Gareth observed the entire scene from the courtyard, now standing near the building entrance with his arms crossed, eyes fixed on Yuna, and a specific look on his face that Michael had become skilled at recognizing over the past few days.

Michael approached him. Gareth glanced at him as he got near. "Quick call," he said. "Opening the gate."

"She needed it open," Michael said.

"You went outside," Gareth said. "For some total stranger you don’t know."

"Yes," Michael said.

Gareth looked at him with his jaw set slightly. "That’s a risk."

"Everything’s a risk," Michael said.

Gareth looked at Yuna leaning against the wall, with Dr. Kang working on her and Shin beside her. A flicker of emotion moved across his face, which Michael observed silently.

"She’s going to stay?" Gareth questioned with furrowed brows.

"If she wants to," Michael replied with a shrug.

Gareth glanced at him. "You’re gathering people," he said neutrally. "Every time someone arrives at that gate, you permit them entry."

"Every time someone needs to be let in," Michael said.

"There’s a difference," Gareth said.

"Yes," Michael agreed. "There is."

Gareth glanced at him, maintaining a relaxed expression, while secretly calculating as he always did, and Michael looked back, allowing him to do so.

"More people mean increased complexity," Gareth said. "Higher competing interests and more potential issues." He paused. "You’ll need someone skilled in managing that."

"I’m managing it," Michael said.

"You’re building," Gareth said. "That’s not the same thing."

Michael looked at him steadily. "What do you want Gareth."

Gareth glanced at him, and for a moment, the relaxed facade vanished, revealing a man who had survived thirty-three days, was skilled at it, knew his skill, and desperately wanted that to mean something in a world where everything was uncertain.

Gareth said, "A genuine role, not just floor clearing or material runs—something that utilizes my actual skills."

"And what are you actually good at," Michael said.

Gareth observed the courtyard, noting the two groups of men standing apart after the wall was built. One group, led by Cole, was near the gate, while Damon’s four men stood near the building entrance. Despite sharing the same space, the two groups maintained their separation without fully blending.

"Managing men," he said. "Reading situations. Knowing when something is about to go wrong before it does." He looked at Michael. "You need that."

Michael looked at him for a long moment.

He thought about what Gareth was actually good at and whether that was something he wanted inside his building operating with a formal role or something he wanted where he could see it clearly.

"Tomorrow," Michael said. "We’ll talk about that tomorrow."

Gareth looked at him and the easy look came back fully. "Tomorrow," he said and walked toward the building entrance and went inside.

Michael stood in the courtyard and watched him go and then looked at Cole who was near the gate and had been close enough to hear most of that conversation and was looking at Michael with his steady dark eyes.

Cole said nothing. He just looked at Michael for a moment and then looked at the building entrance where Gareth had gone and then back at Michael and gave a very small nod that communicated something specific without needing words.

Michael nodded back.

He went over to Yuna.

She was standing now, Dr. Kang having finished treating the wound, and Shin appeared to have found her some food, as she was eating a protein bar with the focused energy of someone who hadn’t eaten in a while. She looked steadier on her feet than she had while on the ground, and her eyes quickly scanned the courtyard with sharp attention, as if that was her natural state.

She looked at him when he stopped beside her.

"Where were you before," he said.

"I never had a stable place," she said. "I had a place in the western district for the first two weeks. Then I lost it and I’ve been moving since." She looked at the wall. "I saw your watchtower four days ago from a rooftop two blocks east. I’ve been trying to get here since then."

"Four days," he said.

"The streets between here and there weren’t easy," she said simply.

He looked at her side where Dr. Kang had bandaged the wound and then at the pipe she was still holding loosely at her side and then at her face.

"Can you fight," he said.

She looked at him. "I’m here aren’t I," she said.

He almost smiled. "Come upstairs," he said. "I’ll show you around."

She glanced at the building, then at him, and finally at the wall again, with an expression of someone weighing whether to believe something that seems too good to be true.

Then she followed him inside.

[Bond Event — She Made It Here: Yuna. +1 Bond Point. Current BP: 2 — Yuna.]

---

That evening Michael sat on the watchtower alone after everyone had gone down and ran the pulse and counted what he had.

The building now housed nineteen people: his original five, Gareth’s group of six including Anya and Rei, Cole’s seven, and Yuna.

They are enclosed behind a finished perimeter wall in a cleared building equipped with power, water, medical facilities, and supplies sufficient to support everyone for three weeks if consumption is managed carefully.

He considered the Gareth situation and the upcoming conversation, reflecting on what Gareth had mentioned. ’Managing men. Reading situations. Knowing when things might go wrong.’ All of this was true, and it also highlighted the skills that made Gareth formidable if he chose to see the building as something to seize rather than just be part of.

He considered Damon’s decision from two days earlier and Cole’s nod in the courtyard this afternoon, reflecting on the boundaries and which side people end up on when situations become serious.

Then he looked at the pulse one more time and went down and went to sleep.

Tomorrow was going to need him rested.

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Chapter 28?