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of course, but couldn’t say anything. She balled one hand into a fist, but didn’t even dare to hit him.
    Madelyn strained to make out his features in the dark. His face was different—more angular. She figured it was a trick of the shadows.
    He was smart to not grab her again. He must have sensed her frustration. David motioned for her to follow. He led her very slowly south, along the cliff, until they were almost overlooking the place where she had found his campfire. The marsh was spread below them like a minefield—there were hidden dangers down there in the shadows.
    She waited for David to communicate what was going on. It took her a second to realize that he was trying.
    He was pointing—not to the marsh, but straight up.
    She finally followed the direction of his finger. The stars lit up the sky in their familiar pattern, but there was more to see. Moving against the bright smear of the Milky Way, she saw dark cutouts obscuring patches of the sky. They moved fast, like darting hummingbirds. These were too big to be birds though.  
    Madelyn blinked and tracked a few of them. She looked back to David for an explanation. He motioned her forward and she moved closer until his lips were tickling her ear. He spoke with barely a breath. She felt like she was interpreting only the movement of his lips.
    “I can’t move fast. Need help.”
    She raised her arms—what did he expect her to do?
    He leaned in again.
    “Lead them towards stream. I’ll go to the cabin.”
    Madelyn pulled back. She wished she could see his eyes. Was he really that desperate? Of course her first reaction was to shake her head and walk away. What he was asking was pure insanity. A person in their right mind wouldn’t have even come out in the presence of Roamers. To purposefully try to lead them away was suicide.
    It was impossible to believe that David was asking her to do it. A thousand times, he had made it clear that they were all on their own. People lived and died by their own wits and their own survival instinct. Still, she had always believed that he would lay down his own life for her if the time came. Was it unreasonable that he was asking her to do the same?
    “Yes,” she whispered. She meant to say, “Yes, of course it’s unreasonable for him to ask her to risk her life. This was his fault. He was the one who went out hunting and got stuck outside as night came. He was the one who had stayed away more than twenty-four hours on some fool’s mission for ego nourishment. He was stupid and wrong to ask her to lead the Roamers away from her cabin so that he would have a chance to live.” But only the single word came out: “Yes.” He grabbed one of her hands in both of his and shook it with his thanks. She imagined that he was crying in the dark.
    David began to limp towards the dark part of the woods. There were certainly Roamers in there. He was depending on her.  
    Madelyn tilted her head back and let out a slow breath. People were trouble. Even when they seemed to come with no attachments, they wormed their way into her life and caused her pain. She opened her eyes and looked at the things in the sky. They were new. She had no idea what they were. Maybe David had some information. Maybe this new phenomenon was somehow responsible for his predicament. It might be useful information to have.
    She was talking herself into this crazy idea.
    Was this the person she wanted to be?
    She whispered a resigned answer.
    “Yes.”

    #   #   #   #   #

    Madelyn moved fast, with no attempt to disguise her noise. She waited until she was back on the path and a few hundred meters east of David before she turned on her light. It took almost of a minute of jogging before she heard the first clicks.  
    They were masked by the noise of her feet.
    She kept the light on and listened. It felt like looking down the barrel of a gun. She couldn’t do it long before her nerves made her hand shake the light. The clicking ramped up fast. It