Andie wasn't sure what she thought an army base should look like. In her head she imagined huge gates with giant wooden spikes pointed outwards towards the enemy. Perhaps her post-apocalyptic brain had been using its imagination too much, or perhaps she'd seen too many movies.

Instead their caravan drove down a winding road with tall pine trees on either side. The forest was thick and it was hard to see through it.

It was dusk. The light from the setting sun was golden and soft.

She looked over to Jamie who was in the backseat with her. He looked better than he had when the sun was at its highest. His clothing still covered most of his skin though and his baseball cap hid a portion of his face. He was looking out the window.

The car slowed down and Andie could see guards standing at what she assumed was the entrance of the base. At least they knew now that Duskies hadn't taken this place over.

The entrance was basically just a driveway in and a driveway out. There was a chain link fence with barbed wire around the perimeter and a handful of guards patrolling it. She couldn't tell if these were residual soldiers or civilians who had taken on the military mentality since the world fell apart.

Either way, she didn't want to be on their bad side. No matter how crazy this world got, it was still intimidating to see mean-faced, bulky men holding semi-automatic weapons.

She could feel Kaid sneer back at them. She internally rolled her eyes. Men.

Finn, who was still driving, rolled down his window and gave his award-winning smile. "Hi, we have young and elderly with us."

The guard's expression didn't seem to change. Other guards started circling the Jeep. Finn kept talking anyway. "Our camp was attacked a few days ago. We need to find a place to stay."

The guard was still silent. He looked into the car where Jamie, Andie, and Kaid were sitting. "Get out of the car." he ordered.

Andie suspected this might happen. It was like going through customs at a new country's border. Her family used to drive north to Canada every summer to camp. They never had been searched before though.

She could only assume that the guards suspected the worst and took no chances. This world has changed a lot of people for the worse. Better everyone safe than sorry right? Andie didn't mind it. They didn't have anything to hide, so there was no reason to worry.

She and Kaid, and even the ex-Duskie all started to unbuckle and she noticed that Jamie hadn't moved. For a second she didn't understand. Then it clicked in her head.

Jamie.

They did have reason to worry.

What if they figured out what he was. What even is he?

Slowly he unclicked his seat-belt, seemingly following his brother's lead. He pulled his hat down a little more before stepping out of the car. Andie followed.

It'll be fine. Right?

Some of the other guards went to investigate the other cars while a few stayed behind to search the lead vehicle. Two were unpacking the bags and searching through them.

"What weapons do you have?" One asked.

Funny. The question used to be 'Do you have any weapons?' Now everyone just assumes you have them, it's more of a question of which kinds.

Finn answered again. "A handful of wooden steaks, knives, a few guns," he lifted his shirt to reveal the gun holstered to his hip. The guard took it and disarmed it.

Finn eyed Kaid, who sighed and surrendered the gun that was hidden under his pant leg. Kaid might love his guns, but he also understood compliance, especially when the guards had bigger and more guns than you. Andie had a knife that she also gave away. She felt vulnerable without it.

"What about you?" One guard asked Jamie.

Jamie kept his eyes down, "I don't have anything. Search me if you want." and they did. They patted him down and found nothing. What they didn't know if Jamie could be a weapon himself. He probably was strong enough to take these men down without breaking a sweat.

One guard threw Jamie's backpack onto the ground and it landed with a suspicious clunk. They must've thought it was some kind of weapon because they looked at the backpack and then to Jamie with a suspicious glare.

She saw Finn and Jamie both stiffen. Andie wasn't exactly sure why, but the fact that they were both nervous made her nervous too.

The guards searched through it and all that came out were a few shirts and a silver water bottle. That must've been what made the noise.

"It's just my water bottle," Jamie said.

Then Andie remembered that last night she suspected Jamie had blood in that water bottle, which was conveniently opaque enough to hide what was really inside.

The guard tossed it aside as if it was nothing. Good. They didn't suspect anything.

"How many of there are you?" The lead guard asked.

"There's about 20 of us left." Finn answered.

"Were any of you bit or infected in the attack?"

Finn paused and looked to the ex-duskie. "No. It's been days since the attack. We would have noticed if someone started to change."

The ex-duskie, who had his head down, looked up to the guard. His eyes were green, he even had some flush to his skin again. At some point he had found new clothes from the tattered and bloody ones he had been wearing earlier. He passed as human.

The guard said something quietly in his radio. Andie's heart stopped momentarily. Were they busted?

There was a buzzing noise and the gate to the base opened up.

"We hold your weapons for 24 hours. You'll need to speak to the Captain about the details of your stay. You can follow that truck in." The guard pointed to a truck that looked like it was made of several different trucks welded together to make one super truck.

