us walked in silence for a couple blocks before Natalie broke the silence again. “At least we’ll have a warm place to sleep and no need for thermal gear for a couple days. I’m sure we can find at least a small area that isn’t a mess.”

I nodded and then, a few paces later, sighed. “I’m just borrowing trouble. I’m sure it’ll be fine. There’s no reason to think it won’t. This isn’t anyone’s first operation. They should know to clean up after themselves at this point. And if they didn’t have the time, well…” I lifted a hand and then dropped it to my side again. “The Naturalists said they’re not planning to stay. At least they won’t have to see what happened to their home for long.

As we walked in silence for the rest of the trip, I tried to avoid thinking about how much that applied to me and most of the older Wayfinders as well. If I retired, I’d be settling down in the city I was born in and I’d have to deeply confront the way that everything I remembered about Chicago was gone except for street names. I’d finally have to see what became of the place where I grew up, now that we’d probably be staying for longer than the time it took to rest at the Wayfinder headquarters, restock supplies, pick up a new job from the dispatch, and then head out again. I wasn’t sure I was any more ready for that than the Naturalists were ready for whatever was waiting for them.