The Promise of Tomorrow

by EmberSynapse

Repost from my OG account GhostfaceTV. AU - The America We Knew #2. Tori and the group have successfully made it out of Wanagi and are on the hunt once more for a place to call home. They've lost a lot, but they still have each other and hope for a better life. The second installment introduces people from the past, new alliances and new territory, all of which come with a price.

7. Information Exchange

They cuddled in next to each other for a few minutes until a loud whistle sounded from somewhere in the clearing. Tori sat up and unzipped the tent flap to look out when she saw people heading towards the bonfire. Diana followed behind her and the rest followed suit, including Dom. The man he had seen Chet talking to earlier in the day was standing by the fire facing a group of people gathering in front of him. Marla and Gill were at the front while Gerry and two other people stood next to the man they guessed was Humboldt. He was average height but very muscular and bore a similarity to Calloway himself. They both held themselves in the same manner, probably service training drilled into their blood. Tori and the group filed into the crowd and stood a few rows back and after a few more minutes the council decided everyone was present and began.

"I'm sorry I've been gone for so long" said the main man. "For those of you who are new and don't know me, my name is Jay Humboldt and I originally started gathering survivors to form this group a few days after the Conflict. Since then me and the rest of the council have been working tirelessly to come up with the blueprints to keep this place safe and running well." He paced back and forth in front of everyone with his hands behind his back. It looked like he was tired and trying to push through it, since the bags under his eyes were prominent enough to turn a shade of lilac. The other council members stood in place with their arms joined hand-in-wrist, covering their fronts. "Of course, it doesn't take a scientist to understand that supplies are running out. We may be flush now but it's not going to last, and the easily accessible stores are running dry. We're not the only ones out there looking for sustenance, and eventually we're going to start having to travel further and further to get the things we need until there simply is nothing left." The last part pained him to say and it was evident in the way he held his arm over his stomach. "We're doing the best we can to work out plans for more long term sustainable options, and in the mean time we ask that everyone be patient and try to use as little as possible. We want to stretch this as long as we can."

After that Jay stepped back to the line and Gerry took his place up front. The people were nodding their heads and whispering between each other, no doubt wondering if Jay was feeling good enough to running the place. He looked exhausted but Dom felt for good reason; running something like this would be a chore the magnitude most likely none of those people had ever experienced. Gerry started talking about the state of the land and warned against people going off on their own to try to hunt small game. Some of the more outdoorsy people didn't really like the fact that they weren't allowed to fend for themselves but Gerry explained it as a security precaution. Whatever was procured was for the group if you were part of it, that way everyone had a better chance of getting what they needed. Dom listened to the talking for a few more minutes but he couldn't help but turn inward at the nagging in his head about Giana and getting information. He knew they would be casing that tree soon enough, looking for some kind of message from him on the supply runners, and if he didn't have anything for them they would be wondering what his status was. He didn't want anyone to think he had turned and have them come looking for him, or expose him as a double agent to the camp. The people around them were close enough that if he tried to say anything they might hear so he thought for a second and came up with a plan. Cora was standing in front of him so hooked his index fingers into her belt loops and pulled her back into him, wrapping his arms around her waist. She gasped a little bit and he nuzzled his face into her neck, making it look like a lover's embrace.

"Act natural" he whispered softly into her ear. She covered his hands with her own and leaned her head to the side to give him more room. "I need to leave camp for a while so I'm going to pretend I don't feel good and sneak through the treeline to get out. If I don't make it back by sun up and they realize I'm gone say I headed for the river to go for a swim or something to clear my head." She nodded to convey that she understood and he squeezed her a little tighter as a goodbye hug. When he let go she turned around and kissed him on the cheek which brought attention to them from the people standing closest.

"Feel better babe" said Cora.

"Thanks."

He headed towards the tent city and looked up at Gerry as he passed, who waved mid-sentence and Dom waved back. He looked around and noticed that as soon as he cleared the crowd they had already forgotten about him so he made a line for the tents, cutting left when he was in the dark. The treeline wasn't very far and by the time he was in the cover of the trees Gerry had started on the topic of the garden and it's spoils. Tori looked worried and confused and Cora stared straight ahead, stone-faced. The night sky was particularly dark with the new moon so under the cover of darkness he headed toward the council tent and waited outside for them to come back.

