Several hours early.
Andrew looked around at the busy street and nodded slowly.
"Looks better every time I come here."
"It should," Angela replied.
She gestured for him to follow her.
"Come on. Since you're here, I might as well show you where all the manpower and supplies are disappearing to."
Andrew fell into step beside her while the Rangers followed at a comfortable distance.
As they walked, Angela occasionally greeted workers and civilians by name. More than a few stopped her to ask questions, report completed tasks, or request supplies.
It quickly became apparent that despite not wearing a uniform, she was one of the people keeping the entire project moving.
"The power situation is mostly under control now," Angela explained as they passed a crew working near a utility junction.
"The engineers finally finished rerouting some of the damaged lines."
Andrew glanced toward the workers.
"The sections that were hit during the bombing."
Angela nodded.
"Most of them. There are still a few problem areas, but compared to before, we're in a much better position."
Ahead of them, several workers were helping position large concrete barriers while another crew worked alongside military engineers assembling a section of HESCO fortifications.
"Most of the work now is security," Angela said.
She pointed toward the growing perimeter.
"Walls. Barriers. Controlled entry points."
"Good," Andrew replied. "If we're moving more civilians here, we need to make sure they stay safe."
"Exactly."
A few moments later they passed a building with several volunteers carrying desks and chairs through the entrance.
Andrew looked toward it.
"What's that?"
Angela smiled slightly.
"Our future school."
That earned a raised eyebrow from Andrew.
"A school?"
"What, surprised?"
"A little."
Angela chuckled.
"We have a lot of children, both here and at the estate."
She looked toward the building.
"They need something resembling a normal life. Something to distract them from what is out there."
Andrew couldn't argue with that.
The apocalypse had changed many things, but children were still children.
"We've got teachers volunteering already," Angela continued. "Former teachers, professors, even a few college students."
Her expression softened slightly.
"They're actually pretty excited about it."
As they resumed walking, they passed another building where workers were unloading medical supplies.
"And that's the clinic."
Andrew looked toward the entrance where several volunteers were carrying boxes inside.
"Hospital getting crowded?"
Angela laughed.
"That's one way of putting it."
Her expression became more serious.
"The hospital is still operating, but not everyone needs a hospital."
She gestured toward the building.
"This will handle routine treatment, checkups, minor injuries. It'll take some pressure off the medical staff."
Andrew nodded approvingly.
The more self-sufficient the safe zone became, the better.
For a few moments they walked in silence, watching workers and volunteers move through the growing community.
Eventually Angela spoke again.
"You know..."
Andrew glanced toward her.
"A lot of people expected something very different."
"What do you mean?"
She shrugged.
"With the military in control."
Her eyes moved across the street where civilians and soldiers worked side by side.
"Most people expected curfews, checkpoints everywhere, soldiers barking orders."
Andrew let out a faint chuckle.
"There are checkpoints."
"You know what I mean."
And he did.
Angela looked toward a group of civilians helping unload supplies from a truck.
"People appreciate that you've actually listened."
Andrew raised an eyebrow.
"'You'?"
"The military."
She corrected herself.
There was a brief pause before she continued.
"Most people know security comes first."
She gestured toward the perimeter walls.
"They understand why the barriers are there."
Her expression softened.
"But they also appreciate being treated like people."
Andrew was quiet for a few seconds.
Then he nodded.
"Hard to rebuild a society if nobody trusts each other."
Angela smiled.
"Exactly."
Around them, the sounds of construction, conversation, and daily life continued to fill the safe zone.
Andrew watched a crew positioning another section of fencing before checking his wristwatch.
The gesture didn't go unnoticed.
Angela raised an eyebrow.
"Got somewhere else to be, Lieutenant?"
Andrew lowered his arm.
"A few places, actually."
He glanced toward the southern section of the safe zone.
"I still need to check the perimeter work, the supply depot, and the rail yard."
"The train?" Angela asked.
Andrew nodded.
The rail connection had quickly become one of the most important pieces of infrastructure under their control. They can move supplies, equipment, and personnel far more efficiently than they could by road alone if needed.
"It has become too important not to keep an eye on it."
"Fair enough," Angela replied.
She shifted the clipboard slightly against her arm.
"Honestly, I'm just glad somebody else gets to worry about keeping it running."
Andrew chuckled quietly.
"Trust me, plenty of people are worrying about it."
That earned a small smile from her.
For all the progress being made inside the safe zone, there was still a long list of things requiring attention. Security positions needed inspection. Supply reports needed reviewing. Construction projects had to be coordinated.
The work never truly stopped.
Andrew took one last look around the district.
"Looks like you've got things under control here."
Angela snorted.
"Barely."
Despite her words, both of them knew the project was succeeding.
The safe zone was growing.
Every week more buildings became occupied.
More services came online.
More people began thinking about the future instead of merely surviving the next day.
Andrew extended his hand.
"Keep it up."
Angela transferred the clipboard to one arm and shook it.
"We will."
Releasing her hand, Andrew stepped back.
"Try not to work yourself to death."
"Only if you make the same promise."
"No guarantees."
Angela rolled her eyes.
"Figures."
