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we think something or someone followed us.”
    His buddies elbowed him and he stopped talking.
    Sean gave Ryan a nudge before he could ask any more questions. “Come on, Anne’s waiting on us.”
    There wasn’t much difference between the camp extension and their own camp except for a sense of disorganization in the layout and a few quads parked out by the nicest of the tents.
    “I bet those have Matt pissed right off.”
    Ryan nodded in agreement.
    They found Anne and Damian deep in conversation with two men whom Ryan assumed to be Dave and Sam. Anne’s face lit up when she saw them and she said, “Here they are now. What did you find?”
    Sean flipped open the sketch for everyone to see. “We saw no movement but there’s no guarantee that all of those houses are empty. We saw a lot of sheds, some shops, garages, or barns. It could take a week to clear it, even with two groups taking their shares.”
    Anne drew in a few more lines, expanding the sketch into a proper map. “Fifteen houses, that’s enough room for three dozen people, about three to a house. If we didn’t try to live in a traditional way and built a dorm of some sort for the orphans we could fit all six or seven dozen of us into this one mile by one and a half mile section.”
    “It’s pretty spread out.” Ryan wasn’t sure if that was Sam or Dave but he was surly and big.
    “But we are into the wooded area now, and that means decent hunting. If we’re right about where we are on the map there’s a small town just a two or three day hike north and Rapid City is only five or six days south. We can trade for supplies, maybe get some livestock of our own …”
    “Rapid City is a war zone,” said the smaller man. “I doubt they’ll be open for trade anytime soon.”
    “And you’ll be dealing with coyotes, and whatever the hell followed us north from Rapid City. There will be gangs, other groups of refugees, and possibly the people who own these houses coming back to claim them.”
    “Then move on,” Damian said. “We’re setting up here and there’s space for you, if you want it. But we are claiming every house scouted and marked on this map.” Ryan and Sean could hear the underlying threat that there would be hell to pay if this new group went in and scavenged from these houses.
    “We’ll ask around our camp,” the smaller man said. He seemed to be more reasonable than his surly counterpart. “We’ll watch the south end tonight.”
    “And we’ll watch the north,” Damian said in agreement. “Take your time deciding. We aren’t going anywhere.”
    When the men Ryan assumed to be Sam and Dave had left Ryan said, “So, we’re settling in?”
    Anne nodded. “That’s the plan. Dividing goods, like beds, will be the hardest of course, and we’ll need defenses.”
    “We can send out scavenging parties for what we need,” Damian said. “The wall won’t have to be pretty, and probably not even that strong, just enough to send the message that this place is occupied.”
    “Is this public knowledge?” Sean asked.
    “It will be in the morning, but it’s not a secret either. Rumours of something like this might ease a lot of tension. Look, I don’t know if you two had much family but everyone is mingling and swapping gossip. Anne and I will keep watch tonight.”
    “Thanks,” Ryan said. “The men at the south end of the camp said something about being followed too. Is there something to this? Is there something out there?”
    “Dave seems to think so, Sam won’t commit to anything.”
    ‘Well, that at least clears up their identities,’ Ryan thought.
    “We haven’t seen anything bigger than a coyote but given the region and the time of year it’s only a matter of time before we get bears here.”
    “Do you think someone from Rapid City followed them?” Sean asked.
    “They’ve been on the road five or six days since getting around Rapid City. If someone had followed them with ill intent they would have struck