After another half hour of the meeting Jay and Gill returned to the council tent together with Gerry a few paces behind them. Dom was under cover of darkness and with the added thickness of their tent they couldn't see out anyway. He crept as close as he dared to the tent and listened hard for any information he'd be able to pass on to Giana.

"-don't think it works that way, Gill" said Jay, entering the tent mid-sentence. "You know as well as I do that the city is pretty much bone dry already and we've been out there every day for the past week."

"We need to keep going south" said Gill. "The only way we're going to keep the peace around here is to keep providing. The second people start going hungry we're going to have a problem."

"I know that, don't you think I know that?" Jay was irritated and Dom could detect a hint of fear in his voice. "These people are all well aware of Calloway and his ability to treat his soldiers to pretty much whatever they want and if we fuck this up they're going to flock to him like flies on shit."

"Now I think we need to give these people a little more credit" said Gerry. "This land is fertile and will provide, we just need to proper tools to set it up and to stay stocked until we start building a surplus."

"We don't have the luxury of waiting for mother nature to take her fucking time pushing food up from the ground, Gerry" said Jay. "We need to do something else. And soon."

Dom held his breath in anticipation of any plans they were about to discuss. Everyone in the tent was silent and then the sound of rustling papers came through the tent walls. Jay sure was a different person in private than when he spoke to the people. He wondered if anyone else besides the council members knew what he was really like. The paper shuffling stopped and Dom got on his stomach, then army crawled a couple paces closer to the tent.

"Is the information we have good?" asked Gerry.

"I sure as fuck hope so. We just got it a few days ago" said Jay. "I say we act on it."

"Are you out of your damn mind?" asked Gill. "We don't have the people or the firepower to take on Calloway's men. The only reason we're even here right now is because he lets us be. If they came here in force they could wipe this place out in under twenty minutes with marginal casualties."

"Yeah, and if we just sit here forever like tamed dogs he's going to actually do that one of these days and take what we do have. We need to go take what he has so he sees that we aren't a bunch of pushovers. We have mouths to feed, too."

"You're gonna get people killed, Jay" said Gerry.

"We're already dying."

The tent got quiet again and Dom heard the flap open and close. Gill was heading back toward his tent at a brisk pace, no doubt upset over the way their meeting had went. There was a line somewhere that had to be drawn between what the people in charge are willing to do to keep people safe and what they need to do to secure the things their people need, and it was rare that everyone agreed on where that line should be. Dom stayed in his spot, hoping to hear any more chatter about an attack and when it didn't seem like it was going to come he got up to leave. As soon as he was on his feet he heard the unmistakable sound of a cork being popped.

"Is the supply crew still out?" asked Jay.

"No, they came back earlier" said Gerry. "They're taking a break for a day since they said Area One is totally cleaned out and Area Two is just about the same."

"Alright then, make sure everyone is armed. We're gonna set up a team and scout tomorrow night and if we spot any of Calloway's convoys we'll hit 'em hard. Those bastards deserve it."

There was a quick pause and when Gerry spoke again his voice sounded further away, like he'd turned to leave. "They're just trying to survive like we are, at the heart of it."

"Those fucking people are not like us."

"You keep saying that but I don't know who you're trying to convince" said Gerry, and with that Dom heard the sound of the flap again.

There was a certain nervousness about heading into the woods alone, in the dark, with no firearm, but he couldn't afford to draw any more suspicion to him than he was already in danger of doing by getting caught out by himself. He had a hunting knife that Tori had given him, a present that she'd found in an abandoned car, and that was going to have to suffice. He had kept a folded up piece of paper, a broken pencil piece and a thin twist-top flashlight in his pocket since he had arrived at the camp in preparation of this moment. It wasn't easy getting around with the new moon and the thickness of the woods but he didn't dare use the light until he was at least a mile from camp. There was a guard patrol at all hours, so even though most of the camp would be sleeping there would still be a few guys with guns wandering the perimeter.

The trip was very slow moving and he didn't end up reaching the river until the moon was starting to retract in the sky. When he made his way down to the riverbed it was still too dark to see clearly and the sound of rushing water made him nervous. Without a visual on any rocks for potential handholds the risk of crossing was greater than it would normally be, but he had no choice. It took all of his courage to wade into the water but as soon he hit waist deep he dove in, swimming as hard as he could against the current to get to the other side. He reached hard and when his hands started to rake sand under the water he pulled himself up and hopped out quickly. There was no way to be sure where he was along the river without light so, going against his gut, he turned the flashlight on in the clearing next to the riverbed and tried to find his bearings. He was about a quarter mile up the river from where they had fished that afternoon, which meant he was maybe half a mile or so from the tree. When he reached the tree he pulled the folded paper out of his pocket and pressed it against the tree to flatten it out, then blew on it and waved it through the air to help dry it off quicker. As he thought of what to write a quick, sharp whistle sounded from somewhere in the trees.

