“Edison, wait up!” Matt barks as he trots after Edison.

Snow falls between them, thicker than when they left the shack. It layers the ground in white powder that Edison doesn’t hesitate to walk across. The longer they walk, the faster he goes until he’s panting because he’s been running for the last five minutes. Matt follows as fast as he can.

Edison slows down, but not much. When Matt is caught up, he speeds up again and hurries along the land he hasn’t explored. Matt sighs and barely keeps up.

“Edison, why are you going so fast?” Matt demands.

“We can’t stay in the shack. We need somewhere better,” Edison replies.

“You’re going to burn yourself out before we ever find anything.”

Edison barely hears.

“Edison, wait,” Matt pleads and jogs around in front of him, stopping and holding his arms out so Edison can’t go around. “You’re going to run yourself into the ground, Edison! You need to take a break.”

Edison frowns and steps around. “I’m fine, Matt.”

Matt steps in his way. “Maybe right now, but in three hours, you’re going to be cold and tired and stuck wherever we are. So calm down and think for two minutes instead of running off with no plan!”

Edison opens his mouth to object.

“‘S there someone out there?”

Edison and Matt turn toward the voice and step closer to each other, both grabbing their weapons. A beam of light begins to cut through the snowfall, gradually getting brighter; or maybe closer.

“You’re hearing things, Nathan!”

“No, Maze, there were voices this time. I swear.”

Matt glances at Edison curiously, then looks back toward the light. “H...hello?”

“See Maze?” the first voice barks and the light wobbles a bit.

Edison readies his bat and bends his knees to run, but stays close to Matt.

“Hello! My name is Nathan Bronz! We have a shelter here if you’re interested!”

“Nathan!” barks the second voice.

“What? I’m not going to leave people out in this storm!” Nathan insists.

The sound of shoes on snow alerts them as Nathan trots out from wherever he is to meet Matt and Edison. He’s a big man with brown skin and a long, braided beard. He’s wrapped up in a poofy snowsuit, jacket, and gloves and his feet are hidden in big boots.

“There you are!” he says when he sees them. “What are you doing all the way out here in this weather? Is it just the two of you?”

Matt shakes his head. “We have twelve more in a shack a little ways that way. We’ve got several children with us and we need somewhere to wait out this storm.”

Nathan nods. “Of course, of course! You’ll all be more than welcome here. Maze, tell Charlie we’ve got incoming guests! I’m going to help them!”

Matt hears Maze groan.

“He’s not gonna like you doing this!”

“He can talk to me about it later! I’m not leaving kids out here!”

Maze sighs and a door shuts in the distance.

Nathan turns to Matt and Edison again. “Where is your group?”

Matt glances at Edison, who’s already turning to lead the way. “Follow him.”

“What are your names? And where are you from?” Nathan asks.

“I’m Matt and this is Edison. We’re not really from anywhere anymore.”

Nathan tilts his head.

“Uh, we were most recently staying in Burnsley, a district a little ways south, but that was a while ago.”

“Two months,” Edison announces.

“Oh wow. And you’ve been in the outlands all that time? All on your own?” Nathan demands.

“Pretty much,” Matt answers. “We’ve got other adults in the group, but it’s pretty even cut between us and the kids.”

Nathan shakes his head.-

Edison stops abruplty and hardly notices when Matt humps into his back, too focused on the strange appearance of the snow.

“What the-” Matt cuts off when he sees Edison’s face. “What’s going on?”

“Something isn’t right,” Edison says and nods to the footprints in the snow. “There should be two sets of prints.”

Matt glances at Nathan as Edisno crouches to look at the prints. “Do you think we’re being followed?”

“Not by the living,” Edison answers.

Matt’s stomach drops, then drops farther when a familiar scream echoes through the snow. “Jackie.”

Edison is on his feet and taking off before he can be stopped, leaving a frustrated Matt behind him. Snow bites at his face as he runs. He narrowly avoids trees and boulders that he can’t see through the snow. It takes barely six minutes for him to find the shack again, and put together the image it reveals.

A small group of dead have the broken buiding engulfed. Ekua, Oren, Jonah, and Maybelle are doing their best to fend off the corpses while Calvin keeps the kids in the shack.

Without a second thought, Edison brings his bat down on the closest dead’s head and howls loud enough to get as many of their attention as he can. He pokes and prods to keep them interested as he trots away, keeping just out of reach as he makes his way away from the shack. The ones that are left behind are quickly taken out by the adults.

“Edison, what the hell are you doing?” Matt demands.

“Help me take care of them!” Edison barks back, getting his machete out to slash at head after head.

Matt enters the fray immediately and helps take down the last few dead while the others recover. As soon as he’s calmed down, he turns to bark at Edison for taking off like he did. Edison is already trotting across to the shack doorway. He hugs Maybelle, then counts the kids and taps each of their heads.

“Who’s this?” Oren inquires, bringing attention to Nathan as he walks up to the shack.

“I’m Nathan Bronz. I live in a shelter a little ways that way,” Nathan says with a welcoming smile.

“Nathan?” Ekua repeats, trotting around from the back of the shack.

Edison looks at her with curious eyes and watches her light up.

“Ekua!” Nathan exclaims and opens his arms as she runs up to him. He swings her in a big hug while she giggles. “It’s been so long, girl!”

“I know!” she barks as he sets her back down. “I didn’t think we’d see each other again!”

He laughs and waves to the others. “Y’all come on. If you’re with Ekua, you’re more than welcome in our home.”