Before Justin could issue a command, he saw them come around the corner and instantly reached for the gun that he had placed in the side pocket on his pack, withdrawing it just as they began their march towards them. There were three of them, all of whom had various pieces of what looked like armor covering parts of their bodies, yet they all had chestpieces covering their upper half. Gleaming black assault rifles were gripped tightly, pointed forward. Two women and a man, the triage wearing expressions of grim seriousness as they got closer. Bianca shrieked in alarm as she sprinted past Justin and Cameron, the other girl following suit, leaving the two to fend for themselves. Justin took a quick glance around, noting the ruins of a townhouse to their right.
"Get up the stairs and into the house. Now." He hissed, muscles springing into action as he hopped over the remnants of a steel fence, bullets beginning to hail on their location as he sprinted up the crumbling stairs and through the doorway, planting his right shoulder against the wall before extending his left arm and firing a few potshots as return fire. The bullets stopped coming after a few moments, a woman's voice breaking the brief silence:
"We know of what you carry! Bring it to us and there will not have to be anymore bloodshed!"
"Ooooooh no!" Justin fired off another blind shot before shouting:
"You tell us exactly who you people are and why on earth you decided to pick a fight with one of the most powerful settlements on the East Coast?!" A laugh echoed through the street.
"Powerful?! Please! Your little excuse of a village couldn't stand up to us for longer than a few minutes. We've torn it to shreds and will do the same to you if you don't hand over the steel box!"
"You know, we have a TON of steel boxes back at the camp! You can have any of those! It's on me!" A burst of assault rifle fire made Justin jump back slightly.
"We don't have to hurt you! Just hand over the box and you can both piddle along in your meager existence!"
"Piddle?" A heavy clinking sound could be heard as the armored wordsmiths made their way to Cameron and Justin's hiding place, Justin checked the clip in his pistol and cursed silently. He looked back, finding that the back of the house had fallen apart, leaving them an escape route.
"Come on! Move!" He ran, jumping down from the house onto what would have been the yard, a cacophony of assault rifle fire descending upon them.

Cameron nodded quickly and made her way into the tattered town-home and inside the first room she spotted. Much to her dismay, the suspicions she had were confirmed by the woman with the stern voice. They were after the steel box. And they knew that she was the one who had been transporting it. Perfect. This stupid box was going to get her killed for information she didn't even know. If it was any other elder who gave it to her, she would have probably just thrown it to the small group outside and wished them the best, but the conviction John had when he told her to bring it North was the only thing that kept her lugging it around. Cameron knew it was important, too important to fall into the wrong hands.

Her racing thoughts were interrupted by Justin’s yelling voice. She followed him quickly out the rear end of the town-home and did her best to match his pace while they ran, which the gunfire made pretty easy. “I’m sorry!” she admitted as she followed his lead. “I underestimated this fuckin’ thing. I had no idea any one knew, I…” she stopped talking, keeping her eyes on him to make sure he didn’t take any dramatics turns. She felt awful – he was too nice to be put in such a predicament, especially one that got him home attacked. Her eyes began to tear up a bit at the thought of having to see another village flattened, dead bodies littering the ground and any survivors pleading for help. She probably wouldn’t be able to say something that would make things better, so she remained silent as they sprinted.

Cameron looked back and saw no trace of their aggressors, so she waved Justin down to stop for a moment. Her hands rested on her knees as she practically wheezed over the ground. Jesus, she was out of shape. She hocked a loogie over to the side and looked up to the man who’s week (at least) she had ruined, wincing in both physical and emotional pain. They were near an old, dilapidated apartment building, and she nudged her head in its direction to suggest that they take a break inside. “I need a minute,” she said in a breathily manner before beginning to cough.

As they made their way inside, Cameron thought of some good way to explain her situation without sounding crazy, but she knew that probably wouldn’t happen. The mystical box in my backpack will somehow save multitudes of lives, and I, the girl who the village wouldn’t trust as far as they could throw her, am being depended on to deliver it to someone when I just get that feeling that they are “the one.” Yeah. That was going to go wonderfully.

Once they found and scoped a room, she closed the door behind her and threw her backpack on the ground. “Look, I have no idea what’s in the box. I just know it’s important. Really important. I guess to more people than I thought.” She unzipped the large pack and pulled it out, tossing it to Justin. “I think,” she began, still catching her breath, “someone is supposed to have a key, I think? My instructions were very vague.” Cameron frowned a bit as she looked at Justin. “I really am sorry. I didn’t know this would happen.”

They were about a quarter of a mile off from Omega's main base of operations when Cameron told him she needed a minute, Justin grumbling inwardly. They needed to MOVE! They couldn't stay put while his entire world was being set ablaze by these mysterious interlopers. She walked into an old apartment building and he followed suit, finding a room before she spoke about the box she carried. Justin turned to face her just as she threw it, catching it with his forearms and causing a resounding smack, mild pain jolting him. Upon explanation, his eyes narrowed.
"Supposed to have a key? Cameron, they sent you to parts unknown with no definitive destination and just said that 'someone' was supposed to have all your answers?!" He let out a scoffing laugh, planting himself against a wall as he looked over the box.
"This is...this is nuts. Absolutely bonkers. Insane...and you took this without asking ANY questions?" It was then that he remembered that her entire village had been torched and that more than likely there was no time for instructions. His expression softened.
"I'm sorry, it's just...this is so strange, you know? Doesn't sit well with me." He ran his fingers over the sides and under the box, feeling a small keyhole on the back. He examined it briefly, running a fingernail through the indentation.
"Oddly shaped. I haven't seen a lock like this before...of course, I haven't seen many locks at all. The end of the world tends to make existing locks rather fragile." He walked to Cameron and gave her the box back, telling her:
"We'll figure it out. We have to. Not just for your people, but for mine as well." He could hear the sounds of gunfire even through the thick walls of the building, prompting a grimace.
"For now, though, we need to make sure that there are people left in Omega to help us out." He opened the apartment door as he continued:
"When we get to the security checkpoints, there should be additional help, but while we don't have it, cover my back. I'm out of ammo and can't fight those armored guys hand to hand." He took a sharp breath in.

"Here we go."

____

Chaos.
Utter and total chaos.

The cement walls that served as the natural border between the settlement and the outside world was pockmarked with burns and bullet holes, some of it already crumbled onto the ground. The checkpoints that Justin had referred to were towers that stood about ten feet above the ground made of wood and cloth, but those had fallen to the ground, the bodies of Omega's frontline security strewn about, blood pooling underneath them. Justin walked to a body, spotting the guard's pistol and taking it before spotting a man in the same armor as their pursuers coming out of the entrance to the settlement with a wooden chest under his arm. Justin delivered three shots to the man's skull, the armored body thunking to the ground heavily. They moved to the entrance, the main road through Omega littered with bodies and weapons both from the armored attackers and the defenders of Omega along with debris and scattered-

"JUSTIN!" From their right, a young man garbed in a leather duster and goggles emerged, assault rifle in hand.
"Michael! What on EARTH is going on?"
"Caught these guys coming, but couldn't stop them! They breached the walls and we've been trying to push them out ever since!"
"What are they after?"
"Dunno, but they're being held off hard by central command. We can flank them, help command out!" Justin nodded, looking to Cameron with a somber smile.
"Looks like you get to be the hunter after all."

Instead of exploding at Justin in response to his harsh criticism of her actions like she normally would have, she absorbed it. Cameron understood his anger with her and the situation and didn’t want to make matters worse, so she nodded in agreement as her eyes burned a hole in the floor, hoping that the damage that awaited for them at Omega was not as bad as she anticipated. Based on Justin’s description, they seemed as though they could possibly be equipped to handle such an attack. Her village was small, disorganized, weak – an easy target for these predators – but maybe, just maybe, Omega would able to fight them off. This thought helped the guilt dissipate a bit, but Cameron was no positive person.

