Florian stood over the stone fortifications, four of the other Warriors pacing the same stretch of wall he was. It was a token force, but considering that a trained human could take down a Hellwolf all on their own, it was plenty to take out the roving band of Hellwolves that attempted to batter down the gates during the day.

There were a total of eighty soldiers in the Leeds Warriors – practically everyone that could pick up a weapon and fight. The majority of them slept during the day, taking up a night shift to defend the castle when the Hellwolves came out in force.

"They’re nasty creatures when they attack you like that,” Anna explained, patrolling just ahead of him. Hornbeck had assigned her to him to give him a run-down of the job after Florian’s successful test. Anna looked behind her, rolling her eyes when she saw him a good ten feet behind her. “Hurry up, Cale. You have to be able to move faster than that.”

Florian groaned but he picked up the pace. The cobbled floors of the wall were very difficult to navigate, and no amount of practice seemed to acclimate him to the uneven surface. And this was without the heavy armor the other Leeds Warriors wore. He didn’t even want to think about that.

Anna stopped abruptly in front of him and snapped a sharp salute to whoever was in front of her. Florian tried to copy as best as he could, though he didn’t know who he was saluting until Wilfred’s mop of red, scraggly hair poked out to the side of Anna.

“Warrior Baker, how is the new recruit acclimating?” he asked, his voice a little more weaselly than Florian remembered.

Anna answered without dropping her salute. “He is a little slow on his feet, but he is capable, Lord Jones.”

Lord Jones. That was almost comical, and Florian had half-thought it a joke, but no one laughed. Wilfred – Lord Jones – nodded sagely. “That was to be expected; Theodosius told me as much.” Now Wilfred turned to him. “Warrior Cale, how have you found your treatment thus far?”

“Excellent,” Florian responded, drawing a surprised look from Anna.

Wilfred narrowed his eyes. “That is good to hear. Theodosius told me that if I were to talk to you to let you know not to look for him. He’s preoccupied teaching a new cohort of students to cast magic and has hardly any time to spare.”

Florian nodded. It was what it was, not like Theo’s teachings had done much for him after the very start. If anything, Florian was glad to not have to deal with the wishy-washy wizard. Wilfred left after his message, scurrying off the wall via staircase and near running back towards the keep that sat in the center of the walls.

If Wilfred was among those students, Florian wouldn’t have been surprised. What did surprise him was the shift in tone from the previous day, though Florian couldn’t discern if that was because something had changed in his status or whether Wilfred just liked the power trip when it couldn’t reflect on him poorly.

“Does he seriously call himself a lord?” Florian asked Anna, who only turned around and dropped the salute until well after Wilfred left their sight.

“He does, and he’s got the people behind him to back that up. Don’t mess with Jones and you’ll get enough food to make it through another year, and I’m sure that Leeds is more secure than any of our trading partners.”

“Trading partners?”

“There’s a few groups of survivors here and there that have organized into their own communities. A couple of them are about a day away by foot, and that’s realistically the most distance anyone can cover before the road gets too dangerous to traverse. Some others come from places like London, but those that do got horses from somewhere and use them to avoid traveling at night,” Anna resumed her lessons as she walked away from him. Florian followed closely on her heels, excited about this new development.

“But I thought everyone in London had died?”

“There’s a few guys at Luton Airport that managed to blockade themselves off, and a lot of people managed to take refuge in the Queen’s castle. The military has some kind of installation somewhere, too. Though most of our travelers come the Queen’s castle – scientists that think they can understand the Nests if only they got closer to them.”

“Can they?”

“Most of them are dead,” Anna said.

Florian gazed out at the forest around them, knowing that not so far from them the home of the Hellwolves lay.

Anna walked over to stand next to him. “But one of the few that returned from her trip to the Nest said that she felt like there was something big going on in the Nest. Lots of commotion, even during the day.”

Florian looked at her with horror.

“If I had to wager, I’d say that they’re getting hungry. Not enough people left to eat anymore.”

“How long have you been at this?”

Anna ran her fingers through her long, blonde hair. “Since the very start, I guess. My family lived close by and I was visiting them. By the time we figured what was going on, the internet and everything had gone. Didn’t take long for us to realize that we were going to die if we stayed home, though. Our neighbors…”

Anna turned away. “Their screams made sure of that. My dad came up with the idea to come here during one of the days – that’s when it was the quietest – and seek refuge behind walls like the old days. We’ve been here ever since.”

Florian wanted to say something, but he saw movement beneath him. A yellow flash moved around the base of the wall, travelling quickly for the gate. It kept ramming the wooden thing with its head. It was followed shortly by another two of the monsters.

Anna called out as she zipped past him, running towards the gate. “Let me show you how it’s done!”

And then Florian followed, hoping that he could make it there in time before Anna got done with whatever she wanted to show him.