Now on high alert Dom froze in his spot, wondering if he had really heard what he thought he heard and if maybe it was just the wind or an animal. It was quiet for maybe thirty seconds before the whistle happened again and then he was sure someone was out there. But where? Was this person, or possibly persons, friendly? There was no other way of finding out than interacting with them, so he decided to play it cool in the beginning.

"Is someone there? I'm unarmed, come out so we can chat."

There was a rustling in the trees closer to him now and his heart thudded in his chest.

"I was just out for a swim to clear my head. Maybe some talking would be nice."

"You're tellin' me rookie" said a familiar voice. The person crept out from the bushes and met Dom next to the tree, and when he got close enough Dom realized it was Colin.

"Colin? What are you doing here?"

"We've had people watching this area every night for about five days now. We know they come here to fish and stuff and this is the most direct route to the city without taking that marked trail through the woods to the highway, so we get a patrol out here when the sun goes down to watch for any scouting groups to pass by." Colin shouldered his rifle and patted Dom on the shoulder. "Damn dude, good thing it's warm out here or you'd be in deep shit."

"I heard that"said Dom. "How's everything at base?"

"Like a well oiled machine, brother" said Colin. "You know how we do."

"Yeah, I do."

"Well since you're here obviously there's something going on, so what's good?"

Dom slicked his hair back so it would stop dripping in his face and started to wring out his shirt. "Jay and the other council members are talking about going on the offensive." He had a nagging suspicion that if he gave specific details and someone got hurt that he would have a hard time dealing with it, so he tried to dance around it as much as he could. "Tomorrow night he wants a team to scout the area by you guys and see if they can knock off a convoy of supplies going back to base."

"Tomorrow, huh? Why then?" asked Colin.

"I don't know. I excused myself from the meeting and sneaked through the woods to the council tent so I could try to get some info, and that was all I heard before they split up. I'm guessing they'll be doing the planning tomorrow when we're all busy with jobs."

Colin considered the info and nodded his head. "Too bad you couldn't get any details, but this is good. Calloway will dig it."

"I'm on the fishing detail so there's no way for me to be around them tomorrow to get the info and then find a way to get back out here without being suspicious."

"No worries dude, what you got is good." He looked around and up at the sky. "You should probably start heading back, it's getting light out soon."

"Alright. Give everyone my best."

"Will do brother. Be safe."

Colin headed back towards the warehouse district and Dom prepared to cross the river again. The sun was starting to poke over the top of the trees and a faint pink glow was fading into the darkness. He would have to hoof it back if he was going to make it in before the early risers started emerging to set up for the day. Whenever he had something difficult to do he got it done by reminding himself that it wasn't running laps in gym class, people's lives were at stake, and that included his family.

Once the pinkish dust of the sky started to brighten the woods were a lot easier to navigate and it raised his ETA by quite a bit. He was mostly dry by the time the clearing was in view but that threatened to change when was almost spotted by a guard. The sun was rising rapidly by that point so he had to make a decision fast, and he decided that stealth wasn't going to work. That meant he only had one other option, which was to walk up to the guards with his hands up. He started the walk up to the clearing line and by the time the guards noticed him he already had his arms up and was moving with a tactical side step.

"It's just me, Dom" he called out, hoping they wouldn't fuss with him too much.

"What are you doing out there, Dom?" said one of the guards.

"I couldn't sleep and I was feeling a little overheated so I took a walk to the river and went for a swim. I hope that's alright."

"You're not supposed to leave camp at night unless you're on a sanctioned mission, and I'll-"

"Chill out Grayson" said Manny. "Dom's cool."

At that moment Dom was extremely thankful for the kid that had first shown him around. "Hey Manny, how're you doin'?"

"Good, man, good. You feeling OK?" At that point the other guard walked away to go back to his post.

"Yeah I'm fine. I was just feeling a little queasy and warm last night when I left the bonfire and I figured the water would cool me down since it's still pretty cold."

