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"Guys, this is Meryl, Nord and Oliver."

Sabrina smiled and waved at Sam's friends.

"This is Lia and Archer," Sam introduced.

"Where were you guys last night?", Archer asked.

"Uhh," the boy with almond coloured skin and lively hazel eyes said as he tugged on the long sleeves of his shirt. Sabrina recognized this as Nord. He was a few inches shorter than her and smiled crookedly while looking towards the girl standing next to him.

Said girl had auburn hair and pale skin. She rolled her eyes at Archer's question, but answered. "Nord was nervous about his first watch up in the tower, " she pointed to the tower nearest to the hill that the three rebels arrived from the day before, "so he asked me to keep him company."

She then proceeded to ruffle his hair fondly and Nord let her, looking down shyly.

"I," the other boy with choppy chestnut hair, announced quite loudly, "was sleeping."

He put his hands on his hips and stood proudly as if he just did something worth commemorating.

"Wow," Nord chuckled.

"I know," Oliver grinned.

The friendly jabs reminded them of their own friends back at the bunker. Sabrina wondered what they were up to and hoped they were safe. She missed them and just couldn't wait to be back.

"Have you seen the others?", Meryl asked them.

"Not yet, but I will soon. Do you know where they are?", Sam replied.

"I know that Dudley, Jaxon and Karl are keeping watch in the other three towers," Nord piped up helpfully.

Sabrina raised an eyebrow, "What about the fourth tower?"

Oliver raised his hand sheepishly, "That's me. I kinda overslept and well... forgot."

"You know Adam will gut you for this," Sam said lightly, but Sabrina had a feeling that there was some truth behind it.

"You don't have to remind me."

"We won't tell," Meryl said with a wink while Nord mimicked zipping his lips shut and throwing away the key.

"Awww, you guys!", was all the warning he gave before he flung himself into their arms. Meryl expected it though, and had her arms wide open and braced herself to catch him.

"Go away now," Nord shooed the boy, who jogged away, waving over his shoulder.

"Fun," Sabrina approved.

Archer just shrugged in response.

"Do you know where the others are?", Sam asked Nord.

"No, they're probably just doing random chores for Irma."

A loud crash was heard coming from one of the stockrooms that were perpendicular to the barn and cabin, followed by angry shouts and pained shrieks.

"Found 'em," Meryl observed and pointed in that direction. "As much as we'd love to join your little tour, we've been given our jobs by Irma. Catch you guys later!", she explained and left with Nord

The group nodded and went in the direction that was pointed out to them. They were met with a very chaotic scene.

Farron was hanging by his legs from a beam on the ceiling, cackling.

Someone was buried underneath some boxes, yelling for someone to 'Get it off of him'.

Another guy, was trying his best, but with each yell he was dissolving into deeper fits of giggles.

The blonde girl from the night before was standing in the corner of the room, her face a weird mix of concern and amusement.

Sabrina thought that she was gonna cry one moment, but when she blinked, the girl looked like she was going to start laughing like a hyena.

"The hell happened here?", Sam inquired, corner of his mouth twitching up and betraying his serious tone.

"Farron is a piece of shit!", the boy from under the boxes yelled.

"No one asked you to be so oblivious to your surroundings. We're in an apocalypse, you should be watching your back!", Farron said gasping for air and then continued laughing.

"Garth? GARTH?!", the boy screamed again.

"Yes. I'm here," the guy who was trying to lift the boxes answered, still laughing.

"Help me!"

"Shut up, I'm trying!"

Sabrina looked to Archer and saw him smirking. Of course, he found this funny. Archer loves seeing people suffer. She smiled to herself.

Moron.

"Elina?", Sam called.

The blonde girl took a deep breath.

"Farron disappeared this morning, so Garth and I had to bring Helio to do the restocking and feeding. Leo insisted on unlocking the door, so we let him and then this spawn of Satan fell from the beam and then you see what happened after," she explained gesturing to the room.

"Looks like a fun time," Archer commented.

"Oh, it is," Elina admitted smiling brightly at him.

Soon Garth had neatly piled the boxes on top of one another and his friend was now free. Helio stood up slowly, holding onto Garth for support or theatrics.

Sabrina's eyes scanned the two boys, Garth being the bigger one between them with dark skin and indigo coloured eyes. He had short dreads and was well-built. Helio on the other hand was tall and lanky with dirty blonde hair and hazel eyes. Upon closer inspection, Sabrina spotted freckles dotting his cheeks and found that adorable. He wore clothes that were baggy on him as opposed to his friend.

"Hi!", he greeted cheerily, "Names Helio, or Leo for short."

"Hey, I'm Garth," the taller of the two spoke shyly.

"Ahh, so you're the newbies", Sam commented, leaning lazily on the door frame.

