With the city a good mile or so behind them the Hounds and their wards walked in three files across the barren waste of the city fringe, terracotta clay and blasted red stone stretching as far north until they reached the base of the Cardiff Ridge. Within the fringe plant life was rare, water almost non existent and the hollow remains of tiny settlements every now and then, it was a bleak place, the shuttle would pass through it on route to the city but those in the back would never witness the emptiness of the place. However due to a chain of unforseen catastrophic events the group tasked with protecting the Cardiff area would now have to walk through it to return home. No one felt ok about it.

Chatter had been at a minimum, what talk could be heared was of the new creatures they had witnessed, monstrosities of nature, even more than the screamers. The fate of mankind had been sealed by a global vote to decide if a drug that was supposed to save mankind would be put into action, the result global breakdown of immune systems, rapid mutation, those however who carried the S+ Synthetic Blood were immune to the drugs effects, in the end purebloods became screamers, screamers hunted those remaining and for an entire generation of children, the first six years of their lives was spent having their own blood replaced with synthetic blood, simply to stop the spread of he drugs effects. History had always been a harsh lesson to learn from, none felt it more than those the common folk called the Immortals, the high council, those who survived the brutal attack of an age long passed.

"Lacy..." Sgt Fields called forward to his daughter, she had not moved from Bretts side since leaving the city, he was concered about how the Owls were holding up. She dropped back and fell into step with him.

"Yes Dad?" She asked giving him a side look.

"How is everyone holding up? He asked putting his arm around her.

Lacy was quiet for a moment, she pulled away from her father "We are ok, doesn't seem real, I mean we have been through worse and made it home." She let her stare settle on the others, they looked like hey had he weight of the world on their shoulders. "I've let them down Dad." She said after a moment.

"No you haven't, its a hard situation to be in, losing your first is hard, losing a friend is worse and having to watch family die is heart breaking, but with what we do there is always a chance and a massive likelihood of losing people, we take it, deal with it and learn from it so it doesn't happen again. You have led them well for over a year without a loss, I was team leader for six years without a loss until I lost them all, I was here less than a week as Sgt before I lost my first Hound during a mission." He looked at his daughter a tear welling in her eye. "It doesn't get easier, you learn to hide the pain better." He pulled her head toward him and kissed her hair then let her go to rejoin the others. She seemed a little lighter, but she would never be the same this was something he hoped would never happen but it was unrealistic thinking. He looked about the group and as soon as he saw Miller he called her over.

The team of scouts gathered additional supplies then headed off, they would find somewhere for everyone to rest from the heat of the midday sun, which was now only a few hours ahead of them. Clad in their armour and carrying their gear the growing heat was getting unbareable, their water supplies were quickly dropping and little water would be found between here and the valley. Rationing what supplies they had would be key to them all getting home safely. The ground this deep into the fringe was cracked littered with deep trenches and hidden sink holes, a minefield would be saver, but Miller, Phelps, Whiskers, Doleman, Rikon and Danny navigated the terrain effortlessly. However the heat had began to take its toll and they had barely been moving for half an hour, they needed to find shelter and soon. They pushed on a little further over a jagged ridge and below them etched into the side of a ledge was what was left of an old village, finding the strength they needed they ran on to clear the area.

With the days heat now rising off the floor in a hazy wave the cool air within the abandoned homes dug in to the cliff face was very welcome indeed. Unsure when these cave like dwellings were last used they proceeded with caution, it was common for some animal life to take up home in them, the prowlcat was one such animal, a descendent of the Lynx, one of the few wild cats that survived the mass culling. However there were few signs of life at all, almost as though no one had lived here at all, ever. Whiskers had searched out the back of the house while the others mulled about, "You had better come see this." She said returning with a look of caution on her face. What they ended up looking at was a small wooden hatch sunk into the floor of the furthest room. Doleman tried to lift it open but it seemed locked from below.

"Odd, why would you lock it from below?" He muttered out loud but not intentionally.

Danny tried to open it "The only logical reason is that there is something under here" looking at the others he had that look of mischief about him "We could always pry it open?" His suggestion had merit, there could be supplies down there. Miller passed Danny her knife and he jammed it under the front left corner then he his into the right front corner and pushed down, the locks barely budged, he looked confused. "We got a problem..."