"Cool. Next time make sure you tell me before you jet so I can cover you better. He might let it slip this time but if you don't give me an advance to wrap him up he might be a problem. Stickler for the rules and all."

Dom chuckled and slapped Manny on the shoulder. "Thanks for save, man. I owe you one."

"Get your blonde friend to go on a date with me and we'll be even." Manny held up an 'OK' sign with his hand.

"I don't think you could handle her, bud" said Dom, smiling wide as he walked back into camp.

Everyone was still in bed so it was easy for him to slip into his tent quietly and change into the fresh clothing he had gotten from Paula and Tori. Figuring he wouldn't be useful to anyone in his current state the plan was to play up the nausea thing and sleep for a little while instead of trying to stay up, that way if he got asked to go on the supply scout that night he would be ready. The only thing that was left was to have a powwow with Tori and Co. before knocking out for a little while.

He ducked out and moved quickly to Marie's tent, thankful that she was already awake and had seen his shadow approaching. She unzipped the flap from the inside and he nodded sideways in a motion for her to come out. As she yawned and slipped back inside to get her shoes he moved over to Cora's tent to grab her but she was still asleep, so he unzipped the tent quietly as to not scare her and poked his head in.

"Cora!" he whispered harshly. She stirred immediately and sat up so fast her eyes rolled backwards for a split second. He felt bad for scaring her but she came too quickly and calmed down.

"Dom, what is it?" she asked.

"We need to talk, get dressed."

Last but not least were Tori and Diana. He knew Tori was a light sleeper so she would probably already be awake and sure enough, when he approached their tent he could hear someone moving around.

"Tor, you awake?"

"Yeah."

"Get Diana and come out to the bonfire."

It took about five minutes and everyone was present. The birds chirped loudly and flies were already starting to amass in the stale heat of the morning. The dew that formed overnight during dropped temperatures created a heavy humidity in the post dawn clearing that made everyone sticky as they moved around. Dom checked over his shoulder to see where the guards were and if anyone else was roaming around then determined once he didn't see anyone that it was safe to talk.

"I sneaked out to the river last night to leave a message for Calloway's men. I heard Jay and the others talking last night about wanting to hit a convoy the way Calloway did to these people to get supplies. It sounded more like he was after revenge than helping us out, and I'm not sure he's fully capable of being a leader to this place."

The girls considered what he'd said and remained silent.

"They're leaving tonight to go look for places to hit, but I told Colin they're leaving tomorrow night. I don't want anyone to get hurt, and this way I can defend myself and say that maybe they had a system of saying wrong times out loud to prevent moles from getting everything correct."

"You talked to Colin?" asked Tori.

"I went to leave a message and he was at the drop waiting for me, said they have people watching the river at night."

"So what now?" asked Diana.

"We go about our business. I'll deal with the rest of it and hopefully it'll go smoothly but if not, stay alert."

Dom saw Marla walking from her tent to the food storage tent with plans to get started for the day. He motioned in her direction and everyone split up wordlessly with him heading back to his tent to catch some sleep. The events of that night swirled around in his head and he wasn't sure if he would actually be able to get any rest but it was worth it to try. No sense in going on a scouting mission with the intent of helping people stay safe if you're half asleep.

Tori and Diana went back to their tent to change and then get some breakfast. Marla had the first pieces of the setup configured and Diana made her way over to help out. They got the rest of the tables in place and started setting out food to the tune of bird chorus. Tori shielded her eyes from the rising sun and looked out toward the trees. The area they were in was certainly beautiful but she couldn't shake what Dom had said in their little meeting. Calloway's men could be anywhere in the woods, watching them, waiting for orders to storm in and open fire. They all stood around like sheep in a pen, unarmed and unable to fight back. She couldn't tell any of the council members though, since they would wonder how she came by the information first and foremost and that would mean giving up Dom's position. They could afford to have him be in jeopardy in two different camps, so she would just have to put the fear behind her and go about her business.

As more people started to emerge from their tents the work of the day got started. The clothing was mostly all sorted and folded so she wasn't sure what she was going to be doing until Paula came out to get some breakfast for herself. She waved at Tori with a kind smile and after she had grabbed some bread she approached her with the day's activities.

"We're going to be getting a few people together to wash some of the laundry" said Paula. "I had one of the supply teams take the two wheelbarrows and some buckets to get water from the river, and I'm going to try to rig up one of these tables into a makeshift water container to wash in."

