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connect. Sean laughed as he danced back out of reach.
    “I have real work to do. Help or leave me to it.”
    “Am I distracting you?” Sean said.
    Pauline shot him a glare but there was no fire behind it.
    Ryan shook his head and buried the head of the spade he’d been using to dig up thistles at the far end of the garden. “Look, there are still a few hours until first watch, maybe we should take a break, grab some dinner, blow off some steam.”
    Sean poked Pauline with the handle of the rake he’d been working with. “It’s a cold and lonely job watching the gate.”
    “Keep each other warm,” she snapped but it was all just a familiar jest.
    “How could I watch the gate with Ryan distracting me with his hot body,” Sean said his hand over his forehead.
    Ryan rolled his eyes at his friend and roommate, as he did quiet often. He wrapped an arm around Pauline’s shoulders and kissed her cheek. “Come on, beautiful. What do you say we take his poor, suffering, sex fiend inside and do horrible things to him.”
    She laughed. “Why do I even bother? Okay! Okay, a short break. I have to get this weeding done.”
    “The weeds will still be there tomorrow,” Sean said.
    “That’s the problem. I don’t want them there!” She was still laughing as they half dragged her up the steps to the back door. The bottle neck at the door was enough of an excuse to sandwich her between their bodies. Ryan kissed her, his hand cupping her jaw, while Sean kissed her neck and ran his hands quickly and thoroughly over the curves of her body, leaving her breathless.
    From across the main floor of the house Damian cleared his throat. Pauline blushed and squirmed free of her lovers.
    “I was just coming to find you two. The guards just spotted someone coming up the road alone. Grab your rifles.”
    “For one man?” Sean said. He was trying to focus on Damian but his gaze kept sliding over to Pauline who had gone to fetch a glass of water.
    “And how many are hiding, waiting for us to open the gates? Grab your guns and let’s go.”
    Pauline smiled at them from the kitchen as they went by.
    By the time they reached the gate, a moveable panel large enough for a truck to pass through in the makeshift wall of ply-wood, sheet metal, cars, and whatever scrap they had managed to haul in, Anne was already standing at the top talking to someone on the other side. The three men climbed the ladder up to the watch tower.
    Down on the road stood a young man, probably in his twenties. He was dirty, his clothes were torn, and he was covered in scratches. His eyes were wide and he held his empty hands out at his sides. “Please. I’m unarmed and alone. I won’t survive out here alone. Please.”
    “Where are you from?”
    “I followed that other group north, I thought maybe they would accept me, but they scattered so I came back here. Please. If you don’t let me in I will die.”
    Stan, one of the men who had taken up regular guard duties, climbed up the ladder and tapped Damian on the shoulder. “We can’t see anyone else in the bushes anywhere near the gate. It really does look like he’s alone. The rooms are full at my house but there’s a couch in the rec room. There would be three of us there to keep an eye on him.”
    “We have the space,” Ryan said softly. “We were in his shoes not long ago.”
    Anne glanced over, catching Damian’s eye. He nodded and she turned back to the stranger.
    “What’s your name?”
    “Eddie.”
    “Welcome to Little Bismark, Eddie.”
    The gate groaned open just far enough for him to pass through and closed again behind him.
     
    Violet didn’t usually pass the gate, her home and the orphanage were both deeper into the village, but there was a large shed closer to the gate that was used to store the central food supply and she was interested in getting some apples to go with supper.
    She was coming out with half a dozen of the small, tart, crab apples when she saw the gate opening. She