Meanwhile the others were just managing to keep putting one foot in front of the other, Giles had already fainted and was now being carried by a few of the Hounds in a makeshift hammock. The Owls were struggling the most this was way beyond their training and even more so their comfort zone. Not too far a head of them they could see a large ridge, the others must have gone over it as their foot prints were heading straight for it, if it wasn't for the scout party's foot prints Sgt Fields was sure they would have wandered off track. He just hoped Miller and her team had managed to find somewhere close by, the heat was beyond unbareable but they had no choice to keep going on. Looking across the ridge he could see no real sign of cover or a decent place to lay low, it was going to take all of their strength to get over it, and it was small, tiny even in comparison to the Cardiff Ridge they still had to climb. His will to go on was slipping from him like sand in the wind, he gave the ridge one more scan and to his amazement just cresting the ledge from the other side was a Hound, arms in the air waving like a manic, the Sgt allowed himselfna moment of hope before he commanded the group to pick up the pace. When the Sgt got to the ridge crest ahead of the others he was met by Rikon who was taking a deep swig from his canteen.

"Explain." Said Fields as he grabbed the canteen and took a mouthful.

"You are not going to believe it." He replied with a massive grin on his face.

Unable to get the locks to give way Danny grabbed his rifle and began hitting it in the center trying to break it open, but that was just as futile. Between blows Phelps heard a noise below the hatch and stopped Danny mid swing, she listened closely and finally she was rewarded with a faint sound of movement below. Grabbing her knife she lifted one of the corners just enough to peer down, there was a ladder against the wall down and as she tried to look down the ladder a head moved into view and she jumped back dropping the corner down. The others stared at her waiting "There's someone down there."

As soon as she got back to her feet a soft childs voice rose from the hatch, "Who's There?" No one said anything out of shock then the question was asked again.

"Hello sorry, we are lost, we are looking for shelter from the heat, and we are in need of water." Miller kept her voice gentle, her normal brash self would have scared whoever it was away with jo hope of return.

"Wait there, I must go and fetch someone." The voice faded and the team were left looking at each other in bewilderment. They waited no more than two maybe three minutes before another voice called out to them.

"Travellers... are you there?" The voice was that of a Woman, Miller replied they were and the voice continued to speak. "Are you friend or foe?" A resonable question they all thought.

"We are soldiers from Cardiff Prime, seeking shelter from the days heat, our shuttles were destroyed so we are travelling home on foot, we wish to cause no trouble, shelter and some water is all we seek."

The bolts on the hatch clicked free and slowly the heavy wooden hatch was lifted to reveal a hooded woman climbing up, once she was on her feet she stood about five foot seven, her face and hair covered by the full body stone grey hooded gown she wore. "Cardiff Prime, I have not heard tell of the state of the City since we left. What news do you bring?" Here eyes lit up in a faintly familiar way. A little girl climbed from the hatch and stood next to the woman. "Don't mind her, my youngest daughter to my forth mate. Pigmy is her name when she doesn't give us cause to call her by anything else." The little girl smiled.

"We are sorry to trouble you, in all honesty we had no idea anyone still lived here. We were attacked in the city, along with the rest of our group, our shuttles were destroyed by creatures we have never seen, we were sent ahead to find shelter from the heat and we found these ruins." Miller looked at the others as they nodded in agreement.

"The city fell long ago, well almost ten long years ago now, it happened without warning during the early hours, screamers everywhere, in the time it took for the Hounds to arrive the city had been lost. About one hundred of us made it here, since then more have come seeking shelter, and we have grown in number both by new comers and new borns." The Hounds stared in surprise, new borns born in the wilds, this was a huge revelation. "Our cave system is too far from the city for the creatures to venture, but we do every now and then send our own in to see what we can salvage. All of us who first arrived here have lost family, children, other loved ones to the screamers, but now this is our sanctuary." Her hand moved over the hatchway, the little girl had barely moved or said a word.

Miller turned to Rikon and sent him on his way, the Sgt needed to get here fast, the woman turned to them and smiled "My name is Gretna Summers and welcome to the burrows." She allowed them to go down the ladder after her daughter, then following behind them she slid the locks back into place.

