The van crosses the Zone border into an abandoned industrial area full of old factories, warehouses, collapsed buildings and various hidden Resistance hideouts. The drives through over the rugged, rundown industrial road towards an old warehouse. The doors open from the inside as the van approaches, after the van enters the doors are pushed closed by three Resistance Fighters wearing body armour, ski masks, two holding AK's and one with an M-16. Katlyn is the first to step out of the van followed by Clara, seeing the properly armed Fighters proves what she previously thought,

Looks like they do have some decent weapons. Guess it makes sense out here since we didn't pass a single checkpoint on our way here.

"We walk from here." Adam says while getting out of the van, he orders the others to grab their gear out of the van.

Katlyn watches as Clara and Adam grab bags and hand them off to the other Fighters who were already in the warehouse who take them to another room. Clara reaches back into the main part of the van and pulls out two pistols giving one to Adam, and checks the chamber of the second before tucking it into her own waistband. Katlyn's and Clara's eyes meet for a moment as Katlyn realizes that her best friend isn't entirely the person she thought she knew. Clara breaks eye contact, and says she's ready to leave.

She carries a gun? The Clara I know couldn't even kill a bug. Has she ever had to use it?

After several minutes the groups get what they need and leave the warehouse through a side door that leads into an open lot, after taking a moment to ensure the way is clear they dash out across the lot and begin making their way through destroyed, and rundown buildings. Serena and the others all make their way through with ease while Katlyn is having a bit harder of a time trying to keep up as they squeeze through narrow gaps in debris piles. They enter an abandoned factory building when Serena puts her hand up signaling for the others to stop, a whirring sound starts to fill the silence of the space: a small drone is flying over two soldiers as they make their way through the factory floor where they are. Serena signals for the others to spread out and take cover, Serena and the other Fighters take cover behind a wall while Clara, Adam, and Katlyn dive behind an old piece of machinery. Katlyn loses her footing causing her to cut her arm on a piece of metal, before a sound can escape her Clara covers her mouth as the soldiers close the distance, blood running down her arm. The soldiers pass close enough the chatter on their radios can be heard, Clara and Adam pull their pistols, Serena puts her hand out slightly as a sign for them to stay low and not make a move. Eventually the soldiers and drone leave the building and the group quickly make their way out of the building.

After venturing deeper into the Zone they reach an abandoned complex and make their way down into a sublevel where they reveal a hidden passageway, the further into this place they go the more almost excited Katlyn gets.

Even though we just narrowly dodged a patrol this is like something out of a movie! A hidden passageway to a hide out? This would be awesome if it wasn't absolutely terrifying.

"Take you back to when we were kids Katie? Always out playing Explorer?" Clara asks with a smile, Katlyn chuckles before replying.

"Oh I remember. You were always my sidekick." She replies with a cheeky smile as she follows behind Clara through the entrance.

"Sidekick?! I remember you were my sidekick." Clara says with a laugh.

The two go back and forth about who was truly the sidekick laughing as they make their way through the narrow passage, some spaces tighter and narrower than others where they are having to squeeze through and hand the bags to each other in order to get through. Eventually they enter a large, fairly lit open area filled with tents and makeshift shelters, people are walking around and down improvised paths. Katlyn looks in awe at the fact this looks like a proper town despite the conditions not looking the best.

"Welcome to New Town. The only truly free place in the city." Serena says as the group enters the township proper.

Katlyn takes in the view: tents grouped together, somewhat nicer makeshift shelters made from scrap metal with some stacked two high obviously to save space, they walk past a community kitchen where soup is being served out by two women and a man all wearing blue NVR Armbands.

"So what do you think? Impressive eh." Clara asks Katlyn.

"This is amazing! How many people live here?" Katlyn asks, still shocked by the fact a township like this exists and she had no idea.

"Not counting our f=Fighters, and volunteers: 112 people. These are people who've been lucky enough to get out here for a safe place to live, get food and medical attention. Not everyone is so lucky though." Serena explains.

"How has a place like this gone unnoticed? You must have had encounters with the military before." Katlyn asks.

"We've kept a low profile. Bringing in small groups of people, and keeping outside volunteers only to people we trust. Most of these people are sympathizers who support our Cause, and want to make a difference in a way that doesn't involve carrying a gun. The military does patrol this Zone regularly but we are so deep into it they don't bother coming around here."

Katlyn sees smiles on their faces as the NVR members hand them the food, seeing the smiles despite the less than ideal conditions makes her think about how big the divide between the Zones there actually is. Just a few feet away an older man plays upbeat music and people around start dancing, Katlyn smiles seeing that despite the living situation people seem to be making it work.

It's amazing how they are in such high spirits but the fact they are basically forced to live here is nonetheless sad...

"Come one. We'll show you our Clinic." Serena says with a slight grin seeing that Katlyn is impressed by what they have accomplished.

As they leave the centre of the township the group stops when they hear the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps: armed NVR members carrying various types of weapons dressed in various camo apparel run back them, some full sprinting by.

"Commander! There's been an incident!" A black haired female Fighter with a dark green baseball cap, light grey shirt, dark blue jeans and a tan plate carrier says running up to Serena frantically.

"The convoy was attacked by an ATTF Patrol!" She continues, trying to catch her breath while gripping her rifle tightly.

Katlyn listens to the conversation but is more focused on the young woman: she looks like she's barely in her twenties but is here carrying a gun but has the eyes of a soldier whose seen battle. Serena and the girl continue to talk about the situation while Katlyn tries to wrap her head around the increasing chaos happening around her.

