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pretty good idea of why they’d been chosen. With the exception of Bill Cody, they were singles. And Bill just had a girlfriend. He hadn’t really linked up into a whole family unit yet. The four of them looked normal, kept themselves clean, and weren’t entrenched in Luke’s little society. They were decent ambassadors, and they were completely expendable.
    They were close enough to see the first flame. It wasn’t some mysterious column of fire, like Luke had described seeing down south. This was just a torch, stuck into the ground by the side of the road. Judy couldn’t even tell why it was there at first. There was a gentle bend in the road, but it didn’t seem significant enough to mark with a torch.
    “Oh,” Daniel said.
    “What?” Bill asked.
    Daniel came to a stop. Judy walked up next to him. The torch was still a ways off, but she understood it significance. The torch marked a spot where the road was washed out. Because of the slope and the bend, you couldn’t really see it. If not for the torch, the washout might look like a shadow on the pavement until you crashed down into the gully.
    Judy moved forward alone. She got closer and verified her assessment. The seven torches simply marked the spot where the road was impassable. On the other side of the pavement, she saw black skid marks. Apparently, someone else had seen the washout just in time.
    Judy turned back to the other three.
    “Look, we don’t have to do this,” Judy said.
    “What do you mean?” Bill asked. He glanced back up the hill, where his girlfriend was hiding back there in the darkness.
    “Whoever put these up might be friendly, or they might be dangerous. We don’t know. There’s no reason why we have to risk our necks.”
    Bill didn’t hesitate to argue. “We all sacrifice for each other. It’s our turn.”
    “We do things as a group,” Judy said. “Since when are people expected to stick their necks out alone. We’re being used as pawns here.”
    “We’re here voluntarily,” Bill said.
    “No, she’s right,” Daniel said. “The question is, what other choice do we have?”
    “We could run,” Judy said.
    “Leave the group?” Bill asked.
    “Could we make it on our own?” Vivian asked.
    “Or whatever,” Judy said. “All I’m say is that we don’t have to walk right into danger just because Luke told us to.”
    “I’m going,” Bill said. “It might be dangerous, but everything is dangerous. Just waking up is dangerous. I’m going to do my part for the good of the group.”
    He started to walk around Judy. With that action, the debate was over. Viv and Daniel followed Bill. Judy stood there for a second and then followed as well.
    By the light of the torches, they climbed through the washout and walked around the bend in the road. On their left, the trees thinned out and were replaced with a single line of tall trees, bordered with a three-rail fence. An open field swept up to a set of buildings outlined against the sky. The driveway was farther up the road, but there was a footpath trampled through the grass near the washout. Bill followed that.
    Judy arrived at the fence as Bill was climbing over it.
    “Watch out,” Bill said. “That wire is live.”
    “What?” Viv asked. “Ouch!” she said.
    “Hush,” Bill said.
    Next to her, Daniel extended a finger towards the fence. On the inside of the rails, there was a bare wire strung. When his finger got close enough, a blue spark jumped out to his finger. Daniel jerked his hand back.
    “It’s not bad,” he said.
    Judy watched the way he climbed over and then reproduced his actions.  
    “They have electricity. That’s encouraging,” Daniel said.
    Bill started up the hill. The grass was short and tidy in the field, but was dotted with the occasional weed. Bill veered around something and when Judy reached the spot she saw that it was manure. Farther up the hill, a cluster of big animals bolted off into the night. The four of them stopped. When the