2.
Rufus woke early, before sunrise, and wouldn't let himself go back to sleep. He stumbled to the front door, where Tamas sat asleep on the couch. After some moments of thought, he laid down on the couch and fell back to sleep.
"Rufus!" He jumped up.
"What?"
"Is there somewhere you needed to go this morning?"
"Umm… no."
Tamas looked around, stumped. "I was sure we were supposed to be…"
"Remember? The roadblocks?" it seemed Rufus had rung a bell. "The UNSC, they're blocking all the roads."
Now Tamas had come to his senses. He reached for his gun and looked out the window. Far to the North, Crossvalley Road was blocked by armored cars, beyond the last house frames. "That's right, that's right. Dammit!" The weight of the situation fell on Tamas all over again. "Oh God, oh God. Oh God." He looked reverently to Rufus. "Will you pray with me?"
"...Yeah." Rufus sat down on the couch beside his grandfather.
Rufus entered his room with explosive energy. He walked past his display pod, left open all night. He closed the tab full of snaps, and then the Covenant progress notice. This was no place to pay it any attention. Its only purpose had ever been to marinate in dread.
The bell rang. It was Mr. Giarra, with his son, his older daughter, and two other young men. "Got your commpad on you?"
"No," Tamas said before stepping outside.
"It looks like they're on both of our doorsteps," said Giarra, looking up Crossvalley road.
"Do we have a complete count?"
"I was going to ask you the same thing."
"Oh, don't ask me nothing. You're the one who's seen war."
Mr. Giarra pondered. "There's gotta be someone better than me."
