"You ready for this?"

"For the millionth time, yes," Hunter said, exasperated. "I draw them out long enough for you to get in through the gate and then make sure I hide myself well enough so that they can't find me. Then I wait for you to do your grand theft auto impersonation and follow you until you find a place to stop. I don't know if you realize, Grace, but you have the hard part of this all."

"Thanks for the reminder." They stood at the edge of the tree line, staring out at the field in front of them. It was early in the morning, and Grace wanted to get going, but she hated the idea of Hunter putting himself in danger.

"Hey." It was like he could read her mind. He picked up her hand and squeezed it. "It's going to be fine. We thrive off of chaotic plans, in case you couldn't tell."

"Yeah, and now we're stealing weapons from a heavily guarded military base because I got kidnapped by a bunch of fascist militants," Grace complained. "I'm not exactly sure how our plans have worked out for us."

"Grace." He pulled her toward him. "We're still here. We're still alive. And we're still fighting."
"Look at you giving me a pep talk."

"You have to stop having doomsday thoughts."

Grace got a strange urge to laugh. "Alright, alright," she said. "Fair enough." She glanced up at the sky again. "We should get going."

She pulled away, heading in the opposite direction from where Hunter would be, but he tightened his grip on her hand and pulled her back to him. He put his other hand through her hair as he kissed her, holding her tightly against him.

All of Grace's body seemed to melt into his arms. For a moment, she forgot about the weapons and the militants and the border; the world seemed good again. But that moment, and Hunter pulled away.

He had a shadow of a smirk on his face. "Except I'm not planning on leaving you," he whispered, and then he ran off into the trees.

Grace stood stunned for a moment, both from the kiss and the slightly harsh, but well deserved, dig he just gave her. Then she shook her head and ran off in the opposite direction. Hopefully, they would have time to figure things out later.

Grace climbed a tree as soon as she got enough distance away from Hunter, still close enough that she could see the gate. Hopefully, as soon as it opened, she would find a way to get down the hill and through the entrance.

She sat crouched perfectly still on a branch. Nothing happened. If Hunter was making any noise at all, she couldn't hear it. And if she couldn't hear it, then the military base definitely wouldn't be able to hear it.

"Hunter, don't be an idiot," Grace whispered to herself. She saw a figure emerge from the trees, across the field, and start down the ridge. "Not part of the plan, not part of the plan, not part of the plan." She really didn't want him being spotted.

But apparently that's what he changed the plan to be. Grace held her breath as she watched him get within 20 feet of the fence and start waving his hands. She was too far away, but guessed he was yelling as well.

The method had the desired effect. Still unable to hear, Grace watched as men started running out of the building, calling for backup, and then more men appearing.

She breathed a sigh of relief at two things: Hunter was not immediately shot, and he booked it back up the hill before the men could get on the other side of the gate.

Her hunch was right. One soldier ran to the gate and hurriedly unlocked it. Grace took this as her cue to drop down from her spot and creep along the tree line. They would be following Hunter, anyway, who was leading them away from her.

The gate swung open, and two trucks drove out, following Hunter's path. Grace ran just out of sight in the trees until she was directly across from the gate. She was just about to run out into the field when she stopped.

They would be able to see her. She walked along the trees for a little while longer, slowly to avoid anyone from the truck seeing her, until she came across tire tracks. She followed those for a little while and then came across the trucks themselves. A few men stood around them, but it looked like a party went out on foot to try and find Hunter. Looking ahead, Grace could see that the trees were getting too close together for anyone to drive.

She couldn't get in on foot, so she would go in the car. Or, under the car.

Grace retreated a few feet until she found a sizeable rock. She snuck back to get the cars and guards in sight and threw the rock as hard as she could in the opposite direction.

She got her desired effect. All but one of the guards ran off after the noise, and the one who didn't faced away from Grace, giving her time to dash over to a truck, roll under it, and find handholds to pull herself up off the ground.

Now, she just had to hope that they wouldn't search for Hunter for too long.

About half an hour later, footsteps came running back.

"Did you find him?" a voice asked.

"Officially, no," another voice said.

"But unofficially," a third voice said, "he's dead. Everyone understand?"