Leo's eyes lit up at the voice. "And you must be the infamous Sam that Bertha wouldn't shut up about," he blurted and received a nudge from Garth.

Sam's eyes widened, "She talks about me?"

"All the time!", Helio shouted and this time Garth nudged him more painfully.

"Dude. Privacy."

"Oh, whoops."

Sam's blush betrayed the cocky smirk on his face. Sabrina looked at him and when their eyes met, she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. Archer watching the exchange decided to join in and offered his own shit-eating grin.

Sam's face was as red as the tomatoes in the crate to his left, but instead of any protests or denials, he just looked away knowing it was a lost cause.

"As much as I love seeing this new reaction on Sam's face, I realise that it's rather rude of me not to introduce myself," Sabrina said to take the attention of the poor boy who looked as if he was about to combust under all the attention. He shot her a grateful smile and let her continue.

Garth's eyes sparkled with what she thought was recognition, but that would be impossible. She brushed it off in favour of introducing herself and Archer.

"I'm Lia and this is Archer," she spoke gesturing to herself and the other brunette.

Leo seemed to deflate but picked himself up twice as quick. She found that quite peculiar, but again ignored it. First meetings could be quite awkward.

Well, I did just see him buried under boxes, screaming his lungs out.

"Nice to meet you," he said bubbily. And man, was this guy friendly. He took her hand and shook it vigorously.

"Not nice," someone mumbled.

Sabrina found that the voice was Farron's, and she frowned slightly.

"Farron—", Elina started.

"Farron, nothing, Elina!", he yelled and flipped onto the floor, landing gracefully on his feet, "This is not happening!"

They all looked at him in shock as he stormed out of the room.

"What was that about?", Garth asked cautiously.

"We'll find out later, judging by what Irma said," Elina said, biting her lower lip nervously.

"Good enough for me," Leo shrugged, accepting it just like that.

"Hey, Garth, we need to do that thing," he called out to the other boy, who nodded and followed him, "Nice meeting you all."

And they were gone.

"Well..." Sabrina commented.

"Well, indeed," Sam agreed, seemingly recovered after what happened, "I'm going to check up on Farron. Elina, can you take these two to meet the others? They're on watchtower duty. Okay, thank you, bye!"

And now Sam was gone.

"Sure, it's not like I had anything else to do," Elina muttered and rolled her eyes not unkindly. She walked up to the two and Sabrina noted with annoyance how she stood closer to Archer.

"Let's go see 'em. They're gonna love to meet you," she jabbered.

The rebels nodded and Elina led the way, talking idly about certain things that happened at the farm with everyone. All fun and games.

Well, maybe she's not so bad. 

Sabrina tried to ignore how the blonde girl ever so slowly closed the distance between herself and Archer, directing the conversation to him more than her.

She took comfort in the fact that Archer was being so awkward with all the attention being directed at him, but he also seemed nervous?

Why would he be nervous?

Maybe she's just trying to become friends?

Sabrina said nothing, but kept watch. Archer said something that didn't hear because her temper was rising as the other girl had the audacity to giggle.

Sabrina narrowed her eyes. That's when she saw something that set her off the edge. Elina put her hand on his arm. The brunette waited and waited for her to take it off, but she didn't. Archer laughed nervously, his eyes not leaving the hand on his arm.

I take it back!

"How long have you been here for?", Sabrina asked the girl, her tone dangerously calm.

Elina's eyes widened and looked at Sabrina as if she'd forgotten that she was ever there to begin with. Fortunately, she took her hand off Archer and let it hang loosely by her side.

"I stumbled across this place a few days after Vision's announcement. I followed the river and it led here."

"How did you know that the river was full? When we came, it looked dry because of the cloaking tech," Sabrina pushed, trying to get the girl to pay attention to her instead of Archer. He frowned at this, but didn't say anything.

"It was full at the time. They didn't put the barrier until after two weeks. Too many people were coming, it attracted too much attention."

Sabrina stopped. "So you just hid a water source from survivors?"

"Yes."

Sabrina was about to explode. How could she be so flippant about this? People's lives are on the line, and they kept an entire river for themselves?

She was about to say as much when Archer put a hand out to stop her, the exchange not unnoticed by Elina who furrowed her brows and glared at it.

Sabrina smirked inwardly and stopped at Archer's instruction. Her win was short-lived as Archer turned to give the other girl an apologetic look, and she smiled back.

Are you serious right now?

"Here we are," Elina announced.

Sabrina looked up and lo and behold, there was a tall watch tower in front. She didn't even notice that they were getting close to it.

Elina cupped her hands around her mouth, took a deep breath in and yelled as loudly as she could, "JAXON!"

A loud thud was heard before a boy scrambled to the edge and looked down. He grinned and pulled out a megaphone. "What's up, sis?" he spoke into the mic.

"Where the hell did you get that from?!", she yelled in response.

