Kate was surprised when John and his search party returned weeks before they were expected, and without any new survivors.

"What happened? Where are the others?" asked Kate.

"We were attacked by a gang of thieves". John told her. "This is Billy Kincaid. He is the only one of them that survived. We will keep an eye on him for a while before we decided if we can trust him."

Kate became angry when she heard about the attack. She expected attacks by Skynet, but it never occurred to her that other people might kill them for their vehicles and supplies. "We can't take any more chances. We have to stay underground until we are ready to fight."

John reluctantly agreed. He had hoped to find more survivors before they had to start fighting Skynet, but realized now that he would have to make do with what he had.

After getting the injured people to the medical facility he had Billy placed in a storage room and put an armed guard on the room. He didn't want to take any chances with him until he got to know him better.

Early the next morning they all began training in earnest. They knew that they were the leaders in the fight against Skynet. They held a meeting and decided they had to risk using the radio since they couldn't get out to find more survivors.

They agreed that they would listen to see if they could find anyone fairly close to them, then talk to them for a while before disclosing their location. They wanted to be sure they were talking to humans and that Skynet was not listening to them.

John took the first shift at the radio. He listened to various channels for two hours before turning over the radio to Curtis Elliot, a middle aged man who had lost his family in the attack on Timberlake. Curt was glad to have something to do to make him feel useful again. After loosing his family, he had lost interest in life. He was starting to feel useful again. He had done a lot of hunting before the attacks so he was able to help train people in the use of weapons too.

He listened to the radio, hoping to find someone out there who was close enough to travel to Crystal Peak. Just as his shift was almost over, he heard a voice. "This is Alice Mitchell. Is anyone out there? Can anyone hear me? I'm broadcasting from Colorado."

Jumping from his chair, Curt called to John. "We just got a broadcast from a woman in Colorado."

Several people, including John hurried into the radio room. They all huddled around the radio to see if the woman would broadcast again.

"I repeat, this is Alice Mitchell, I am broadcasting from Colorado. If there is anyone out there, please answer me."

John hesitated, and then picked up the microphone. "We hear you, Ms. Mitchell."

The woman's relief was apparent even over the radio. "Oh, thank goodness." She said.
"We have been trying to find other people since the attacks. Who are you, and what is your location?"

"We are a fairly small group of people," John replied, "We are not ready to let you know where we are, yet."

The woman on the other end hesitated, and then replied. "I understand. She went on to explain that there were 43 people in their group, 32 adults and 11 children. They had lived in New Mexico before the attacks, and had moved to their present location after loosing contact with a group in Utah. The two groups had been in contact almost every day. One day, the Utah group stopped broadcasting. Alice's group decided to play it safe and move. They were barely surviving, having almost run out of food. They used the last of their medical supplies when two of them members were injured in an accident when they went out to look for food. They knew they would not survive another winter.

John, Jose and Dennis looked at each other. They knew they had to help these people, but they couldn't give out their location. John told her about their trips out to find survivors, how they traveled by night, slept during the day, and how they had been attacked by thieves the last time they went out.

He talked to Alice Mitchell for a few more minutes before agreeing to talk to her at the same time the next day. Hopefully by then they could come up with some way of helping her group.

That night they held a meeting to see if anyone could figure out how they could help the group of people in Colorado without disclosing anyone's location to Skynet, if it was listening. They finally decided to have Alice Mitchell's group meet part of their group at Great Salt Lake. Their group would then bring Alice's group to Crystal Peak.

The next evening, at the same time, they were on the radio talking to Alice Mitchell. This time she had three other people from her group with her: Arthur Foley, Patrick Brooks and Dena Erickson. These three people had helped Alice organize the group for the move from New Mexico to Colorado.

John introduced the members of his group to Alice and her group, and then the two groups shared their survival stories. Finally, John decided to ask Alice's group to meet them at Great Salt Lake. Her group was thrilled by the prospect of joining John's group, and agreed immediately to meet them. It would take Alice's group a couple weeks to get ready and make the trip to Utah so they agreed to meet at Great Salt Lake in two weeks.

Alice Mitchell turned off the radio and leaned back in her chair. She had a lot of work to do in a very little time. Her group would have to be ready to leave in a couple of days so they would have plenty of time to get to Great Salt Lake. She knew they would have to travel by night. She turned to Arthur and Dena, "We will have to work hard to get ready. "Dena, I want you to get the food organized and packed. Arthur, I want you to make sure the vehicles are ready. Tell Paul Barrett to let everyone know that we will leave Thursday night."

John turned to Jose and Dennis, "Okay, you two know the drill. We will be leaving Thursday night. Jose, I want you, Kevin Hale, Gus Hadley, and Barb Carter to go with me. Dennis, I want you to take care of things here." John didn't want to take a chance on having anything happen to Dennis.

Just after dark on Thursday, John and his group left Crystal Peak. They took one of the trucks so that no one would have to walk, this would cut down on travel time.

Their trip was uneventful. They were all very cautious, aware that they could be attacked by a T-1 or an HK. They took their time so that they would not make any mistakes that could draw Skynet's attention.

John's group arrived at Great Salt Lake in just under 2 weeks. They decided to make camp in a bombed out parking garage that was about a mile from the lake. The garage would provide shelter from Skynet and the weather. They would cook their meals during the day so their fire would not attract attention. Sentries were posted to keep an eye out for the group from Colorado, and to watch for Skynet.

Three days after John's group arrived, Barb Carter spotted the group just as it was getting daylight. There were 2 vehicles, loaded with supplies. Most of the people were walking; a few children were riding in the vehicles. Gus Hadley had volunteered to meet them and let them know where his group was hiding. He left the parking garage from the back entrance, near a large grove of charred and broken trees.

It was dark before he got to the group. He didn't want to surprise them and get shot, so he called out just before he got to them. A gray haired woman, who looked like she was in her mid 50's, carrying a shotgun turned and aimed her weapon at him. For a moment, Gus thought she was going to shoot him.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"I'm Gus, from Crystal Peak."

She lowered the weapon. "Good to meet you Gus."

"I'll lead you to John and the rest of our group."

They followed him back to the parking garage. The two groups got to know each other, and then decided to rest that day and then leave for Crystal Peak that night.

They awoke a few hours later and packed the truck. They started out slowly since there were so many people walking. They arrived late one night when most of the residents of Crystal Peak were already asleep. The only people that were awake were sentries that were on duty and a few people who were listening to the radio, or were just too restless to sleep.

They drove the vehicles into the garage area and waited while all of the people walking had entered before they closed the doors. They decided to let the new group sleep on the floor wherever they could find a space until morning. After getting everyone settled with blankets or sleeping bags, John headed towards his room to see Kate and Sarah.