They departed precisely at five thirty. Michael opened the gate for them, watched them exit onto the street, then closed the gate behind them.

He then went up to the watchtower and tracked their movement on the pulse as they headed northeast toward the eastern district.

They moved smoothly as a team despite being unfamiliar with each other. Cole led confidently, and Yuna kept pace effortlessly, mirroring the calm, precise movements she used when arriving at the building two days earlier.

They navigated block by block, carefully respecting the unspoken rules of the city’s open streets, which offered no leniency.

Michael observed their signatures on the pulse, performed a sweep, tracked everything around them, and waited.

---

Inside the building the morning moved normally.

Sera’s training room was booked from six to eight hours with Shin and Maya. The faint sounds of movement, occasional impacts, and Sera’s brief, precise commands could be heard through the floor, even through the concrete. By seven, Anya was at the workbench, already updating the daily inventory on her clipboard—an task she had taken on independently each morning since Michael assigned her something substantial to do.

Meanwhile, Dr. Kang was in the clinic, carefully reviewing the medical supplies, checking expiry dates, reorganizing priorities, and expanding her list accurately in the areas that needed it most.

Rei left the barracks at 7:30, went to the kitchen, prepared some food, and silently brought a portion to Michael on the floor. Then she returned to the kitchen, glanced at the food and the doorway she had just gone through.

He reflected that Rei had been in the building for five days, evolving from barely speaking to quietly doing things for others without making a fuss. This quiet progress was a sign of internal change that couldn’t be hurried.

He ate and kept his eyes on the pulse.

Cole and Yuna had now moved four blocks, just at the limit of his comfortable range, cautiously making their way through the streets of the eastern district. The Rotter density there was greater than in the surrounding blocks, as Gareth had accurately observed two mornings earlier.

He observed their signatures carefully manoeuvre around the clusters, demonstrating the patience of those aware that patience often surpasses speed in streets like these.

They arrived at the six-block mark at 7:45.

Two blocks away from the southeast signature.

He observed their movements slow down and become more cautious, tracking the southeast signature, which remained stationary as always.

He felt a heightened sense of focus, knowing that two signals on the pulse were about to come into close proximity.

They stopped.

Their signatures remained stationary for about ten minutes, and he could sense through his pulse that they were observing something without any movement.

He sat in the watchtower, waiting and observing without saying a word, as there was nothing else to say from his position. Eventually, they turned around and returned.

---

They passed through the gate at eight forty, and Michael was already in the courtyard when they arrived. He looked at their faces first, because faces reveal things that words haven’t yet expressed.

Cole’s face was as always- controlled and focused- but his eyes were different, moving quicker than usual. While still taking in the surroundings, there was an edge of active processing behind his gaze, indicating he was still analysing what he’d observed.

Yuna’s face looked different. She was unusually pale, the kind that signals genuine unsettlement. She was holding herself together, but her pallor was evident, and her eyes were intensely focused and motionless, as if she was concentrating on maintaining that calm.

Michael looked at both of them. "Inside," he said.

They went up to the sixth floor into the apartment, where Sera, returning from the training room, immediately glanced at Yuna’s face. She then stepped away from the counter. Dr. Kang appeared in the clinic doorway, quickly assessing the situation, and then exited.

Michael looked at Cole. "Talk," he said.

Cole sat down on the couch, the first time Michael had seen him sit anywhere that wasn’t a floor or a wall, and looked at his hands for a moment and then at Michael.

"We got to six blocks out and found a good observation position in a third floor window," he said. "Clear sightline southeast. We had eyes on the area around the signature for about eight minutes."

"And," Michael said.

"It’s not one thing," Cole said. "It’s several. A group." He paused. "They were stationary when we found them, gathered in what used to be a small park area between two buildings. Just sitting there." He looked at Michael. "They’re not Rotters. They’re not standard mutants. They look human but they’re not moving like humans and they’re not doing anything that humans do when they stop moving." He paused again. "They were just sitting. Facing this direction."

The apartment was very quiet.

"How many," Sera said.

"We counted eleven," Yuna said. It was the first thing she’d said since coming back and her voice was steady but had something underneath it that was working to stay steady. "But there were more behind the treeline in the park. We couldn’t get a full count."

"What did they look like," Dr. Kang said from the doorway.

Cole and Yuna looked at each other briefly.

"Human shaped," Cole said carefully. "The proportions are right, the height, the build. But the skin is wrong. It’s too pale, not sick pale, more like the colour has just gone. And they don’t blink." He said that last part flatly. "We watched for eight minutes and none of them blinked once."

The apartment processed that in silence.

"They saw you," Michael said. It wasn’t a question.

"One of them turned and looked at our window," Yuna said. "Directly at it. We were back from the glass and in the dark and there was no reason it should have been able to see us." She paused. "It looked at the window for about thirty seconds and then looked back at this direction." She looked at Michael. "It knew we were there."