It was early afternoon and the supply trucks were nearly unloaded. The warehouse was a few blocks south of the apartment complex where Jenny lived. It was a huge building located along the river between the south bridge checkpoint and the southern wall. Nate had said it used to be some sort of convention center before the outbreak, but it made an excellent warehouse now, since it had a nice dock area where they could park the supply trucks to be unloaded. In front of the docks was a large concrete structure Nate called a parking ramp. Walls ran along both sides. The eastern wall was much thicker and apparently built for foot traffic. The western wall was thin and the military had attached catwalks to the inside near the top. A concrete drive led around the front of the parking ramp to the east where a convenient checkpoint was built into the wall surrounding the docking area. Several soldiers patrolled the walls, four were stationed at the checkpoint, and a half dozen or so patrolled the floor with the crew unloading the trucks.

There were four trucks and only a handful of people to unload them. When the military started cracking down, people started leaving. Jenny didn't quite understand it, since she knew other zones weren't much better or were far worse in some cases. Some of the ones who'd left mentioned heading to Boston to join up with the Fireflies, which she didn't understand either. As far as she was concerned, the Fireflies had caused the mess Hartford was in. The military had always been oppressive with rules and regulations, but it was certainly tolerable. Now, the military was getting downright abusive.

"Back to work!" a soldier shouted. A slightly older looking guy had sat down on a crate, sweating and a look of pain on his face.

"I...I can't..." the man panted, holding his side. "I'm starvi-oopf!" The soldier jabbed the man in the ribs with the barrel of his rifle. "You can eat when you're done unloading these trucks!" The man got up, staggered a few steps, steadied himself and started walking back to the truck with the soldier watching him. They'd been working for several hours, and the military only let them take momentary breaks to get water.

People leaving wasn't the only, or even the main, reason that there was a skeleton crew unloading the trucks. A very large percentage of the able-bodied population simply refused to tolerate the slave-labor treatment and just plain didn't show up. Many of them took severe punishments as a result, but people were getting fed up with the military's paranoia and the resulting harassment. People were starting to rebel. And a lack of food certainly didn't help.

"Yeah, we could. If we had anything to eat..." Isaac mumbled under his breath, as he and Nate carried in a particularly heavy crate.

In fact, they had actually received one full truck of rations, noted by the big, red RATIONS stamp on the side of the crates. However, once the military took their share, there really wasn't much left.

Jenny and Marian were following Nate and Isaac with a slightly smaller crate into the warehouse. "I'm just glad we're not out in the sun," Jenny said, reminded of her own hunger as her stomach let out a rumble. It was only mid-May, but despite the chilly nights, the days were heating up fast. The trucks were backed into the loading docks so everyone worked inside which, of course, meant very little air movement. Even still, the concrete structure kept the air somewhat cool and they weren't in the beating sun.

The boys set their crate down heavily and the girls set theirs on top. "Me too," Marian agreed, wiping a bead of sweat from her forehead using the hem of her light gray tank top. "But then again, a breeze would feel nice."

"Women...just can't please 'em," Nate said to Isaac as the two started walking back toward the truck. "Couple months ago they were complaining about how cold it was." Jenny and Marian looked at each other, smiled and rolled their eyes, then followed after the boys.

Marian was about the same height as Jenny, but quite a bit stockier. And no where near as flat chested. She also kept her jet black hair cut short instead of left long like Jenny's.

"They send us all this other junk, but they can't send us any food," Isaac lamented again after a short period of silence. Two trucks had been filled with a variety of crates, some stamped as MEDICAL, some unmarked. The unmarked crates usually contained miscellaneous items like blankets, clothes, batteries for flashlights or other small electronics, and sometimes even the electronic devices themselves.

Jenny and Marian chuckled slightly, causing Isaac to look back at them. "Men...all they think about is food," Jenny said snickering. "Well, that, and one other thing," Marian added. This time Nate looked back. "See, we're easy to figure out," he replied, smiling. They all laughed at that.

"Hey! Watch it with that!" a soldier shouted. A group of four guys were trying to carry a very large crate from the back of the truck. A slightly thinner guy with longer, reddish hair had fumbled and nearly dropped his corner of the crate. "Damage anything and you'll be paying for it!" Nate and Isaac rushed over to help with the crate. "Sorry! I slipped," the man said defensively. As the six of them strained with the large crate, Jenny and Marian grabbed a much smaller, though still quite heavy, crate from the back of the truck and followed the men into the warehouse.

