“I... well, we don’t have...” Kay started saying, but kept interrupting herself as she realized that she did not have an explanation as to how the others knew they were coming or how they had managed to get a truck ready that fast. The garage with most of their vehicles – and [I]all[/I] of their heavier vehicles, like trucks and tanks, which they did have a few of – was near the center of Eighfour along with the rest of their most valuable things, and truthfully she doubted they were even fueled usually, since they were rarely used. Now that he had mentioned it she even realized that the ground around the outer wall of the settlement had changed while she was gone, having the appearance of soil recently disturbed by a lot of traffic, mostly going parallel to the wall. Patrols, maybe?
	“I...” she said again, slowing down her pace before coming to a stop altogether, her brow furrowed in confusion. Squinting, she could make out that there seemed to be more people on the wall than usual.
	“Something is wrong. Something has happened.” Her attention turned back to the truck approaching them, inspecting the vehicle more closely as it sped toward them as quickly as the terrain allowed. It was the kind of smaller truck with an open storage area, the kind some people called pickup trucks, geared towards being able to traverse terrain quickly, which was practically a necessity in a place like Eighfour, where there forest was all around them. More important and remarkable, however, was the manned belt-fed machine-gun mounted on its back. There were another two people sitting on the cargo bed besides the gunner, each carrying what appeared to be assault rifles. “This is...”

	“Don’t move!” someone shouted as the truck skidded to a halt just some ten meters from them as all guns came to be aimed at Enn. Even the driver jumped in on the action, drawing and pointing a small-caliber pipe gun at him, even though the weapon did not stand the faintest chance of penetrating the soldier’s armor.
	“Wait -” Kay shouted, but one of the guys with assault rifles waved at her aggressively – notably taking one hand off his weapon to do this – without taking his eyes off Enn.
	“No, identify yourself! What are you doing here? Who are you with?”