"I found it in the garage and Adam fixed it up for me, and guess what?"

Elina put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot lightly.

"There are others!", he confessed and threw another megaphone down without any warning. She gasped and tried to catch it but someone else beat her to it.

Archer caught it and handed it to her.

"Thanks," she said, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.

He nodded in response and she accepted it.

Sabrina took in deep breaths beside them.

She switched it on and spoke with it.

"Can you hear me?", Elina asked through the mic.

"Loud and clear."

"Well, this is Archer and Layla," she told her brother.

"It's Lia," Sabrina corrected.

"What?", Elina asked pointing the megaphone in her face and then processed what the other girl had said, "My bad, it's Lia."

Archer looked at Sabrina with a raised eyebrow. She just glared back and he shrugged.

"Hey there Lia and Archer. I'm Jaxon."

The two waved at him.

"We have to see the others too. Sam's orders," Elina told him.

"Sam's back?", Jaxon asked excitedly.

"Yes, so we have to go now—"

"Wait, why do you want to walk around? I hooked up a communication line between the towers."

"Really? That's sick!", Elina yelled excitedly into the mic.

As much as Sabrina disliked the girl, she was happy about how she interacted with her brother. Their excited yelling reminded her of her own.

Soon three projections were in the air above them.

"Dudley, Karl, Oliver," Jaxon addressed, "Sam brought friends over. This is Lia and Archer."

Once again the rebels waved.

A chubby boy with charcoal coloured hair introduced himself as Dudley with a friendly wave.

Karl, had a buzz cut of honey coloured hair. A scar reached from his right eyebrow and ended just by his hairline.

Oliver just waved and explained that they'd met earlier in the day and refused to give any more information regarding that.

Sabrina smiled to herself. Maybe the negotiations won't be so bad. These people were friendly, and she was sure that they'd do the right thing.

xxx

"Absolutely not!", Farron yelled unsurprisingly after hearing the rebels' request.

"Farron, calm down," Irma scolded, "I understand that you're against the idea, but that doesn't mean you forget your manners."

Farron lowered his head and sulked in his seat at the cabin table. Murmurs were heard around the table.

"I agree with Farron."

All eyes darted to Jaxon who was sitting on the chair with the backrest in front and his arms were draped over the top.

He continued, "We've made it this long without any incident. It's pretty stupid to risk the safety of this place." He looked to his sister and Elina looked down.

"I see where you're coming from, Jax. I really do. But there are so many people out there that aren't safe," she said softly.

"It's for their own good. If so many people come here, it could give away our location, comprising the safety of all of us."

"We can't do nothing."

"That's definitely something we can do."

"What do you mean?", Sabrina piped up.

Jaxon raised a brow at her.

"This place is huge! It could fit about four camps comfortably! The barrier eliminates sound and sight."

"What about the long walk to freedom into this place?", Karl spoke up from the other end of the table.

"We've mapped out a place through the forest, so that sentries can't follow us," Sam explained.

"They could send drones to scope the route," Farron said, his volume softer than before but it was firm.

"There's too many variables," Meryl said, "Once you get a solid plan, then I will make my decision."

Nord slammed his hands on the table, "You can't possibly be considering this."

"Buddy, we can't hide here forever," Oliver reminded.

"Wanna bet?", Farron goaded.

"Guys—", Helio tried.

"This is a very uncivilized debate," Dudley observed.

Bertha took a deep breath and stood up, "Okay, enough!"

The table immediately quietened.

"Thanks," Adam told her, and she offered a shaky smile.

"Why should we allow this to happen?", Karl asked.

Surprisingly, it wasn't Sabrina who answered.

It was Archer.

"Because it's the right thing to do."

"Oh yes moral compass, please tell us if you would allow people into your home and jeopardize the safety of your family?"

Archer grit his teeth.

"I know you want to protect each other, but do expect to be safe forever? Vision is sending out scouts everyday looking for more people. Outpost are being built around every corner. The chances of your home being found is getting higher and higher. That barrier isn't going to protect you for long."

Everyone was silent. This was the most he'd spoken since he arrived.

"We're not telling you to go out and fight. We're just asking that you open your doors for other families. We can't be against each other when we're supposed to be on the same team."

All eyes were on him and instead of shying away from the attention, he stared right back. Eyes steely, determination clearly shown.

He spoke confidently, without faltering.

"We have to strike now."

Irma stood up and spoke, "All against it, raise your hands."

Hands belonging to Farron, Jaxon, Dudley, Karl and Nord went up. Jaxon glared in Elina's direction, and she reluctantly put her's up as well.

"All in favour?"

Adam, Bertha, Oliver, Sam, Sabrina, Archer and Irma put their's up.

"It's settled then-" Adam started.

"No, it's not," Farron spoke up.

