Dom searched everyone's faces and tried to feel out where they all stood on the subject. It was obvious Calloway was at least a little crazy, and having him as an enemy with all of his resources was a risky situation indeed, but being on his side could prove to be difficult. What if he wanted them to kill innocent people to steal supplies? Dom knew he couldn't do that and he was just as sure for the rest of them. When it came to disobeying direct orders that was a surefire way to get themselves killed, so he didn't really see a clean way out of the situation. The thought crossed his mind about the speech he gave when they entered the library, about how they needed to fight back against the wrong kind of uprising. They had a brilliant opportunity if they could capitalize on it without getting caught, but it was a big risk. Calloway stood still with his hands behind his back, waiting patiently for Dom to come to a decision.

"It's not that we aren't grateful for the offer to be a part of a rising force, one that can help protect and provide for us, but do you blame us for being a bit skeptical?"

"Not at all" said Calloway. "Pretty much every person that's joined me has had questions on whether or not I'll order them to kill women and children, steal from the elderly or disabled. You're completely in the right asking me those questions, and I'll answer them to the best of my ability. Some people are okay with the answers, some aren't."

"Can I talk to my group in private for a minute? I don't want to make a blanket decision for everyone without talking this over."

"As you wish."

Dom lead everyone out the front door to the middle of the parking lot, about thirty yards from the front door. Cora was still bleeding pretty heavily so while everyone formed a circle he tore off a part of his shirt and wrapped it around her hand to stem the blood flow. Tori rocked back and forth on her heels while Marie chewed her fingernails, and Diana stood with her arms crossed.

"Listen guys" said Dom, wiping excess blood on his pants, "we're in a pretty bad situation here. I was trying to feel this guy out to see what he's about, and obviously he's the real deal. I'm sorry about that Cora, I should have thought better about egging him on." Cora smiled weakly and waved him off, so he continued. "We can duck out now and be on the run from these guys on top of everything else, or we can try to pretend for a little bit so we can get an in, learn some things about these guys. We said we wanted to help get things back to normal, or whatever we can do at least, and that means making sure people like that don't get a run on things. I can't make your decision for you, and I would hate for us to split up, but I feel like I need to do something important. For Matthew."

"I don't want to get involved" said Cora, holding her hand close to her body. "It's too dangerous. You see what that guy is like. What's he gonna do if he finds out you're betraying him? He shot me just for some smart talk. If you cross him he'll make you disappear."

Dom shook his head slowly but his confidence didn't waver. "I know that, but I'm willing to take the risk."

Diana pulled Tori close to her and turned their bodies so they could talk privately. "I don't know about this, Tor. I'm all for the guerrilla fight and whatever, but this is serious. We're talking about getting into bed with these people for real. Once we start, there's no backing out."

"I know, but I don't want Dom to go in there alone. I don't want to split up with you either, though. It's a tough call." She huffed out a breath and reached out for Diana's hand, a move that Dom caught out of the corner of his eye. He watched everyone struggle internally with their own decisions and as he watched them work, the only outcome he would actually be okay with came to him.

"Listen. Instead of having to make this decision, I'll make it myself. I know I said I didn't want to make it for you but I'm going to. I'll go in by myself, tell them that you girls didn't want to get involved in a big fight and you were going to split off on your own since you heard of another group of survivors down south when we were in Wanagi. I'll say that my brother's death is guiding me into the fighting direction so I can make sure nothing like that happens to anyone else's brother, or sister or best friend. I'll sell the deal as hard as I can, give you guys some time to get away from here as fast as possible. You can set up camp in a nearby town, stay out of sight and work out ways to hit them from the outside while I work from the inside. We'll work out a rendezvous point where we can leave messages for each other so no one gets hurt in a planned attack."

"No way" said Marie. She crossed her arms and shook her head firmly. "There's no way you're going in there alone."

"I appreciate that but if you think about it, if I'm the only one there will be less of a chance we'll slip up. If someone else is with me someone might catch us exchanging glances or something small that could give us away. I won't be in any more danger than you guys really, and we won't be too far away. We can make this work."