-----------------------------------------

She was wrong. Very wrong. Involuntary gasps escaped her as she surveyed the landscape of bodies and debris that surrounded the pair. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered, not really sure if she was talking to Justin or the bodies that littered the ground beneath them. Maybe both. Though it was definitely the same group that hit her village, they hit Omega harder, with much more manpower and force, which means that they had probably been scoping them, figuring out just what it would take to enter and try to locate the silver box.

That was when the wheels began to turn in Cameron’s head once again.

How did they know she would head for Omega? John had told her to head north and did not give any names. They could've had possibly tortured another survivor for information. Was Omega even the good guys she was searching for? What if their attackers were the ones she was supposed to give the box to? No, that couldn’t be right. The elders wouldn’t approve of their methods, and therefore wouldn’t agree to give them whatever information the box held. Right? Maybe she was just over-thinking it. Maybe Justin was the chosen one. But he couldn’t be – he didn’t even know what type of lock was on the stupid thing.

She groaned audibly at her thoughts as she heard Justin’s name being called. Her body swiveled around to meet a man named Michael. Now, she figured, wasn’t the time to introduce herself. Hey, I’m the one who caused the attack on your home and your people to be slaughtered. Cameron Wright. She readjusted the large pack that was sliding to the side of her small frame when Justin’s attention turned to her. His smile calmed her a bit. Although the circumstances were dismal, she couldn’t help but smirk at his words before she nodded and followed him and Michael.

One thing she had learned and liked about Justin was his ability to keep a level head – unlike herself. The vast amount of emotions she had felt in the past week, she thought, had a large part in why she felt so damn exhausted. The constant second guessing of her gut instinct most likely wasn't helping either. But now wasn’t the time for self-reflection. Now was the time to try rectifying the situation in any way that she could, and as she touched the gun that was in the back of her jeans, she realized that it might not be much.

As they made their way hastily behind Michael, she reached an arm around and grabbed the cloth she had stuffed in the side pocket, quickly wrapping her hair up and out of the way. She had no idea what “central command” could look like, but their security plans were rather impressive. The wall, the towers, the weapons supply. No wonder John would send her this direction. Once Cameron caught up to Justin, she spoke lowly as she poked the pain in her side with her hand. “Whatever you need me to do, I’m here.” Her other hand went to touch his arm in a pathetic attempt to comfort him, and she recoiled just as quickly as her hand made contact. It was probably best to leave him alone.

Gunshots pierced the momentary silence, and they sounded no farther than a few hundred feet away. “Shit,” Cameron cursed as the gun was grabbed from her jeans and sat in her trembling hands. She closed her eyes for a moment as she situated her hands in the proper position and took a deep breath. She was scared, although she would never admit it, and consequentially moved herself closer to Justin and Michael, seeking comfort solely in the fact that she wasn't alone anymore.

The carnage wasn't just isolated to the main road leading north. Dodging between hole in the wall(literally and figuratively) shops and homes made up of wood and brick seemed to be coated in chaos. Blood trails and bodies were the norm, accompanied by occasionally having to kill an intruder who came along their path. What bothered Justin about this new group of assailants weren't necessarily the attack itself, but how SMUG they were about it. Their gleaming armor, the shiny weapons, the braggadocio that accompanied their every movement was sickening. Even in death, they seemed to mock their killer, their faces contorted almost in the form of a twisted grin. Justin's anger rose with every step.

They found themselves in an alley between two large brick buildings, said buildings forming a part of the perimeter of the square around central command, which was the ground floor of a skyscraper that stood in the center of the oval shaped settlement. Outside the entrance were the armored thugs, their assault rifles churning out as much as they could, hiding behind makeshift shields consisting of old barrels and a couple of working jeeps that command had stationed outside the entrance. It was then that Justin felt Cameron's hand on his arm for a brief moment, when the gunfire had ceased, and told him that she would be there to help. The scout turning back to nod his thanks, telling her:
"We'll need all the help we can get at th-" More gunfire was issued at the building, prompting Michael to ask:
"So, what do we do?!"
"You're asking ME?! You were the one who brought us here, I thought YOU had a plan!"
"I did! It was getting you here! The rest I thought you could fill in!" With a roll of the eyes, Justin checked the clip of his pistol.
"Alright, here's what we'll do: you and I get inside the building here, deliver some potshots and draw their attention away from the building. Cameron..." He turned to her, a look of disappointment crossing his face.
"You're going to have to find a way inside command. There's an armory inside with one of the only shotguns I've ever seen in my life. With that, you can help liberate the command post. Hopefully with us distracting the forces out here, we can buy enough time for you guys to strike hard." He blew out a sigh.
"Here we go." Michael and Justin crouched as low as they could, running out of the alley and swung into the abandoned store, stepping over Leonard and Cindy, the shopkeepers, and stationed themselves behind two wooden desks that had once served as display locales for shop items. Michael popped out of cover first and shot a burst at one of the interlopers, who returned fire.
"This had better work!" Michael grumbled aloud, prompting Justin to shoot him an icy glare.

Cameron’s heart began to race as Justin instructed her to not only find a way into command and retrieve a gun, but to also liberate the command post, of course if she didn’t get shot first. That seemed highly likely at the moment, but she nodded as with false confidence and began to dash towards the ground floor of the building as the men guarding it became distracted by Justin and Michael shooting at them from inside the shop. A good distraction, but she was doubtful it would last long enough for her to complete her mission.

Her body nearly slammed into the side of the building after sprinting as quickly as she could, but her heavy pack was making it impossible to keep a low profile. With a mumbled “fuck it,” she began to quickly dump out the extra clothes and unnecessary items that filled it, leaving only her water bottle, a small amount of food, and the stupid box.

Cameron crouched and ran around the perimeter of the skyscraper until she came across a broken window. “Oh, thank god,” she whispered as she tucked her gun back in its new home and shimmied her way up to and through the window, getting sliced by a shard of glass near her rib cage which made a nice hole in both her tank top and her skin. She sharply inhaled and winced, but continued until she plopped on the floor inside the building. “Damn it,” she murmured as she inspected her side – not deep enough to damage anything, yet deep enough to cause a burning pain. She rolled her eyes and grunted as she stood up to observe where she was.

It was an unoccupied, dusty office, completed with a desk and chair. Cameron could hear the pitter-patter of feet scuffling around outside the door, not sure who they belonged to, and after cautiously approaching it, she turned the knob slowly and creaked it open only enough to see into the heart of the first floor. It was only occupied by two men, both from the group of assailants who were after her and what she possessed, and it seemed as though they were looking through the round desk that sat in the middle of the lobby, throwing things angrily at not locating what they needed. Their backs were to her. Perfect.

In a split second, Cameron was running lightly through the lobby and jumping onto the back of one of the men, using the knife that was on her thigh to slit his throat. Immediately, a blow to the face knocked her down onto the cold, marble floor, and she scooted back quickly using her boots as the second man began to ready his gun and aim it at her head, when all of a sudden, POW.

The man dropped down on the floor in front of her, his blood splattering the length of her, and her head snapped over to where the ear-shattering sound originated. A young boy, maybe 11 or 12 in age, was holding the shotgun Justin had sent her to get in his trembling hands. He was frightened, that was for sure, and Cameron got up to run to his side. “Thank you,” she began, “You’re gonna be okay." Her eyes were frantically scanning the floor. "Is anyone alive in here?”
The boy nodded rapidly and pointed a small finger to a door on the other end of the lobby. “There.”
“Okay, let’s hurry,” she whispered as she signaled for him to crouch and follow her.

