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medically trained beyond the few nurses who lived in Roswell. They were extremely helpful and people respected them, but they mainly just treated minor symptoms and physical injuries.
    “Does this mean the women who are pregnant will receive more comprehensive care?” A pregnant woman with a rather rotund stomach in the front row asked.
    Mr. Davies nodded his head, “We need more people to keep the community growing. We need people of different trades to come in and help us so we can learn.”
    “What about the dregs coming out during the day?” A man asked.
    “That is something that we’re unclear about at this time,” Mr. Davies admitted. “Dean has more information on the precautions everyone should take and will answer any questions you may have about this to the best of his abilities.”
    Dean patted Audrey’s knee and he stood up again energetically. He took his spot on the floor and cleared his throat again, “As most of you know, it was discovered this last week that dregs are staying out into the early afternoon. The Runner—Peter—who discovered this has taken me out and it has been confirmed. There is a small group that is out during the day near the orchards and the North West part of the wall.”
    “What are you people going to do to keep all of us safe now?” An old man asked.
    “We are going to be enlisting the help of former National Guard members who will be coming to us from Artesia,” Dean answered. “They will be issued firearms that they will use to keep the dregs from both the north and south gates.
    “How will the Runners prevent themselves from being infected if they’re going to be coming into direct contact with them now?” another man asked.
    “We will be starting new training exercises. All of the Runners will be issued weapons so we can start dealing with the dreg population as we encounter them,” Dean assured the man.
    Audrey shifted anxiously in her chair at the thought of being required to handle a firearm, but it was nothing to what went through her mind when she realized it meant killing a person.
    “How is that going to help us in the future?” A woman with a baby in her arms asked.
    “Currently, the Runners have mainly been trained on how to avoid the dregs. We will each be issued surgical masks and will be following orders to kill them when possible as soon as we’re properly trained,” Dean responded stoically.
    The future was an abstract idea to Audrey. Sure, there may be a day when people didn’t have to be fearful of going outside the walls, but no one knew when that would be. It was easier for her to focus on day to day things that would affect her immediately.
    “Blowing their disgusting heads off isn’t that hard to train for,” the woman’s husband said loudly. “It’s like shooting at bottle on a fence.”
    Peter guffawed loudly and nodded his head in agreement. He leaned over and asked Audrey, “Who wouldn’t kill one? It’s like asking to die if we just keep avoiding them all the time like we do now.”
    Audrey rolled her eyes, “We haven’t really had to worry about it until now since they’ve only come out at night before and we’ve had a community-wide curfew.”
    She turned her attention back to the meeting in time to hear the answer Dean gave to someone else, “The Runners will be given new time constraints on runs. On top of that anything that hasn’t been approved by the Council and myself will not be allowed.”
    Audrey scowled at Dean and imagined sucker punching him in the stomach. She should have known he was going to try to find a way to keep her closer to Roswell.
    He looked at her quickly and hurried to turn his attention back to the crowd, “We will also be working with our new doctor, Dr. Searle, when he gets here to improve the decontamination process Runners have to go through when they come back from their trips.”
    The crowd hummed with approval, but Audrey was seething. She tapped her heel on the ground quickly