Tori hated the idea more and more every second, but she hated the idea of leaving Diana's side just the same. She knew Dom could take care of himself and that he was a good individual problem solver, so he would be able to pull it off better than any of the rest of them. Reluctantly she stepped forward with her hand in Diana's, ready to give her acceptance.

"I'll keep these guys safe Dom, you go do what you need to do."

"Get Sarah out of there for me" said Cora, "I don't want to be separated from her."

Dom nodded his head and took each one of them into a hug and squeezed tight, conveying his feelings in one strong gesture. Cora held onto his waist a little when he backed up and a smile spread across his face. When he got to Marie she wouldn't look him in the eyes or uncross her arms, but he knew why. She wanted to fight back just as much as he did for Matthew's sake.

"Matthew would never forgive me if something happened to you Marie" said Dom. "I need you to help on the outside since the only way this is gonna work is if we come at it from both ways."

"Yeah well that doesn't mean I have to like it." She sniffled a little and cleared her throat. "Be careful, I don't know if I can handle losing someone else right now."

Dom hugged her tight and kissed her on the top of her head, then marched back to the building. The girls watched him go through the front door and saw it shut behind him, a noise that sounded like it was right next to them even from all the way across the parking lot. Tori had an uneasy feeling but she didn't want to make anyone else nervous, so she tried her best to keep it to herself. They waited a few minutes until Sarah bolted out the door, running full blast back to her big sister's side. No one else came out so Tori figured Dom had haggled for the care of Jessica and her siblings, a gesture that wasn't missed by the group. It made things a lot easier on them not having to worry about keeping young kids safe, and they were all grateful for that.

Inside the building Calloway watched Dom curiously as he talked with Colin about the day to day in the Faction. The two men traded war stories from the road since the beginning of the Conflict, Colin's more brutal than Dom's, but both dangerous in every way. The guards watched silently as they stood their posts, waiting for orders or until someone came to relieve them of their duty. When Colin broke away to head back to the outpost base in the area Calloway caught up with Dom and pulled him off to the side. The atmosphere felt thick in the open room, the thought of betrayal and a painful death were going to be near impossible to will away without some time to get used to everything.

"I'm glad you decided to stay, Dom" said Calloway. "I think we could really use you here."

"Glad to be here, sir." Dom stood up straight with his hands behind his back. "What do you need done?"

Tori led the girls through the parking lot to the store where their cars were still parked. She realized that Dom had left without his bag and he still had the keys to the truck, so she grabbed his bag and angled herself towards the hotel. "Dom's got the keys and he left his stuff so I'm gonna go swap with him, I'll be right back." Diana nodded her head and helped Cora get Sarah settled, then Tori made the trek back across the parking lot. She looked all around them, seeing the small buildings in the distance that were once hardware stores or restaurants. She couldn't help but wonder which ones had people in them like this hotel did, or what, if anything, was left of the original establishments. It was hard to think that some people had spent their lives building their careers, starting their own businesses and working hard to have something respectable, something to help sustain a family, and in the wake of something like the Conflict it could all be gone in the blink of an eye. It didn't seem fair, but then again nothing in their lives did anymore. A cool breeze rippled through the air, which while being a nice break in the monotony of stale, warm air, was a possible sign of an approaching storm. Tori picked up the pace and when she neared the building she held Dom's backpack up to the guard so he could see it and hopefully deduce that she wasn't a threat.

"This bag belongs to my friend that's staying here, and he has the keys to truck in his pocket. Can you switch them out for me?"

"I can't leave my post but if you head into the lobby someone there can help you out" said the guard.

"Thank you."

She entered the building once more and took the long hallway on the right that wrapped around to the side entrance of the lobby. Dom stood straight with his hands behind his back, looking down at a table with a map on it. Calloway stood across from him with his two guards on his sides and Colin stood to the right of Dom. When Tori's presence was noticed Calloway held up a hand to stop the conversation and directed his attention to her.

"Can I help you, miss?"

"Yeah. Dom, you left your bag." She took a few steps forward with the bag outstretched and one of Calloway's guards drew his pistol, staring hard with it aimed right at her chest. "Easy, there's no bomb or anything. I just figured he'd want his stuff."

Dom took the bag and set it on the couch facing the fireplace and smiled warmly. "Thanks Tor."

