As the three of us progressed towards the watchtower, I could feel the cold creeping in slowly. I wasn't sure if we were even still on Earth at this point. Everything looked normal enough, but the atmosphere was ominous in the silence. Skeletal trees surrounded us as we trudged through the snowy expanse, bent and gnarled. My companions continued as I stopped for a moment to inspect one of them. Taking out my pocket knife, I cut into the bark, and the sap that flowed was a harsh green and yellow color, almost like pus. It paralleled our current situation quite well. I pondered on our predicament as we walked. One or more of the people we were with were likely to betray us. They would seem normal on the inside, but their intentions would be rotten. How many people would be willing to sacrifice one of their lives for people they didn't know? And of course, that isn't a sustainable line of thinking either, as those who were willing to would slowly be eliminated, leaving only the most ruthless of competitors left. If I was put in that situation, could I stab someone I had been working with in the back?

Allison interrupted my musing by shouting back at me. "You coming, Noah? We are kind of on a clock here." She's right, I'm getting too caught up in my head. Especially since we haven't seen any of these aggressive animals yet. We kept moving, getting ever closer to the steel structure as the sun began to set. A mournful howl echoed in the distance as the last rays of light disappeared behind the treetops. It didn't sound close, but sounds could be misleading at the best of times. We made haste to the tower, better to spend the night in a safer area than try to make the trek back to the cabin in the darkness. Approaching the structure, I saw a blinking red light coming from a small copse of trees a couple of meters detour away from the tower.

"Noah, Allison. There's something over there in the trees." Emma said while motioning towards where she had seen the light. It seemed she had also noticed it. "It could be one of the crates they mentioned."

"We shouldn't even be out here at night, let alone going running after red lights in the darkness," Allison said. She was right, but it might be our best advantage and I wasn't sold on the fact that we should give it up without at least checking it out. Especially with how close it was to the tower.

"We will go after it in the morning," I said. "That way we have the light to see by. As of right now, we should grab the part we need."

At this another howl echoed in the darkness, followed shortly by a distant popping sound.

"Did you hear that?" Allison said. "Was that gunfire?" Hopefully, the brothers were alright. If they needed to use a gun, it was likely they had found themselves in a dangerous situation.

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"We need to help them," Emma said as she looked towards the direction the sound had come from. "They could be hurt."

"We are too far away to help if they did need it; better for us to get safe while we still can." I said, "We can go looking in the morning."

We climbed the ladder leading to the top of the watchtower. It was cozy, or at least as cozy as it can be in a metal structure with glass windows without any sort of sleeping bags. At least it was protected from the wind, and theoretically, no animals should be bothering us while we are asleep. There were a couple of lockers around, which I immediately checked out, finding a flare gun with two flares, some saltine crackers, a couple of blankets, and a couple of frozen bottles of water. We split the crackers between us and managed to heat the bottles enough to melt them with our body heat. There was also what was more than likely the part we needed. It was a mass of wires inside a casing. When I picked it up, my UI confirmed what I had thought.

Part 1/4 acquired

Looking out the windows, I could barely make out flashes of something moving in between the trees. Worrisome, but it was something we could deal with in the morning, no wolf I knew of would be able to climb a ladder after us. I took a corner of the tower, grabbed one of the blankets, and settled down for the night. It wasn't the most comfortable sleep I'd ever had, but at least it was better than braving the darkness and cold to try and make it back to the cabin.

During the night I woke up after hearing a noise from the ladder outside. Looking around, Emma was still asleep, curled up in a ball to keep as much warmth as possible, but Allison was missing. Getting up, I looked out the window and saw a shadowy figure move stalk off into the woods. It had to have been Allison. Leaving Emma asleep, I quickly made my way down the ladder to try and follow, keeping just out of sight. A hissing sound akin to hydraulics releasing came from in front of me. That had to be one of the traitor crates. It could have only been Allison. Did I confront her now or accuse her later, when I had Emma around for whatever support she could provide? If I went now, I risked losing the ability to catch her while her guard was down. And if the gunshot from earlier was any indication, she could have a gun and without a weapon myself, it was stupid to go after her. Better leave it, and get reinforcements to make sure nothing happened if she returned. I could wake up Emma and we could confront her when she came back. I silently made my way back to the ladder, climbing as quickly as possible while remaining quiet to avoid anyone catching me. Upon getting back I shook Emma, putting my hand over her mouth and a finger to my lips. She was hesitant but agreed to help me. I sat down nearby and listened, waiting for signs that she was coming back.

A few minutes later I heard the distinct sound of someone climbing the ladder, and signaled to Emma to get into position. The door opened slowly as if to keep us from waking up.

"Care to explain yourself?" I pointed the flare gun at Allison as she walked in to punctuate my point. "I heard the crate open. You got caught, traitor."