The group is almost back in the settlement… There is only a small part of the way left to go.

Nova, Stella and Ember after a tiring, many-hour journey and a short night's rest (the need to observe the area and take turns on night duty are factors that prevented them from getting a full rest; each of the group slept only about 3 hours in a row) resumed moving towards the Warren.

The path these three persons were taking was different from the path they had taken when leaving their settlement.

Now they were in a hurry.

The information they possessed was of great importance to those who ruled the settlement of The Warren.

Therefore, the hurry was quite logical.

Nova was constantly hurrying the others: “Keep up the pace! We've almost reached home! Another three or four hours of walking and we'll reach our destination!”

The tired Ember groaned pitifully, but continued walking.

Stella was vigilantly examining the area, trying to notice any oddities.

And she succeeds…

Ahead rise the majestic ruins of huge buildings that were erected many centuries ago by the builders of a perished ancient civilization.

Half-collapsed walls, reaching a height of several dozen meters…

Pitiful remains of asphalt, around which steppe grass has grown…

Gusts of wind move several tumbleweeds towards a group of rabbits-scouts…

Twisted and rusted pieces of some large metal devices are lying on the ground…

This landscape is quite ordinary: after all, the settlement The Warren is located in an underground metro station, on the territory of the ruins of a large ancient city.

However, Stella managed to notice, thanks to her keen eyesight and attentiveness, something else…

A couple of hundred meters away from the trio, near the ruins of a large building that was connected to a large bridge, there is now someone…

Some group…

From a distance, it is difficult to see who these persons are.

But there are clearly more than a dozen of them…

Ember asks worriedly: "What happened? Why did we stop?"

Stella gestures with her right hand fingers to let her know that she should not make any noise and try to remain quiet.

Nova looks at Stella's behavior with understanding and picks up her **** rifle.

Stella, picking up her crossbow, carefully and stealthily leads Nova and Ember along a detour, trying to stealthily get around the group of strangers.

Moving among the ruins, large concrete blocks and sparse bushes, the three rabbit-scout girls try to avoid risky contact with the group of these strange persons.

Stella manages to notice that these strangers are armed...

For life in the wastelands, this is a completely normal fact - you can't live without a weapon in such places...

However, something in the appearance of these persons attracts attention...

After a few moments, Stella realizes that the skin of these persons looks... unusual: a strange grayish tint, some dark greenish growths on the skin.

The armed strangers are loudly discussing something among themselves. Some of them are moving some cargo boxes.

So far they haven't noticed that they are being watched.

Perhaps Nova, Stella and Ember will be able to quietly avoid an unwanted meeting and safely reach the settlement of The Warren.

There is a chance for this...

Suddenly Ember trips over a bent piece of rebar and falls, hitting her knee on a piece of concrete.

A cry of pain...

And several armed strangers turn in the direction from which the sound came.

Only at the last seconds did Stella manage to duck, hiding behind the rusty skeleton of some ancient mechanism.

Nova also ducked, hiding behind small bushes.

Ember lies on the ground and holds her bruised right knee.

She forces herself not to make sounds.

Nova points to the muzzle of her **** rifle with an eloquent gesture with her left palm.

Stella aims her crossbow and surveys the area.

Three tall armed persons are coming here, looking around vigilantly...

In the hands of one of them is something resembling a large light machine gun. It is a heavy weapon, but this muscular bald guy holds it in his hands without any signs of fatigue.

The second person is a woman holding a pistol in each hand. These two pistols have a strange design. None of the trio of rabbits-scouts have seen anything like this before.

The third person is a hunched man with a bald head and grotesquely long arms. In his right hand is a large wooden club with metal spikes (it looks like the spikes are ordinary large nails). In his left hand is a small sawed-off shotgun.

All three armed strangers are dressed in some kind of homemade armor: it is something like leather armor with separate protective metal elements.

And one more thing: all three of these persons are distinguished by their external ugliness. A strange grayish skin tone, some dark greenish growths on the skin, bald heads (even the woman), a yellowish-rotten shade of eyes.

They look... much more disgusting than the human-merchants that Nova, Stella and Ember saw earlier in The Warren.

So now Nova, Stella and Ember must make a quick decision.

How will they proceed?

Will they try to use the element of surprise and open fire to kill, hoping to eliminate a group of potentially dangerous strangers?

This is extremely risky - after all, the enemy is outnumbered. Ten against three. The chances of success are slim.

Option two: try to escape unnoticed. Perhaps Stella will come up with a way to distract the strangers. And then the trio will use a roundabout route to return to The Warren.

Option three: perhaps not everything is so bad and Ember will be able to negotiate with these strangers so that they will allow the trio of rabbit-scouts to pass unhindered.