“Everyone come close!” Graft’s voice booms out again as he waits for more people, many of them sick, to gather in front ofhim. He looks worse than usual, the shadows beneath his eyes elongated and dark. His gray hair is slick across his head like he’s run his hands over it a thousand times.
I peer past him, beyond the entrance and to the trees in the distance. Pulling my bottom lip into my mouth and biting down on it, I try but fail to not think about Krellix. I’m not as mad at him as I first was. Now, all I want is to see him once more to make sure he’s… okay. There’s a nagging intuition in my gut telling me he's very much not.
“Okay guys, listen up!” Graft’s voice resounds as he starts to address those closest to him. I search for Quinton and Olivia but don’t locate them amongst those gathered. “As you all know, we’ve had a terrible loss. A terrible tragedy that befell us all several weeks past. We lost our home, our loved ones, our… stability. We’ve lost everything, everything that is… except each other. Life has been hard,hell, right now it looks bleak. There’s not enough food, water, or medical supplies. More refugees are arriving every day. But there’s still hope. Today, for the first time since we lost?—”
An explosion erupts, blasting into my ears, and I flinch, ducking, covering them against the loud sound. By the time I realize that I just heard a gunshot from close range, everyone is running and screaming.
“Julia!” Benjamin cries as he grabs my arm. He pulls me away, toward the refugee tents. I stumble with him while several more gun shots go off, instinctively reaching for a weapon that’s not there.
Trying to understand what’s happening, I twist over my shoulder as Benjamin drags me along, and catch a glimpse of Graft’s lifeless body on the ground. There’s already blood pooling around him. Seeing soldiers taking aim at their own comrades, I turn my focus to running away with Benjamin.
“Quinton, over here!” he calls out, letting me go and waving at Quinton, who’s gazing worriedly at a group of panicked refugees from the opening of their shared tent. As Quinton catches sight of us and weaves our way, I turn to Benjamin.
“We need to find Olivia.”
“We need to get to safety first,” he argues. Quinton, joining us, nods. We all startle and duck when another round of gunshots go off, followed by increased screaming. “They’re firing at each other!”
“Just give me a minute! Wait in your tent, I’ll only be a minute!” I sprint to the tent I share with Olivia, calling out, “Olivia!” Pulling back the flap, I don’t find her inside. “Olivia!”
“I’m right here.” Olivia comes out from one of the neighboring tents. She scuttles towards me and I yank her to my side, giving her a short hug. “What’s going on?” she asks, her expression awash with fear.
“Someone’s murdered Graft. Come with me.” I grab her hand and lead her back to where Benjamin and Quinton are waiting for us, peaking out from behind a flap of ultimately-useless plastic. “I got her,” I announce as Olivia and I duck inside.
“Where should we go? Everyone’s running to the back, heading into the ruins,” Quinton says.
We all pause as a group of soldiers runs past us, towards the front, shouting for back up. I reach for my gun again, instincts telling me I should join them—only to drop my hand and choose my friends.
“They don’t have leadership,” I say, “Without Graft, the fighting will get a lot worse before it gets better. We need to find shelter and protect ourselves until then.”
“What shelter?” Quinton waves his hand hysterically. “The tents won’t save us from bullets!”
Benjamin shifts forward. “We need to get out of here, that’s what we need.” He sighs but it’s stiff with stress. “Where’s Krellix when you need him?”
My brow furrows and my heart pangs at the mention of his name. “He’s gone. We made a deal and he delivered. He has others… to get back to.”
“Like they’d ever allow a naga into this camp to begin with,” Olivia whispers under her breath.
Making sure they’re all looking at me, I nod my head toward the exit. “There’s only one way out of here and it’s heavily guarded. But I know a place we can go. Follow me.” I don’t hesitate as I quickly rise to my feet and lift the tent flap. “Keep your head down. It’s not far!” I call behind me.
Amidst the chaos, I keep my grip on Olivia’s hand tight as I lead her, Benjamin, and Quinton past the infirmaries, and then the barracks. More shouting comes from within. We dodge around the back, between the main dirt path and the first refugee sector until we make it to the ruins on the other side.
Thankfully, the area is still clear. I take a moment to scout around and in between the crates for any others who have come here to hide. But with more substantial ruins past these that the refugees could run to, I don’t find anyone around the hole’s entrance.
“Keep low,” I softly command as I lead them forward.
Dashing from one crate to the next and weaving around several currently-unlit spotlights, I take them down the staircase into the hole’s entrance. At the bottom, the dirt is padded into a ramp to partially meet the road inside. With the spotlights off, everything gets dark really fast. Creeping forward to the edge of where the last of the midday sunlight reaches, the remaining noises of gunfire and shouting fades away.
“Where have you taken us?” Benjamin asks.
“Someplace I think we’ll be safe. For now. At least until things calm down.”
I turn on one of the spotlights deeper within, and the tunnel before us opens up to a larger road that leads to a big, open area with… old cars and vehicles in it. They’ve all been pushed to the sides to clear out the space leading up to another large hole in the wall. There’s a hallway on the other side, so I assume a door used to be there. A door that’s been blown wide open.
Between us and that are stacks upon stacks of old world computers, servers, and all types of unfamiliar machinery and technology. There are more crates and some of them have been left open. Heading towards the nearest one, I peek inside to find, to my surprise, preserved grains and seed.
“What do you think they’re doing down here?” Olivia asks as she comes to my side to look inside the crate.
I shudder and remember the lurker Shelby told me about. My gaze lifts from the crate to Olivia. “If I had to guess, they were looking for anything that could help us against the Ketts. I saw some weaponry in the tent outside earlier.”
