Vas and Jade crawled along the snow. There were tiny shapes far in the distance, but they couldn’t risk being seen. The land was completely flat, after all, and they would stick out like a sore thumb if they stood.

Jade watched Vas’s body for any signal he might give her.

Vas always seemed to be the first person aware of danger, and he would warn her if he saw something he didn’t like.

His eyesight was also far superior to Jade’s own.

She trusted him with her life.

They’d never talked much to each other, but she’d felt extremely comfortable with him for months now.

He was the only person she knew who had never tried to put restrictions on her.

When they sparred, he held nothing back. When they deliberated, he took her words with as much weight as he took anyone’s.

He treated her like she was his equal.

Jade still felt awkward about blowing up at him then breaking down crying a week back.

But she believed it was something that needed to be said.

If nothing else, it had improved her relationship with Fem.

The two of them hadn’t liked each other until that day.

“Jade,” Vas started. Oops, she’d gotten distracted. “Let’s go back. The monsters are walking north.”

Vas and Jade met up with the four other Decoys on their way back to the main group. “Fem and Tare, scout to the east until you see the sun going down.”

Vas scanned his surroundings and caught something unusual. It was a lump of white.

Was that a polar bear?

He could hardly believe his eyes. It was.

The bear was standing on its hind legs, sniffing the air and looking around.

“Careful,” he warned in a hushed tone.

Jade, Alex, and Joust noticed where he was looking quickly.

“They shouldn’t be this far west,” Joust stated in amazement.

“Don’t worry, it’s not hostile yet. Just walk away slowly.”

Vas was surprised by Joust’s knowledge but did as the man cautioned.

After a few minutes of walking, they couldn’t see the bear anymore. Alex breathed a sigh of relief. “Jeez! I was perfectly fine when the scariest thing I had to deal with each day was Vas’s face when he lost at cards.”

Vas grunted. He was only half paying attention.

Did he need to warn Fem and Tare about the animal?

“Don’t worry,” Joust reiterated, “there’s probably a body of water nearby. The bear wasn’t territorial. It will likely head back to where it came from.”

“Should we warn Fem and Tare?” The question came from Jade.

“Nah. I’d rather hear the story of them running for their lives later,” Alex joked. Was she joking? Maybe she was being serious. Vas could never tell with her.

“What do the Risen eat,” Joust wondered aloud, “I’ve heard of them biting people before, but not eating them. People just become Risen when they die, after all.”

“They don’t eat.”

Everyone looked at Vas.

“Bodies stop functioning when they rise. At least, they function differently. The muscles and skin don’t degenerate, and wounds still close up as if they were alive. It’s like some kind of magic.”

Joust scratched his head, “I was never one for mysticism, but people raising from the dead and nationwide EMPs could change my mind.”

“How do you know they don’t eat? Couldn’t they just eat when we aren’t looking?” Jade had obviously thought about this before.

“I kept one in a room, near the beginning. I kept it locked in a room for a month and a half. It never starved.”

The others watched him. They obviously didn’t know what to say.

“And?” Joust prodded him.

Oh. Were they just waiting for Vas to continue?

“I don’t know, I asked it basic questions. ‘What do you remember’, ‘are you hungry’, things like that.”

It wasn’t all of the story. Vas had conversations with that Risen. The creature almost never gave responses, so Vas would sit and talk to it for hours.

He barely remembered those days. He didn’t want to remember more than he had to.

Joust nodded, apparently satisfied.

“I would think they were trying to help us with their little ascension,” Jade began, “If they didn’t seem so much like they just wanted to kill us.”

They caught sight of the main group, which was farther south than Vas had anticipated.

“They definitely don’t just need a big hug,” Vas grumbled.

Jade smiled at him.

“We need to catch up to the main group. Less talking, more walking.” The others nodded.

Six hours later Tare and Fem met up with the main group.

They reported no unusual movement, and hadn’t met the bear.

Tare and Alex got in argument about whether there actually had been a bear until Joust stepped in and confirmed the story.

The group stopped about forty minutes later, when they reached a lightly forested area. There were a few rocks, and people pitched tents next to them.

It was the first bit of cover that they had found in their multiple days of hiking over the frozen wastes.

Vas glanced at the horizon as he pitched his group’s tent, but there was nothing to be discovered out there. Just a whole lot of snow.

Tare prepared the rations, which they kept in a serving container they passed around. After a few bites of the rations, Vas left his group’s area to find Kara and the other leaders.

They were planning on having a meeting right before it got dark tonight.

As he walked past a nearby tent, Tapo whistled at him. The big man smiled and waved, so Vas approached him. The rest of the leaders were there, crouching in a grouping of trees.

Ishone and the others nodded their greetings. “You were saying,” Ishone prodded Serj. The man nodded, “The scouts should stick closer than they have been. It’s too dangerous for them to be so far out, now that we’re nearing lake territory.”

Vas had heard them mention this area they would be walking over, which was covered in hundreds of lakes.

“However, we need to be extra cautious of Risen movements. Our movement charts don’t extend this far out.”

Kara scratched her head, “We don’t want to lose anyone to the lakes, but if we accidentally catch the attention of a herd we’re dead.”

“Not dead, not all of us,” Ishone cut in, “That’s what the Decoys are for.”

Ishone gave Vas an apologetic expression before continuing, “We can keep the scouts a fair distance out, even if it means slowing our pace. But if we start losing people to the lakes it will be like fighting a guerilla war against nature. We’ll lose.”

Tapo nodded slowly. “Caution is our best ally in this situation. We are not being chased, nor have we been spotted. Our actual arrival time is inconsequential as we have no one waiting for us. I hope.”

Vas agreed with Tapo’s sentiment, “As long as we get there.” The others nodded.

“Could I borrow the map tonight, to let my squad study it?”

Kara held out the map. “I had a man trace the map in case something happens to this one. But this is the original, and we need to be as accurate as possible when plotting our course. I’ll need this back.”

The map had rough markings around the areas where the group had stopped to camp each night, including their current approximate position.

“Let’s all get some sleep. The next two weeks might be particularly trying,” Ishone muttered.