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You add the bottles of water to your personal inventory. "Okay, seems like we're all settled here," Dee says, and she waves a finger to the boys. They step away, and instantly Gary and Lisa stand from the road and skirt to their minivan.

The Paynes and their friends return to the truck, and the boys on the flatbed arrange the new supplies it holds.

"Have a good day, Luth. Be careful—lots of unfriendly people out here," Dee says, then Cliff starts the pickup and drives off your field. You waste no time in returning home.

Leaving your home to search your area and gather information involves substantial risk to your survival, but you know one way to view your neighborhood and surrounding locations without leaving the safety of your home.

While learning about common network systems flaws, you spent time about a year ago testing theories and cracking techniques on a real-world model—Nightfall's electronic infrastructure. What you uncovered was a system with abundant security flaws and opportunities for invasion. You were able to not only use the city's surveillance cams, but you could control them, along with the traffic lights.

When you finished using the network for learning purposes, you kept the exploits and routes of access in safe keeping.

The first row of windows shows the main road leading through Stodgy Farms. Most of the traffic flows away from Nightfall and leads toward the highway. Cars zoom at high speeds, ignoring traffic signs. Around the bend at Tanner's farm, you spot a sports car smashed into a telephone pole, a victim of the winding road. The driver lies inside, his leg twisted and pierced by the wreckage, as an ambulance pulls up.

On another row of screens, traffic cams show the merging of the highway and on-ramp leading south. Cars and trucks jam the lanes, while the National Guard and state police keep some semblance of order. Still, speeding cars ride the shoulder until blocked or stopped, and in the short time you watch, two groups engage in a gunfight at the edge of an exit ramp.

A developing scene in the last camera window catches your eye—a military jeep with a machine gun mounted on the back swerving to a stop in front of a van of people. A woman with flowing red hair stands at the .50 caliber machine gun and bounces on the back. Neither the woman nor the two men in the front seats wear military uniforms, and as the jeep veers to a halt, the man in the passenger side hops from the vehicle, carrying an FN P90, a futuristic-looking submachine gun with a blunt barrel and top-mounted magazine.

The van doors open and out step a pair of college-age men, and from the back come two women. Though you can't hear through the cameras, you see the leader ordering the young group to the ground. One of the students, a tall blonde woman with a volleyball team shirt and gym shorts, stands by the van and shouts back at the bandit with the submachine gun. She yells and swings her hands around as she argues, but as she glances down at her friends on the ground, the leader throws a fist into her midsection. She doubles over in pain. Her friends start to rise, but the red-haired woman aims the mounted machine gun and shouts at them. The three shaken and angry students return to the edge of the sidewalk.

The leader grabs the blonde student by her long ponytail and yanks her toward the jeep, throwing her into the back hatch. He wears a disturbing smile as he stares at her athletic body, and as she tries to move away from the jeep, the lead bandit shoves her into the back next to the machine-gun mount.

And then the feed drops.