"No problem. You also have the keys to the truck."

"That's right" said Dom as he fished them out of his pocket. "Sorry, I should have thought about that."

"No biggie" said Tori. "I know you're thinking about Matthew and you want to get started turning this whole thing around. You'll get your head back real quick when you get comfortable." She tried to put out some last minute good vibrations for Dom before backtracking to the door. "When you finish what you started come find us, we'd love to see you again."

Dom felt a pressure in his chest that he didn't expect. He knew it was partially a show for Calloway and his goons but he also knew Tori well enough to see and feel the emotion behind her words. Not only was she solidifying his story she was conveying to him that they all loved him and wished for his safety. He wanted to reach out to her and assure her everything would be okay but he had to play into his part as well, so he did by nodding his head with a sly smile. "Thanks again Tori, you guys be safe out there."

"Sure thing." With that Tori cleared out of the hotel and crossed back to the girls, ready to get on the road and make a plan. When she got back to the vehicles the car was loaded up with Sarah in the back and Cora in the passenger seat, with Marie behind the wheel. The truck was repacked and ready with Diana waiting in the driver's seat. Marie nodded in Diana's direction which tipped Tori off that they must have come up with a temporary plan while she was gone, which was good enough for her. Anything to get them away from Calloway. She slipped into the truck and Diana gripped her hand momentarily, squeezing with some reassurance that they would figure something out.

Marie took off and Diana followed closely behind as they got back onto the highway. The area around the hotel wasn't very large so it was fairly clean and devoid of debris, but the bigger cities were another story. Tori thought back to the bridge when they had first left Chicago and how all of the bodies just lay around in cars and on the road, torn to shreds by machine gun fire. A lot of the larger areas still had thousands of bodies lying in the road or on the floor inside shops, since everyone was too preoccupied with their own survival to worry about the proper cleanup and sendoffs of the dead. She wondered how that imagery affected the younger kids that were inevitably still around those areas, and how these memories would affect her generation-and the next generation's-ability to lead in the future.

It had been quite a bit of time since any of them had eaten anything solid and they were all starting to seem a little worse for wear. There was a plastic bag that sat on the seat between them so Tori took it into her lap and inspected it. Inside was a handful of different packs of gum and a couple chocolate bars, with three bottles; one regular water, one lemon flavored water and dragonfruit SoBe. She fished out one of the chocolate bars and unwrapped it, anxious to get some sugar into her body. They had all been feeling a bit sluggish with the lack of nutrition, and with her added stress from the wacky emotions thing she felt like it was hitting her extra hard. In that moment she realized she never asked Diana what that was all about, and if anyone would know, it should be her.

"So, about this, uh, empathy thing" Tori started, breaking off two pieces of the bar at the same time. She handed one to Diana and popped the other one into her mouth to let it melt. "Do you know anything about it? You seemed to sort of know what was happening in the beginning so I was hoping you had some more information or something."

Diana blinked slowly and kept her eyes on the road. "I've read a bit about it in my family's Book of Shadows. It's a book that keeps the history of a magical family through the ages. Names, dates, spells, stuff like that. I read a section on Empaths since my great grandmother was the same way, and I was so excited to finally find out the real reason why she seemed to know so much about people all the time." She smiled at an old memory and kept a steady foot on the gas. "Basically you have an innate ability to sense how other people are feeling, but it's more literal than metaphorical, as I'm sure you've noticed. Instead of just getting an inkling or using perception to get a feeling of what others are experiencing, it actually mimics the emotions inside of you as well. So if you're within the vicinity of someone who feels strongly in a certain way, like happy, sad, angry, you'll also feel those things."

"I guess that's cool" said Tori, watching the sky dim with the rolling clouds. "It would be even better if I could control it, instead of being at the mercy of the people around me. I suppose I might be able to if I work at it, right?"

Diana suddenly looked worried as she adjusted her grip on the steering wheel. "You're right, and we need to work on that sooner rather than later. I read some stories that didn't end up the greatest way because of this thing, and I-" She stopped for a minute as if to choose her words carefully. "I couldn't handle anything happening to you."