Locked. Cameron took a deep breath and kicked the knob until it swung open violently, revealing what was hidden behind it. Bodies. Most with their hands tied behind their backs. Blood formed in pools under the sea of the men, and she grabbed the young boy’s head and buried it in her stomach as she looked around the room for any sign of life.
“Is anyone alive?” she whispered forcefully. “I’ve been sent by Justin and Michael. I’m here to help.”

At those words, four heads rose up from the floor slowly and looked to her with wide eyes. Cameron carefully walked over the bodies lying on the floor to free their hands and help them up. Playing dead. Smart. She asked one where the armory was, and they all ran single file to the location they lead her too. There wasn’t much left of the stock, she could tell, but they grabbed what they could, but during their exit, an assailant spotted them and lifted his gun to shoot. The man behind her shot him before he could even make a noise. Although their enemy had greatly weakened them, she was impressed by the level of skill that she had seen since she had gotten to the city.

“Follow me, I’m sure they heard the gunshots by now.” Cameron led the five back to the window she had come through, and after scanning the area outside, she and the others climbed out slowly and jumped to the ground below. The guards were still shooting at Michael and Justin in the shop, and the group quickly discussed the best course of action. Once they reached an agreement, they charged the group of men, spraying bullets in every direction as they pushed towards the building holding the two.

Cameron did not hit a single person with what she fired – her aim was awful. But the men with her had successfully killed most of their aggressors, causing the other few to retreat and request backup. An intense wave of relief crashed over her as they approached the shop to see the two still alive. She smirked as her hand held the gash on her side, and she tossed Justin the shot gun the boy had retrieved before asking, “What now, scout?”

The smirk was returned by Justin, looking down at the shotgun and readying another bullet into the chamber before telling her:
"That was amazing." He looked over at Michael, nodding at Cameron.
"What'd I tell you? She'd get the job done." Michael lifted the goggles off of his eyes as he let out a nervous laugh.
"I didn't...well..."
"Michael, in the heat of the moment, didn't think the 'strange girl with the big backpack' would be able to infiltrate a major firezone and get things under control. I, however, managed to keep my cool."
"Oh right, like shouting obscenities every time-"
"Justin!" One of the men in the group that came with Cameron emerged, his more salt than pepper hair fringed with blood.
"Commander Ryken, sir! Didn't see you there with all the others."
"Too busy bantering with others, as is the norm." Ryken clapped Justin on the shoulder, a genuine smile forming.
"It's good to see you alive, sir."
"The same for you boys. I didn't think we were going to survive that, even with the protocols in place." Ryken's worn face looked around at the shop, a profound sadness growing deeper in his stance as he saw the bodies of the shopkeepers.
"How many dead?"
"Don't know, sir." Michael responded. One of the other men in the group suggested:
"Sir, should we look for survivors?"
"Yes...yes that's our number one priority. Round up the survivors and push out any of the remaining forces. Make sure their equipment is intact. We'll need it." He turned to Justin, telling him:
"You go with them. Meet us back at command at dusk."
"Yes sir." With a nod to Cameron, Justin walked out of the store, shotgun in hand and split up with the rest of the group. Ryken placed a gentle hand on Cameron's arm, telling her:
"First, thank you. Without your help, we wouldn't have made it. Those attackers were...vicious. We were outgunned and outmanned, but with you in the fold, we got a chance to pick up the pieces. I can't thank you enough for that." His hand left her arm as he continued:
"I do have to ask why you're here. Are you a straggler seeking refuge? A friend of Justin's that I haven't met? Or something else more insidious? I can't help but think that your presence here and our recent attack aren't coincidence. Forgive me for the bluntness, but I've been at my post too long to believe in coincidence. You came here for a specific reason and I need to know what that is along with who those attackers were."

She laughed at the Justin and Michael’s banter, her spirits lifting a bit, until the man with gray hair got their attention, and the reminder of what had just happened hit her like a brick. Oh yeah, I got an entire village butchered. Cameron frowned at the man’s gratefulness as she watched Justin walk off with the others, slightly nervous to be alone with the seemingly powerful commander, but his demeanor was kind, so she relaxed her tense muscles a bit. Her eyes scanned the room to make sure they were alone before speaking.

“Don’t thank me, Commander,” she began quietly, not making eye contact with him and her hand grazing the cheekbone the man had struck. “They’re… they were looking for me. Or rather, something I have.” She felt nervous telling this man about the dumb box in her pack, but Justin seemed to trust him, and somehow, she now trusted Justin. “I’m from the Chesapeake settlement. John, one of the village elders, sent me up this way with, um, an item. Something of great importance. I had no idea it would draw this much… attention.” Her icy blue eyes finally made their way to the his dark ones, hoping she wouldn’t face hatred or punishment from the Commander. “I’m so sorry. Here,” she murmured as she flipped her backpack to the front of her torso and pulled it out gently. “It’s locked. Not sure what or who can open it. All I know is I have to protect it until the right hands get on it,” she spoke lowly, taking it back from the man and stuffing it back into her now empty pack.

She sighed before continuing. “I’m not a warrior, or anyone of high standing. I got this box simply because I was alive. I don’t know what the hell I’m doing, obviously,” she scoffed as one of her hand’s waved to their surroundings. Her eyes began to well with tears as she squeezed them shut to collect herself. “My village was flattened by the same crew. I don’t know anything about them other that they desperately want this thing.” Her stare shot back down to her worn leather boots. “If you don’t want me to stay, I completely understand.”

Truthfully, she did not want to leave. The nomad lifestyle in this type of environment was not possible for a woman – she’d been dead or enslaved in a week – and the option to go back home no longer existed. Cameron had even made a friend, kind of, which after nearly a year of solitude felt like a foreign concept. She felt safe here, and that feeling was something that she didn’t want to lose. But, she knew she didn’t deserve to be selfish now. Her village would execute someone who brought on so much turmoil to their home.

“All I ask before I go,” she said in her almost permanently hoarse voice, “is that my side could be cleaned and wrapped. Won’t last long out there with an infection, huh?” she joked, trying to lighten the tense mood in the room. Her fingers left the wound and she eyed them – fresh blood was still leaking from it. Her body and face were glistening with sweat and blood – both hers and the man who attempted to shoot her.

Ryken listened intently, his face betraying no emotion as Cameron wrapped up her story and made the request. Silence permeated the room for a few moments before Ryken responded:
"We'll have to convene with the rest of the Council." He snorted, then added:
"What's left of it, anyhow." He looked back at the shopkeepers once more, shaking his head before his eyes locked onto Cameron's, attempting to gauge the sincerity in her eyes. The box obviously gave some weight to her story and so did the attackers, but would she cause more trouble? Justin obviously believed in her, otherwise he wouldn't have brought her here. In any case, he couldn't decide just yet.
"Maybe the Lord brought you here for something we don't know about yet." He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, commenting:
"You need to get that treated. The medical staff we have should be tending to the wounded at the hospital. Come with me, I'll show you where it is. From there, you rest and meet us at dusk at the same location you broke us out of. We'll hopefully have the place cleaned up enough for a private audience with the Council." He turned around, walking out of the shop, then paused, looking to Cameron as he told her:
"Your eyes are sincere. I hope that reflects what's inside your heart."

