“She’s not going alone,” said Ronald. He’d gone and suited up, too, only he’d added a flak jacket to his ensemble. “Here,” he said, tossing me one.

I crouched behind the shield and put it on. Jamal came out of the hallway with riot gear on as well.

“Ready?” he asked, grinning from ear to ear. “This is fun. I feel like a cop.”

“Fun until you feel a bullet,” I mumbled. But I was glad for the company and figured we’d look more intimidating with the bigger guys standing with me.

We walked to the door together, opening it up and stepping outside. I waited for a few seconds to see if the strangers would do anything.

“Are we going to go talk to them?” whispered Jamal.

“I wanted to see if they’d shoot first,” I whispered back.

“If it were me, I’d wait until we were closer,” said Ronald.

“Good point,” I said, moving forward again. Ronald and Jamal fell into step beside me.

The closer we got, the more confused I became. There were four people there, all of them looking like they’d just gotten into a fight. It was the blood and the ripped clothes that initially threw me off, making it difficult to identify them; but once we were within twenty feet of the gate, the images hit me like a ton of bricks.

“Rob!” I yelled, throwing down my shield and helmet, sprinting to the gate.

“Bryn!” yelled Ronald, “what are you doing?!”

Rob was holding Fohi up on one side, and another big guy was on Fohi’s other side.

“Oh my god, Yokci! What are you guys doing here?” I yelled, desperately trying to find the right key to open the gate. My hands were shaking and they kept slipping away.

Jamal came up beside me and took them from my hands. “Let me do this.” He looked through the keys to find the right one.

“I’m sorry,” said Ronald, “I didn’t even recognize you guys at all.”

“Yeah,” said Rob. “We’ve run into some trouble.”

“But … but … Yokci’s here too,” I said, not understanding. “How come he’s here?”

“We’ll explain everything when we get in. Fohi’s in bad shape. I hope you have some medical supplies in there.”

Fohi’s head was hanging down and his hand was resting lightly on his stomach.

“Hey, Fohi,” I said gently, coming up to the gate and putting my hands on it, looking through the links. “What happened to you?”

He lifted his head and tried to smile, but it came out more like a grimace. His teeth were bloody. “Got kicked a few times. Stabbed twice. Rough day at work,” he said, trying to joke about it. He started coughing and some blood came to his lips. “Sorry about that,” he said wiping it away with the back of his hand.

Rob gave me a look that meant nothing good.

I heard the lock clicking and moved back so we could open the gate and let them in.

“Is anyone else coming?” I asked.

“I hope so,” said Rob. “We couldn’t wait around to see what was going on.”

Ronald and I ushered them into the lobby, the rest of our friends running out the front door to help. Jamal locked the gate behind us.

Fohi was laid out on the ground near Jenny, and Winky and Peter got to work making him comfortable. I pulled Rob and Yokci over to the side, out of their way, and Bodo, the twins, and Gretchen and Bianca joined us.

“So what the hell happened? Where’d you guys get jumped?” I asked.

“Just outside Kahayatle. Near the canoe rental place,” said Rob.

“You were there, too?” I asked Yokci.

“Yeah. I was helping them get their stuff together.”

“Were you going to come here, though?”

He shrugged. “Probably eventually. This just sped up the process.”

“Who was it?” asked Gretchen. “Someone you know?”

“Canners,” said Rob. “Guys who got away when we came to their place, I think. Plus some of their new friends.”

“So they tracked us back there,” I said, thinking out loud and feeling guilty as hell.

“Dey already knew about da kids in da swamp. Kiersten told me all about it. She said your days were numbered. Dat’s a funny expression. I alwayss pictured a calendar with da days crossed off. It’s spooky, really.”

“Tell me about it,” said Rob. “We were ready to come meet you here after talking to Kowi and Trip, and bam, there they were.”

“Who else was hurt?” I asked, not sure I wanted the answer.

“Lots of kids. Several of them were killed. Those assholes had serious guns and lots of bullets. Several of our tribe got away and went off to the ranches where we have the livestock. We can’t afford to let them get to that stuff, otherwise life will become even more difficult. I’m not sure how we’d come back from that.”

“They need to get here,” I said. “We can protect people here.”

“Well, that’s good news,” said Yokci, “because here is where everyone’s coming.”

“What? Are you serious?” I asked.

“Yeah. Apparently, Trip had a change of heart for some reason. I guess he missed you guys or something. He told us to tell you that you could come back anytime, but that if you didn’t, he and Kowi would send supplies. And he also told everyone that anyone who wanted to come join you could.”

“Yeah, and the talk around the swamp was, a lot of people were interested.”

“And now that the swamp’s been infested by something worse than gators…,” said Yokci, leaving his statement unfinished.

“Guess we’d better figure out how to feed these people, and quick,” said Gretchen.

“And get rid of all those bodies,” added Bianca.

“Bodies?” asked Yokci.

“We found some of the dead in a sealed fridge,” said Jamal, “courtesy of my curious brother. So we need to move them out of the building.”

