Hilltop – Late Afternoon
The wind had a dry voice here—scraping over dust and dead brush, whispering through the warped husks of forgotten cars. Zane crouched by a bent signpost, one hand in the dirt, tracking the trail that shouldn't exist. The faint curl of smoke in the sky had thinned, but it was still there. Intentional. Slow-burned.
He stared at it like a question he already hated the answer to.
Behind him, Ava adjusted the straps on her rifle, then scanned the horizon with her binoculars.
"That's not a campfire," she said. "Too lean. Controlled burn. Like someone lit it knowing we'd see it."
Zane didn't reply. Just watched how the smoke drifted—east by northeast, toward the broken tree line.
"You know this is bait," Ava continued. "That flare we shot? It's someone playing smart."
Zane stood slowly. Brushed dirt from his gloves. "I want to know how smart."
Ava sighed hard through her nose. "And if it's Redhollow smart? WLF smart? If it's the kind that plants a kid near a bomb?"
Zane adjusted his coat and started walking, glancing over the sheet of factions he had put together this week with the help of the group.
"Then we learn how deep they're willing to go."
Post-Collapse Factions & Settlements (Zane's Region)
1. Hollow Refuge (Zane's Base)
• Population: 5 (Zane, Ava, Sierra, Lily, Benji)
• Status: Expanding, fortified, resource-starved
⸻
2. Dead River Hold
• Type: Neutral trading post
• Distance: ~15 miles southwest
• Population: ~30
• Known for: Water filters, basic crops, refugee intake
• Leader: "Marshal" Renn – former highway patrol turned pacifist mayor
⸻
3. Eastgate Colony (Fallen)
• Type: Ex-Firefly military outpost
• Distance: ~40 miles east
• Status: Destroyed two years ago
• Rumors: Scattered survivors formed mercenary bands or joined Rattler cells
• Brant might've been stationed here
⸻
4. Redhollow Syndicate
• Type: Slaver-raider cartel
• Distance: ~25 miles southeast
• Population: Unknown
• Known for: Black-market trade, brutal ambushes, enslaved labor
• Symbol: Red crescent painted on vehicles and masks
⸻
5. The Lanterns
• Type: Underground intel network / nomadic medics
• Distance: Unknown, mobile routes
• Known for: Healing, information, refusal to take sides
• Leader: "Wick" – faceless rumor, or multiple people using the same name
⸻
6. Brant's Caravan
• Type: Opportunistic traders / ex-Firefly turncoats
• Distance: Roaming, showed up from the north
• Known for: Scouting, flipping allegiances, dealing with both sides
• Leader: Brant
• Could be feeding intel to someone bigger
———
7. Wolf Remnants ("The Ghosts")
• Type: Guerrilla survivors of WLF collapse
• Distance: ~50+ miles north, but patrol signs have crept closer
• Known for: Stealth raids, message jamming, no central leadership
• Danger level: High—fanatical, unpredictable
———
Two Hours Earlier – Hollow Refuge
Sierra knelt by the northern fence line, welding torch hissing as she fastened another layer of scrap plating over the gate latch. The sun filtered through broken clouds, soft and gold, painting her face in flickers of warm light and smoke.
Lily stood nearby, holding the roll of fencing wire. "I don't get it," she said. "Why reinforce this section? The tripwires are further south."
Sierra paused, glanced back. "That's where they'd expect us to expect them."
Lily frowned. "You always talk like you're quoting someone."
Sierra went quiet. Sparks flared as she resumed welding.
A few moments passed before Lily spoke again, quieter this time. "Back when the flare went up… you didn't even hesitate."
"I didn't have to.Because I trusted what I saw."
Her shoulders were still, hands steady on the torch. But the next time she exhaled, it was slower. Longer.
"You ever been to Eastgate?" Lily asked suddenly.
That made Sierra freeze.
"No," she said after a beat too long. "Just heard the stories. Firefly base, right?"
"Yeah. Fell two years ago. A friend of my Father died there."
"I'm sorry."
Lily shrugged, but her voice went softer. "It's weird. When you move, you remind me of him. Same way he'd tilt his head before a shot. Same way he never told me what he really did there."
Sierra stood, cutting the torch. Her goggles reflected the setting sun. "You ask a lot of questions."
"I like to know people and they're stories," Lily said simply.
Now – Outer Fields, Ridge Approach
Zane and Ava reached the top of the next ridge as dusk bled into the sky. The smoke was closer now—just beyond a stand of skeletal trees, rising from behind a rusted delivery van half-buried in the earth.
Zane crouched and scanned the area. No movement. No sound.
"Too open," Ava whispered. "Flat approach, one vehicle, no backtrail. It's made for watching. For testing."
Zane unholstered his sidearm. "Then we test them back."
They moved low, quiet—checking the van's flanks, peeling around its shadow like ghosts. Zane motioned to Ava, and she approached the source of the smoke.
A small fire smoldered behind a crude wall of stacked bricks. Not recent. At least an hour cold.
Near the fire—half-buried in brush—was a body.
No. A girl.
She was maybe fifteen. Face hollow, dirt smudged, dark hair stuck to her forehead. Her clothes were torn but not rotted. Her wrists scraped. One shoe missing.
And carved into her forearm, scabbed and crude: "RX-9."
Ava knelt first, pressing two fingers to the girl's neck.
