The meeting was held in the central hall, where the fire pit had long gone cold, but its ashes still clung to the floor like a memory. The room was dimly lit by oil lamps tucked behind sheets of scorched fabric. People didn't talk much as they gathered. Most just sat or leaned, arms crossed, eyes scanning the corners more than the people around them. But silence, this heavy, meant something...
Boss stood at the far end, hands resting on the back of an old metal chair like it was the only thing holding him steady. He didn't raise his voice when he spoke.
"You all know why we're here. What Noah and Kaela saw the other night - changes things. Maybe it's nothing but I say that we prepare."
No one interrupted.
"We've lived off patterns. Same routines, same routes, same watches. That only works when the world outside stays the same but following the event last night and today during Noah's scouting mission, I don't think the world outside is staying the same anymore."
He paused, letting that land.
"So, I say we start adapting to this sudden change in the air outside until we know what we are actually dealing with. All of us present here today know how much unpreparedness has cost us in the past. I don't want us to repeat the same mistake again."
Mira stepped forward first. She still wore her medic apron, stained from the last stitching job she'd done. "I need to know what I'm dealing with. If you're saying the Hollowed are evolving, then I need more eyes. More reporting. I don't want to stitch panic wounds or bury people because someone got sloppy."
Tran leaned against the wall, arms folded. "If you believe me, I think this place is not strong enough to be able to hold off the Hollowed in case they start attacking during the day. We barely survive during the night by acting dead. I say we start looking for a better place like some old hydro plants or weather stations, anything off-grid. If this place ever stops holding, we better have Plan B."
From the back, Leni added, "Some of the watch points—they've gone quiet. No movement. Not even from the Hollowed. I don't like it."
Dana, wiping her hands on her apron, let out a low breath. "People are scared. They're whispering more than they're sleeping. The food fields are starting to sprout, but we can't grow anything if folks are too scared to bend down without checking their backs. If we're going to keep this place running, we need structure."
"And cover," Jace cut in, more sharply than he probably meant to. He scratched the back of his neck. "Look, I know I don't go out as much as Noah or Leni, but we have working drone chassis. Give me a few days, I can rig signal blockers, maybe even motion triggers. We shouldn't be guessing if something's out there."
Boss nodded slowly. "Then here's what we do. No one scouts alone. Two-person teams from now on. Noah and Kaela will lead. They know the rooftops better than anyone."
Kaela, standing beside me, gave a small nod.
"Watch shifts double. Four people, always. Day or night. No exceptions. Workers in the field get cover—two guards per shift. And the gate stays sealed. Manual only. No more trusting the auto-locks. If power fails, we don't."
He turned to Jace. "Prep the vehicles. Quietly. Fuel 'em. Check tires, brakes, gear. Every one of them gets a jammer installed. If we need to leave in a hurry, we leave smart. And we don't drive into a signal trap."
Jace gave a short nod. "On it."
"We don't panic," Boss said. "We plan. That's how we stay ahead."
The room was quiet again. But this time, it was a different kind of silence. Focused. Weighted.
People started moving. Slowly at first. Then with more purpose. Dana headed toward the storeroom to inventory supplies. Jace was already unfolding old vehicle blueprints on the table near the back. Mira pulled Leni aside to talk about medical shifts.
Boss waited until most had filtered out.
"Kaela. Noah. Stay."
Boss didn't speak right away. He walked over to the far table, pulled out a faded map, and unrolled it. "You two aren't going out tomorrow morning like we planned. Tonight, we need to talk about our strategy for scouting. We need to figure out your entry and exit routes, and also what your objectives should be out there. So that you are not wondering aimlessly. If this thing outside is changing, we need to be smarter than it."
Kaela stepped forward, eyes scanning the map. "We'll be ready."
Boss looked up at us both. "We don't just scout anymore. We recon. We observe. We don't bring anything back that we don't understand. Not signals. Not tech. Not mistakes."
I nodded. "Understood."
The last of the daylight slipped behind the jagged skyline beyond the covered windows.
Boss reached for a red marker.
"Let's get to work."
He circled a few rooftops on the map and tapped twice. "These are where the signal jammers were last reported working. But this one here," he pointed at a warehouse near the eastern fence, "was glitching last time Tran checked. And we've had no confirmation since."
Kaela leaned in, tracing the layout with her finger. "That zone is close to where Noah saw the Hollowed just... standing."
I pointed. "Same here. Same pattern. Always facing east. Always near broken jammer zones. It's not random. They're probably positioning themselves where we're weakest."
"You think they can sense the gaps?" Boss asked.
"Maybe not directly," I replied, "but if they're linked to whatever is left of EVA—or something else—they could be receiving instruction based on where the signal breaks."
Kaela added, "Which means we need to map every faulty node before we scout further. If they're tracking movement or data relays, the last thing we want is to give them patterns."
Boss gave a slow nod. "Then that's the plan. Tomorrow at first light, you two head out—but no contact. No interference. Just observation. Chart their paths, log timeframes."
"And what about the jammers?" I asked.
"We mark the location of dead ones on our map, and I want you two to bring them back here." Boss said. "And then Jace can work on repairs. Because I want to make sure our paths are secured before we make noise."
The map lay between us like a puzzle missing half its pieces. But even so, it was a start.
Kaela pulled out a pen and marked a few notes beside the zones. "We'll move rooftop to rooftop. Stick to the jammer paths. If something looks off, we double back. No risks."
Boss looked at us both, his expression unreadable. "You two are our best chance. So, we do this right. No hero moves. No ghost chases. Just smart, quiet recon."
"Understood," I said again.
Boss rolled up the map, eyes still scanning the edges of the parchment like he could get more answers out of it.
---
"Then go get some rest. We start early. And from this point on, every step outside these walls counts twice. Once for the risk. Once for the message it sends."
I and Kaela exchanged a look. No words. Just the kind of look you give when you know what's coming might change everything.
Then we left the room.
Boss stayed behind, eyes fixed on the map.
We walked back through the quiet aisles of the library, lanterns dimmed, shadows long. Most of the camp was already curled up in their corners, the murmurs of evening slowly thinning into sleep.
Our quarters felt warmer than usual. Kaela dropped her scarf on the crate by the wall and stretched, groaning softly.
"You remember the time Jace tried to fix the ration heater and ended up lighting half the soup on fire?" she asked, flopping onto the cot.
I chuckled. "Yeah. He claimed he was inventing 'smoke-boiled stew.' Said it would be the next big thing."
Kaela laughed into her sleeve. "Mira chased him out with a ladle. I haven't seen that woman move that fast since the solar panel collapse."
I sat down beside her, unlacing my boots. "I miss that week. Nothing tried to kill us. The most dangerous thing was undercooked fungus bread."
"Or that weird tea Dana made. Pretty sure that wasn't a hallucination leaf, but... who knows."
There was a pause. Comfortable.
Kaela pulled the blanket up around us both, shifting to lie on her side facing me. "You think we're ready for tomorrow?"
I hesitated, then nodded slowly. "Yeah. We know more than we did yesterday. That's something."
She reached for my hand under the blanket. "Well… don't forget the path behind the red billboard has a broken rung. Don't be a hero. Just shout."
"I won't shout," I whispered. "But I'll signal. You'll be watching."
Kaela smiled, eyes finally starting to close. "Always."
Outside, the wind tapped against the boards, but inside our little corner, it was quiet.
For all I care, tomorrow could wait.