"Thank you." Finn said and he got back into the car.

They only drove a little ways before they started seeing what looked like a small village. There was housing, grocery stores, doctor's offices, and even a bank. There wasn't much use for that now but the building still stood.

A lot of cities nowadays looked completely abandoned and untouched, but this looks like it would have before the Duskies took over. It was nice.

The island had been nice too, but this truly felt like a polished civilization here. No cell doors here. At least she hoped there weren't.

The truck stopped at an administration building. One of the guards got out and came to Finn's window. "You'll all need to do an evaluation here. After that they'll place you into housing that's available. You may be split up. There's not much room left."

"That's okay, as long as there's spots for the others."

The soldier just nodded and got back in his truck and drove back from where he came.

The rest of that caravan parked the cars and got out. A woman in white opened the door and told them to form a line. Andie, Kaid, Finn, Jamie, and the ex-duskie were at the front.

There were other people inside wearing clothing similar to scrubs, gloves and surgical looking facemasks. They assigned rooms for the first few individuals. Andie was sorted into door number 5. A woman holding a clip-board followed her into the room.

"What is all this?" Andie asked.

"Preliminary testing. We've found a way of detecting the virus even if no symptoms are showing."

Andie's stomach twisted. "But none of us are infected." Except for Jamie. And maybe the other guy who was definitely a full blown Duskie two days ago, but somehow magically is human?

What would the people here do if they found something wrong with Jamie?

"It's just precautionary. We don't want the virus spreading to the rest of the base."

"What happens if you do find something?"

The nurse was silent.

The rest of the examination was like any other doctor's visit. She listened to Andie's pulse, looked at her eyes, her reflexes. The last thing she did was take a cotton swab sample of Andie's saliva.

Andie couldn't help but worry about Jamie. Sure he could pass as human, but looking this closely at his vitals would reveal the truth.

The nurse dropped some sort of clear solution over the sample she just took. For a moment they just sat there looking at a wet q-tip.

"Congratulations, you're virus free. The tip would have turned red once it came in contact with the second solution if you carried the virus. You can wait for us to get through the others in the next room."

Andie skirted out of the room and saw Finn and Kaid waiting. The looked at her as she came through the room. Jamie and the ex-duskie were still missing.

"Shit." she sighed.

Finn ran his hand through his hair. "Yeah, 'shit'. There's no way they are going to let J-."

"Will you shut up." Kaid snarled. He pointed up to a camera that hung in the corner of the waiting room.

The door opened and an older woman came through. Andie recognized her from the island. A few more people she vaguely recognized came in and sat in the room, waiting for orders of what to do next.

Finally, after an agonizingly long time the ex-duskie and Jamie came through the door. He was smiling. "All clean." Almost everyone had the same confused expression.

"How is that possible?" Finn whispered. There was a hum of conversation in the room so if there was anyone watching on the cameras, they wouldn't be able to hear their conversation.

Jamie shrugged. "Maybe their test isn't as good as they think."

A man in jeans and a sweater came through a door on the opposite side of the room. "Sorry to keep you waiting folks. I'm David and my team and I will be assigning you to your housing. I need you in groups of five."

David started at the front of the room and penciled something onto his clipboard. He came up to Andie and the group. "How about you folks?"

"Sure we can be together." Finn said and gave everyone's name to David. When he got to the ex-Duskie, he paused.

"Uh, Sam." he answered.

Andie looked at Sam with questioning eyes. He shrugged in response.

"All right. Let's see here." He looked at his notes and started calling off names. One of his helpers grabbed the group and led them to their housing. Lastly, David called off Andie's name and her and the group followed him outside. A pair of armed guards flanked the group as they walked.

It was nearly dark now. There were street lights that lined the streets, but they only gave off a dull glow. There was barely any hint at the chaos that was going on outside. It seemed too good to be true, just like she thought the island was too good to be true.

She also noticed there was no one else outside. She only saw a handful of armed guards strolling through the buildings.

Andie wondered how this place had power. It was probably harnessed in some way that went over Andie's head. She'd just chalk it up to solar panels.

"You'll be in this building here." David unlocked the door to a grey-bricked barrock. Inside there were five twin beds with thin sheets. In the back there was one bathroom. It was better than nothing.

"Curfew is at sundown. Civilians are not permitted outside unsupervised. If for some reason you need to leave you will need an escort. At sunrise you will meet with the Captain. Any questions?"

Several, Andie thought.

They all shook their heads.

"Great. I will see you in the morning." David and the soldiers left them there and shut the door behind him.

"Well," Finn started. "At least they let us inside."