"Adam, get Katlyn out of here. Clara, you two, with me!" Serena says with a serious commanding tone.

Adam turns to Katlyn to start taking her out of the refuge but she pushes his arm away,

"No! I'm staying." Katlyn says, refusing to leave.

"This isn't the place for you now! You need to leave, now!" Serena says making it clear she has to leave, but Katlyn doesn't move.

"The point was to show me what you're doing here, right? To show me what you are facing here? Well, I'm here now and I want to see it. All of it." Katlyn says pushing her way past Adam but stopped by Clara and the younger NVR members.

"Fine! Let her come." Serena says with a sigh, hoping she doesn't regret the decision.

They quickly make their way into a large room that was converted into a makeshift clinic with only five ragged beds, and what they see causes Katlyn to gasp suddenly from the shock: doctors treating several NVR members various injuries, overlapping shouts as the medical personal try to get what they need for the injured, yelling and screams of pain from the Fighters ring out as the irony smell of blood is quick to fill the room. Katlyn can barely process what's happening but is quickly snapped back as a male voice yelling makes her jump slightly,

"Move! Move! Out of the way! We need help!" Two men are carrying a limp NVR member into the room trying to find somewhere to lay them down, a medic rushes over and lays out a sheet on the floor.

"He's not breathing! I need some help here!" The medic yells out as the men who brought the Fighter in rush back the way they came.

Serena follows them with the others close behind, Katlyn a little slow to catch up with her eyes locked on what was going on in the clinic. She tries to keep stop only makes it a few feet before her stomach makes her come to a sudden halt and vomits against a wall while almost falling forward. Clara stops to check on her, Adam stops suddenly seeing Clara with Katlyn his expression waiting for her to tell him what to do, she tells him, Go, I'll catch up. Clara pulls Katlyn's hair back while she coughs and gags a little bit, eventually telling Clara she's okay, and the pair steadily catch up with the others.

They exit the tunnel into an open area between two large buildings and see three trucks littered with bullet holes, shattered glass, flat tire on one, and blood splatters in the inters. NVR Fighters are unloading the cargo from the back of two of the trucks: some boxes are labeled with different ammo types, medical supplies, while others are canned goods, and MRE's. The ammo was the first thing to catch Katlyn's attention but seeing the majority of the supplies are food and other necessary items quickly changes her perspective.

All these supplies are for the people. They really are trying to make a difference here aren't they? They really do care about these people.

She watches as two men and a woman are carefully pulling a body from the back seat of the front truck, laying him down on the ground and covering him with a piece of tarp. Katlyn can't help but feel emotional at the sight.

"Happened to them?" Katlyn asks Serena who is standing with her arms crossed as the supplies continue to get unloaded.

"The convoy was ambushed by a patrol group who, according to the drivers, must have seen them coming. They could barely react, they just drove through the gunfire." Serena stops talking and goes silent,

Serena with her fists clenched, eyes narrow and an essentially pissed off expression marches back into the tunnel followed by Clara. Katlyn stands there just trying to take in everything that happened in just a short few minutes, Adam walks up beside her seeing the daze she's in.

"So is this everything you expected?" He asks with a neutral tone, she asks him what he means.

"You knew nothing about us but thought you didn't know shit about us, or what we are fighting for. What men like him are fighting for, dying for." He continues with a more emotional tone, she doesn't say anything.

"Maybe you'll finally open your eyes to the reality of what's going on here." He says before walking away, leaving her with the other NVVR members who heard everything said.

She enters the tunnel and makes her way back inside all while thinking about how right Adam was, she had assumed so much about the various Resistance groups especially the NVR and what they are really fighting for. She passes by the clinic greeted by the sound of painful groans and moans from Fighters sat in the hall with gauze wrapped around their injuries while the medics work on the more seriously injured ones.

As the day turns to night she's forced to stay the night in New Town because of the curfew knowing she'll never make it back home. She tries to find Clara but she's nowhere to be found so she walks around the centre of New Town where some people are starting to close up their makeshift shops, and the community kitchen is preparing dinner with the supplies brought in. She sees a few kids kicking a soccer ball around and laughing. Despite everything she saw today she smiles at the sight of kids having fun.

A child's smile is one of the most precious things in this world. Kids just find ways to smile no matter what.

The ball gets kicked over to her tapping her leg, one of the boys waves over to her. She smiles and starts tapping the ball with her feet while moving towards the kids, they start laughing and see that Katlyn is gonna play with them and she does. She starts kicking the ball around with them as joyful laughter starts to hill the centre, Katlyn smiles wide while passing the ball to a little girl who's been playing with them. Clara, and Serena smile while watching as the little game of ball continues.

"Your friend has heart, and morals. Do you think she'll step up?" Serena asks Clara.

"She's stubborn but once she sets her mind on something there's no stopping her. She'll step up, Boss. I know she will." She replies very confidently.

As the night draws on and the last of the dinner gets served out to everyone the town closes for the night with only NVR Fighters roaming ensuring everyone is safe. The people aren't forced into their homes; there are a few people out for walks while the Fighters are simply making sure the people are safe. Serena has a bed prepared for Katlyn in the Fighters barracks since sleeping space is limited: a simple field bed, pillow and something that passes as a blanket is all they can give her for the night. She doesn't complain about the sleeping arrangements given the circumstances.