"Well we'll work on it together" said Tori as she handed over another piece of the chocolate. "It's not like I have to be at the Record Store in the morning so I think we'll be able to find some time to work this out." She felt a warmth spread through her legs as the look of stress on Diana's face turned to one of relaxation. Her stress level was tied to all of those around her so the more she tried to keep everyone cool and collected, the better off they would all be. She still wasn't sure where they were going so the best course of action was to keep the conversation going. "Well since we have time, why don't you tell me about your old life? It's not every day a person finds out magic is real, but so much has happened we haven't even had a chance to talk about it."

"Back when I was a kid, there was an accident that claimed my mother's life." Diana leaned forward and checked out the sky as single raindrops started to splash on the windshield. "That same accident claimed the lives of eleven other people; six of which were members of a circle." She checked her mirror and made eye contact with Marie, who had been doing the same in checking out the clouds. She nodded her head up and down as a signal to keep going. "I lost my mom. Adam also lost his mom, as did Melissa. Faye lost her father but Jake and Nick lost both of their parents. Cassie lost her mom recently, which is what brought her to Chance Harbor and got the whole ball rolling."

"What was the accident?" asked Tori.

"There was a fire at a boatyard. Everyone had gathered there for a fake truce kind of thing. Both sides had their own plan, but so did John Blackwell, and I guess he won that battle. It gets kind of complicated but the basic version was John wanted to create a new circle of witches with dark magic at the center, and he was trying to have children with all the women in my parents' circle because his ancient Balcoin bloodline was directly related to dark magic and really powerful. He ended up getting two kids out of their circle, me and my half sister Cassie, but he had a few other kids outside of their circle as well. At the same time there were witch hunters that had been trying to take down the circle from the outside, and they were powerless fighting both forces at the same time. Things kind of hit a fever pitch and my dad-well, stepdad-used a spell to render the main witch hunter mortal again so he could be killed. When he did that, he took a bunch of demons inside his body and the only way to safely stop them was to do a Petrification spell that would put him in a coma-like state for the rest of his life. My grandmother did the spell and moved him to a home somewhere where he's being looked after, and I haven't seen either of them since."

Tori watched Diana as she told the story, her eyes never wavering from the outstretched road. There was a hint of sadness and regret in tone but the thing Tori sensed the most was something like hopelessness, like she felt that since she couldn't do anything to change the outcome of what happened she would be powerless to help anyone else in the future. Tori didn't like the feeling but she knew that everyone had their own take on things and their own way of coping and healing, and this was obviously something that Diana needed to go through to get where she needed to be.

"One of my circle members died towards the beginning, Nick. When he died his brother Jake came back to town and with Cassie's arrival, we bound our circle. That meant we couldn't do individual magic anymore but the magic we did together was a lot stronger than anything we could do by ourselves. The binding of our circle was really what set everything off, since once we were stronger we were on the witch hunter's radar, and John Blackwell's."

"So what happened at the end that brought you to Chicago?"

"Well things were kind of shaky between a lot of us towards the end. I had broken up with Adam since he had this 'date with destiny' thing with Cassie. Some kind of epic love written in the stars, his dad used to say. That made things sort of awkward and then when we found out it was my stepdad that killed Cassie's mom all those years after the boatyard fire, we didn't really talk much. She was kind of falling into her dark magic and I didn't want anything to do with it, so we kind of walked a different path for a while and that was that. Jake left town again, Melissa and her dad were doing okay, Faye and her mom were trying to repair their relationship, Cassie left town as well in search of who knows what and Adam had gone the way Cassie did for a while, kind of wrapped up in the corrosive power of dark magic."

"That's a lot to take in" said Tori, rubbing her eyes with her fingers. "Witches, Hunters, Demons, dark magic, murder."

"Yeah it is" said Diana, laughing softly. "I was really scared when you came into the bathroom that day, since I knew this conversation would have to come at some time and I had no idea then how I would even bring it up, or how I would go about explaining the craziness."

"Well you did a pretty good job, I think have most of it down. But I was wondering, you said John Blackwell had more children outside of your circle? How did you know?"