___________

"No, that can't be what happens! We can't just stay put! What if they attack again?" June Mansfried, one of two women on the Council, sat back in the folding chair, arms folded across her chest as she looked around the room at the other participants in the meeting. There were seven chairs set up, two of which were occupied by June and Wynne Carter, both of whom were dedicated protectors of Omega and had served in the militia and medical fields of the colony, respectively.
"You of all people should know what's out there, June. Nothing but raiders, crumbling ruins and a basic lack of resources. We were blessed to get what we did, you know that. Where are we going to find something like this?" In another chair sat Ryken, next to him were Justin and Cameron. They had found the fourth and final Council member, Lao Johnson, with two bullets in his stomach and a knife jutting out of his chest.
"Before we start talking about relocating..." Wynne sat forward, her green eyes sweeping the room before looking at Cameron.
"We need to find out what they came for."
"We already explained this." Ryken then added:
"But that is a reasonable request, seeing as we need to know what's inside." The meeting at dusk had started with yet another request for Cameron to tell her story along with an account from Justin. Once completed, they had been debated for the past twenty minutes how to handle the remnants of their once proud settlement.
"Cameron, please remove your box and place it in the center of the room." Ryken requested. They had asked her to show it to them once before, but Ryken wanted it in the open for a longer period of time.
"The lock that was on the side...I think I've seen that before on a couple of other lockboxes." June commented, hand on chin before her eyes widened.
"Yeah, yeah, that's it! When we went down to Philadelphia to investigate those flashes over the radio." Wynne looked to June and responded:
"Right, I do remember that you all came back with lockboxes in a similar design. Those boxes were government issue, had pieces of purification equipment and medicinal formulas that really helped us. It was a shame that the research facility that SOS'ed us was wrecked beyond repair. If only..." Wynne then looked to Cameron.
"Please, give us the box. If it has what we think it does, then..." She trailed off as Justin turned to Cameron, whispering:
"Did you know about this?"

Cameron was treated by their medical staff – they needed to pick out pieces of glass from her side and stitch the wound – and she slept peacefully for three hours. She was even able to bathe for the first time in five days. Her once stringy, flat black hair was back to its wavy, soft texture, and her red, freckled, blood-spotted skin was beginning to return to its normal complexion, albeit darker and the blue and purple bruise that was forming over her left eye socket. She was able to change into a small, plain white t-shirt, and they washed her worn and ripped jeans for her. The kindness the staff was showing her either was because they were good people (much better people than her), or they didn’t know the chaos she had caused.

When the sun had disappeared over the horizon, a ball of anxiety formed in her stomach knowing she’d have to face Omega’s council over what had happened to their settlement and, of course, the box. This fucking box. She half expected a sentencing - it wouldn't have been her first time - and she made peace with it before setting foot into the room.

The empty chair in the council meeting made a lump rise up into Cameron’s throat. Retelling the story of Chesapeake being attacked and her journey to New York was difficult, often pausing to get a hold of herself, until she was eventually asked to take her seat again. Her eyes stayed on the floor as she listened to the discussion happening around her, only looking up if her name was mentioned. The energy in the room felt like it could be heavy enough to physically crush her. Every few times she adjusted her position on the chair, she would wince at the shooting pain in her side.

At Justin’s whisper, her head slowly turned to him and she shook it softly. “No,” she replied at the same volume. Her eyes flitted across the room before turning back to him. “I don’t think there would be this much bloodshed over some formulas and equipment, though.”

She stood up, honoring the request of Wynne and handing her the box. “If I may have a moment to speak, I…” she trailed off momentarily, shutting her eyes and taking a breath, “Chesapeake had access to plenty of purification equipment. I even have a portable one in my pack. I don’t think an elder’s dying wish would be for me to risk my life and walk over a hundred miles just to transport something we already had.” Her eyes landed on Justin for a moment. “I… I wasn’t in good standing with my village when it was attacked. They wouldn’t have given this to me if it wasn’t something significant.” She didn’t know how to end her ‘speech,’ so she walked back to her chair on plopped back into it, and her position shifted to her elbows resting on her knees and her face in her hands.

The agony she had caused them, she knew, would not be forgotten by Omega. Even if they did let her stay, she would be a painful reminder to them of this awful day. Maybe it'd be best if she slipped away in the middle of the night. Cameron chewed on her lip after sitting back up and meeting the eyes of the leaders in the room. Her heart was thumping loudly in her ears, and she looked to Justin one more time. He had a calming effect on her, which was unexplainable, but she took a deep breath and addressed the council once more.

"We need to find this key, and fast, before these assholes come for it again."

"Lucky for us, I think we have the set of keys from the last time. There were a bunch of them on a ring, but only one worked on the two boxes. Let's see if it actually does the trick." She left the room, a tense silence filling the air before Wynne asked Justin:
"Those raiders that attacked you both...what drugs were they carrying?"
"The same blue stuff you told us about a couple of months ago." Wynne sighed, shaking her head.
"Their attack couldn't have been coincidental. We know that they've been after us for quite some time. Maybe an advance scouting party to see if they could take us out before we reached here?" Justin suggested, looking to Ryken, who answered:
"I don't know if people that unstable could work with an advanced group of tacticians like the ones that besieged us. These attackers were calculated, precise, well-armored and from what Cameron has added, has a presence all along the east coast. I've never seen that kind of modified armor before, either, so maybe the raiders to the south asked for a trade. The box for better equipment. Those savages don't need better equipment and if they did get it, I shudder to think of the consequences."
"So then what do we do?"
"We unlock this frickin box!" June came back, jingling a number of keys on a bronze ring that was tarnished by jade green rust. She walked to the box, feeling around the bottom before finding the keyhole and began to unceremoniously jam each key from the ring into the hole. Despite the insanity of the day, Justin couldn't help but chuckle at June's zealous attempts.
"You wouldn't to break the existing keys, would yo-" Wynne silenced herself as one of the keys fit into the box, June turning it clockwise once, a slight clicking heard as the box unsealed itself. She planted it on the ground firmly before opening it, withdrawing a couple of small vials with light blue liquid in them. She gave them to Wynne before taking out four pieces of paper that were tightly folded. Upon unfolding, June passed them down one by one, Justin receiving one handed to him by Ryken. As he examined it, his eyes slowly began to narrow, mumbling:
"This is...this is a map...a map, right?" He traced his finger across the center of the page before nodding to himself, showing it to Cameron.
"Look." The paper had several shapes with jagged lines, some of them intersecting into others, but there was a clear and definitive line that wove through the shapes. The line began at a small dot at the bottom of the paper in the center of the last shape, then it snaked upward, several dots around the line crossed out with thick, black marks. There was a star at the top of the paper with scrawled numbers and letters. On the back was a message that Justin read aloud:

"Dee, the rest of us won't have a chance to get out as soon as you, so we're trusting you so set up shop first. Get to the lighthouse. We'll meet you there."

"The lighthouse has gotta to be the star on the map, right?" He looked to Cameron, laughing.
"Sorry, I know you wouldn't know, but...I mean, we can't overthink it right? They were obviously trying to get their stuff up somewhere."
"What we found in Philadelphia...how does that match up with what we have now?"
"Because this is exactly what the other documents talked about." Wynne chimed in, taking the vials from the ground and holding them up to the dim light emitted from the lanterns attached to the walls.
"This is the last piece."
"What?"
"The last piece, Michael. Those researchers got attacked, but they managed to scatter their findings with different members of their team. The research over purification, vaccinations, growing clean food and water...these vials are the beginning." She looked to Ryken, a small smile on her face as she continued:
"They talked about a solution that could be injected directly into water that could...well, to spare you the minutiae, purify it safely. If this were injected in high enough quantity into soil...the results could be astounding." Wynne then looked to Cameron.
"You had the last hope of civilization in your pack and you didn't even know it."

The words that were being lobbed back and forth between the council members made as much sense to Cameron as if they were in a different language. Chesapeake often kept their people in the dark about what was happening outside of their walls – whether it was to prevent fear or instill it, she still wasn’t sure – but her curiosity was a large reason as they saw her as a threat and sought to neutralize that problem. The people here were kind yet powerful, intimidating yet calm. A rare breed to Cameron.

Two things snapped her out of the information swirling around in her head: The clicking of the box opening, and Justin’s finger tracing the line on a hand-drawn map in front of her. Everything in her head began to fit together, like pieces of a puzzle, and she was keeping her cool until she heard the words.

”You had the last hope of civilization in your pack, and you didn’t even know it.”

