Five minutes later they were all standing at the stairs, guns pointed upward toward the doors.   Allistor climbed up and removed the bar, then used it to shove one door upward.  He winced as the hinges creaked, but nothing jumped out at him.

They all made their way up, and Meg said, “Gonna hit the head before we go.”   She and Amanda ventured inside the house as Sam and Allistor picked a convenient tree to relieve themselves upon.

The ladies came back out with two laundry baskets and a large box.  They went back down to the cellar and filled all three with jars.  Sam found some empty wooden crates, and they filled those too as Allistor made trips up and down the stairs to load them into the trucks.  When they were done, they had about sixty jars – more than half of what had been on the shelves.  Before they left, Sam closed and barred the cellar doors from above to keep the critters out.  They could stop by on the way back and finish clearing out the food.   With twenty more mouths to feed, there was no such thing as too much food.

They pulled out of the driveway and back onto the road.  Moving along at their safe 30mph pace, it was only a couple hours until they reached the outskirts of the town.  It looked like any other small town, only smaller.  Maybe half the size of their own town, before it was crushed.   By comparison, this one was intact.  Mostly.  A couple of buildings had burned down, and several homes sported broken windows and open doors.

The Stronghold they were looking for was easily spotted.  Right in the center of town, the main thoroughfare was cut off by a twenty-foot-high stone wall with an iron gate.  As they approached, faces appeared atop the wall.  Sam stopped his truck a good fifty yards back from the gate.

Several of those faces were holding guns.

Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

Shoot First, Don’t Apologize

The four got out of their trucks, and Meg shouted, “We’re looking for Luther.  I’m Meg!”

A man atop the gate raised a hand in greeting.  “I’m Luther.  Glad to see you, Meg! We’re going to need you to leave your weapons where you’re standing before you come in.”

Allistor shook his head.  “That’s just not going to happen, Luther.  My name is Allistor.  Did Meg mention me?”

Luther nodded.  “Leader of the Warren.  I appreciate you coming.  I really do.  But we’ve had some… incidents with other survivors.”

Allistor looked around at the others.  “Luther, I promised to keep these people safe.  Much like you probably did for your people.  In light of the incidents you just mentioned, how smart would it be for me to just walk them in there without weapons?”  He paused for effect. “There are four of us here. You outnumber us five to one.  And frankly, I have the ability to cast spells that are much more dangerous than my shotgun.   We need to learn to trust each other.  I’ve got a truck full of food here, and an invitation for you to join us at the Warren.  But if you’re not gonna let us in as we are, we can turn around and head back.”