"OK" said Tori. "What do you want me to start with?"

"There's a few boxes of dirty clothes by the tent that some people were throwing stuff into. Others said they would rather do their own laundry, which is sure as hell OK with me."

Tori nodded and laughed along. "I agree. I'll get the boxes and start moving, say over there?" Tori pointed to a far spot in the clearing by where Dom had gathered firewood a couple days prior.

"Looks good to me" said Paula. "I'll be over in a minute."

The boxes were pretty heavy and smelled bad, especially since a lot of the clothes that were in them had been there for about a week. In the spirit of conserving the things they had for as long as possible stuff like laundry was only done every week or week and a half, depending on people's situations. It was going to ramp up in the coming months, though, with the summer sun as scorching as it was out west. They were lucky in their positioning with all of the trees, tons of potential for shade and a lot of clean air. It was different than living in Wanagi since Tori was so used to the city, having lived in large metropolitan areas her whole life, but it had its own kind of charm that was definitely enjoyable.

Once all of the boxes were relocated she found a large stick and started to debark it with the knife she had grown accustomed to carrying. They would need something to stir the clothes with while they soaked and the stick she found was curved just perfectly to help distribute the stress of the job evenly. Paula made her way over as she was finishing and dropped the first two buckets of water off.

"I'm gonna get the other two buckets if you'll grab the tables and the plywood to set up the tub" said Paula.

"Sure."

The idea was to fit the plywood in between the legs of the table so they could flip it over and fill it up with water, since they didn't have any kind of tubs big enough to do actual washing in. The plywood didn't exactly fit but one of the supply teams had hit a hardware store early on and grabbed tools, including a hacksaw. When everything was brought back to the spot they worked together to flip the table over and line up the boards, mark where they needed to be cut and then Tori cut them to size. The table was an older wooden table that had decorative legs so there were pieces of wood that stretched down the legs, making the boards fit really well to create the walls. The first two five gallon buckets were emptied into the tub and detergent was mixed in to form a soapy layer of suds, then Paula got started on the actual deed. She would load and then prod with the stick, then let them soak for about ten minutes before rubbing them together by hand to help get out any dirt and sweat, then Tori and another girl she didn't know would hang them over a taught clothing line that could hold the weight of the wet clothes.

The sound of an engine broke the monotony of the work and a truck pulled out from the line of vehicles at the far left of the clearing. One guard was driving and when he pulled up to the bonfire another guard slipped into the passenger seat while Cora and Faye jumped into the bed. The truck pulled away down the marked trail through the woods and disappeared within a minute and Tori wondered where they were going, since she thought the supply jobs were done for a bit.

"Any idea where they're going?" she asked.

"Gill's been talking about needing a rototiller or some other thing for the garden work" said the woman Tori didn't know. "He said the garden we have is too small to sustain a growing number of people and making it any bigger would be too much work by hand so if I had to guess they're probably looking for another hardware store."

"Makes sense" said Tori. "I wouldn't want to do all that tilling by hand either."

They took a break a couple hours in when everything was done being washed before tipping the table over to dispose of the dirty water, then rinsed it out a bit and refilled it with the other two buckets of clean water for rinsing. The whole job took about four hours and by the time all of the clothing was hung on the lines Tori's arms burned with continued use. Paula seemed pleased with Tori's hard work and congratulated her on a job well done.

"This isn't the most fun job we could have but someone has to do it, and the people here really appreciate us for it."

"I bet, I know I would if someone else was doing it for me" said Tori.

"You won't have to do this all the time, though. We try to rotate people on jobs so nothing gets too mundane, you know. We want people to be happy and have fun with their work, that way it gets done faster and with better quality."

Tori got the feeling that Paula was kind of a hippie chick from the way she talked. It was less about what she said than the way it came out; she sort of had a long drawl to her words, like she had spent quite a few years of her life stoned or on acid. She was a really nice lady though, always full of smiles and positive encouragement for everyone around her. Tori was briefly reminded of her mom and how she always welcomed people into their home with open arms, even if she'd never met them before. The thought of her parents made Tori's stomach roll over on itself and tear threatened to well in her eyes. Since the work was done she excused herself from Paula and headed back to her tent, hoping to at least get inside where no one could see her before they spilled over.