They made her crumbled from the inside out. Her lip began to quiver, and her eyes flooded with tears as she was striving to not completely break down sobbing. The thought of all these strangers seeing her in such a state made her feel extremely vulnerable, but knowing that the events of the past week weren’t for nothing overwhelmed her senses, and she buried her face in her hands while she tried to collect herself. There was hope.

After a few sniffles ad taking a deep breath, she looked around the room at the leaders before looking to Justin and nodding to say that she was okay. Not that he asked. Not that he even cared, possibly. There were bigger fish to fry, but he didn’t seem the type to not care. He, and the rest of them, had been so amiable, but the last thing she would want is for someone to feel the need to take care of her, or that she was weak, in troubling times like this. No. This was her time to prove that she was strong and could take care of herself. To prove everyone wrong that told her she wouldn’t ever amount to anything other than a homemaker and that it wasn’t her place to be anything else.

She cleared her throat of the emotions that had constricted, and her hoarse, stern voice broke the momentary silence in the circle. “I’m at your disposal. You have all been so welcoming, especially under the circumstances, so anything I can do, I will.” Her glanced shifted to Justin, and she smiled faintly. “Thank you,” she whispered at a volume he could only hear. If he hadn’t taken her in and protected her, she’d be dead, and the box would be in the hands of someone that would not use its contents for good. He deserved a lot more than a thank you, but it was not like she had any way to return the favor. Not yet, anyway. All she could do was help him. His people.

The rest of the room allowed Cameron a few moments to process, Wynne examining the vials and the others looking at the various documents included in the box. Upon hearing her clear her throat, they all looked to her as she informed them of her willingness to help their cause. Justin gave her a smile, sticking his right thumb up in the air as he curled his fist. The universal sign of approval all but cemented her place in Justin's mind as an ally. She was sincere, willing to help and could handle herself in a fight. What more could he ask for?

"If that is the case, we'll welcome you with open arms. We don't have any kind of formal induction ceremony, but I do have the authority to designate travelers such as yourself a member of our community. With no other place to go, I feel like you need refuge and location to call home, just like the rest of us. Welcome to Omega, Cameron. With your talents, I'm sure you'll be a great fit."
"I'll say. If you could survive the trip all the way from Maryland up here, you've got a bright future." June added with a smirk before holding up a document she had been examining, telling the group:
"This has got some names on it from the old times. Delaware, Boston, Portland...looks like the list goes up."
"Goes up?"
"Yeah, like the coast. Delaware is south of us, Boston is north, then Portland. 'Course, no one has been up past Rochester in a decade or so. Not since we got shoved out of negotiations with the lead clan up there." Justin walked over to June, asking for her the document and comparing it to the map he had.
"Ok, so...so this makes sense. The list matches up with the way these shapes are drawn. These must be the states...right?" June looked over them, tracing her finger up the map, then looked at the list, nodding in agreement.
"Yep, yep, looks like it. Here's Baltimore, which is the lowest one on the list, then Delaware, then...so they wanted to head north to Portland." Ryken leaned forward, contributing:
"This all makes sense, then. The clans have been ferociously guarding their territory. I thought it was just due to their devolved nature, but maybe they know something about what the researchers were attempting to do."
"I don't know about that, Michael. The people up there only seem to be concerned about procreating and consuming whatever food and water they can. I don't seem them as people who would want to discover the secret to promulgating civilization."
"In any case, we have to explore this course of action. Our previous attackers will more than likely attempt another assault if they have the manpower to spare. We'll need to prepare ourselves." He looked to Justin.
"Which means that I'll need my best scout to head up to Portland, find out whatever you can about the lighthouse. If this is the breakthrough we've been looking for, this could change the course of history."
"No pressure, right?"
"Forgive me, Justin, but this...this is what we could use to restore order and balance to this wilderness. I need you to go up there."
"Do I have back-up?"
"No. I can't spare anyone else. Besides, you tend to work better by yourself or with someone else..." Ryken trailed off, glancing at Cameron.

Cameron nodded and smiled gratefully as they spoke about accepting her into their community, the first time that she didn’t let her pride and nihilistic views on the world stop her from accepting help. She even started to feel hope and a sense of purpose, which a year ago, she would laugh at. John, the only elder that didn’t view her as the scum of the Earth, was possibly right after all. He would often tell her that she was meant for more than what the village had to offer – something the other elders would become infuriated over – and that she had to do her best to fulfill her potential. She thought he was crazy, most did, and that all she would ever been was a thorn in the side of Chesapeake.

She listened intently to Ryken’s words as they trailed off, taking the hint along with absorbing his intense stare. “I’ll go with Justin. Of course,” she answered, nodding her head confidently. “We can leave when you’re ready,” she stated as she looked to the man next to her and smirked. Although Cameron wasn’t quite sure of what the trip would entail, she knew that Justin would do everything in his power to keep them both alive. She didn’t know him that well, of course, but from what she had seen, he was determined. She liked that.

After standing up, she shook hands with the council members and turned to Justin in his chair. “I’m just going to get a few things prepared. Come get me when you’re ready to go.”

She left the room and headed back to the cot she had taken the glorious nap on and packed the extra clothes that they had provided her with, along with braiding her long black hair away from her face and down her back, wispy pieces framing her face messily. The beloved knife had returned to its home on her thigh once again, and once she was satisfied, she laid back down in the cot and folded her hands on her stomach, resting her glossy blue eyes for a while. Part of her was excited to be going on out another mission, one with a bit more direction than her last; she had always wanted to be out in the world, and now was her chance. But, like any other experience she had in New York so far, she was sure there would be elements of peril lurking behind each corner they turned. Ah, what was she doing to herself? Now wasn’t the time to be negative. She made it this far, right?

A nurse jolted her out of a light sleep Cameron had fallen into and asked her to lift her shirt so that she could change the bandage hiding the slice in her side. She winced as the white shirt was lifted, folding it up so that not much of her bra was popping out. What did show, however, was an intricate tattoo of a tree that covered her back, something very much frowned upon in her village, which was probably why she wanted to get it. As she caught the nurse eyeing it, a smile was flashed between them. They definitely aren't as judgmental as I imagined they'd be.

As the nurse finished wrapping her up, a light rap on the door caused her eyes to shoot up to Justin's, and she smiled as she pulled her shirt back down and got up to grab her pack.

--------------------------------------

The hand drawn map was their guide on the path that neither of them had explored before. They had been pretty silent for the first hour or so, only really talking when they warned one another to watch their step or decipher which way the line was telling them to go. In Cameron’s opinion, she guessed that they both had a lot on their minds. Understandable. But the silence was starting to eat away at her subconscious, her inner thoughts begging her to blurt out anything.

“So,” she began, not really sure how to put her thoughts into words. “I’ve noticed you’re pretty, uh, stoic.” She winced at her words, realizing that he might not take that as a compliment like she meant it. “My village had a lot of hot heads. Any little thing could trigger a full blown fistfight between our leaders, no matter how enlightened they claim to be.” She giggled at the thought and stopped for a moment to catch her breath, leaning against a boulder. “I don’t think I’ve really been able to put into words how grateful I am for you taking me in. I don’t really believe in divine intervention, but I do think that we were meant to cross paths. If we get the information we’re looking for, we could be the saviors of humanity,” she chuckled, a slight sarcastic tone taking over at the end of her sentence. “But really. I think I – “

A loud thump came from the tree behind her, and she swiveled to view a bullet hole carved into the bark. “Fuck,” she mumbled as she grabbed Justin’s arm and ducked, weaving into the trees that surrounded the area. They crouched down, and she blew out the lantern she had been holding to light the path until the morning sun did the work for them. Her eyes tried to adjust to the darkness to no avail. “Justin,” Cameron whispered as quietly as possible, “I can’t see anything.” Distant chatter could be heard, but it wasn’t close enough to make out the words or how many there were. Her heart was thumping loudly in her ears as her eyes desperately scanned the landscape in front of them. They must have been tracking them. But who was they? If the information Omega now had was so important, they could have multiple enemies who had yet to make themselves known.