Helio and Garth gave each other nervous looks.

"There are sixteen people in this room. Only thirteen have voted," he continued, "we need all to come to a decision."

Adam nodded, "That's fair. You have two days to make your decisions, Meryl, Helio and Garth and if anyone else has a change of heart."

Sabrina balled her hands into fists and clenched them until her knuckles turned white.

"Meeting's over. Everyone head to bed," Bertha announced and left. Everyone followed her instruction, except Sabrina who walked out the front door.

Sam made to follow, but Archer beat him to it, giving the other boy that he had it handled.

Sam nodded back and went up to bed.

xxx

Archer walked around aimlessly, looking for his friend. He looked everywhere, but she was nowhere to be found. He left a few seconds after she did. How could she have disappeared? 

The darkness definitely wasn't helping.

He was about to give up when he looked at the sky.

"Please tell me where she is," he pleaded.

He closed his eyes, breathed in and turned slightly.

When he opened his eyes, he saw her. Her silhouette sitting on top of the barn. The light of the moon shone on her.

She looked ethereal.

He dashed into the barn and climbed up the stairs to the second floor. He scanned his surroundings, looking for a way to the roof and- bingo.

He climbed up a ladder and through the hatch. The air was much cooler up here.

"You really love sitting on roofs, don't you?", he jabbed lightly.

Sabrina chuckled lightly, "Why? You scared of heights?"

Even if I was, I'd still follow you up here.

Archer took a few steps towards her, waiting for her to tell him not to come closer if she wanted to be alone, but she said nothing, so he sat down next to her.

She was playing idly with the key pendant on her chain, eyes distant and expression forlorn.

"Why are you here?"

"This is kind of our thing. Meeting late in the night to talk about feelings or something," Archer shrugged.

Sabrina scoffed, "You really wanna talk about feelings with me?"

Archer blinked, "Why would I talk to anyone else about it?"

Sabrina turned to him in disbelief. "You tell me."

"Did I say something wrong?"

"You didn't say anything wrong." The girl tugged  her jacket tighter around her.

"Did I do something?"

She bit her lip and mumbled something that he had trouble hearing.

"What?"

"Do you like her?"

Archer furrowed his brows. "Who?"

"Nevermind."

Archer let it slide. He didn't want to start an argument while she was upset. He could always ask about it later.

He kept quiet and waited. If she wanted to talk about something, she would. And true to his thoughts she did.

"I don't know why I thought they'd say yes," she confessed, "I just— I don't know."

"Hey, it's okay," Archer tried to reassure.

"It's my fault for hoping."

He turned towards her, his eyebrows furrowed. "Why would it ever be your fault?"

She looked him in the eye, "Because I made myself believe they'd say yes. I didn't consider the possibility that they would refuse."

"That's just because you see the good in people," Archer said. "You always think the best of them, even if they don't deserve it."

Sabrina brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.

"Selfish cowards?", she smiled slightly.

"Selfish cowards," he agreed and leaned back on his arms.

"Thank you," she said gratefully.

"Anytime."

Sabrina sighed, "Anything to do up here?"

Archer looked hesitant but then reached into his jacket and brought out a small book.

He didn't think he'd be doing this. The way the girl's eyes widened told him that she knew exactly what that was.

That it was his book. The one he didn't show to anyone. Nobody knew what was inside except for him. And nobody was dumb enough to take a look inside for themselves behind his back.

Riley and Cody used to bug him all the time to know what was inside. He never cracked. Eventually they stopped questioning him and instead started to speculate what was inside.

He moved to open it when Sabrina stopped him, "Wait, are you sure you want to do this?"

"What do you mean?", he asked her.

"Isn't this like private? Like isn't it special to you?"

"It is, but I want to show you."

Sabrina looked at him, mouth agape, but wordlessly nodded. She scooted closer to him.

Archer looked at her and then opened the book. And wow, this was not what she was expecting.

There were intricately drawn pictures of his knives. He turned the page, and she saw a picture of a tall man with a stoic face. His posture was perfect and so was the woman's standing next to him. They looked perfect, actually. She didn't get a chance to look at it more because he turned the page quickly.

That was quickly forgotten when she saw what was on the next page, and she gasped. There were drawings of his friends.

Cody and Riley smiled back at them. He didn't miss a single detail. There were single drawings that took up whole pages and smaller ones of his friends doing stupid things that decorated most pages.

Sabrina studied each one in awe. Towards the end, she stopped breathing. It was a picture that took two pages.

It was of Riley, Cody and her.

She looked up at him and saw he was smiling down at it.

"One of my best works," he told her and then closed the book.

"So..."

"Wow," she breathed. "You're amazing."

He looked down and chuckled. "So are you."

They both lied down in silence. Neither of them feeling the need to fill it. Soon they found themselves being welcomed by the hands of sleep.