As Lunk walked away from the women and youths, he felt a little uneasy.

Even though this wasn't the time nor the place to try and protect another, let alone 6 others, he felt a responsibility to them and their safety.

He told himself he would press forward with no hesitation.  He convinced himself of direction and focus.  He locked his eyes on the house in the not too distant field and moved with purpose towards it.

He wasn't sure what he would find when he got there, just that they needed a place to rest and this was the closest house.

There was not really any question the house was empty, you could see in the windows and the front door was actually missing.

It was a run down ranch style home, and although there were no windows, Lunk was surprised at how difficult it was to see inside even though it was well into second quarter day.

He stopped before entering the once visible property line and removed Sam from his back.

He opened the case and removed his gun from his belt.

It only took a moment to recharge and reload the ammo.  He was getting faster with the handling of his equipment.  He felt like he was beginning to fit in to this out of control world, and fear was slowly replaced with confidence.

He out Sam back on his back, and continued toward the abandoned house with his pistol in his hand.

As he approached, his eyes strained trying to see if there was any movement in the house.

Although he was ready for action, and proved to himself that he could kill if he had to, he didn't want any more of it today, or ever.  It was comforting to him to know he was able to do whatever was needed, but peace and quiet is what he really longed for.

He stepped up on the broke down porch, and stepped slowly into the house.

It still had some furniture in the front room and pictures on the wall.  The front door was laying on the floor, and there was a thick layer of dirt on top of everything.  It was obvious no one had been in here for a while. 

Lunk thought for a moment, then considered the neighbors.  There was probably a reason no one has been here.  These poor folk may have been those scumbags first victims.

His anger grew a little, but then retreated after the memories of their death flashed through his mind.

A quick evaluation on the house showed Lunk that there was no one here in any of the rooms, so he returned to the field to retrieve the group.

It only took a few minutes for them all to return to the house.

"Listen, there are a lot of items here in the house we can use, but we only have a quarter day left until all the gangs return to the streets.  We do not want it to look like we are in here, so we are not going to barricade the doors and windows.  There is an entrance to the attic I found in the back hallway by the house fuse box.  Before dark we will go into the attic and sleep there for the night.  But before we do, I want everyone to split up and look for things we may be able to use, eat or drink.  But try not to tear the place apart, we want it to look as if it's been untouched.  It will be bad enough our footprints are going to be all over the place.  Before we climb up into the attic, we will remove our shoes so we don't leave any dirt on the walls when we climb up.", Lunk's instructions were direct, and made the others feel at ease because they had direction and a plan.

Sarah spoke up, "Thank you for helping us.", the others looked at him when she spoke, they felt the same.

"It's OK, tomorrow we will get you guys to the safety of the city.  I have some friends on the edge of town who will help.", Lunk started searching.

The others quickly joined in.