Another bullet zipped through the area, but it was about thirty feet to the right of the pair. “They can’t see us,” Cameron sighed in relief as she whispered. Remaining in a crouching position, she tugged on Justin’s shirt to signal for him to follow. They traveled along the dirt slowly, deeper into the woods, and she pulled out a compass from her backpack to keep track of where they were heading. Directly north. Slightly off course, but it was worth it to stay alive. The sky was fading from black to dark blue, signaling the sun would make its appearance soon and that they’d no longer be able to use the dark to hide.

It had been about thirty minutes since they heard the second shot, and she turned to Justin as she stopped for a moment. “I think we’ve lost them, but we could have others tracking us.” Her paranoia caused her eyes to dart around the trees surrounding them. “We should probably stay off any main roads for now. You okay with that?” she asked with sincerity. A tickle on her face made her wipe her skin with her hand, and as she observed her fingertips, Cameron noticed dirt. She looked back up to him with a smirk. “A new look I’m trying.”

They continued to walk a bit, straightening out their course back to northeast, when something snapped underneath her combat boot. She stopped abruptly, causing Justin to run into her, but instead of reacting, she bent down to pick up the object. “An arrow,” Cameron mumbled as her eyes squinted to observe its intricate markings. She handed it to Justin carefully as watched his expressions. “Do you know what clan this would belong to?” The tip of it had blood on it, probably of an animal, and it looked fresh. That means that wherever the hell it came from, it was recent. Very recent.

Cameron’s feet moved her around 360 degrees as she scoped the trees surrounding them. She had heard an infinite amount of horror stories about the more primitive clans that scattered the north. Ones of cannibalism, violence gruesome or sexual in nature, and a complete disregard for human life existing outside of their band. How true it all was, she had no clue, but it was enough to cause a slight panic within her. “I-I don’t know what to do, Justin. What do we do?” she whispered, head swimming with endless scenarios being played out in her mind as her eyes met his. At this point, she didn’t care if he knew she was scared. Cameron just wanted to be safe, even for a moment. “Do you know of any safe haven on the way to Portland?”

Before he had time to respond, a thud sounded behind Cameron, followed by another thud behind Justin. “Drop your weapons slowly!” a man’s voice shouted at them, specifically the one behind her. As she obliged and tossed her gun on the floor, she eyed the man standing behind Justin. He was dressed in ragged clothing: a ripped motorcycle jacket, dreaded hair, and a distinct tattoo covering half of his face. Fear began to rise in her chest as she locked eyes with Justin, trying to search his eyes for some sort of direction to take.

“Get on your knees, both of you!” The man behind Justin was now the one barking orders, holding an arrow held tightly in a bow at Justin’s head, assuming that the man behind her had a weapon trained on her as well. Cameron held her hands up and shakily dropped down to the soft dirt of the forest, keeping her eyes now locked on the ground. While she appreciated Justin for who he was, the fact that he was stoic was not helping her in this situation. He was too damn hard to read. She caught his gaze once more, crinkling her nose at him as some sort of signal. A signal for what? Cameron wasn’t sure. But if they kept getting held up like this, they’d never make it to Portland.

Sweat was beading on her forehead as she blew a strand of hair from her face, and not a second later, she fell forward and kicked her leg back in a sweep, knocking the man behind her down to the dirt. Before the man man behind Justin could react, her knife that was overlooked was thrown, landing into the man’s neck. She groaned as she stood up, planting a knee on the throat of she one she had knocked over. This man was different from their other aggressor. He was clean shaven, dressed in slacks in fair condition, and a military grade vest. Why would the two of them be working together if they weren't from the same band? That didn't make sense.

Her hand searched his pocket to find a tightly folder piece of paper. One that looked like the maps from the box. It couldn't have been the same, could it? Where would they have gotten it from? “Justin,” she said quietly, handing it to him as the man below her was gasping for breath. Her eyes showed both hints of curiosity and suspicion. Their problem could be bigger than expected of clans were working against them to get a hold of the information they were privy to.

He took the paper from her, attempting to examine it in the dark before shaking his head.
"Hold on." The scout looked down at the gasping attacker, the trees obfuscating the dying light of the moon, but did allow for him to see that the man's clothing was more chain gang than drifter. He breathed out a sigh before kicking the man's head with his sneaker, effectively ending whatever life had been attempting to hang on, a sickening SNAP authenticating the fact.
"That clothing is unique...gimme a minute." He stepped out onto the main road, the moonlight illuminating the remnants of interstate 95, a major freeway that connected New York to Boston. Fifty years hadn't been kind to the road, major cracks gave way to crumbling sections. Rusty eighteen wheelers and ancient skeletons littered the location with unknown items from a time Justin had only experienced through story. He had only been up this way a couple of times and hadn't gone nearly as far as he and Cameron had. The North was unexplored for a very good reason, which was proven by not only their unexpected mugging, but the arrow found by Cameron. Arrows weren't used by the groups to the South and were trademarks of a much more uncivilized tribal mindset that had taken deep hold in the northern part of the country. Before they had set foot on the road, Justin had told Cameron a couple of stories about what he had found while scouting this section, including a body riddled with arrows and a couple of younger teenage-looking kids tearing the body open. When he confronted them, they ran off, their hands grasping what looked like organs.

It was a weird place.

He managed to find just the right angle to read the document, nodding slightly as he motioned for Cameron to sidle up next to him before telling her:
"This looks similar. See the shapes? They're a bit off, but the markers are still there. Gotta wonder if the guys that attacked Omega hired these guys to get us off our track before we got off the ground." He looked back at the corpses, gaze lingering for a moment.
"You asked if there was a safehouse?" He looked to her with a slight smile.
"Civilization, or what's left of it, was left behind hours ago. We need to stay low and carve out our own little slice of heaven." Justin felt for his pack, then remembered.
"Let's get our stuff. We'll need to keep moving."

Justin wasn't about to explain why he had been silent most of the trip. Not yet anyway. His focus was solely on ensuring that they didn't get murdered by an arrow they didn't see coming or get ambushed again. He was irritated that he had allowed something that stupid to get to them this early, but his mind had been elsewhere. Not now. They weaved on and off the main road, clambering over side rails and scampering over overpasses until finally they reached the remnants of a gas station that hadn't totally fallen apart. Walking past the rusted pumps, Justin managed to jiggle the door handle on the convenience store just at the right angle for it to creak open. The shelves were collapsed and the coolers totally non-functional, but there was only one entrance in and out that Justin could see. "Alright...we stay here for a couple of hours. Catch our breath." He placed his pack on a nearby counter before resting his hands on the surface, looking down.
"I'm sorry." He looked over at her.
"I'm sorry I didn't see that coming and I'm sorry that I've been distracted. It's just..." He blew out some air.
"A good friend. Kylie. When we were scanning for survivors, I found her body next to one of those armored goons. She was all..." He moved his hands in the air, attempting to convey her position.
"She was just spread out. Helpless. Like she was looking for someone to get her out, but didn't know where to go and I should've been there. I should've...I shouldn't have even gone out on that trip a couple days ago. I mean, I'm glad we found you, I am. This is huge, but...I guess I didn't think Omega could actually suffer an attack and that I could lose the people I care about." A sad chortle.
"I guess you know more about that than I do, huh?"

