The area around the school had been unusually quiet for the past few days. No sounds of zombies, no alerts from motion sensors... It was the kind of silence Arden didn't like. From experience, he knew that real storms always followed moments like this.
That afternoon, Mia returned hastily from an external patrol. Her breathing was uneven, and sweat trickled down her forehead, fogging up her glasses.
"There's someone in the woods!" she said.
Arden shot up immediately. "How many?"
"One person. Unarmed, from what I could tell. But different… the way he moved, how he stood. He saw us, but didn't run."
The group quickly gathered. This was their first conscious encounter with someone from the outside since Leo. Arden and Kyra took point, Tom and Nina flanking them. As they approached the forest's edge, the man Mia had described was still standing there.
He appeared to be in his early thirties, wearing a long black coat, his beard freshly shaved. No weapons were visible on him, but the relaxed way he carried himself, the calm confidence in his posture, instantly put Arden on alert.
"Did you come here by choice?" Arden called out.
The man nodded slightly. "Yes. I'm looking for shelter. I heard there were survivors here."
His voice was calm, his words deliberate. There was peace in his eyes—but Arden's instincts were uneasy.
"What's your name?" Kyra asked.
"Rafe."
"Where are you from?"
"That's a little hard to explain," Rafe said with a faint smile. "I walked mostly at night, stayed alone for the most part. I'm no soldier, but I've learned how to survive. I know things. Especially about systems, electricity, and signals."
That immediately caught Nina's attention. "Signals? What kind?"
"Radio frequencies, encrypted communications... and sometimes distress calls from other survivors."
Arden turned to Mia and received a silent nod of confirmation. He nodded. "We'll let you in. But we'll check you for weapons, and you'll be under observation for the first few days."
"A reasonable decision," Rafe said, keeping his hands visible.
When Rafe entered, there was an immediate shift in the group's dynamic. Tom and Mia were warm toward him. Leo watched from a distance, nervous. Kyra remained quiet. Arden decided to keep a close eye on him.
During dinner, Rafe told his story. He claimed to be a former engineer. After the pandemic, he left the city, tried to stay with a few groups, but most fell apart due to infection or infighting. His story made sense, and it was consistent—too clean, almost.
Nina tested his knowledge. She handed him a supposedly broken transmitter. After just a few minutes of inspection, Rafe identified the missing part, the short-circuit, and even offered a workaround.
"He's not lying," Nina later told Arden. "He knows his stuff. He could be our lucky break."
But Arden remained skeptical. Later that night, while everyone else slept, Rafe was spotted in the old library going over maps and plans. Mia reported it to Arden, but simply said, "He was studying something."
During his watch, Arden approached Rafe silently. He still found him in the library.
"It's late," Arden said.
Rafe didn't flinch. "Couldn't sleep. Maps calm me. It's important to understand where boundaries begin and end."
"People like you care more about opportunities than maps."
Rafe looked at Arden. There was something in his eyes—dangerous intelligence or just exhaustion, Arden couldn't tell.
"True. But sometimes opportunities are the only way to survive."
Arden didn't forget that line.
Rafe contributed a lot to the group. He extended the radio signal range, optimized the camera angles, and even helped Tom build a new entrance trap. Everyone seemed impressed—especially Nina.
But that night, Leo said he had a dream. "Rafe… he was outside, talking to someone. It was like whispers. Then he looked at me… but his face had a different expression."
Arden quietly took note of Leo's words. Maybe it was a dream. Maybe the kid was scared. But something inside him whispered again.
"This man didn't come alone."