There were general murmurs of agreement. Apparently, none of these guys wanted to spend their time wandering around militia territory looking for one random person. Grace couldn't blame them, although she wondered if they knew who ruled the land they stood on. Clearly, though, the military didn't pay them enough to care.

Doors slammed and engines roared to life. Grace pulled herself up just as the truck began turning around to head back to the base. She tried not to breathe too much, but fortunately, the exhaust wasn't too bad.

Grace's arms were shaking by the time the trucks pulled into a large warehouse and their occupants got out and left the building. When she heard the door slam, she dropped to the ground, her arms cramping and her entire body dirty with exhaust. But she was in.

She counted to ten. Then she forced herself to roll out from under the truck and get up, cautiously winding between the vehicles to try and find a door.

Before leaving, however, Grace scouted the walls and car interiors for a spare jacket. She could probably just pass in what she had on at the moment, but to be on the safe side, she wanted the uniform.

Grace gave a small air punch when spotted one in the passenger's seat of the last car. She quickly threw it on and then went straight to the door, slipping out into the sunlight.

She made it about three feet before running into someone. The man gave her a look up and down and then smirked. "What did you do, stick you head up a tailpipe?"

Grace realized she probably had grime all over her face from her trip in, and she automatically made to wipe her face off with her sleeve. She shrugged. "Car trouble," she said, trying to sound nonchalant.

"You took that mission out just now?" he asked, nodding toward the other side of the fence.

Grace gave a noncommittal murmur.

"Heard you got the guy," he said. "Good. The last thing we need is being discovered."
Grace nodded.

He peered at her. "What's up? You new or something?"

Grace jumped at the opening. "Yeah, haven't been here long."

He nodded. "Oh yeah, I remember when I first got here, everything was so overwhelming. Like, I didn't exactly join the military to guard the border to California, you know?"

"Yeah." Grace was desperate to ask questions about what was going on in the rest of the country, but she held her tongue. She had no intention of getting caught asking stupid questions.

"But you'll get used to it."

"I was actually supposed to go over to weapons storage," Grace lied. "Something about making sure I know where things are so I don't blow anything up?"

He laughed. "Yeah, yeah. Everyone gets a tour."

"But I still kind of get lost," she said. "You wouldn't be able to give me directions, would you?"

"Yeah, just follow the fence here for about a mile," he told her. "You'll see a large, black warehouse with a bunch of electronic locks on it. That's where you're headed. You have access, yet?"

Grace shook her head.

"Then just use my code. 85730. Go find the guard, there's always one on duty, inside to the right. They'll let you know what to do from there."

"Right. Thanks a lot."

"Yeah, no problem."

Grace gave him a nod as she left, but then tried not to walk too quickly along the fence, keeping her eye out for a black warehouse amongst the sea of gray. She passed a few people, but no one bothered her. Everyone looked too preoccupied with what they were doing to worry about her, and Grace tried to appear the same. About 20 minutes later, she spotted the massive building and diverted her path toward it.

"85730," she murmured to herself as she put in the other man's code. She pulled open the door, slipped inside, and immediately headed left.

Grace pulled out the list Josh gave her from her pocket. The warehouse was extensive and Grace was confident that she could find everything he asked for, but she also knew that she was probably being watched. With only one guard, Grace could be almost sure that there were cameras.

But she wondered if it would matter that much if someone was watching her. If she acted like she what she was doing, would anyone question it? The man she talked to outside of the garage hadn't looked at her twice.

"Can I help you?"

Grace jumped and turned around to face the security guard. "Uh, yeah, I was sent here to get some supplies," she said.

"For what?"

Grace shrugged. "I think it has something to do with increased people along the border?" She used the wild goose chase Hunter led them on earlier to her advantage. "But I don't really know."

"What do you need?"

Grace handed her the list. The security guard surveyed it, eyebrows raised. "All of this? Seems excessive."

"Yeah, I guess. I don't know, I just got sent here."

"Alright, you taking all of this in one trip?"

"Yeah, they want it right away."

"Okay, I'll go grab you some containers. You know where everything is?"

Grace nodded.

The security guard disappeared and Grace shifted from foot to foot, waiting for her to come back.