Diana was off with Marla learning how to bake the bread in the stone oven the camp had built in the beginning and Marie was being taught by Gill how to identify sick crops and what to do with them. She hadn't seen Dom in a while so she assumed he was still sleeping and when she got to her she could see his was still fully closed up, meaning he hadn't gotten around yet. They may have had manual labor jobs but she couldn't imagine anything they did was harder than Dom's job. He had to maintain two different covers at the same time and make sure he kept everything straight, or else there was potential for him to be killed. Just thinking about being stuck in a situation where his cover was blown and he had no way to fix it gave her the willies, and it made her appreciate his situation even more. She crawled into her tent and laid down on Diana's sleeping bag, curling into her pillow and inhaling her scent. They didn't get a whole lot of time together but deep down she knew that Diana understood how much she cared about her, and vice versa. She wanted to think of some way she could pay her back for the chocolates but the hard work had tired her out so much that the scent of her girlfriend's hair and soft pillow had her knocked out in minutes.

Outside in the garden Marie had really turned a new leaf for herself. When she had first met Tori she was really vain, full of stereotypical narcissism and an almost OCD-like need to look good. She wasn't like the cheerleaders that you saw in movies, really nasty to others and constantly checking a mirror every five seconds, but she did make sure she kept herself up to a high standard. High school years were the worst, and she definitely let go a bit when she started working for a living, but it was nothing like where she was in the camp. She was barefoot in the garden with her pantlegs rolled up and dirt under her nails, and it didn't seem to bother her one bit. She had learned new things from Gill, learned how to see the world in a different light. He taught her about man's lost relationship with the food they ate and how before the Conflict everything was processed and artificially created. His words struck a chord with her since she worked at a coffee shop and sucked back her share of caramel frappuccinos full of sugar and artificial ingredients. He taught her that there was no greater feeling than being able to go out into your garden and pick fresh vegetables to make a salad with. Some people used to say that food someone else cooked for you always tasted better, but now that she was growing her own food, nurturing it from a seed to an edible product, she had to disagree.

The day carried on as any other until Gill gave her the go ahead to be done. She wiped the sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand waved, ready to find something to drink and relax for a little bit. When she returned to her tent Dom was standing in front of his, staring off into the distance while he ate a pickle. He heard her approach her tent and turned around, catching a smile from her. He smiled and waved, and in that moment he fully appreciated what his brother saw in her. She had an effortless beauty that didn't need the upkeep she thought it did. The way her hair waved naturally and the electric blue of her eyes were very endearing features, and her smile only made her more attractive. It was a different smile now, though, compared to before the Conflict. Matthew's death had really done a number to her, and it made him wonder how long she really had a thing for him before they got together.

The end of work detail spread around and people started gathering in the clearing again, standing around talking to each other about this or that. The truck with Cora and Faye in it returned to the camp with some gardening tools in the back and the girls hopped out with them in tow, headed for Gill's tent. He accepted them with great appreciation and put them inside while the girls headed for the bonfire. Tori had woken up from her couple hour nap when Diana came back from the oven and everyone gathered by the edge of the tent city. When Dom fell into place they headed out to the bonfire to get the news of the day from the people that had been out to the city and chat with the others on what they planned on doing around the camp. Gill was excited about expanding the garden while Paula, Tori and Rosie, the woman that had helped, were the talk of the camp for providing clean outfits. The groups around the bonfire buzzed with conversation as people enjoyed the small things they had acquired somehow, like chocolate or small game or even beer from the supply runners.

Chet made his way to the front of the bonfire and raised his arms up, then made a whistle with his fingers to call everyone's attention. Everyone in the area walked forward and quieted down so he could talk, and when they looked comfortable he began.

"When we get new people we like to kind of go around the fire and introduce ourselves a little bit" said Chet, and some of the campers started to smile. He pulled a painted stick out of his back pocket and held it up. "This is the talking stick. You don't talk unless you have it, you have to talk if you do. If you don't want to, pass it on." He looked around and tossed the stick to a brunette girl on the far right.

"I'm Addy. I'm seventeen, came down this way from Seattle with my brother, but he got killed in Denver." She smiled weakly and looked around for a second, then tossed the stick to someone else.

"I'm Dana. Thirty nine years old. I'm from down state a little ways, came up this way to hit some of the bigger cities to find fresh water. Ran into one of the supply groups and they took me in."

