Towards Safety. Towards Hope.

Benjamin stands at the split fence, the jagged gap yawning into the side yard. Jenny keeps her gun low but ready. Louis leans toward the shed, listening to the silence like it might bite back.

Benjamin moves to the shed first. The door sticks, then gives with a soft scrape that feels far too loud in the still air.

Inside, warped boards lean against a wall, along with a hammer, a box of nails, and a coil of rope. Enough to turn the breach into a barrier, if they work fast.

A faint thump rolls from somewhere beyond the yard. Jenny snaps her head toward it, weapon rising, while Benjamin faces the opening that has to be closed before that sound finds them.

Benjamin snatches up the warped boards and plants the first one across the breach. The old wood bites into the split fence with a dry crack.

Louis steps in beside him, taking the hammer and nails, his hands moving fast while Benjamin holds the board flush.

Jenny shifts a half step back from the gap, gun tracking the dark beyond the fence while the hammer starts to ring.

Benjamin drives the next board on an angle, then another, turning the open wound in the fence into a rough wall.

The thump from the yard comes again, but now it hits wood instead of open air. Behind the fresh slats, the side yard is cut off from view.

Louis lifts one nail with a grin that does not reach his eyes, the point already bent from the strike, and points toward a faint smear in the dirt just outside the new barricade.