Charlie and David shared a look. Before either man could say anything, Carl interrupted them.

  “Good, you’re done. We got word from Harrison a few minutes ago, he improvised the bridge you wanted and cut a path through.”

  David nodded. “OK, let’s get everyone from our little group together.”

  It took a few minutes to get everyone away from what they had been doing, but once they were all together they quickly caught each other up on their various responsibilities. Starting with David and Charlie revealing what they learned from the Herald.

  Carl gave the next update.

  “The raiders have secured the perimeter and got everyone who came parked up. The airport employees were really helpful for all of that, managing vehicles and stuff. Our problem is that our core group is around fifty and we are trying to protect a lot of people, many of whom don’t even have their systems sorted out yet. Let alone guns, or anything useful. Things could go badly if we get attacked.”

  Katie went next.

  “We have a lot of hungry people and a lot of fresh food that needs cooking. I’ve been giving out fruit and some of the packaged ready to eat items, but everyone needs something substantial.”

  Mark continued. “I’ve been looking at the cooking equipment we scavenged from the airport. I’m confident we can set it up if we can find an electrician. I might break something if I have to do it myself…”

  Carl nodded then added “We might be able to get some of it working using some of the smaller generators I can take a look but we really need a professional…”

  David nodded, then responded.

  “I thought the plan was to use some of the gas grills from the safe zone? That’s why I had Harrison open up the access with a bridge…”

  Katie nodded. “Yes, I would love to get those but I’m not sure…”

  Sarah and Camila shared a look then both said at the same time.

  “Leave that to us!”

  David nodded. We have a few things we need to accomplish. Keeping this place secure and the people here safe. Scouting the safe zone to find out what is going on in there, I got the impression that things have changed and we are PNGs.”

  When the others looked at him quizzically, he explained.

  “Persona non grata, I saw it on TV, it’s something they do to diplomats who cause trouble. Seemed appropriate. Still, we need to get the lay of the land. Then stuff we need. Finally, and probably most important, we need to get to the Obelisk and use some of our rewards. That will probably cause a stir, ideally, I would like to wait until we are mostly done with other things before kicking that off.”

  Carl nodded then looked across the crowded parking lot.

  “What are we going to tell this lot? It’s all going to take a while and y’all realize we can’t all go right?”

  Charlie let his eyes unfocus and it was clear he was querying something. Then he grinned.

  “I just checked something. It really wouldn’t surprise me if the council is too busy to even notice us right now. The number of people who made it into the safe zone more than doubled, if they mostly came in cars I don’t even think they were bullshitting about not having anywhere to put more vehicles.”

  David nodded. Then he laid out the plan.

  “We have eight radio teams, counting the raiders we found at the airport, plus this core group. That really isn’t enough to do everything we need to do but I think we split down the middle.

  Carl, can you hold here for long enough for us to run out and support you if I take Sarah, Charlie and Camila with me?”

  “That depends on what comes along, also on how many teams you plan on leaving me…”

  “Katie, how many grills do you need?”

  “More is better but at least six big ones if we are going to get people fed in any kind of reasonable timeframe. I’ll start prepping but I’ve got limited everything except food…

  If you get me people, tables, cutting boards, knives, serving bowels or trays. I can do more…”

  Carl nodded, seeing the scale of the problem. “I can hold with four teams; I’ll at least know trouble is coming and be able to radio you quick.”

  David nodded. “One team apiece then for the four of us.”

  They left the Mill across the new improvised bridge, noting that it consisted of little more than scrap and dirt shoveled to fill the drainage ditch.

  Entering what had been their secret training ground for the past couple of days through a gaping hole opened in the back fence opposite the cut, sagging chain-link fence blocking off the Mill made David smile nostalgically.

  Now he was leading four groups of battle-hardened fighters on a mission to what should be safe, home territory.

  “Stay alert, we’ll be aiming to be back soon and will stay in radio contact. Keep the chatter to a minimum.”

  Carl nodded, indicating to his radio team. “Y’all stay safe, don’t want to have to come and get you with these boys and girls…”

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  David nodded as they moved out and immediately saw the change in the safe area. The street at the edge of the residential area had previously been quiet, with houses on one side of the road and a mix of houses and businesses on the other side of the street stretching both towards the actual safe zone and up away along the edge of the industrial area.

  Now it was a parking lot. There were four rows of cars, parked bumper to bumper completely blocking the road. Nobody could move and the road was full in both directions.

  Camila spoke softly. “They weren’t lying little Perra’s like I thought. This is a lot of cars.”

  David nodded. “Yep, I don’t know where the road goes but based on the direction all these cars are facing, I’m guessing they came in from up there…”

  He gestured vaguely north towards where the road curved out of sight in the direction they had gone hunting to test their Domains.

  Sarah nodded “There’s a lot of houses up there, including our apartment, but you can’t actually get out to the main road except by the exit near the park. There are a couple of foot paths and alleys you can use to cut through, so it isn’t some kind of natural barrier…”

  “So, this probably goes all the way back to the barricade.”

  “If they were telling the truth. That’s a lot of people.”

  David nodded as they moved past cars, they could see that many were loaded down with belongings and some were even occupied. A few people, looking scared as they passed, were rummaging around in cars, doors or trunk open. They all stopped whatever they were doing to gape at the heavily armed group of men and women.

