“Hugo?” Master said. It was evening, and the sun was shining with a yellow glint over the area. “Alright, let me make you an offer you can't refuse. Remember what I said about your people being trapped? You’re going to call them on the radio, and tell them that everything is fine and all they need to do is come over here and surrender.”

Hugo still felt numb from his bruises as he sat in the chair. His face was cold and slightly droopy as he thought of what Master said. He gave Master an empty stare. “If I don't?”

Master leaned over Hugo, his shadow engulfed him. “They will be squished between the jaws of the hoard and my army.”

Hugo thought for another moment.

Master looked away and rubbed his chin. He glanced over at the workers down below, then turned to walk into the room of the balcony. “Whatever, lets go.”

The man meant to carry Hugo stepped forward to grab Hugo.

Hugo spoke as he was pulled by the ropes, “But I didn’t-”

Master lifted his hand and stopped walking. “I know, but we have to go.”

They went up the elevator to the roof of the building. There, a small shack sat by itself, and coming out of the top were several antenna type devices. Through the door, was a crude collection of radios and devices put together. A single wooden chair sat before it. Next to the radios, was a walkie-talkie.

Hugo was placed onto the chair as Master began talking, “We stole this walkie talkie during the raid. The radio is tuned to its frequencies. He bent over to match Hugo’s eye level. “Call them,” he said.

—

“Was it just me, or did it seem like something was weird in there?” Elle asked.

Carmen shrugged, feeling slightly uncomfortable. “I don't know. I’m just tired.” Carmen sighed.

“Tired?” Elle asked. She tilted her head at Carmen.

“Yeah,” said Carmen. She looked forward to the rest of the camp. “Where can I take a nap?”

“Uh, over there,” Elle answered, pointing to a tent across the camp.

“Thanks,” Carmen said plainly. She started walking to the tent.

“W- wait,” said Elle. She matched Carmen’s speed and faced her. “So, Hugo and Jacob? What- what else can you tell us?”

“Look, I don't know, it’s complicated and I’m really tired,” said Carmen, shaking her head. She continued walking, leaving Elle behind.

Entering the tent that Elle pointed out to her, it had curtains inside that divided the beds. Some were open, and Carmen could see that each room had only a bunk bed. In the occupied rooms that were open, people had bags that they would leave beside the bunk.

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One of the workers walked up to Carmen with a clipboard and a pencil. “Are you looking for a room?” they said. They seemed just as tired as Carmen.

“Yeah,” Carmen answered.

“Sign your name in an open spot. Sign every time you leave and enter,” they said.

Carmen looked at the open spots on the paper, it seemed like every room was full. Looking for a name she recognized, she found Genesis’s name, which was written with very poor handwriting and the space beside it was empty. Carmen wrote her name in the open spot and then found her way to that specific room.

The room was empty. She closed the curtain and laid on the lower bunk. She drifted to sleep, hoping to finally be done with this commotion.

A warm breeze brushed across Carmen’s face as she slept. She wiggled her nose and turned over in her bunk. The metal joints of the frame croaked as she moved. The warm breeze persisted on her backside. She turned over again to feel the breeze once more. Her eyes opened to see Genesis a couple inches from her face.

“Hi Carmen,” Genesis smiled. She was on her knees beside the bunk.

Carmen jumped up in her bed. “Ah!” she yelled. “Why were you doing that?!”

“Why are you in my room?” Genesis answered. She climbed up onto the edge of the bed.

“Please get off,” said Carmen, more nervously. She pulled her legs closer.

Genesis moved backwards, but her head moved smoothly as she kept looking at Carmen. “I saw you in my room. I wasn't expecting anyone in my room.”

“Oh, sorry,” Carmen answered.

“So what happened?” Genesis asked.

“What?” Carmen asked.

“When you left, silly! Your dad said Hugo was alive and you left with that one girl. So what happened?” Genesis repeated.

“Oh, um. I met the leaders I guess,” Carmen answered. She adjusted herself to sit criss-cross on the bed.

“And what did they say?” Genesis asked.

“Um, not much. Why are you so interested in this?” said Carmen, intrigued.

“Well, I wanna know if they know about the horde,” said Genesis.

“The horde?” Carmen asked, leaning closer.

“The horde in Bakersfield. You know, a swarm of teethers that’s probably heading this way,” Genesis answered. “You didn't know?”

“N- no,” said Carmen. “They didn't say anything about it either.” Her heart began to beat loudly. “You’re lying right?”

In the room beside Genesis and Carmen’s, a man was resting when he overheard Genesis about the hoard. His eyes opened and he sat on the side of his bunk, thinking.

“No,” Genesis answered. “Remember? We almost got Hugo killed because he was heading for the horde.” She waved her head around like she was bored talking about it.

“I- I… We should tell someone,” said Carmen.

“MMM-” said Genesis, seemingly uninterested in the idea.

The man in the other room got up and walked away. He headed straight for the officer’s tent.

“Hey dude, can you help me with these boxes?” said one person to the man, but he kept walking. “Okay rude…”

The man entered into the officer’s tent, unannounced and they all looked at him.

“Can we help you?” said Lucin.

“Is there a horde coming?” he asked, plainly.

In the corner of the tent, a walkie-talkie went off. One of the officers, a man who was more formal than the rest, picked it up. “Hello?”

The volume of the speaker was too quiet for the rest to hear.

“Okay,” said the officer.

The speaker spoke.

The officer thought for a moment, “We’ll do it. Give us a few days…Okay.” He put down the walkie-talkie and turned to the rest of the people in the tent. “There is a horde...”