The men set the crate down with a sharp thud that echoed throughout the warehouse. Nate quickly went to help his wife with the heavy crate. Isaac went to help Jenny, but was cut off by one of the men who'd been carrying the large crate. He was dark-skinned, about the same size as Isaac, though a little more buff. He had short, curly, black hair and brown eyes.

"Here, let me get that for ya," the man said with a smile, gently pushing Jenny out the way. Her eyes locked on his for a brief second, but not brief enough that Isaac didn't notice. She grinned at him and said, "Sure, all yours," before handing the crate off to him completely. "Damn, girl! I'm impressed," he said, obviously surprised by the weight she'd been carrying.

Isaac gave her a nudge with his elbow. "I see what's going on here," he whispered with a wink.

"Oh, please," Jenny said rolling her eyes.

After he and Nate put the crate down, the man came back over to Jenny. Jenny watched him as he approached and she had to admit that he was quite handsome, despite the fresh scar slanting across his forehead. "Name's Henry," he said sticking his hand out. She shook it politely. He had a strong grip. "Jenny," she replied, smiling.

After about an hour, the last of the trucks was unloaded. Jenny and Henry had both left their former groups to work together. Isaac never missed an opportunity to snicker or purse his lips or something whenever Jenny happened to look his direction.

The guy who'd sat down earlier, complaining of hunger, finally collapsed, dropping the end of the crate he was carrying. The crate splintered, scattering its contents all over the warehouse floor. Jenny wasn't surprised to see what had spilled out, though a few people appeared to be. All the crates in the last truck had been stamped with five letters: FEDRA. Two soldiers drug the man off to who knows where while the rest of the crew spent a half hour picking up rifles and ammunition.

Later that night, Nate and Marian left to scope out the supplies they'd received that day and take inventory of any trade-able merchandise. The weapons were obviously of high value and they knew there were a lot, but they didn't know exactly what was in the rest of the crates. They didn't like trading other stuff, particularly rations, if they could help it, but sometimes they could score a good deal on certain things. Jenny and Isaac had wanted to come along, but Nate had been adamant that they sit this one out. Nate had wanted Marian to stay, too, but she wasn't going to take "no" for an answer, and he finally just gave up.

"I hope they're alright," Jenny said, worriedly. It had been more than three hours since Nate and Marian left for the warehouse.

"They'll be fine," Isaac reassured her. "A little extra security won't stop them."

"A little?" she replied, raising an eyebrow at him. They were sitting in a couple of old lawn chairs on the roof of their apartment building where they often came on warm summer nights to just enjoy the weather or gaze up at the stars. It also gave them an excellent view of the warehouse. It was too far to see much detail, but Jenny could see the shapes of soldiers walking around on the well-lit walls. She guessed there must have been at least double the normal guards patrolling the walls. They were also using the spotlights, sweeping the perimeters of the warehouse. The spotlights consumed an incredible amount of electricity and were normally reserved for situations when there was a known trespasser.

"They're not taking chances. People know what's in those FEDRA crates now," she said.

"Pssht. Like no one knew before," he replied dismissively.

"Most people could really only guess. They didn't know for sure. The military knew that. They knew people weren't really willing to take risks breaking into the warehouse hoping to find weapons, only to end up finding a crate of uniforms instead," Jenny explained.

"I suppose you have a point," Isaac admitted. "I know I'm sure as hell willing to take more chances when I know there's a good haul."

"Plus, that's a whole lot of weapons," Jenny continued. "Normally get just a handful of crates at a time, a dozen at the most. This is the first time I've ever seen an entire truckload of 'em." Jenny paused, a slight smirk forming on her face. She looked over at Isaac. "Wait...did you just admit I was right?" she said, a hint of playful sarcasm in her voice.

"Aren't you always?" he replied without missing a beat.

"Damn right I am!" she said, slapping him playfully on the arm. "'Bout time you figure it out." They both laughed.

When their laughter subsided, they both retreated into thoughtful silence, gazing at the distant warehouse. Jenny couldn't help but worry about Nate and Marian, but she knew deep down that they could handle themselves. They'd made it through much worse circumstances than these. What really troubled her was the unusual shipment of weapons. She knew that they also got other military supplies in the FEDRA crates, not just weapons, but this was still a very large shipment. She had the sneaking suspicion that the vast majority of the crates were filled with weapons and ammunition. But why? What were they up to? There wasn't any Firefly activity here in Hartford. She didn't even think there were any Fireflies at all in Hartford. There certainly was enough paranoia. Were they just stockpiling out of fear that the Fireflies might attack and cut off their supply lines?

