An uneasy tension grew in the pit of his stomach as Niles prayed that they would understand his motives behind staying close.

  With his resolve steadied, he finally answered a few moments later.

  “What I mean is, I want us to have the option to come back, scavenge for more food and supplies we can use to defend ourselves and prepare for an all-out raid to claim a larger building, like a school or apartment building that could still be standing. As I said, winter is around the corner, and no matter how many people we have, staying outside is only viable before the temperature starts to dip.”

  He lowered his eyes and tilted his head to the side, then weakly added, “This is about survival for the long haul. We can roam forever, nor can we expect things to be better elsewhere. I think we should stick with the evils we know better than the ones we don’t.”

  There was a lot of mumbling and conversing between groups, and the children, who were mostly from a small daycare run out of someone’s home, pestered their tired and stressed caretaker about their parents.

  It was a bitter reality to swallow.

  Danica — Dominic’s little sister — and her mom, Denice, walked over and hugged Niles. They hadn’t yet had the chance to show how glad they were that he managed to live despite being so close to the gas station explosion. So they took advantage of the momentary recess of their discussions.

  After a few minutes, silence swept through, consuming the misery and doubts.

  “I think it’s a good idea.” The man in the three-piece suit said, breaking the tension with a smile.

  A couple behind him nodded, and a few others agreed. Then the muscular, half-giant of a man gave a thumbs up, giving the rest the confidence they needed to accept his idea. And with a southbound wind, Réal didn’t waste time in urging everyone forward with Niles as their guide.

  ***

  Just as was mentioned, it only took two, maybe three hours to compensate for those with difficulty walking through the woods, to reach the clearing just shy of six hundred meters from the farm. In total, it was one hour along the highway, then an hour and a half of navigating the hills and barely noticeable deer trails to get there.

  Before they did anything else, Niles pulled out a large bag for filtering water and a purification tablet. He had someone collect water from the river in the filter bag and hang it after shaking the tablet in it until it dissolved. The kids watched as sediment settled to the bottom of the bag, like it was the craziest thing they’d ever seen.

  In the meantime, he had a few adults put up his 8-foot by 10-foot tarp as a cover from the rain, at an angle to let rainwater fall away instead of collecting and potentially damaging the tarp.

  It wouldn’t cover all fifty, but could manage the dozen elderly and the children.

  The rest used the wide range of tools to cut young trees and saplings to build makeshift walls, while Niles, Dominic, and the muscular man who introduced himself along the way as Bruce, went out to collect firewood.

  Most of the forest was still damp from the rain previously in the week, but with Niles’ expertise, it wasn’t hard to find dry timber. Primarily, they went around looking for dead branches on standing trees that easily broke off, as well as from deadfall that got caught up in other trees. With one of the paracord bundles that he kept tied to the outside of his bag, the three of them were able to carry and drag a fair amount back to the campsite by the time the others were placing the lighter saplings and boughs around the tarp’s lower corner.

  Sticking them into the dirt, a little under the tarp, so they don’t put unwanted pressure on it.

  As the others hurried to finish their shelters, Niles and the tan-skinned woman named Nadia set up the main fire in front of the tarp’s area. This would be the biggest fire, while the rest would be smaller satellite ones set up ten to fifteen feet apart from it.

  There was no need for this setup to be fancy or permanent. It just had to last the night and keep them as dry as possible. As such, the smaller children and the older folk who couldn’t work stayed under the tarp with the daycare lady and Danica. She may have been 16, but she had been on plenty of camping trips with her dad, brother, and Niles and his dad, to know how to tend to a fire.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  The rest split into groups under the large conifers, and everyone huddled together as the intensity of the rain increased and the temperatures dropped.

  The next morning, the clouds were mostly gone. The sun rose from the east and began its work drying the region after the storm. Those who stayed under the tarp only had a little bit of dampness where they were in contact with the ground, while those under trees started getting showered on by midnight.

  Even after a full night, the survivors weren’t completely recovered from their prior trek. It didn’t help that they were hungry, cold, and shivering.

