Caro flipped a slab of meat onto the table. It was hot and smelled like pure heaven, but it was covered with flies in an instant. I hate the fucking flies, they’re everywhere now.

“Where is everyone?” I asked, too exhausted to get up. Caro softly replied “Shawn and the others are hauling as much as they can carry without getting hurt. Get moving, find what you can and bring it. Hurry your ass, we don’t have much time.”

I moved fast as I could, stiff and hurting in every muscle. I hoped the stale waters beyond the treeline would hide the stench of my bloody, filthy clothes from any predators lurking there…if any predators were left. There wasn’t time to clean up, and extra clothing was in short supply anyway. When they come, they’ll come hard and fast I thought. We can defend our place here, but it won’t be easy.

We all agree – we’ll kill them if they come, even though we sure aren’t killers. We have no choice. They have nothing…we have almost nothing.

They’ll change that if they can.