"You know if it weren't for those damn Fireflies, they probably wouldn't be nearly this paranoid about people getting in after those weapons," Jenny said, breaking the silence.

"I don't think I can give you that one," Isaac replied with a slight smile. "They probably wouldn't be as paranoid, you're right on that, but it isn't the Fireflies' fault that they are."

Nate and Isaac supported the Firefly effort. They believed in their cause, that a cure existed. Jenny wanted to believe, but she was doubtful. She really didn't like their sneaky ambush tactics, either, or the way they instigated riots in order to overthrow the military. And for what? So they could take control?

"Why isn't it? They go around blowing shit up and overthrowing the military in every zone around us, why shouldn't the military worry that Hartford's next?" she asked, her voice thick with disdain.

"Because the military just wants to keep their thumb over everyone. They don't give a shit about anyone but themselves-"

"And the Fireflies do?" she interrupted.

"Yes! They're fighting the military to try to bring some semblance of freedom back into the world. They care about humanity," Isaac defended. "They're trying to find a cure for Christ's sake! What has the military done to try to help?"

Jenny just looked at him, unable to come up with any kind of response.

"Nothing," he answered for her. "Nothing but beat us down and keep us barricaded in this shit hole with barely enough food to get us by."

"Oh come on now, it hasn't always been that bad here," she said.

"It hasn't?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

They fell into another moment of silence. Jenny was, by no means, mad at Isaac. She just couldn't agree with his point of view. She was no sympathizer with the military, but she certainly didn't think it had been all that bad here. There were still strictly enforced curfews and anyone who scanned positive for infection was shot on sight. They had always been forced to work around the zone doing things like cleaning the streets and dining halls or unloading supply trucks, although the military used to unload the FEDRA crates themselves. Punishments for not doing one's duties were sometimes severe, but the work was fair and the citizens were typically treated decently while they worked so neglecting duties was fairly rare. They'd always had a decent food supply and mostly free roam of the zone. The only checkpoints in the zone were those at the entrances. Once the Fireflies hit Boston, though, they got more restrictive and abusive. Being caught out after curfew could now easily get you shot instead of thrown into a cell for the night. Rations got scarce. Checkpoints were added randomly throughout the zone, and soldiers even started randomly stopping citizens in the streets. They started randomly searching homes and hauling people in for questioning, often for days at a time. They started forcing nearly every task onto the citizens in the name of security, claiming they needed every soldier dedicated to protecting the zone. The work became more like slave labor and less like a job, and so rebellion started increasing. And in turn, so did the punishments. All because of those stupid Fireflies.

"So you and Henry really hit it off today, huh?" Isaac said suddenly, snapping her out of her thoughts. Apparently, his train of thought hadn't been on the same track as hers.

"Ha!" she barked. "Yeah right!"

He gave her a skeptical look. "Pssht. Whatever. You guys just kinda left everyone to work off by yourselves. Alooone," he said, dragging out the 'o' sound with a suggestive tone.

"Yeah, whatever. I just didn't want to be rude," she replied. "I mean, sure he's good looking and he's a nice guy and all, but..."

"But what?"

"There's just no place for that shit in this world. I mean, do you really want to settle down with someone, start a family...knowing the kind of world we live in? Just better to be alone."

Jenny didn't like the idea of getting close to anyone in this world. She tried very hard to keep her distance while maintaining a likeable persona. She tried to be nice to people and always helped out when she was needed. For the most part, she was very well-liked by most people. She just never let anyone get close to her heart. Her heart was locked away in a steel cage and only three people in the entire world had ever earned the privilege of possessing a key: Nate, Marian, and Isaac.

"What about us?" Isaac said, smiling.

"You guys don't count," she replied through a chuckle.

He slapped a hand to his chest, feigning insult. "Ouch. That hurts, Jen-"

Woooooooooot! Woooooooooot! Woooooooooot!

The sound of Isaac's voice was lost in the sudden cry of sirens.

"Oh shit!" Jenny exclaimed, jumping so quickly from her chair that it toppled backwards. "They've been caught!"