By the time they reached the highway outside the city, Man’s big van was idling at the bottom of the entrance ramp. Man himself was standing outside the van, leaning against the driver’s door with a rifle held loosely in both hands. His eyes, the color of pine needles, swept over the group. The expression on his face went from wary to pleased as he noted the dogs’ relaxed postures. “I didn’t expect to see you again quite so soon, Isa.” He said.

“Me either, Dad, but we ran into these guys pretty quickly this morning.” Girl said as she walked up to give Man a tight hug.

There was relief in Man’s eyes as he pulled his daughter in close and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead. “I’m not complaining.” Once he had released Girl, he offered a hand to the women. “I’m Callum Lachlan.” His broad smile brought his dimples to life, deeply denting both cheeks.

“Aislinn Norwood.” Aislinn said, taking Man’s hand in a firm shake. “And this is Helen Stevens.”

“A pleasure.” Helen said, when she shook his hand.

“Nice to meet you both. Isa tells me you’re interested in joining us on the Farm?” Man said.

“If you don’t mind me saying so, Mr. Lachlan, her offer sounds a bit too good to be true.” Helen said.

A faint line etched itself between Man’s brows. “Too good?”

“Safety, food, protection.” Helen said. “That’s a hell of a temptation. The last week hasn’t been very pleasant in the City.”

“I imagine it hasn’t been pleasant in a lot of places.” Man said.

“You’re probably right.” Helen said.

“It’s a bit of a drive, why don’t we get started and you can tell me what your worries are while we travel?” Man said.

The two women exchanged a long look before Helen went around to the passenger side and climbed into the front seat. Girl and Aislinn sat together on the single bench seat in the back of the van and the dogs sprawled here and there on the floor. Helen and Man talked almost the entire way to the Farm. Lucky and the rest of the dogs dozed on the floorboards.

It had been less than a pawful of days since they had left the Farm and already things had drastically changed in their absence. The wall now encircled the entire dooryard and the outbuildings. Another wall surrounded the Hunting Camp and a walled passage connected the two. The walls were tall, at least six feet, made of tightly mortared cement blocks and topped with a wider ledge of lighter gray blocks. The top blocks had a rough texture. Peering above the wall, standing tall in the dooryard, were a pair of towers that were about one and a half stories tall. A simple roof with a steep pitch was balanced on four pillars, the rest of the towers’ main floors were open so that their commanding view of much of the surroundings gave guards an excellent vantage for watching. Each tower had two guards armed with rifles in it.

Even as Man drove up to the sturdy wooden gate, it began to swing open and the Sprinter rolled easily through. The dooryard itself hadn’t changed too much in their absence, though the gravel area was now free from other vehicles. The barn doors were open and the younger kids were playing inside under Calypso’s ever watchful eyes. Gran met Girl at the van’s door, pulling her into a hug. Lucky and the other dogs leapt down to the ground with easy grace.

“Welcome back, Isa.” Gran said, squeezing the young teen tight. “It’s good to see you.”

“It’s good to be home, Gran. I brought some friends. This is Aislinn and Helen. They’ve got a bunch of others with them, hiding out in the City. I invited them to check out the Farm and see if they’d like to join us here. They’ve got some skilled members. Medics, police. It could be really helpful.” Girl said.

“We have a lot of children, too.” Aislinn said, her pale eyes focused on the open barn doors and the squeals of laughter coming from within.

“We’ve got a few youngsters here.” Gran said. “Not too many though. Mostly Calypso keeps an eye on them, they’re not too young.”

“Calypso?” Aislinn wore a frown.

Gran turned toward the barn. “I can introduce you if you like, she’s great at keeping an eye on the kiddos.”

“Um, sure.” Aislinn said.

“I’ll give you and Helen a tour after that.” Lucky offered. “I’m sure you want to know what

You’d be getting yourselves into. It’s a long way to move your group.”

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“And, no offense, but we don’t know you very well yet.” Helen said.

“That’s fair.” Man said, “I hope you’ll give us a chance.”

“Girl said that you guys could have a better settlement the more people lived here?” Helen said.

“That’s true.” Man said. “When Lucky left, he put the territory in my hands. I've done what I could with it, but I don’t want to change too much before we get a better feel on the System.”t

“We don’t have much experience with the system yet.” Aislinn said. “Are the animals the only ones with classes?”

“Isobel has one, too. I think a couple of the people here have been offered classes since they left, but I don’t think anyone has taken them up on the offer.” Man said. “I haven’t yet. I think there’s some sort of trigger that we haven’t figured out yet that starts the class and level process.”