"Pulse. Weak."
Zane stared down at her. His eyes didn't move. He was locked in place—like something inside him recognized the shape of her, not her face, but her presence.
The girl stirred. Barely. One eye fluttered open.
She whispered something—ragged, hoarse.
Zane leaned closer.
She said: "Doctor."
Zane froze.
"What?" Ava asked.
But the girl had passed out again.
Zane stood slowly, breathing like he'd run miles. His hands were shaking.
"Zane?" Ava pressed. "You okay?"
"She said something."
"I heard. Doctor." Ava narrowed her eyes. "That mean anything to you?"
"No." Zane's voice was flat. But his jaw had locked. His eyes wouldn't meet hers.
System Notification:
[Unknown Entity Detected – Signature Incomplete]
[Warning: BIO-SIGNAL CONFLICT – RX-Series Identified]
[Accessing… ACCESS DENIED]
[USER DATA OVERLAP – CLASSIFIED PATHWAY BLOCKED]
["She was supposed to be…"]
[…REDACTED…]
Zane closed his eyes. The whisper in the back of his head wasn't the System. It was a voice. Familiar. Cold.
He shoved it down.
"We're taking her," he said.
Ava stared at him like he'd just kicked a landmine. "You're not serious."
"She's branded. She's young. Someone wanted us to find her."
"Exactly. This is manipulation. This is textbook Redhollow trap-craft."
"We don't leave people to die on a hunch."
"We do when it saves our lives."
Zane turned toward the ridge, already lifting the girl into his arms.
"I'm not asking," he said.
Ava cursed under her breath—but followed.
Hollow Refuge – Sunset
The perimeter string popped once. Then again. Then went dead.
Sierra looked up from the storage yard where she'd been sorting scrap. Lily was on the roof.
"String ratled," Lily called. "Could be the wind."
"Could be someone testing," Sierra muttered.
She moved fast—grabbing her SMG, strapping on the knife at her hip. No panic. Just smooth, quiet efficiency.
Lily hopped down beside her. "You think it's Brant?"
"No. Too soon. He'd watch first. This feels more like…" Sierra hesitated. "…Redhollow fingerprint, but not sloppy enough. Someone's copying them."
Then the first rock hit the side gate.
Not loud. Just a tap.
Then another. Closer. Faster.
Sierra's eyes narrowed. She motioned for Lily to circle wide.
Two shapes moved in the shadows near the fence. Crouched. Measuring.
Sierra clicked her comm once, silently. One ping.
They came fast after that.
Three masked figures—light armor, black fabric, knives drawn. Silent entry. No guns. Not raiders. Scouts.
Sierra took the first down before he even cleared the wire—dragging him over the lip of the fence with one arm, breaking his nose with a knee, slamming the hilt of her knife into his throat before he could scream.
The second got past Lily—but not far. She dropped a plank trap under his feet, sending him tumbling, and nailed his leg with a sharpened pipe.
The third escaped back into the trees.
Sierra didn't chase.
She stood in the middle of the yard, breathing hard, blood on her sleeves.
Lily came running back. "You good?!"
Sierra nodded. "Just bruised."
One of the downed men groaned weakly.
Sierra knelt beside him. Pulled back the mask.
The face was young. Twenty at most. A Redhollow crescent was painted on his chest—but the paint was too fresh. Still damp.
Sierra looked at Lily. "They wanted to be seen."
"Why?"
"To test us. To make us react.
Forest – Return Route, Nightfall
Zane moved quietly through the underbrush, the girl bundled in Ava's spare coat against his chest. She hadn't stirred again.
Ava flanked close. She hadn't spoken in twenty minutes.
Finally: "You froze back there."
Zane said nothing.
"You recognized her. Or thought you did."
Zane stopped walking.
"She's part of something," he said. "That brand… RX-9. That's not random."
"Redhollow doesn't use tags like that."
"No. But someone they've traded with might."
Ava narrowed her eyes. "You ever been tagged, Zane?"
He didn't answer.
"You ever see someone who was?"
Still silence.
"Talk for fucks sake. You're hiding something."
Zane looked at her. His eyes were tired.
" I have not, it's the first time i saw that brand."
They walked the rest of the way in silence.
Hollow Refuge – Infirmary, Midnight
Benji sat up in his bunk, staring as Ava and Zane entered. When he saw the girl, he slid off the cot and cleared the makeshift table for triage.
Sierra appeared a minute later, bruised but steady. "We were hit," she said. "Three scouts. One captured."
Zane laid the girl down. "Any identifiers?"
"Fake Redhollow tags. Too sloppy."
Sierra checked the girl's vitals. "She's stable. No fever. No infection. But those wounds on her feet… Someone marched her hard. What happened?"
Zane looked to Sierra. " We will talk later. Interrogate the scout first. See who he's working for."
Sierra nodded.
Benji paused as he cleaned the girl's arm. "Zane? This tag on her… it's not just a code. It's a series name."
Zane's stomach turned.
"How do you know?"
Benji looked up.
"Because I've seen it before. Before everything fell. I was with my uncle, he worked for a lab, up north. I remember overhearing things. Words like 'resistance thresholds,' 'adaptive carriers, whatever that means.'He said it was the future of immunity."
Zane stared at the girl's face.
And for just a moment, she looked like someone else.
Someone he couldn't name.
Someone he might have created.