I grab my gun, throw on my coat and boots, and head outside. Mia follows me to the door, but she stops as I glare at her. “Stay inside,” I say sharply.

I turn off the alarm, open the door, and turn the alarm back on. I shut the door behind me. She’ll be safe, or at least we’ll hear it if someone tries to get inside while I’m out here.

Two screams. I’m sure of it. They were screams of anger, maybe of pain, and they were coming from near the generator. As I walk back there, the sun sinking down behind the trees, I suddenly wish that I had brought Jones with me. But I’d hate for something bad to happen to him.

I keep thinking about what Mia said to me just a minute ago. I keep thinking about the baby growing inside of her, our baby, my child. I can feel myself getting pulled back into the world, all because of her. She’s waking me up to the world again and it feels good, even if it does hurt a little bit, too.

I move through the snow slowly. I come around the side of the house, and I stop dead in my tracks. Up ahead, two figures are fighting over near the generator shed. I can barely make them out, though. The glare of the setting sun is blinding me.

The first figure is smaller and on the ground. The second figure is big, as big as a bear. It has to be a man, because I doubt there’s even been a woman so enormous before. He has the smaller figure pinned and they’re wrestling with something between them.

“Hey!” I shout, moving closer.

The big man looks over toward me. The figure on the ground screams again, and I realize that it’s a scream of anger as she shoves the guy away, kicking at him. He stumbles back, hesitates, and then runs toward the trees.

“Ethan!” the figure on the ground shouts.

I don’t know what comes over me. I think about Mia, and the baby, and I know that I’ll do anything to protect them and to make up for all the mistakes I’ve made before. I put my rifle on my shoulder and sight down the barrel, aiming for the figure that’s running fast toward the trees.

I get off one shot before he disappears. I can’t tell if I hit him or not, but he does grunt and stumble. He doesn’t stop and he doesn’t go down, though.

He steps through the tree line and keeps going, disappearing from sight.

I keep my gun ready as I walk fast over toward the other figure.

“You let him get away,” she says, and I realize with a start that it’s fucking Shelly staring up at me.

“Shelly?” I say, eyes wide. “What the fuck?”

“God damn it,” she grunts, slowly getting up. “Do you have any clue who that was?”

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I don’t know what’s going on, and I feel like I’m hallucinating or something.

Shelly looks unsteady. “Get me inside,” she says. “The bastard cut me up good.”

I blink and stare at her. She stares back, and I’m still pointing my gun at her.

“Well, put that fucking gun down and take me inside,” she snaps at me.

That brings me out of it. I shoulder my rifle and put her arms around me as I pull her back to the house. I notice some bleeding cuts on her body, and her face is tight with pain.

We get her inside. I disable the alarm then turn it back on. Mia hovers nearby, eyes wide.

“Shelly?” she says.

Shelly grunts in return as she stumbles into the kitchen. She’s wearing a padded black jacket and black warm pants. She takes off the jacket. And the black shirt underneath, prodding at the wounds on her side.

“Not too deep,” she says, sounding relieved. “They fucking sting like hell, though.”

“What’s going on?” Mia demands.

“I have no clue,” I admit. “I just found her out there like this, fighting with…”

“With the fucking bastard that wants to kill you two, that’s who,” Shelly snaps. She puts a rag on her wound. “You got anything for this cut?”

I look at Mia. “First aid kit in my bathroom upstairs. Under the sink, all the way in the back.”

She nods and heads off.

Shelly stares at me once Mia’s gone. “Did you tell her?” she snaps.

“Tell her what?” I feel like I’m missing an important piece of the puzzle.

“Why you’re hiding out here.”

I blink. “How do you know?”

She barks a little laugh. “You think it’s a coincidence that we became friends, comrade?” Suddenly, her accent switches from a nondescript American one, to something deep and Russian. “I’ve been watching very closely, Ethan, keeping tabs for my employers.”

“You’re…” I stare at her, eyes wide, ready to panic. “You work for them?”

“Da,” she says. “I used to, at least.” She shakes her head. “Fucking bastards.”

I stare at her and I feel like my whole world comes crashing down around me.