According to the military, canned meat was still valuable, but ever since the production lines restarted, it wasn't so rare anymore. Inside the shelter, everyone could get two or three cans a week. Even places like Francis' shelter now had enough food and water. But those two men acted like they hadn't eaten real meat in ages. She decided to report that to the military. If things kept going this way, the gap between the organized shelters and the scattered outside groups would only widen. That difference might eventually hurt the military. Or maybe, she could use it to trade with the groups that refused to be under military control. Caroline decided to visit this “leader” at dawn. According to what the men had said, the woman usually met ability users around that time—the coolest part of the morning. When the moment came, she planned to approach peacefully. After all, she was the one seeking something, not them. There were still two hours left before sunrise. She rode Raven another few miles, putting distance between herself and the abandoned building where she'd met the men. She didn't want them coming after her once they finished eating. After confirming she wasn't being followed and the area was clear, she started searching again. There were no malls nearby, only clusters of old apartment buildings. That worked perfectly for her. These were the places she wanted to search Some homes might still have jewelry, antiques, or raw gold ore—anything she could use to boost her storage space. At worst, she could kill a few hundred mutant cockroaches. It would still be better than wasting time doing nothing. She released the gray drone again, letting it glide ahead to scout carefully. Sure enough, inside one of the apartments, she found a chunk of raw gold ore that pulsed with energy, feeding her storage space. In another, she discovered a bracelet tucked deep in a cabinet. Its quality wasn't impressive, but the energy inside it was enough.Every home was abandoned, ransacked more times than she could count. Some rooms still had corpses sprawled across the floor, limbs twisted in lifeless silence. The flesh had been stripped clean from the corpses, eaten away by mutated creatures. Even their clothes were gone, torn off by whoever had scavenged here before. The sight was sickening. But Caroline barely reacted. She'd seen worse. She stepped over the bodies without flinching. Inside the empty homes, even the wooden furniture was missing. During the deep freeze, survivors must have carried it all off to burn for warmth. In one room, she spotted a skeleton gripping a broken chair leg, the fingers still locked tight around it. The bones were cracked in several places, and the back of the skull was split open. It was obvious the person had been beaten to death. Caroline figured someone had broken in during the freeze to steal the furniture for firewood. The poor man must have refused to let go and paid for it with his life. Everywhere she looked told the same story. Humanity had been stripped down to its ugliest, most desperate state. After searching for nearly an hour, she decided this block was finished and moved toward the next. She sent Jet to scout ahead. But not even three minutes later, Jet came speeding back, wings slicing through the air in panic. He dove straight into her arms, trembling. “We're surrounded! Someone's surrounding us!” Caroline's brow furrowed. Surrounded? That couldn't be right. She'd erased her tracks and avoided those men completely. Who could have found her now? She didn't know it yet, but her pursuers weren't human. They were mutant animals. Even before the collapse, these animals had ruled the suburbs, mauling pets and attacking people. After the world changed, they'd evolved into burrowing killers, fierce and cunning.The neighborhood Caroline had wandered into was their nest, chosen right after they woke from hibernation when the great heat began. When she'd ridden through on Raven, the noise had stirred them awake. Now they were gathering in the distance, maybe a hundred yards away, tightening their circle around her. A hot gust swept by, carrying a foul scent. Raven's lips curled back in a low growl, teeth flashing. The wind had brought the smell of their hunters.