Justin’s apology took her by surprise, but not more than what he explained to her afterwards. Her face slowly faded into a frown as he spoke, as he spoke about his friend, his people, being attacked and getting killed. “I’m sorry,” her raspy voice quietly replied. “I didn’t know what the box meant. It took me too long to put all the pieces together, to realize what happened to my village. I shouldn’t have let you bring me to Omega.” Her eyes darted away from him and down to her boots, guilt and regret crashing over her in waves. Her mind flashed images of the bodies she had seen laying on the ground – still and lifeless with their eyes still open. The thoughts made her get the chills. “I’m sorry about your friend.”

Kneeling in front of her pack against the wall across from Justin, she released her hair from the braid, bending over shaking it out with her fingers to release the twigs and leaves that had made a home in it, and then she dug down to the bottom to pull out a small, gold case. Upon opening it, she plopped down to the floor and took out a single cigarette and a Zippo lighter. “I was saving it for a rainy day, but I think this counts,” she smirked as she pulled it out of the band that held it in place. Cigarettes had been extinct for a long time, but Cameron knew someone who had hoarded them and sold them village to village. It cost her a good amount more than the normal hand-rolled one, but she had always wanted to try one from the old days. Something about smoking the same kind that the old world used to was exciting.

She used her Zippo to ignite the cigarette, and after exhaling, she spoke quietly. “I didn’t really have anyone at Chesapeake. They found me on the bay when I was five. Alone. I don’t remember much before that, though. The settlement sort of collectively raised me.” She paused for a moment and closed her eyes as she took another drag from the cigarette and offered it to Justin. She wasn’t used to telling the details of her life to someone she barely knew. Everyone she had lived with already knew her. Thought of her as a lost soul. A charity case. “The only reason I survived the attack was because I was on house arrest. My door was bolted shut. They tried to get in, but they couldn’t. Someone slipped the keys through the bars on the window before they got killed in front of it.” Another pause before she lifted her eyes up to Justin. “After they left, I found John. That’s when he told me where to find the box and to head north. He, uh, he passed before he could tell me anything else.”

This was when her voice began to waver with emotion. Stop it, stop it, stop it she kept repeating to herself in her mind. “I-I’m so sorry for what happened, Justin. If I knew, I’d…” What was the point? A thousand apologies weren’t going to make up for what happened to his people. Her head found a resting place on her two bent knees in front of her as Cameron attempted to compose herself, but her tears were creating a spot on each knee. Without looking up, she spoke with a voice mumbled by her legs. “We’ve got to find all the pieces so no one will have died in vain.”

She finally lifted her head up and laughed at herself as she wiped her tears from her red-rimmed eyes. “I’m not usually this emotional, I swear,” she chuckled as she took a deep breath and grabbed the cigarette back. “This wasn’t as good as I thought it would be,” Cameron exhaled as she observed the filtered cigarette, rolling it in her fingers.

"How old are you, Justin? If you don't mind me asking, of course."

Justin listened to Cameron's tale with a sympathetic ear, following Cameron's lead and placing himself on the floor in a seated position, legs out in front of him as she regaled him with tales of her past. It was sad to hear that her clan had been destroyed and she had to live with the memories, but then again, it was becoming common place. He had come upon a number of minor settlements torn to pieces by raiders, depraved stoners who had scavenged enough equipment to make them dangerous or a bit of both. This, however, seemed more targeted, which terrified him. If there was an organized group with this kind of gear out to harm people, there wouldn't be any other settlements on the east coast...or in the U.S. for that matter.

He took the cigarette and held it for her as she continued, not indulging in the act. Justin despised the stuff personally, but wasn't about to condemn his new-found companion for attempting to calm herself down. When she took it back, her eyes looked to be welling up with tears. He was about to make a loose attempt at comforting her, but then she asked about his age.
"Twenty nine. That, apparently, was considered much younger than it is now. Ryken told me that before all this went to crap, his parents didn't trust him with so much as a fork at eight years old. Now? We've got eight year olds learning how to make bullets from scrap metal and plant seeds in just the right way so they can grow without being torched by the sun." He shifted his position to where his legs were bent, arms circling around his knees as he continued:
"But yeah, twenty nine. Got trusted with the position of scout at eighteen. Hit my head against the wall as a rookie, you know? Got bruised, beaten, even left for dead all in my first year. Maturation process around here is pretty quick." He chuckled, his periphery catching the initial gleam of the sun coming through the somehow intact glass pane that once served a storefront.
"Once our former lead scout, Juniper, died on the job, I got pushed into the position at twenty six. Ryken thought I could do a good job, saw something in me, I guess. Of course, lead scout just means that I do crazy, suicidal stuff like this and pray to every divine figure known to us that I get back in one piece." Justin looked to Cameron, curiosity dancing in his eyes.
"It does help that I have a buddy to travel with who can throw knives into people's throats. Always a good thing. My question is: how on earth did you learn how to fight like you do? We train both guys and gals how to fight in Omega, but you...you're really good. You move really..." He wiggled his arms a bit.
"Gracefully? Ok, that WASN'T graceful, but you know what I mean!" Laughing, he continued:
"So not only am I curious about how you learned to fight, but why...why were you under house arrest? Beat up a guy who hit on you?"

Cameron’s eyes danced around Justin’s face as he spoke, enjoying the different expressions he would make at the things he said. One thing that stuck out to her were his green eyes. She couldn’t recall anyone in her village that had them but had heard of them before. They were fascinating to say the least, but when she caught herself staring, her cheeks grew red as she looked away.

Ah, the reason she never told people about her life. The questions.

“Well, I was always around boys growing up. The girls thought I was, well, a little abrasive,” she chuckled as she thought of herself as a child. “Back in the day, they didn’t ‘believe’ in guns,” she made air quotes with her fingers before continuing, “so most training was hand-to-hand combat. They wouldn’t let girls into the program, which was easy to enforce since none of the girls wanted to be in it. But after enough begging and pleading, they gave up and let me train with them. They started teaching with other weapons a few years later. Knives were always my favorite,” she smiled faintly.

“A lot of women were unhappy, wanting more freedom, so some began to leave the settlement in hopes to find somewhere better for themselves.” Cameron paused. The next part of the story, she knew, would be difficult to repeat.

“After a while, they recanted their beliefs on guns, they began training with them. Said it wasn’t right for a woman to be handling such machinery, although they still let me do combat training. It caused an uproar, though, when more and more girls began showing interest in learning to fight after rumors were being spread around. They were saying that the raiders were attacking and raping women, leaving them for dead. Their plan to scare the women in to submission backfired. So,” she cleared her throat, “they tried to stop me from training all together a few years later, saying I was a bad role model for the kids. But they knew I wasn’t going to take it sitting down.”

“Last year, a few days after my 24th birthday, I was invited out on a hunt with men that weren’t usually in my group. I didn’t think anything of it, but…” Her voice trailed off, and Cameron paused once more. “I was attacked by three of them while we camped for the night. Made sure I looked real bad and…” she figured he could use his imagination, so she didn’t go further into detail on the assault. “Any way, when we got back home, they blamed it on raiders so they could push their agenda for women not to be able to leave our walls. They instructed the healers to keep me heavily sedated, so no one believed me when I tried to explain what happened. They knew I had no family that would try to vouch for me. John was the only one who did, but he couldn’t do anything about it. It was planned out pretty well, I'll give them that.”

Cameron’s eyes shifted to Justin, trying to read him. She couldn’t. “So, after they released me, I killed one of my attackers in the middle of the night. That wasn’t my plan, but after I made my way into his house, all I could see was red.” She frowned for a moment. “The only reason I didn’t get executed for it was because they decided that, because of what happened to me, I couldn’t be fully held responsible for my actions. So, I’ve been on house arrest ever since. Explains why I can’t run anymore,” she chuckled nervously as she picked at the bottom of her boot.

Cameron didn’t want her to think any differently of her, but she was sure he did. She didn’t kill this man in combat. He was killed in cold blood, on his bed while he slept. But, she sure as hell didn’t regret it. Not at all.

