The small groups gathered around him as he spoke.  Sean was the first to respond.  “That’s a good point.  Regardless of where we go, I don’t think I like the idea of walking through the forest at night.”

Sam agreed.  “Allistor’s right.  I think we should find a way to secure just this room, and hunker down till daylight.  Anyone disagree?”   He waited, but no one spoke up.  “Fine.  We stay the rest of the night.  Hopefully, the others get back from dealing with the titan by then. Next question, or rather first question, where do we go?”

Sandy said, “There’s a Park Service station about ten miles from here.  It’s a log cabin, with solar power, well water, and a working bathroom.   But it would be a little cramped for all of us.”

“If it’s even still there,” Sam added.

Allistor raised his hand.  Then, feeling silly, just spoke.  “When my pop was mayor, he used to take me to work with him at city hall sometimes.  I was a kid and got bored easily.  Used to explore the building.  There’s a basement level that they used for jail cells when they first built the place back in the 1800s.  It’s two levels down and cut right into the bedrock.   I remember there being a long hall with six or seven cells on each side.”

Meg was nodding along.  “I remember that!  When I was little my teacher took us on a tour down there.  It had one of those old toilets with a pull-chain.  So there must have been water at one point.  And it wouldn’t hurt us to take a look around town.  See what we can salvage in the way of food and clothes, weapons, whatever.”

Sam looked around the group.  “Anybody got any better suggestions?”  Again, no one spoke up.  “So our choices are the ranger’s cabin or the old city hall basement.  Raise your hand for the cabin.”

No hands went up.

“Right.  The basement it is.  We’ll head out at first light.  I’ll take a watch on the entrance.  Need somebody to watch the back.” He nodded at Sean who raised a hand to volunteer. “The rest of you, get some sleep.”

Allistor, having just slept about six hours as best he could tell, didn’t feel like resting.  He wanted to speak with Sam.  Since the ‘stabilization period’ had started and the monsters began showing up, he had mostly huddled in his home with his family.   There had been a few town meetings during the three-day countdown, mostly to talk about whether their situation was real, and to try and make some basic plans for survival.  Nobody really had any idea what to expect.

Now, with some time on his hands, he wanted to compare notes with the marine to see what he could learn.

“Sam? Feel like some company?  I was hoping we could talk.”