“We can help,” said Rob, nudging Yokci.

Yokci nodded, a little reluctantly.

I took a big breath and let it out in a whoosh. “Thanks, guys. I really appreciate you coming all this way. I know it had to be hard as hell, especially for Fohi.”

Rob gave me a half-smile. “Well, let’s just say that Fohi had a little personal incentive to get over here that made the trip easier for him.”

I looked over and watched Winky leaning over Little Bee to work on his stomach wound. He was staring at her, watching her every move.

“Nice,” I said, nodding. “I’m not sure if he’s tough enough for Winky, but it’ll be interesting to find out.”

“Oh, he’s plenty tough,” said Yokci. “Trust me on this. I’ve tried to kill that little pest about five times, and so far nothing’s worked. He’s hard to kill.”

I laughed at his serious tone.

“Come on,” I said. “Let’s go see if we can help.”

We spent the rest of the day tending to the sick and injured and investigating our new home - a huge warren of hallways, rooms, and untold riches of general supplies, beds, food, clothing, and equipment.

Bodo laid out the area we planned to use as a place for a mass grave, nowhere near the living facilities and future gardens, on the farthest edge of the property. We found heavy-duty garbage bags and body bags in storage lockers, not enough for all of the bodies but enough that we could make the job somewhat easier.

There were carts used in the kitchens that would do for moving them, and plenty of disinfecting liquids. It would be a grisly job, but having all these pieces in place at least made it seem do-able.

We sat around eating our dinner of dried meat and fruits, making plans for the next day, eventually bedding down next to each other again when it was time to sleep.

None of us wanted to be alone tonight, not even Bodo and me. We fell asleep holding hands, and I dreamed of a safe haven where everyone lived in peace, had food in their stomachs, and a comfortable bed to sleep on. It would have been a perfect dream if it hadn’t ended with Loco knocking on the front gate, smiling at me with his yellow-brown teeth and asking to be let in while holding up a key to the door.

***

“Bryn, wake up,” said Bodo, right in my ear.

I reached up, wrapping my arm around his neck languidly, pulling him down for a kiss. I smiled sleepily, anticipating the tickling sensation I was about to get all over my body from the passion he always aroused in me.

He resisted though, and I frowned, pulling harder. Why doesn’t he want to kiss me?

“Not right now. You haff to get up.”

I opened my eyes, blinking a few times in confusion, letting go of Bodo’s neck. The room was still dark, but I could hear whispering.

I sat up, looking around, trying to figure out what was going on. All the beds next to me were empty, and everyone was standing at the glass doors, looking outside.

“Come on,” said Bodo, holding his hand out for me to take.

I grasped it and stood, pulling my shirt and shorts down, trying to make myself presentable. I licked my furry teeth, wishing I had time to run my toothbrush across them.

“What’s the big deal?” My voice sounded weird, being so loud and echoing across the room, so I lowered it before continuing. “Why is everyone up so early?”

“Come see,” said Bodo, pulling me along to the door.

He nudged Gretchen and Bianca gently to the side, making room for me to get up to the front of the glass. “Giff her some room,” said Bodo.

Ronald and Jamal split apart so I could stand between them.

I looked out the window, not sure what I was seeing.

“What is it?” I asked.

It was dark. I couldn’t see anything past the gate. Something was blocking it.

“I think,” said Ronald, in a carefully measured tone, “that we are seeing the first influx of settlers into Haven.”

I turned the lock on the door and pushed it open.

“Wait!” said Ronald, grabbing my arm and pulling me back. Jamal placed a helmet on my head and the girls passed a flak jacket and then a shield up to me.

I looked at all of them as I put the jacket on, trying to read their expressions. Gretchen and Bianca were crying. Winky was smiling, looking proud like I’d just won a spelling bee or something.

The sleep was still muddling my brain. “I don’t get it. Why me?” I asked.

“Because you’re the mayor,” said Ronald, smiling and opening the door for me.

“And because you’re the reason they’re all here,” said Jamal. “Now go greet the newcomers.”

“Aren’t you coming?” I asked.

“Do you really need to ask that?” said Ronald as he plunked a helmet on his head. “We can’t just let anyone in here. We’ve gotta do some checks at the gate. Jamal and I are on it.”

Jamal had put his helmet and jacket on too and was taking his shield from Bianca. “Thank you, gorgeous,” he said smiling. “Ready to go!” he announced, puffing out his chest. “I still feel like a cop!”

Bodo stepped closer to me, pushing the shield out of the way. “Be careful. I will be right here if you needt me.”

“Why aren’t you coming?” I asked, confused why he was taking a back seat like this.

“Dis iss your moment. Let dem see you in front, being Bryn. Dat’s who dey want. Dat’s who dey need right now. Not me.”

“But …”

“I’m not goingk anywhere. Don’t worry. It’s not a problem … I got your back.” He winked at me.

“I luff you,” I said, smiling nervously.

He leaned down and kissed me. “I luff you, too. Hurry up. My lips are already getting coldt.” He smacked me on the butt as I walked away.