"The first month was transactional." Marco stared at the wall where the neighborhood map hung, covered in red and blue and green markers like a painting of a war only he could see. "People came to me because they were desperate, and I let them in because they were useful. Natalie cooks. Sophie cleans. Rachel. Perry gathers information. Everyone had a price and everyone paid it.""And now?""Now people aren't just paying for food." Marco's voice dropped a register, softer than usual, almost thoughtful. "They're showing up at the garage every morning wanting to learn how to defend this place. Not because I'm threatening to cut their rations. Because they actually want this neighborhood to survive.""That's called loyalty." Natalie's eyes held something warm that Marco hadn't seen there before. "You should try getting used to it."The satellite phone buzzed that evening. Marco picked it up and heard Giorgia's voice, clear and steady, with the mountain wind faint in the background."You'v

Marco walked back to the garage and stood in front of Delgado. The former sergeant sat on an overturned crate with a thermal blanket around his shoulders, his hands wrapped around a cup of hot water that one of the patrol volunteers had given him without asking permission. His people sat behind him in a loose cluster, some of them already asleep on the cold concrete floor, their bodies giving up the fight against exhaustion the moment they felt even a fraction of safety."Here's the deal." Marco folded his arms. "Same offer I give everyone. You contribute labor, you eat. Scavenging, construction, security patrols, medical work, whatever your skills are. Two meals a day. Warm shelter. Clean water. In exchange, you follow the rules, you take orders from the people I've put in charge, and you don't cause problems.""What kind of problems?" Delgado looked up, and his eyes were sharp despite the exhaustion behind them."The kind that end with bodies in my courtyard." Marco didn't flinch. "

"Yesterday morning, two people in this community were caught stealing from the communal food storage." Marco's voice carried across the garage without effort. "Four cases of canned protein and two bags of rice. Hidden under their floorboards."A ripple of anger moved through the crowd. Someone near the back muttered a word that Marco chose to ignore."I want you to understand why they did it." Marco raised his hand to quiet the murmurs. "Dennis and Patricia Hartley survived six weeks on snow water and scavenged scraps. They watched people die around them. When they arrived here and saw that we have food, their fear told them it wouldn't last. So they took extra and hid it."He looked directly at Dennis, who flinched."That's not greed. That's terror." Marco's voice was firm but not cruel. "And I'd bet every person in this room has felt some version of it."Heads nodded slowly. A woman in the second row wiped her eyes."But here's the rule." Marco's tone sharpened. "Everyone contribute

Wendy opened her eyes and straightened. Her voice came out sharper than anyone expected from someone that tired."Casualties. That is what I keep thinking about." She pushed a strand of hair from her forehead. "Every fight we have had so far, people got hurt in ones and twos. This will be different. If Colton hits us with real force, I could have twenty wounded at once. Maybe more.""What do you need?" Marco asked."A proper triage setup. Three stations, not one. Stretchers, tourniquets, blood clotting packs, and at least six people trained to carry the wounded without dropping them." She looked around the table. "And I need them trained this week, not the day the shooting starts.""Diane, give her whoever she asks for." Marco looked at Diane, who was already writing. "Pull them off scavenging if you have to.""Done." Diane did not hesitate. "I will redo the whole labor schedule tonight."The meeting stretched for three hours. Marco asked questions, Okafor argued, Delgado found holes