  By some good fortune, the main fire didn’t completely burn out. So Niles and Réal took some time in the early morning to split the extra firewood they hid under the tarp, exposing the dry cores, and brought it back to life.

  While they would have liked to have everyone rest a bit more, there was work to be done if they were going to set up a more permanent camp. Or, at least, one that would last them until they could more confidently head back to town.

  There was a total of 35 adults who could work, and 1 teen who skipped school due to a migraine… which was just an excuse so she could stay home and play games.

  With this workforce, Réal gathered them all up to get themselves organized for the day.

  “Alright!” He shouted to get everyone’s attention. “Today, we need to focus on the long-term. I’ve already talked to Niles earlier about what that will mean. But, simply put, five of us are going to the farm to collect as much stuff as possible, while the rest of us start working on a proper camp.

  I’m not looking for everything to be done in one day, mind you. We’re tired and hungry; not ideal to be working to the bone. So let’s work smarter, not harder.

  Niles will be the guide to the farm. Those who want to go with him will get the tools that won’t be needed for the camp work to defend themselves. Namely: a prybar, a hammer, and both a broken and an unbroken broom. The axes and shovels stay here.

  Any questions?”

  The suited man, Tyrel is his name, raised his hand. “Yeah, how do we decide who stays and who goes to the farm?”

  Réal nods and motions for Niles to answer.

  “Well, there are only two criteria I need for those coming with me. Be able to move fast and quietly, and be able to carry a lot.” He explained. “It would be best to bring back as much as we can in one go, and just hide anything else we might need somewhere we can quickly get it if we do need to go back.”

  With the requirements set, it was easy enough to see who would end up going with him.

  Bruce, the muscular rugby coach who could carry more than anyone else; Dominic, who had a leaner but comparable stature to him; two other men who were of average height, like Niles, and had some hunting experience.

  “What do the Dunavens farm again?” Asked one of the three men.

  It took a while for Niles to recall. After some contemplation, he shrugged. “At this time of year, root vegetables and maybe some greens. They mostly farmed for themselves and their relatives in town, so anything hardy for the winter months.”

  With that said, there wasn’t time to waste. Bruce grabbed the sledgehammer, Dominic kept his broken broom handle, and the others took the remaining tools. Niles was the only one with a ranged weapon, but he only had a single arrow, so he had to save it and use his bowie knife and the bow itself until he absolutely needed it.

  He also left behind his backpack and took two garbage bags and one of his lengths of paracord with him.

  The bag contained a first aid kit, which would be of more use with the larger group when push comes to shove, and the fishing line and hooks were handed to one of the older gentlemen so he could fashion some crude rods they could fish with.

  Nothing else needed sorting for the away group, so they started their journey south to a rocky, shallow spot where they could cross the river, on their way to their destination.

  ***

  It was a bit awkward to walk barefoot across the cold water, since they wanted to keep their socks and shoes as dry as possible. But they managed to do so quickly and used their now dry shirts to pat the soles of their feet clean before moving on.

  Reaching the farm would have only taken a half hour max. However, they paused whenever they heard noises from up ahead, slowing them down by roughly fifteen minutes.

  With damp moss beneath them, it wasn’t difficult to march without making noise. So that was also true for anything that might spot them. They were all keenly aware of this fact, so caution was their top priority.

  When they finally found the trees thinning and a break from the forest, a sigh of relief washed over them for a brief moment. The acres of land were full of crops yet to be harvested. Squash, potatoes, turnips, and even some spinach from the looks of it.

  But that brief feeling that their hopes were answered vanished quickly when they noticed something on the other side of the field.

  It wasn’t some massive entity moving through the field, nor was it a large swarm or pack of monstrous abominations. No, it was a small group of ‘something’ digging. There had to be more than one, since the dirt was being thrown in multiple directions. And they had to have gotten pretty deep, since there wasn’t anything currently visible.

  Niles and his group stayed near the treeline.

  They needed a plan from here on out.