Tori watched as the stick got passed around from person to person. Some people had already been introduced before, but they more popular people of the camp, like Chet and Paula, needed to be reintroduced for the new people. Eventually the stick made it's way to Marie, and she held it between both hands with a strong grip before putting her arm around Tori's shoulders.

"I'm Marie. I'm nineteen, and I'm from Chicago, same as my friend Tori here." Everyone looked at them with smiles and kind waves. "The city got hit hard pretty fast with military so we thought it would be a good idea to get out. We traveled west for a bit until we hit a new city called Wanagi, us and Diana and Cora." She gestured to the others but made sure she left Dom out. "Everything was good for a while until Calloway shot up the city, killed a few people and basically took the foundation out in one blow. People scattered and we ended up here."

The good times were broken up momentarily when Jay and Gerry entered the fray, Jay armed with two rifles and three stocking caps.

"Dom" said Jay, making his way over to their group. He sidestepped over to him and talked quietly by his ear. "I want you and Manny to come with me on an excursion."

"OK" said Dom, "where are we going?"

"Not here" said Jay, looking around at the people watching them talk. "Do you know where Manny is?"

"I haven't seen him but I can help you look."

They combed through the crowd until Manny was spotted with two other guards near the medical tent. He heard their approach and looked behind him, turning with a smile when he saw Dom. "Hey Dom, what's shakin'?"

"You want to take a hike with us?" asked Dom.

Manny saw the rifles and hats they were wearing and instantly got excited about going on a real mission. "Hell yeah, where we goin'?"

"Let's head out before we talk" said Jay.

The campers continued to pass the stick and tell some jokes so they could get to know each other better while the three men headed towards the trail to the river and disappeared into the woods with many pairs of eyes on their backs. People whispered about what they might be doing but no one was sure except for Tori and the girls. They watched Dom heading out until they couldn't see him anymore then returned to their conversation. It was better to let it go instead of dwelling on it, since they couldn't do anything to help him and looking worried might give them away. Diana held Tori's hand leaned into her side, relishing in her ability to finally be able to relax together after a long day before Faye came in asking questions.

"Where are they going?"

"I don't know" said Diana. "Did you try asking them?"

"I didn't get a chance to, I didn't even see them until they were almost gone."

"Well whatever they're doing I'm guessing they have it covered since they didn't ask anyone else to go" said Diana. "Why don't you take a break for a night and hang out with us. We haven't talked in a long time, it would be nice to catch up and find out what each other's been up to the past year or so."

Faye looked at Diana with a confused, almost angry look. "Like that'll be easy to do around here."

"Tori knows."

At the mention of her name Tori turned her attention to their conversation and when she processed what she'd heard her heart slammed in her chest. She got a feeling of fear and something else from Faye that she couldn't put her finger on and Diana seemed to be worried.

"And how does she know?" asked Faye, her teeth clenched together.

Diana grabbed Faye's hand with her free one and pulled the two girls back a ways from the fire so they could talk without being overheard. "She caught me doing solo magic one day and there was no way I could talk myself out of it."

Surprised flashed over Faye's eyes so quickly that if Tori wasn't looking right at her she would have missed it. "You can do solo magic? How?"

Diana took a deep breath and kept her eyes on the ground. "I don't know, I guess it's because of my Balkoin blood. Technically the circle is still bound so I don't know how I can do it, but I just can."

"Interesting" said Faye. Anyway, we're here together now so if anything bad happens we can do magic together. As a last resort or something."

"Hopefully it doesn't come to that" said Diana.

Faye looked down at Diana and Tori's hands and Tori felt the feeling she wasn't sure of get stronger, and with the look on Faye's face she figured out what it was; jealousy. She remembered Diana telling her how she and Faye used to be best friends when they were growing up and now it seemed Diana had a new best friend. Tori knew she shouldn't feel guilty about it but she couldn't help it, especially with the feeling she was getting from Faye. She looked back toward the fire and saw Cora and Marie talking about something with another group of people around their age. It didn't even really occur to her before that there would be other people their age at the camp and they hadn't really seen any, which the halting of supply runs was the best explanation for. Diana and Faye were still talking so Tori squeezed Diana's hand and kissed her on the cheek, then left them for Marie and Cora so they could talk. As the sun sunk through the sky she caught a glance of the trail where Dom and the others had left through, and she couldn't help but wonder if he was going to come back in one piece.