By the time the sun started to drop, they found a place flat enough to stop. The RV's tires hissed to a stop on brittle gravel, only a few meters from an invisible edge. So close to the cliff's end that the wind hesitated. Trees hugged their right side, casting long, crooked shadows. Left side? Nothing but open sky and valley far, far below.
Bryce sighed with relief and put both hands on the wheel. "Engine's spent," he muttered, patting the dash like an old dog. "So am I."
"Don't fall asleep," Greer said, walking to the door and eyeing the forest warily. "We still need a perimeter."
Adrian nodded. "Mira, Bryce, you take west. Tom, north. Greer and I will unload gear. Ellis, you handle the solar cells."
Julyah was already out of the RV. She pulled her jacket tight and adjusted the straps of her gloves. Air was chillier here—thinner, like they'd ascended without realizing. She walked to the edge but kept her feet back from the border. One misstep and she would be lost to the sky.
She peered out.
The valley was stunning. A sea of pine trees stretched out beneath her, dark green and still, like an unfinished painting. Mist clung to the valley floor, curling between the hills. The sun was setting fast, casting its last gold across the sky.
But the view didn't fool her.
It was quiet. Too quiet. The kind of silence that settled before something bad.
She turned back to the others. Adrian was already dragging thick cables from a storage box under the RV. Ellis was mumbling to himself as he set up the solar panels carefully beside the tires. Mira reappeared from the tree line with her rifle lowered.
"No wildlife," she said. "But I found tracks. Human. Small. At least two people. A day old, maybe."
Greer furrowed his brow. "Survivors?"
"Could be," Mira said. "Or scouts."
Bryce swore quietly. "We haven't seen a soul in days. What are the odds we pick the same hill as another party?"
"Too many odds these days," Tom said, stepping out of the shadows with a sack of kindling.
Still, they set up. Tarps were strung between trees. Water filters were set up beside the RV.Rations were counted out and laid down. Greer tied a thick rope from the RV to a pine tree—an alarm system if anyone tried to sneak up on them. Ellis set up motion-triggered lights along the path they had come from. Everyone moved silently, hands sure, feet sure.
By nightfall, it almost looked like a camp.
Almost.
Julyah sat on a rock near the cliff's edge, legs crossed. She held a scrap of paper and a pencil, feigning interest in a sketch. Her lines were meaningless, a tangle of jagged, rough strokes. She wasn't drawing the valley or the sky. Her mind was on other things. The charm on her wrist was beginning to grow warm again, a soft thrum beneath her sleeve.
A loud noise sliced through the silence.
A crack of a branch.
Julyah's head snapped up.
"Mira!" someone shouted.
Then the scream of feet against gravel. A blur of movement from the trees. Figures vaulted from the forest. Shadows leapt forward. They came fast, filthy clothes, homemade weapons, faces wrapped in torn cloth. There were five of them, maybe six. One held a pipe. Another a machete. None spoke. None warned.
They just charged.
"Get back!" Adrian shouted, putting himself in front of Ellis as a man lunged forward.
Greer slammed into one of them, throwing his attacker down the gravel slope.
Bryce tackled another, punching wildly. Dirt kicked up in clouds as they rolled near the RV's tires.
Pandemonium erupted. Shouts. Punches. The slap of boots against stone and the tear of tarp.
"Inside!" Mira shouted, hauling Ellis to his feet by the arm. "Go!"
Tom swung a flashlight like a club, sending a man off balance.
Julyah stood still, heart hammering in her chest. One of them, a girl, maybe her age—burst through the fray and came at her. Her knife glinted in the waning light. Her face was gaunt, eyes wide with panic and hunger.
Julyah's hand went to her hip. The flower on her wrist burned.
Light shimmered.
And from her palm, a spike of steel formed—short and dense, like a railroad pin. She didn't think. Her muscles moved on reflex. She struck the girl's wrist with all her might.
The knife fell.
The girl gasped in surprise, stumbling backward.
Julyah kicked her in the chest. Hard.
The girl went down. Dust swirled. Then, scrabbling on hands and knees, she ran into the trees and vanished.
The others followed her, just like that. Running as fast as they'd come.
Silence fell. Again. The quiet was worse than the fight. Nothing but heavy breathing, soft groans, and the clink of metal remained.
Adrian stood at the RV's door, a gash running down his arm. Blood soaked through his sleeve, but he didn't seem to notice.
"Sound off!" he shouted. "Is everyone up?"
"Bruises, that's it," Bryce called, breathing hard. "Greer's limping," Tom said. "Nothing deep."
Mira dropped to a crouch beside Ellis, searching for wounds."They didn't want supplies. They just wanted to scare us."
"More like drive us out," Greer said, dusting off his jacket. "That wasn't scavenging. That was desperation."
"They didn't have the eyes of hunters," Adrian said softly. "Just fear."
Ellis sat on the ground, arms wrapped around her knees. "I thought no one was following us."
"They weren't," Adrian replied. "These weren't soldiers. Just strays."
"Or a group that didn't have a place to stay," Bryce muttered.
Julyah leaned against the RV. Her hands were shaking. The spike in her palm dissipated slowly, folding into light and fading into her skin. She could still feel the girl's bones give under her strike.
"We can't sleep here," she said quietly.
Adrian nodded. "No argument."
Bryce stared at the RV. "But the engine's overheating. If we leave now, we could blow something. Might stall for good."
"Then we don't move," Julyah said. She looked up at the stars just starting to pierce the sky. "But we don't sleep either. We keep watch. Two at a time. All night."
"And if they come back?" Ellis asked. "With more?"
Julyah looked at the cliff. Then at her wrist.
"Then we push back harder."