“Do you ever get the feeling something bad just happened?” Dose furrowed her brow.

“What the fuck are you,” Tracey was half-way out of a berry bush and trying to keep her hair from getting caught, “You just come out with the most random shit after not talking all day. Like the fuck?”

Juan came sauntering over, “hhhhhhhhhhhhheyyyyyy guys. So remem—”

“We’re women”

“hey girls?”

“we’re not children”

“Ladies?”

“Are you hitting on us?”

“STOP HOLY SHIT”

Tracey cackled and turned around to pick up the basket of berries she’d filled., “Who pissed you off today?”

“Tracey come on,” interjected Dose, “What’s up Juan?”

“We…Well….You remember Co?

Tracey popped an eyebrow, “Yes somehow I remember one of the few people that live here with us.”

“he seemed to have…conscript—well you see,”

“Come on now sport, spit it out”

“Tracey, stop it. Juan whats wrong?”

“Just come look”

They stood up from the berry bush field and started the saunter back to the Town Center. It was an arid but crisp day, no humidity to speak of. There were a few more fields than before, and lamby was still rolling around outside the Town Center, but other than that nothing changed much. They walked in the shadows of the mills, unconsciously trying to stay in the moving darkened patches. There’d been work done on building a university, but they had to abandon that project to look for another food source.

As they broke bast the fields and into the main square they saw the completed barracks standing behind a glowing Co and Says.

And a row of men standing with spiked clubs right behind them.

Tracey dropped her basket slack-jawed, “what—”

Dose finished for her, “The fuck”