I spent time alone that day, in the trees, thinking. Thinking about everything. I knew we had to go on. I was pregnant. I wouldn't tell anyone until after the battle. There was no point, if we lost.

I finally came back to the camp, and the relief on Ben's face was almost comical. I kissed him quickly, to put both our mind's at ease, and went to find Kit. She was with Amanda and some other women, talking about battle strategies.

"What do you see as our largest problems?" I asked her. Kit was always my most trusted one in these situations. She had a knack for finding our weaknesses. And our enemy's.

"Getting over the fence," she immediately replied. I nodded. I had already come to that conclusion.

"We're very vulnerable there," she continued. "If there are people watching, we'll be picked off the fence like the bottles at our shooting range. They won't even have to leave the first building to eliminate every last one of us."

"It's not a great plan, but it might work," I said, and told her my thoughts.

Kit, Amanda, Ben, Bridget, and three others went with me further south, far from the base. Devon had told us that there were access roads that led through the fences surrounding the city proper. It would be our safest way inside Denver. We figured we would be gone about four days. While we were gone, the others would rest and mend their road-weary bodies. Nigel would organize groups to map the area, find our best places of attack. They would prepare for war.

According to Bridget, it took us about nine hours to find an access road without many buildings nearby. Buildings can hide enemies. We climbed the high fence as quickly and quietly as possible without incident. Our first business at hand was to check the entire outer fence of the Base, to look for an easier way inside. We looked for our enemies.

The entire Base was the same, it appeared, from any side, any angle. It was pointless to attack anywhere else but where we had originally planned.

Secondly, we looked for an Army surplus store. The search didn't take long. There was one as big as the arena back home, dedicated entirely to weapons and supplies. I had a fleeting fear of entering the building, remembering what our arena had held without my knowledge before I had joined the group. I shared a look of trepidation with Amanda, and we went inside.

Kit had suggested that we follow the plan our attackers used back at the fall of the arena. She said we could just drive a military truck over the fence, and bring the group in the back. Admittedly, their plan failed, she told me, but we have more people, and we were better organized. I reminded her that we planned to use the Base as a safe haven in the future, and that tearing down the fencing would make it vulnerable. We didn't want to destroy any of the protection it offered. Besides, I told her, the sound of the truck would give us away. The intruders at the arena had the artillery to destroy the roof, making enough noise to cover the sound of the engine. We didn't have that. She didn't protest, but I knew she didn't fully agree with me.

"Wouldn't it be a riot if there wasn't anyone in the Base?" Amanda laughed. "If there wasn't anyone in The Other in the whole damn city?"

"Oh, yeah, I'd laugh for days," I grunted. But then I laughed too. It's better to be safe than sorry, I guess.

We spent an hour or so making sure we were alone in the surplus store, then we went shopping. Having Amanda there reminded me of the times when we went shopping in the arena,before we joined the group. It was so long ago. I missed that sense of security. Those were the days when I was young. I felt so much older, and I tried to forget about those memories. I felt I'd never feel that safe again.

We picked up as much Protector as we could carry. It was designed to be light, and the material breathed well. Each of us wore two or three outfits, and put another four in large packs we had also found. We loaded ammunition for all of the group's weapons into the packs, as well as black paint for our faces. The Protector was already black, so we didn't need dark clothing. All of us in the group had picked up heavy black boots somewhere along the way of our travels, so we felt the paint was enough. I grabbed a few black stocking caps for the lighter-haired among us.

I stuffed a heavy black blanket in each of our packs. "Unless you see anything else you think we'll need, let's get back to camp," I said. As soon as I had said it, everyone froze after hearing the gunshot. It was far from where we were, but we couldn't tell if it had come from the direction of the group or not. It was just a single shot. Not many of us used anything but automatic weaponry since raiding the Base back home, but some still had pistols. We hurried out of the store.

There was one more thing we needed. I told the others that if the shot had been from camp, there was nothing we could do about it anyway, and I tried to calm everyone. Amanda made a comment about her fear of returning to find the camp deserted, or everyone dead, and I wanted to tape her mouth shut. She always talked too much.

The night was lit by the moon, as it always was. We searched, everyone squinting in an effort to see better in the dark. All of us could see perfectly well, of course, after spending so much time in the dark. But old habits die hard.

"Yes," Kit whispered, and we all hurried to where she was. It was perfect. At least four meters by three meters of heavy metal siding, the kind they used to use for make-shift shacks in the Homeless Years.

"Will it be thick enough?" Amanda asked, of no one in particular.

"Let's take this too," I said, pointing to another piece of siding almost as big. I paused, and without thinking, said, "Wait here, I'll be right back." I hurried back to the surplus store.

It was only about six blocks from where we were, but I shouldn't have gone alone. That was stupid. Stupidity I had cursed in others, reducing many of the girls and more than one of the boys to tears. My head was full of the plan, and I felt invincible. Stupid girl that I am.

I ran into the store to grab a few rolls of heavy-duty tape I had seen near the entrance when I saw the blur of quick movement. I immediately dropped to the floor alongside the display holding the rolls of tape, gun at the ready. There was no more movement. I waited, not sure what to do, feeling like I was being surrounded by many people with guns, ready to shoot me. Kill me. Then I saw the blur again. It was a young boy, maybe seven years old. He ran out the door with his hands over his head, like that would shield him from bullets. With no thought of the imagined attackers, I threw the door open. He was gone.

I grabbed as many rolls of tape that would fit on my forearms, and hurried back to my friends. They had their guns drawn on me when I was in sight. I gave the whistled signal, and they didn't shoot. I ran the rest of the way to them.

"That was the dumbest shit I've ever seen," Kit spat at me. "You're lucky you're still alive. Hell, I feel like shooting you myself."

I didn't know what to say to them. "I saw a little boy," I said, hoping to cover my humiliation.

"Where? Back where we came from?" Amanda cried. "I thought maybe there weren't any of us in this time here."

"He wasn't armed, and there wasn't anyone with him. He was running from me."

"You would think that if he was the only one, he would come to you," Kit said. "He's not alone."

We hurried out of the city without speaking to each other. Each person had thoughts and fears to wrestle with.

It was awkward carrying the flexible siding out, and nearly impossible getting it over the fence. We made so much noise with it I was sure we'd be spotted by others, but we weren't. Amanda suggested wrapping the siding with the blankets, and it quieted the noise somewhat, but not entirely. I was shaking with relief when we finally spotted our camp, and Kit gave the signal.

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