"Here, carry one in each hand, and this one you can put on your back." The guard came back with three black cases. "When you're done, just bring the cases by the office and I'll check everything out for you. Just to keep a record of things."

"Thanks."

The warehouse was so huge, it took Grace hours to wind her way up and down the shelves, lugging the black containers with her and gradually filling them up with her extensive list. About two hours in, she passed the explosives section, but she left those where they were, at least for now. She had to figure out how she could smuggle the plastic explosives out without the guard seeing them.

Security definitely was not as heavy as Grace expected. But then again, maybe in the three years that this place had probably been here, they had never had a break in. Three years of peace would be enough to make anyone sloppy.

Finally, Grace got to the end of her list and lugged the containers over to the security office. The guard sat staring at her computer screen, and as Grace got closer, she saw the screen played some TV show that she had never seen.

"Ready?"

"Yeah." The guard went through the items and then pulled up a log screen on her computer.

"What's your log number?"

Grace hoped that it would be the same number that got her into the building. "85730."

"Henry?" The guard turned to look at her, an eyebrow raised.

Grace shrugged. "My parents thought they were clever."

The guard snorted. "I guess." She recorded all of the items, shut the cases, and gave her a nod. "You're good to go."

"Hey, you mind if I actually take these one at a time?" Grace asked. "They're heavier than I thought they'd be."

"Go for it. I doubt anyone else will be through here."

"Thanks."

It took her an hour and a half to get the first two cases back to the garage, stowing them away in a truck. A few people gave her odd looks, but technically, she could have anything in those cases, and she did her best to look like she knew what she was doing.

Finally coming back for the third case, Grace made a show of looking for something in her pockets. "Damn," she told the guard, "I think I dropped my wallet in the warehouse. Mind if I go look for it?"

"Go ahead."

Grace made a beeline to the explosives and put a small brick in each of her jacket pockets and then tucked three more into the back of her waistline. The military jacket was large enough that it covered them completely.

"Found it." Grace picked up the third container. "Thanks so much for your help."

"Anytime." But the guard's words faded away as Grace was already out the door.

Grace felt like she looked guilty, but no one who passed her stopped her. She was very aware of the fact that she had covered herself in explosives, but also knew that there was nothing she could do about.

"Hey, you!"

Grace was about 20 feet from the garage when a voice called out from behind her. She halted in her tracks and slowly turned around.

Five men stood behind her, all with handguns drawn. The sun was setting, so the air was hazy, but they had their gazes trained on her like lasers.

"Put it down. The explosives, too."

Grace didn't move. And neither did the guns.

"Put it down."

"No."

"This is your last chance."

Grace should have just put the case down. But she didn't. She didn't know why, but something kept her from surrendering, from giving in.

"Look out!"

Someone shouted a warning, and it was almost too late. The Molotov cocktail smashed into the ground with almost perfect precision, forming a barrier between Grace and the soldiers. She turned tail and ran as the ground erupted into flames, forcing the soldier back.

Grace burst through the door of the garage and threw the final case in the back of the car. She hopped into the driver's seat, not even bothering to worry about the explosives around her waist, and crashed through the wall out into the open.

The fire still ranged. It had been dry that year, and clearly this military base had not escaped the droughts effects. Bullets bounced off of the car, but Grace kept her foot on the gas. She burst through the fence and was back in California.

She tore through up to the tree line and screeched to a halt as she saw a figure sprint toward her. Hunter dived into the back. "Go!" he screamed.

She took off again, driving through the trees in the direction that she had come with the militia truck. She knew the trees would be spaced out enough so that she could easily get through.

"We have to ditch the truck." Once Grace figured they were far enough away to give them a good enough head start, she stopped. "We're too obvious in it. On foot, we can hide. It's dark enough."

They both got out and grabbed the cases.

"Explosives?" Hunter asked.

Grace patted her jacket. "Got 'em. Now let's disappear."

"How hard do you think they'll search for us?"

"I don't know. But eventually they're going to get into militia territory. And I'm guessing they don't want to step into that kind of fight. It'll end bloody, on both sides."

And together, they melted into the shadows, back into militia territory and leaving the border, and whatever lay beyond it, behind them.