"There was four of them from other circles from when he had first started trying to build his circle, but then he changed his tactic and thought that having second generation witches from a powerful circle with actual blood relations would make them even more powerful, which is when Cassie and I came along. Those four other kids had already banded together and started getting the hang of dark magic and they wanted the last two members of the circle to get on board, so we could bind that circle in the name of darkness or something and rule the world as evil doers." Diana smiled since it sounded comical when it came out that way, but it was the truth. "They came into town and that's when Cassie and I sensed them and knew it was time to split. We left town at the same time and slipped by them before they could corner us and I've never seen them since either. Any of them."

"Sounds like you had a lot more excitement than I did before all of this" said Tori. "Obviously it wasn't all good or anything but not a lot of people can say they have as exciting a life as that."

"Yeah well I would give it up in a heartbeat if I could go back and save everyone's parents from dying." Diana spotted another exit sign and gave the round up signal out the window for Marie to see. It was starting to rain harder and the sun was going down so she figured it would be a good idea to get off the road for the night. They'd gotten a good ways from the hotel so they would be safe for a little while at least, enough time to get some rest and rejuvenate.

The exit led into the downtown area of a decent sized city in Northeastern Colorado, about an hour or two north of Denver. This area was almost completely clustered with cars, some were even charred to the point that you couldn't tell what color they were. Thankfully it seemed like someone had been through there already and most cars had been nudged enough so they could weave through to the other side of the main intersection. There was a gas station on the corner that connected with a cell phone store and next to that was a mattress store, which Diana thought would be the best place for them to shack up for the night. She pulled into the parking lot and parked the truck sideways to fit in with the rest of the vehicles, hoping to make any onlookers think it was abandoned. Marie did the same and everyone shuffled inside as quick as they could, bringing the bags along so they wouldn't get soaked due to the lack of a tarp.

The air smelled chalky, like building fires had traveled in the winds with the rain. Cora pinched the bridge of her nose and massaged it with the tips of her fingers in a move that simulated she was trying to get rid of a headache. The ripped t-shirt wrapped around her hand was soaked with blood but they didn't have anything on hand to replace it with in their gear, so Tori made a sweep through the store to see what she could find. In the back by the employee bathroom she found what was left of a ripped open First Aid kit that still had some gauze left in it. Cora had taken a seat on one of the small mattresses by the front right corner of the room and was staring out the window when Tori showed up with the kit. She unwrapped her hand and winced at the pain when some new skin dislodged and the wound started bleeding again. Tori dabbed up the blood and wrapped it again as fast as she could, hoping to get it tight enough that it would clot overnight. Marie and Diana watched on the side as Sarah bounced from bed to bed, trying to find one that would suit her.

It only took another half hour for the sun to go down and then it was next to pitch black in the store. They had flashlights but they tried to only use them in emergency situations since there was never a guarantee of finding more batteries when the ones they had ran out, and light could be seen from a long ways off now that the power was out. Marie and Tori took to moving the beds around to make a clear path from one part of the store to the bathroom in the back in case any of them had to get up in the night, which was unlikely since none of them had really had much to drink. When they had a good enough setup everyone found a comfortable bed to lie on, which even though there were plenty to choose from Tori, Diana and Marie ended up sharing a large king sized bed while Cora and Sarah shared one of their own. There was a comfort in being close to someone, and comfort was definitely something they all needed.

In the blackness of the night the world seemed to come alive. A couple of the large pane glass windows were broken in the front of the store which allowed the sounds of night creatures to flow in, a chorus of crickets and frogs cooing them to sleep.

"Do you guys think Dom will be okay?" asked Cora.

"I'm sure he will be" said Tori. "I've known him for a while and he's always been responsible and dependable, so I have no doubt that he'll be all right."

"I hope so" said Marie. "It would be a shame if he didn't get a chance to continue his family line since the rest of them are gone."

No one really knew what to say next since they all were aware that Matthew was a hard subject for Marie, so instead of risking it the silence won over until everyone eventually fell asleep. Tori was the first one awake after only three or four hours so she crawled out of bed as carefully as possible, hoping to not wake anyone else up, then headed outside to watch the sun come up. They didn't have many luxuries anymore but some things were always free, like observing nature or interacting with animals. The sun rose slowly over the buildings across the street, sending beams of light scattering across the abandoned cars that refracted in a million different directions. The sky took on a warm purplish-orange glow that made her ache for home but she knew there was nothing she could do about that at the moment. As much as she wanted to go west to try to find her family they couldn't leave Dom in that situation by himself, so they would have to stick it out until their mission, whatever that actually was, was done.