After another round of heavy knocks on the hatch door the locks slid across amd a dark haired male looked up at the unfamiliar face of Sgt Fields. Climbing out of the hatchway the man motioned for the visitors to go down the ladder, after a few minutes the last of them had decended the ladder and the hatch had been bolted back in place. At the bottom of the ladder a large room opened up the Hounds and the Owls were being asked to leave their weapons within the room before going on into the main hub, Sgt Fields had agreed to this demand and made sure his team followed without complaint. Once they were all ready they were led through a narrow tunnel, no more than two people wide hen out into a large gathering hall where he scout group and what looked like the whole colony had gathered to welcome them. Gretna Summers was stood on a raised ledge in the middle, as the visitors gathered in front of her a face stood out from the crowd of strangers, Timothy Fields.

"If this isn't a blessing then it is a dream..." she said lifting her arms into the air then stretched them out toward the visitors. "Timothy Fields... please come up here." She stared at him and for a moment he thought he recognised her eyes, but it couldn't be. The group parted to allow their leader to move quickly and freely to the ledge, as he did he looked at those closest then suddenly he realised where he had seen those eyes before. He stopped and took Salt's hand and led her to the center.

"Timothy Fields, It has been a long time." Her eyes looked him over as he did her, she was vaguely familiar but her eyes, he thought, her eyes were older, more worn yet still held at captivating hold over you as you looked into them.

"Gretna Summers..." he said as nothing more than a whisper in case he was wrong, her response was a small smile of acknowledgement. 'We thought you dead, even Bill, we looked for you and Melissa for weeks, but we never found you or her. How do you get out?"

"A story for another time. For now come rest up, treat his as your home." She waved a few of her people forward and they began walking toward another tunnel across the hall. She turned to Timothy slowly and smiled again "Is this your daughter?" She asked looking at Salt who had suddenly taken notice of the womans features.

"No, she's yours." He replied.

Without a word she turned away and began walking off "Melissa is dead, she was..." stopping herself before she could say anymore she turned her head over her shoulders. "You bring a child here to butter me up with hope of a daughter who was too young to fend for herself, ten years on her own in that place with them, she would have suffered, yet this girl wears the same armour as the others, do not take me for a fool. Our friendship from a time long since changed will not save you from judgement over such a thing." Not waiting for a response Gretna walked off.

An uneasy silence settled over the hall and everyone barely spoke and those who did whispered. Sgt Fields looked at Salt "I'm really sorry, but from what I know and what I can see, you are her Daughter Melissa, she isn't going to accept this easily, I didn't even think about how you would feel, for that I am really sorry." The number of faces in the hall slowly dropped as those who lived within left to carry on their daily lives, with the Hounds and the other Owls looking on the Sgt signalled for them to check rations again, they would need to eat. "I knew Bill, her Husband, very well, he was my team leader when I first transfered down here, it was his persistence that got me my own team here, which was his old team, his promotion to Sgt was well deserved but short lived." A tear began to form on Salts cheek. "I also remember the bright fun loving little girl they had, always laughing and messing around with Lacy, Bill and Gretna would often visit us at the base, as Cardiff Prime was their home, they had a house not far from the old hotel. The day the city fell was like nothing I had seen, hundreds of children dragged from their homes, parents butchered while they slept. I remember being woken by Bills voice over the radio asking for full immediate support while he was still in the city. By the time we got there..."

"By the time you got there he was dead." Gretna's voice boomed from one of the tunnel entrances. "It was a long time ago, if she is my daughter where has she been all these years?"

It was a fair question however there was only one person who could really explain it, and that would involve a fair amount of listening something the old Gretna hadn't been very good at. Here however she seemed more of an authority so she probably had improve the skill needing to lead a band of misfits for so long. Sgt Fields looked at Salt then at Gretna, he hoped he had got this right, an uneasy feeling knotted his stomach as he finally turned to his group "Shall we go somewhere and talk, maybe you should listen to what this young lady has to say and decide for yourself." His smile to Salt was soft he wanted her to know he was going to be there to support her, she was after all either a Hound or an Owl, either way he was her commanding officer, she was his charge.

"She can discuss it over dinner." Gretna said as she turned to leave again. "We eat soon in the dinning hall two levels down, get comfortable here, until I know I can trust you again Tim, I have people to look after, you would do the same." He nodded as she was right he would be exactly the same.

"Until later." He replied as she walked away and left them to get sorted.