Feeling Justin’s stare, she looked up to him slowly. “I, uh, sorry. Probably a little too much information, huh?” Cameron didn’t plan on telling him all the nitty-gritty details of her life, but he made it easy. He was kind and protective, and she felt like he’d keep her stories safe. And keep her safe. "Please, uh," she shook her head, "please don't tell any of your people about my past. They seem so... wholesome. I don't want them not to like me."

Cameron looked out through the front window of the convenience store and saw that the sun was making the sky a pink color, which inspired a soft smile to take over Cameron's face.

"Nope. Not at all." He inched a bit closer to her as she asked him to not tell the people of Omega her past, prompting a nod from Justin.
"Of course. Besides, people in Omega...or what's left of them anyway, they don't care about your past. One of the beliefs that Ryken has tried to beat into everyone of us is that we all make mistakes, we all slip up. We don't need our mistakes thrown in our faces every five seconds because that doesn't build anything. Just tears down." He fiddled with the hem of his undershirt, which was sticking out from underneath the thin navy blue pullover that served as his only layer of protection between the flimsy undershirt and the rest of his upper body.
"I uh...I really think you were brave." His gaze drifted to her, continuing:
"What they did to you was messed up. I'm glad you got the guy. I would've helped you cover it up, to be honest. I've found so many bodies out there. Girls, women, all uncovered and in the most terrible looking positions. What bothers me the most is that they're just left out there, you know? Like you would the carcass of an animal. They're freakin human, you know?" He swallowed hard, his gaze leaving hers as he stared straight ahead.
"So much jacked up stuff here. So much. It makes me want to believe in the Second coming that Ryken keeps talking about." He laughed slightly.
"It's in the Bible. Talks about Christ, this Divine figure, coming back and wiping the world clean. Fresh food, clean water, people giving a flip about each other. Sounds out of reach, but hey, I can dream, right?" The sun began to peek over the horizon, illuminating the desolate stretch of freeway just outside the station. He stood up, grabbing his pack and slinging it over his back as he squinted, gazing out at the urban wilderness. A few beats of silence passed, Justin's breath coming in deep, slow efforts. He then turned around, extending a hand to Cameron.
"We live in the present. So far as I'm concerned, you're Cameron, the girl who can throw knives and has the most gorgeous hair I've ever seen in the world." He blushed slightly as he quickly added:
"I've kinda...thought that. For a while. Since I met you. Ok, maybe I'll stop talking and we can start walking, huh?" A nervous laugh escaped his lips as he mentally berated himself for the slip up. Hopefully he wouldn't have too many of those...

_____

The daylight was a welcome addition to their hike, seeing as now Justin didn't have to constantly check every couple of feet for traps, small objects or chunks of debris that could easily be obscured by the darkness. They were moving at a faster pace than last night, but Justin was painfully aware that sleep had been an activity he hadn't gotten to participate in almost thirty six hours. He had done stretches like this before, but he knew that he was going to have to take a nap at noon or else he would-

His eyes fell upon a chestpiece to the right of a husk of an eighteen wheeler that had familiar markings...
"Cameron." He brought her over to the armor, picking it up and examining it in the light. It was a silvery grey with white and blue markings on the side.
"Same exact armor as the guys who attacked Omega." He flipped it around, noting the straps that wrapped around the wearer's waist and upper back.
"Why would..." Justin looked to the side of the road and saw the wearer of the armor with arrows jutting out of his neck and body, eyes missing from his head. There were blood smears across his stomach and a dab of white paint on the belly button.
"Marking territory..." He put the piece of armor down as he inched forward, peeking around the rusted semi and saw that the road ahead curved into a heavily forested area.
"Crap."

Cameron listened politely while Justin spoke of Omega’s religious teaching. To her, it was all bullshit. Humans are born, they survive, and then they die. Fertilizer for the Earth. No god was going to come save them. What god would let them kill their planet which in return, killed them? What god would allow Cameron to be attacked and raped? What god would let Chesapeake, Omega, and all the other villages get slaughtered brutally? No god. Because there wasn’t one. And Cameron held tightly on to that belief. But instead of being rude, she nodded and smiled as she spoke. Everyone needed hope.

She took his hand when it was offered and stood up, watching him blush as he complimented her hair. “Thank you,” she said with a smirk as she brushed off the back of her jeans. Justin was a lot different than the men she had known in the past. He wasn’t cocky, first of all, which was a refreshing change of pace. Secondly, he was kind without an ulterior motive. He didn’t owe her anything, and he also didn’t seem to want anything other than a companion on a trip to which she gladly obliged. It was so nice to be free again. Thirdly, although he was four years older and seemed to have seen a lot in his time, he had a quirky innocence about him, which was extremely unfamiliar territory to Cameron. She was jaded, scarred, over having to struggle to survive. But yet, Justin still had this positivity in him, and it was almost beginning to rub off on her.

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Cameron and Justin were talking lowly and laughing as they made their way back into the unknown territory that engulfed them. The pair, despite the circumstances, were in much better spirits than when they entered the convenience store. Until –

She gasped and covered her mouth at the sight before her. The stories that she had been told all her life had been unfolding before her eyes, and she felt nausea take over as she looked away for a moment. They were sitting ducks awaiting another ambush, one more hostile than the last one. Cameron took the liberty of reaching in Justin’s pocket to pull out the map. “Sorry,” she said unapologetically as she unraveled it to figure out their location.

“The freeway isn’t gonna cut it,” she blurted, trying her best to read the shapes and lines on the wrinkled paper. “It’d be out of the way,” the words were coming out strained as she was processing it all, getting closer to him so he could get a view, “but if we head west, and then travel up the coast here,” her thin finger traveled up the paper, “we should be able to get there. Unless you know of other… hostile settlements that way.” Cameron looked up to him and was able to, for the first time, able to observe his face in daylight. It may have been a bad time, but her mind forced her to say it. “You know, I’ve never met anyone with green eyes before,” she admitted, looking at them for a second more before returning her attention to the map. Her irises were such a light blue that they nearly lacked pigment, but his were full of rich color. Fascinating.

“We can head west until we find some where to camp for a bit. No offense, but you look like you could use some sleep,” she laughed as she scanned their surroundings. No hostiles. A sigh of relief emerged from her. At least at Chesapeake, Cameron didn’t have to watch her back constantly.

They slyly climbed over the fence on the interstate and plopped down onto undeveloped land. A small river ran underneath the dilapidated road and out both east and west. “Probably their boundary,” she mumbled, referring to the group that had impaled the man they saw earlier. They traveled quietly and quickly, both looking like paranoid animals as they kept low and continually watched the trees and grass around them. Better to be safe than the guy with arrows in his neck. Any time they heard any noise, Cameron would cling to Justin like a child until they realized it was nothing, or when she realized what she was dong. Part of her felt pathetic for it, she wasn’t used to being this… broken. But part of her almost enjoyed it. Relying on someone for comfort was foreign, but it didn’t feel awful either.

After a few hours, they approached a clearing that the sunlight speckled through the trees. Cameron was exhausted and panting as she dropped her pack on the ground. “Is this a good spot for you? My lungs need a break,” she laughed as she smiled, observing the small area. Thick blades of green grass covered the ground, and tall, rustling trees swayed around it in a circle. It was peaceful, and she wanted nothing more than to lay down and enjoy it. That, and the inside of her eyelids.
She took a minute to stretch and groan before plopping down on the soil and feeling her joints in muscles cry in relief at the break they were receiving.

Although Cameron was relaxing, she didn't let her guard down. Her muscles still tensed with every sound that the landscape around them produced. The terrible mix of the trauma she had endured, the lack of a good nights sleep, and the unfamiliar territory were the cause of her jumpiness.

"So, I'm sorry if I sound daft, but what exactly are we trying to accomplish in Portland? How do we know that the other settlements haven't gotten there first?"