  After a couple more streets turned into improvised parking lots, they reached the actual safe zone. Things were quite clearly a lot more chaotic here. Some vehicles were moving and people with clipboards and high visibility jackets were clearly trying to continue shoehorning cars into the limited space outside the safe zone.

  People saw them coming and stopped, at least one of the people directing traffic had a radio, which they immediately used, so David expected some response to their arrival.

  Once they crossed the barrier things became a lot clearer. Someone had been busy and A-frame barricades blocked the streets, clearly designating a large pedestrian zone. The reason was obvious, there were thousands of people milling around, or just sitting on anything they could.

  They hadn’t even reached the Park and the Obelisk yet, and David suspected it was even more crowded there.

  The people parted around their armed, armored group and speculation swirled, with people whispering to their neighbors, gossiping but trying not to draw too much attention.

  They kept overhearing variants on two phrases.

  “No armbands, so they can’t be part of the council.”

  “Do you think they might be the ones who were meant to get food?”

  It became apparent from the overheard comments that food supplies were an issue, it really sounded like newcomers weren’t being fed. Community spirit, so open and generous with a few survivors, seemed to have evaporated as mouths to feed outnumbered locals.

  David now had a clearer idea of how things stood as they finally entered the Park.

  The soothing murmur of the safe zone was trying to unwind his tension and that of his group, though the overheard conversations were making that impossible as he felt everything going wrong.

  He had started to be hopeful with their victories today, but things had gone badly wrong with the safe zone. He quickly revised his expectation that this could all be done in a nice, civilized way.

  They saw a few people wearing armbands, one with a shield, another with what looked vaguely like a wrench and a third with a round yellow patch that might be a sun, or a coin, or just a circle. It didn’t mean anything specific to them but clearly imparted some authority.

  Things came to a head as they were about to split up when they saw a familiar figure bearing down on them.

  Sarah Donnely wasn’t particularly noticeable at rest, middle aged, could stand to lose a few pounds, blonde hair showing brown with streaks of silver at her roots. Of course, she was seldom at rest and in this case her obvious ire was plain on her face.

  There was a new addition, she wore an armband with that yellow circle on it. Only hers had a silver star inside it.

  “You have some cheek, coming back here! And without the supplies you stole!”

  Her voice was loud and accusing, while everyone around them was suddenly very interested and a few even pulled out phones, though some of them shook their heads and put the devices back in their pockets.

  David held his hands up placatingly. “Sarah, you don’t mind if I call you by your given name, do you? Let me take a moment to explain what’s going on and what we need.”

  “You, you irresponsible thug can call me Ms. Donnely. I am not on a first name basis with someone so irresponsible and evil.”

  David’s expression hardened and he moved quickly to deal with the situation before Camila could start a full-blown war of insults. He even suspected that was what she was hoping for.

  “Ms. Donnely. I’m happy to do you the courtesy of addressing you politely. I expect the same from you in return. Unlike you I’m happy for people to use my given name so please. Refer to me as David. As for irresponsible and evil I’ve done nothing to deserve that, especially as I’m here to help people.”

  The woman paused, seeing all the people watching them and realizing that they were sympathizing with David right now saw she might have overstepped.

  “Well, David.” Contempt dripped from her voice. “I think irresponsible and evil fits someone who got a whole load of people killed yesterday, good people, people who I know and will never see again. Then today you go and force people to give you supplies that were sorely needed here so you could lark off on some adventure like this is your own personal power fantasy.”

  David smiled internally. Got you. Externally he assumed a stern expression.

  Then he rose his voice, making sure the crowd of onlookers could hear him.

  “First of all, the supplies you are referring to are a small part of the resources my group,” here he emphasized and gestured to his people, “my raiders, secured for everyone here.

  Second, your own people told us that you desperately needed food, that anyone who was going to secure more could take whatever they needed. From the stuff which WE paid for in pain and blood.

  Well, we succeeded. We have a massive haul of food. Meat, Fish, Vegetables.

  Finally, I sympathize deeply with your loss, the people who followed me were my comrades, my friends, who all went out to save as many people as we could. We went out to bring them home.

  Tonight, we plan to hold a communal meal in their honor and give everyone who knew them, or who values their sacrifice, a chance to say farewell.”

  Then he turned and addressed the silent crowd of spectators.

  “I don’t know you, or what hardships you faced to get here. For those who don’t know me I’m David, one of the leaders of the raiders. We go out and fight for our future. We will be holding a communal meal as we honor our dead. You are all welcome to join us and eat with us, to take the time to remember your own losses and mourn with us.

  Right now, we need help gathering supplies to cook the food we risked out lives to secure. So let me ask.

  Are you up for helping? There’s a meal in it for you…”

  The general rumble of assent was undeniable and the chastised look on Ms. Donnely’s face was priceless.

  Speaking quietly David addressed her personally.

  “We have truckloads of food. And, for the record we do plan to return all the gear we took to your logistics teams. We’re on the same side here Ms. Donnely.

  She made a harrumphing sound the spoke softly.

  “Did you really retrieve the bodies of the people who died? All of them?”

  “Yes, we even found a few who were alive and rescued them plus a bunch of others stuck out at the airport.”

  “Well, that changes things. If you wouldn’t mind, I would like to attend your memorial.”

  When David nodded, she harrumphed and continued.

  “I guess you can call me Sarah then David.”

  That was probably as much apology as he was going to get.