It wasn't long after she first got outside that Tori felt something behind her so she turned to look as Diana passed through the door and took the spot on her right. They linked their fingers together and watched the sky as it slowly changed from pastel purple to a solid blue, albeit with a haze of gray in the distance from the fires in the city. Diana leaned her head on Tori's shoulder and they sat still and unspoken for the better part of the next half hour. The feel of Diana's slow, rhythmic heartbeat through her fingertips was soothing enough to almost put Tori back to sleep since she didn't get much of it, largely due to someone's unrest during a nightmare. She yawned and stretched her arms out in front of her while she twisted her neck, trying to crack it. Her eyes were closed so she didn't see but felt when Diana moved to position herself behind Tori and began massaging her shoulders. Tori got lost in the moment for a second before she felt guilty, remembering how Diana had driven most of the afternoon the day before and she deserved to be on the receiving end.

"You should be the one getting a massage, not me" said Tori, getting up so she could switch places. "I don't know why I didn't think of that before."

"Because you have a lot on your plate" said Diana, smiling kindly. "I know from when I finally confronted my great grandmother about it. She didn't know that I had found out what she was so when I told her she was really surprised, but since the cat was out of the bag she clued me in to how hard and exhausting it can be." She turned her body a bit so she could look Tori in the eye, then leaned forward and planted a small kiss on her lips that sent electricity through her entire body. "Just promise me you won't downplay it. If you're starting to feel drained, I want to try to help. We all need to be running on all cylinders and I would much rather you be happy and healthy."

Tori felt her body melt a little bit into her girlfriend's and they sat still in a hug for what seemed like a long time. The air was starting to thicken with heat already and it wasn't even eight o'clock. They were going to need to move soon so Tori planted two small kisses on Diana's neck, one on each side, then stood up and helped her onto her feet. They went back inside the store and shook the others awake gently, planning on getting them back on the road in the next fifteen minutes. Marie looked like she barely slept at all and Tori guessed it must have been her that was having the nightmare she felt, and it made her feel terrible. Marie tried to put on a smile but it was obvious she didn't have the energy to really sell it so it was easy to see through the cracks. The others could see as well but instead of bringing anything up they thought it better to just show her that they were there for her in subtle ways and allow her to come to them if she wanted to.

Everyone gathered their bags together and used little bits of water from one of the water bottles they'd gotten from the convenience store to brush their teeth before they reconvened at the vehicles. Tori did a routine check of the area to see if anyone was around and when she was satisfied there was no one she turned her attention to the group.

"Anyone have any ideas on what we should do?"

"I'm thinking we should maybe go around the outskirts of Denver and see what the city is like from a distance, and then search around here for some supplies we can use to make camp with." Diana pulled the keys out of her pocket and handed them to Tori. "We already have tents but we could use dinnerware, matches and food."

"I want to say we should split up to cover more ground quicker but we don't have any way to keep in touch with each other, so that's kind of dangerous." Tori glanced over at the dashboard of the truck and made a face. "We're also short on gas, so we should probably try to siphon some from these cars around here before we do anything else."

On that note the girls dispersed with tubes Dom had cut them when they stayed in the parking lot of the superstore they had met Jonny and his brothers in. There was only one gas can so when one of them would find a car with gas left they would plug the tube with their thumb and call Sarah over with the can, fill it with whatever they could and pass it along. It took about an hour to fill both of the vehicles and by the time they were done Cora looked like she was going to vomit. Tori gave her the last of the water to try and soothe her headache and get rid of the dehydration siphoning can cause, and the rest of them resorted to chewing gum.

When the gas can and tubes were stored back on the truck everyone started to pile in and Tori met Cora at the driver's side window of the car.

"We can split up a little bit once we hit the city, try to stay within a few streets of each other. If we lose sight we'll meet back at a certain building at a certain time. Watch for my hand signal and I'll point out a building and give a number for the time."

"OK."