Adam drives.
I’m driving behind him.
Russ sits in the passenger seat.
No one talks much.
The radio conversation with Wren still hangs in the air like a storm cloud.
Phase Two.
Twelve hours.
Leadership transfer.
None of it sounds like anything good.
The forest closes around the road as we climb the last hill toward the cabin.
Adam slows the truck as the lights of the house come into view through the trees.
Wren is standing on the porch.
Waiting.
That alone tells me how serious this just became.
Wren doesn’t pace.
She thinks.
But tonight she’s standing still like someone bracing for impact.
Adam pulls the truck to a stop.
Before the engine even shuts off, Wren is already moving toward us.
“What happened in town?” she asks.
“Visitors,” Blade says.
“Unfriendly ones.”
“Yeah, I figured.”
Her eyes move to me.
“You okay?”
“Still breathing.”
“Good.”
Adam steps out of the truck.
“Show us.”
Wren nods and leads us inside.