“So what do you know about classes so far?” Helen asked.

“The dogs can probably answer that question the most thoroughly. They’re the ones with the classes so far - well, and Isobel. I think some of the coyotes have picked up, but Clash doesn’t really talk to us since Lucky went away.” Man said.

Lucky’s head drooped just a little bit. “I had hoped she’d be used to you enough to keep in contact.”

“Don’t worry yourself any over that, Lucky. She’s kept visible, so we know her and her pack are out there keeping an eye on things around the Farm.” Gran said.

“We’ve been talking about sending another group around to the farms nearby to see what we can find out about our neighbors and resources in the area.” Man said.

“Probably a good idea. Is the council moving any more smoothly in the last few days?” Girl asked.

“Not at all,” Man said. “They may even be arguing more than they did when you were here.”

“I’m not surprised.” Girl said. “Maybe if we add some councilmembers from Aislinn and Helen’s group, we might have a chance of actually getting things done with the council. Right now, I think, the split is too drastic.”

“It’s not drastic. This sort of divide has been around forever.” Man said. “Still, that’s my job to worry about, not you. Let’s show the ladies around and see what they think about our little sanctuary.”

As Girl and Man led the two women away for their tour, Lucky darted back out the gate to head toward the Den. There were dozens of trails and paths through the wood, the scent of the coyotes was strong and fresh. It was obvious to the big dog that they had been keeping a close eye on the Farm, even if they weren’t staying within the walls.

Clash was waiting for him at the dennings, her brownish coat with its gray tips looked clean and healthy and those yellow eyes of hers met his steadily. “You’re back sooner than I thought.” She said, ears tipped forward and her step bouncing slightly as she approached him. Her tail was flagging out straight behind her, not up or down.

“We found a large group of humans, mostly pups, in the City.” Lucky said. “We brought two of them back to tour the Farm and see if they’re interested in joining us.”

“It hasn’t been quiet here.” Clash said as she closed the last of the distance between them, exchanging breath and sniffs with him.

“No?” Lucky’s ears were forward, his head tilted to one side and his voice was filled with curiosity. “What’s happened?”

“I could show you, if you have the daylight.” Clash said.

“I’ve got daylight, for now.” He said.

Clash’s forelegs dropped out from under her, her tail wagging wildly as she collapsed into a play bow. “Bet you can’t catch me.” She taunted.

As soon as Lucky started dropping into an answering bow, she was off. Dust and grass flying as her hardy paws dug into the ground. The big dog had to whirl around before he could launch himself after her. His paws pounded against the ground, fast, but the little coyote had him in speed. The black flag of her tail swept around the base of a large tree and then over a pile of tumbled rocks. Lucky’s speed slowed significantly in the turn and he landed heavily from the jump. The coyote leapt up onto a stump, tail wagging behind her. “You really are slow.” She taunted.

Lucky panted out a laugh. He may be slow, but his breathing wasn’t heavy at all after the sprint. “Show me what happened.”

“It’s not too far, across the burned trail.” Clash leapt down and continued to run toward the highway.

“That’s outside our territory.” Lucky reminded her.

She snorted. “For now.”

“Can you tell me?” He asked.

Clash’s yellow eyes flashed back at him as she looked over her shoulder. “The hard-spiders found a softer target. The farm across the burned trail is open territory, if we should wish to claim it. The hard-spiders have gone now, but they didn’t leave much worthwhile behind, just a lot of prey they didn’t bother with.”

“Prey?” Lucky asked.

The coyote made an uncertain sound deep in her chest. “We would have eaten them before.” She said, “But we waited for you so you could tell us if we could.” She looked at Lucky over her shoulder again. “You have a habit of making friends with prey. We thought maybe these could be of use to you.”

“Well, what are they?” He asked as they bounded across the road.

“We’re almost there, just wait a few breaths.” She said, stretching her body out into a gallop. Flying down one side of the ditch and up the other as though she were barely touching the ground at all. As soon as they crossed the ditch, Lucky could smell it. Silage. There was something about the sickly sweet smell that turned his stomach.

He snorted a breath out through his nose, trying to clear the smell from his nostrils. “Cows?”

“Horses too.” Clash confirmed.

She led him into the farm’s dooryard and he could hear the sad bellowing of calves separated from their mothers. The warm, earthy coats of the cows couldn’t compete with the angry red of overfull udders. “They’re miserable.” Lucky observed.

“Yeah.” Clash’s tail wagged anxiously. “What should we do with ‘em?”

“That’s a great question.” Lucky mused. “Probably should get some people over here.”