Towards Safety. Towards Hope.

Benjamin leads the group onto the rusted rail line. The tracks creak underfoot, the evacuation route now the only real line left to the military point.

Ahead, a scrap wall and burned-out tires choke the path. Beyond it, a bandit camp stirs in the shadow of a derelict warehouse.

Figures step into view, armed with scavenged guns and pipes. Their faces harden when they spot Benjamin, recognition turning to fury.

The camp spreads out behind them, watching the tracks and the barricade. Jenny and Louis tense at Benjamin's sides, while the raiders keep their weapons up but hold position.

Between the wrecked warehouse and the blocked rails, the evacuation path narrows to a standoff. One wrong move here could cost them the final window to leave Old Orleans.

Benjamin lifts two fingers off the bat, then flicks them low and left. Jenny catches the signal at once and shifts toward the warehouse wall. Louis slides with her, keeping his shoulders loose and his eyes on the raiders.

Benjamin keeps his voice steady and his stance open, buying the leader's attention. The Raider Leader leans into the argument, weapon fixed on him, while Jenny and Louis vanish along the warehouse side in the leader's blind spot.

Bandit Camp Raider 1 spots the motion too late and starts to pivot, but the Raider Leader snaps a warning at him, forcing him to hesitate. The split second holds the camp in place.

From the rails, Benjamin catches a fresh detail behind the barricade, a half-crate of bottled water wedged under tarps beside stacked tins. The camp is guarding supplies, not just scrap.

Benjamin lets the silence stretch just long enough to make the raider answer himself. He lowers his chin, keeps the bat loose, and speaks like the choice is already tilting toward a deal.

The Raider Leader takes one step in before he can stop himself, eyes fixed on Benjamin instead of the warehouse wall. His gun stays up, but his shoulders uncurl with the motion.

Benjamin answers with a slight tilt of the bat and a glance toward the visible water and tins. The bait lands. The leader follows his eyes, then shifts another half step forward, hungry and wary at once.

Behind the barricade, the half-crate sits in plain sight now, its bottle necks catching the light. The leader breathes once, sharp and annoyed, then gestures with his gun for Benjamin to keep talking.

Benjamin scans the shadows beyond the leader, his eyes catching the glint of movement in the warehouse rafters and the dark gaps between the shipping containers. There are at least a dozen more silhouettes shifting in the gloom, far more than the three he initially counted.

Benjamin keeps his bat low and his voice steady. The warehouse goes quiet except for the rasp of breath and the soft rattle of loose metal in the barricade.

The Raider Leader steps back from the barricade, one hand lifting in a sharp signal toward the rafters. The hidden figures shift, then withdraw into the dark with the same brittle caution.

A gap opens by the pallets, and the half-crate of bottled water sits exposed behind the barricade. The raiders’ retreat leaves the rail line briefly theirs to take, if Benjamin moves now.