2026-07-20 19:06:34
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0048
Ward's test came without warning, the way the worst tests always seemed to.A supply run gone wrong two miles south of the fortress, three of our newer volunteers pinned down in the husk of an old pharmacy by a pack of shamblers that had wandered in from the wreckage of a collapsed overpass, radio crackling with panic instead of coordinates."We need a response team, now," Ruby said, already halfway to the armory before Jaxen finished processing the call."I'll go," Ward said immediately, already grabbing gear off the rack, hands steady despite the tension radiating off everyone around him.Jaxen's eyes cut to him, assessing. "You've never run a real extraction.""No," Ward admitted. "But I know that pharmacy. Worked delivery routes near there before things went bad. There's a back exit through the pharmacy's loading dock most people wouldn't know to look for."That settled it. Jaxen nodded once, sharp. "You're with me. Sasha, you're on over
0047
Peter's leg had healed enough to walk without the limp by the time the fortress finished its first week on war footing, though he still favored it slightly when he thought no one was watching.I found him on the east wall at dusk, sitting with his legs dangling over the edge, watching the treeline where Red Sun's marks still bled red against the bark."Figured you'd be resting," I said, climbing up to join him."Figured you'd still be mad at me," he said, not looking over, "for slowing everyone down back on the road."I settled beside him, the old guilt from that night in the dark between the warehouses rising up uncomfortable and unwelcome. "That wasn't fair of me to say.""Wasn't wrong, either." Peter's mouth twisted into something not quite a smile. "I was dead weight. Would've gotten myself killed if Jaxen hadn't been carrying half my supplies and you hadn't been threatening me into moving faster.""You kept walking anyway. That counts for something."He was quiet a moment, eyes f
0046
By the time we made it back through the fortress gates, Jaxen had already started barking orders, the transformation from careful scout to commanding officer near instantaneous."Full perimeter watch, doubled shifts," he called out, gathering the small crew of guards near the wall. "Ward, I want every weak point in that fence reinforced by nightfall. Sasha, I need eyes on that treeline in shifts, anyone approaching gets flagged immediately, no exceptions."The base shifted around us like something waking up, the loose, almost domestic rhythm we'd settled into over the past weeks snapping taut into something harder, more urgent.Ward threw himself into the fence work within the hour, dragging scrap steel from the salvage pile and welding brackets into place with the same steady focus he'd brought to Ruby's turret, sweat cutting clean lines through the dirt on his face by midafternoon. Sasha took up position in the east watchtower, rotating with two of the newer volunteers in three hour
0045
We were half a mile from the warehouse, still hauling what little we'd salvaged, when Jaxen's hand shot up in the universal signal to freeze."Movement," he said, voice barely above a breath. "Treeline, two o'clock."I followed his line of sight and saw them then, shapes emerging from the tree cover with a discipline that immediately set them apart from every other survivor group we'd encountered since Day Zero. Six of them, moving in a loose formation that spoke of drilled coordination, rifles held low but ready, body armor that looked salvaged from actual military stock rather than scavenged and improvised like ours."Don't move," Jaxen murmured. "Don't reach for anything."Too late for that advice to matter much. The lead figure had already spotted us, one gloved hand raised in a sharp signal that brought the rest of the patrol into a loose semicircle, weapons not quite aimed but not quite lowered either."Well," the lead figure said, voice carrying easy confidence across the open
0044
The warehouse sat two miles east of the fortress, a distribution center Ruby's old maps flagged as untouched, full of exactly the kind of bulk supplies we desperately needed before winter closed in harder."Should be stocked," Ruby said, checking the coordinates against her salvaged tablet as we approached, Jaxen on point with Ward trailing behind carrying an empty duffel bag ready to be filled. "Pre-collapse inventory logs show canned goods, medical supplies, fuel reserves in the back lot."The loading dock doors hung open when we arrived, dark and quiet, and for the first ten minutes inside, everything went exactly the way we'd hoped."Front section's untouched," Ward called from a row of shelving near the entrance, already stacking canned goods into his bag with quick, practiced hands. "Beans, soup, some kind of protein bars. Whole case of batteries over here too.""Told you," Ruby said, grinning as she worked her way down a parallel aisle, tablet balanced against her hip so she co
0043
We found the jacket two days after the Red Sun markings, hanging on a fence post half a mile past the treeline like someone had left it there on purpose.Denim, lined with fake fur gone matted and gray with weather, a small enamel pin still clinging to the collar. A sunflower. Cheap, the kind you'd buy from a gas station spinner rack for two dollars and never think about again.I stopped walking so fast that Jaxen nearly ran into my back."Mateo?"I didn't answer right away. I couldn't. My whole body had gone cold in a way that had nothing to do with the wind cutting across the open field, because I knew that jacket. I'd bought that jacket. Three years ago, a birthday present, wrapped badly in newspaper because I never could get the corners right, and Anna had laughed at my terrible wrapping job before she pulled it on over her shoulders and told me it was the nicest thing anyone had gotten her in years.That same laugh had been the last honest thing she ever gave me, before the lies
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