The smoke rose into the cloudless sky as the two jogging figures approached their fenced in home. Bree tapped the wooden fence before Ethan could, and simple left it be with a smirk on her face.

"You owe me." She mouthed to him as the gate was opened by a red haired girl in her mid twenties.

"Sasha! I didn't know you were on gate duty this week!" Bree momentarily lost focus with the break of schedule that followed Sasha opening the gate.

"Yeah... well. They're burning stuff, so I had to take shift..." Sasha turned behind her toward the direction of the smoke, a hunting rifle was strapped to her back.

Ethan broke into the conversation hastily, "What for? Who gave them permission? We all know that it draws attention."

Sasha glanced at Ethan for a moment while pulling on the strap of the rifle, "Micheal gave us permission."

Ethan should have known that before he even asked. Bree walked past Sasha as she waited for them to enter, and Ethan shot a glance towards the small two story building. Micheal wasn't trouble at all, thought Ethan, he was... just so commanding. Tried to take control once he showed up, and almost did until he had showed up after another run.

Ethan and Charles had found him talking I the whole group about how they ran this place. He started talking about their system, how it was flawed in some circumstantial ways that would lead to our doom. Charles shut him up by taking him on a run the next time. One of us always stayed home most of the time to make sure he didn't get the attitude again.

Bree slipped into the house, no doubt to talk to Micheal, while Ethan moved towards a row of small sheds. The smoke was coming from the side of one, and as Ethan rounded it he saw three people watching it burn. Tex, a bald man with a pair of glasses walked up to Ethan.

"Ethan! Your back! We were expecting you for a while. Micheal.... well, he took over for now." Tex glanced away from Ethan as he spoke the last part.

"How? Isn't Brian in charge?" Ethan still didn't appreciate the small things Micheal had done from his first impression.

The other two people, both females, glanced towards the two. Both of them with a concerned look on their face. They walked away before they were dragged into the conversation. Tex cleaned his glasses slowly as he glanced back towards the fire.

Tex put his lasses on before replying, "Brian is in charge, but Micheal wanted to clean up stuff for more storage. He made a valid point if you ask me..."

Ethan walked away before Tex could finish his sentence. Anger was starting to ebb into his thoughts as he went towards the house. Charles came over to his side, and grabbed his shoulder.

"What are you doing Ethan?" Charles spoke quietly into his ear.

"What do you think?!?" Ethan hissed these words back.

Charles grabbed his shoulder harder, and forced him to stop his walking. Ethan ripped his arm off before talking again.

"What are you doing Charles!!"

Charles stepped in front of him, "Use your brain Ethan! If you do this we won't be able to do anything. We are still young; to young to have the weight we do on our shoulders. You want to keep doing runs don't you?"

Ethan clenched his fist without replying, and Charles kept talking. "I know your upset about the fire being started. I was to at first, but then I saw the good side of it. We made room for crop storage, if we get anything from the garden."

Ethan opened his mouth, and then closed it after letting out an exasperated sigh. Charles slackened his stance, and then smiled slightly. He walked away, towards the fire, and Ethan walked towards the house again, but with a different motive.

When he entered the house he saw Bree, Micheal, and Brian standing around a table in the living room. A county map was splayed across it, and they marked it with a stubby pencil. Brian, a short man with black hair scribbled markings onto the paper. Micheal, a man that was about 6" with blonde hair pointed to a spot on the map for Brian to mark next. Bree looked at the map the whole time, not saying a single word.

Ethan walked up to it, and looked at the markings. They were marking which places had been searched, and if anything was left. Even places where large amounts of Rotters had been spotted, or recent signs of life. The hordes , and signs of life were usually overlapping on the map within days.

Not much had been found for quite a while. Even hunting was getting harder to do with the warming climate. Ethan pulled up besides Bree, and glanced across the table at Micheal for a moment. Micheal glanced back at him and mouthed 'sorry'.

Ethan just glanced back down to the map to see what was marked already. "A Rotter horde passed through Cambridge yesterday."

Brian looked up, not noticing Ethan, and then went to mark it with a red pen. The pens would come off of the map if used correctly, and they tried to follow Rotter movements to insure safety.

Brian set the pen down while talking, "So that's why you guys didn't come back yesterday. Did you still get the supplies?"

Bree answered this one, "Yeah . . . We did, and-you know, dropped them off."

Brian's eyebrow reached upward on his face, and his brown hair partially tried to conceal it. They were all in need of a haircut soon.

Micheal slapped a hand onto Brian's side, "Don't worry Brian. I saw them drop it off when they showed up! No big deal."

Brian stiffened from the contact, but spoke softly in his voice, "Alright. Anyone care to relieve Sasha of gate duty?"

Bree mumbled something, and walked out the door.

Brian glanced at Ethan, "What? I don't know what she said. She might be doing it, but I'll check if you want me to . . ."

Brian smiled, and creases formed on his face. He waved Ethan out, and turned back to Micheal who had gone back to the map again.

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Sorry about the update taking so long. I'm rotating Wattpad, school, and then other stuff together, and it's kinda hectic.

I imagine this to get better in a few weeks or less.

Enjoy this chapter.