He took a few steps and leaned around the fence quickly, surveilling the area and then walking back to us. “Come on, I’ll explain as we walk.”

We left the cover of the fence and started walking across an area of open lawn, finally moving behind a spread of trees and bushes where we could get lost in shadow.

“It was just a contingency,” Freddie went on. “Me, the original staff, and some of the others who have been here longer than you, thought something like this might happen. Even two armed dudes at the entrance weren’t going to cut it if a group of people worked as a unit to overtake them. We didn’t expect it from within, but we figured there’d come a point where we’d have to defend this community and its resources.”

Leon had essentially said the same thing. Only he’d used that belief to enact his own takeover. Freddie and whomever else he’d been working with here had done it to defend these people.

“Where are the weapons?” Layne asked.

“In the gardens. We need to get to the others before they’re rounded up. Our best chance is to surprise them. Asher, who lives down in the old guardhouse, has been gathering ammo for weeks. We have a planned meeting place near the bottom of the hill.”

“Asher’s incapacitated, but unharmed,” I said, repeating what I’d heard Leon say. “I’ll get down there and help Asher. You and Layne start gathering the people you can. Many are probably already being guarded. Gather your own army.” I gripped my clammy hands together. I was simultaneously relieved that others had formed a small army, had a tentative plan, and the ability to fight fire with fire. But it also sounded extremely dangerous. “This could get really bloody,” I said, my voice shaky.

Freddie looked at Layne quickly and then back to me. “Some things are worth fighting for. We have the upper hand in that we all know the lay of this land and they do not. If we can surprise and incapacitate some of them, then maybe we can convince the others to drop their weapons. They’ve got to be weakened from lack of food. But…yes, it will be a battle. It’s either that, or willingly leave, but that’s certain death because there’s nowhere else to go.”

Only that wasn’t true for me.

My eyes met Layne’s in the dim light of the lantern hanging nearby. “Emily…” She put her hand on my arm. “I understand if this isn’t your fight.”