A faint smile crossed Andrew's face before he turned toward the waiting Rangers.
Patel was already watching him expectantly.
"Ready to move, sir?"
Andrew nodded.
"Let's go."
Leaving Angela to her work, Andrew and the Rangers headed farther into the safe zone, disappearing into the flow of workers, civilians, police officers, and soldiers as the sounds of reconstruction continued around them.
•••••••
Back to the present
The voice coming through the speaker seemed to freeze the entire module.
For several long seconds, nobody moved or spoke.
After three months of silence, after countless unanswered broadcasts and endless hours spent listening to static, they had finally heard another human voice.
A voice from Earth.
The six astronauts and cosmonauts simply stared at the radio as if afraid the transmission would vanish if they moved too quickly.
Static crackled through the speaker once more.
Then the voice returned.
"...hello? Hello? Do you copy?"
The words snapped the crew back to reality.
"Answer him!" Sarah blurted.
Valery was already moving.
He nearly bumped into Dmitry as both Russians reached for the radio station at the same time.
Valery got there first.
Grabbing the microphone, he pressed the transmit switch so quickly that he almost missed it.
"Yes!" he replied immediately.
The response came out far less composed than he had intended.
"Yes, we copy!"
He took a breath.
"This is the International Space Station. We read you loud and clear."
Around him, the rest of the crew crowded closer.
Marcus looked as though he couldn't quite believe what was happening.
Takahashi's eyes remained fixed on the speaker.
Even Keller, who had spent the last three months forcing herself to remain calm for the sake of the crew, looked stunned.
For the first time since losing contact with Earth, they weren't talking into the void.
Someone was finally answering.
Valery keyed the microphone again.
"This is Cosmonaut Valery Vashchenko aboard the International Space Station."
His voice steadied slightly.
"We have not had contact with Earth in over three months."
A brief pause.
Then he added the question every one of them wanted answered.
"General, do you read us?"
Static hissed across the channel.
For a moment, the crew feared the signal had been lost.
Then the voice returned.
"ISS, this is General Krennick."
The transmission crackled but remained understandable.
"I read you loud and clear."
The general paused.
And when he spoke again, there was unmistakable disbelief in his voice.
"Good God..."
Another burst of static followed.
"We hadn't thought that there's someone still alive up there."
The words hit the crew harder than anyone expected.
Nobody aboard the station had truly considered how they looked from the surface.
Three months without any contact from the planet's surface having passed.
As far as anyone on Earth knew, the ISS had simply become another casualty of the apocalypse.
Marcus swallowed.
Sarah exchanged a glance with Keller.
Even Dmitry looked momentarily lost.
Valery tightened his grip on the microphone.
"We thought the same about everyone down there."
Then he lowered the microphone slightly as several voices immediately began speaking at once.
"We honestly didn't think anyone would answer," Marcus admitted.
"For three months," Takahashi added. "Nothing. No broadcasts. No emergency frequencies. Nothing."
"We thought the entire planet had gone silent," Sarah said.
Dmitry nodded grimly.
"We almost stopped trying."
Then Valery spoke again.
"We nearly lost hope of contacting anyone on Earth."
For a moment there was only the familiar hiss of static.
Then he continued.
"But then we saw the lights."
The response from the other end was immediate.
"The lights?"
General Krennick sounded genuinely confused.
"What lights?"
The six crew members exchanged glances.
For a second nobody understood the question.
Then Keller leaned closer.
"The city."
A brief pause.
"The lights from the city."
Still silence.
Valery picked up the explanation.
"We've seen the lights from Atlanta."
The radio suddenly became very quiet.
There was no immediate response, just silence.
The astronauts looked at one another.
Seconds passed.
Long enough for everyone to begin wondering if the transmission had failed.
Then Sarah frowned.
"Did we lose him?"
"No," Takahashi said, glancing at the signal strength.
"The connection is still there."
Another few seconds passed.
Finally, General Krennick spoke again.
His voice sounded different now.
More cautious.
"General Krennick here. ISS are you still there?"
"Yes General, we hear you loud and clear." Marcus answered immediately.
" Are you sure that you saw lights in Atlanta?" Asked the general, with an edge in his voice.
"Yes. We spotted it during the previous pass.The city is illuminated."
"Most of it, from what we could see," Keller added.
Again, silence greeted them.
The reaction confused everyone aboard the station.
They had expected surprise. Maybe questions. But not this.
Dmitry frowned.
Then the obvious question occurred to him.
He leaned toward the microphone.
"General..."
A pause.
"You're not in Atlanta?"
More silence followed.
The six crew members looked at one another again.
In the three months that passed, Atlanta had been the only thing they had seen on the continent that could depict civilization.
Naturally they had assumed whoever answered their call was located there.
When General Krennick finally spoke again, his voice carried a note of amusement mixed with disbelief.
"No."
A short burst of static.
"I'm not in Atlanta."
The astronauts stared at the speaker.
The transmission remained clear, but the signal meter had begun to fluctuate slightly.
"I'm in PADRE safe zone."
The astronauts exchanged confused looks.
None of them recognized the name.
Seeing the confusion on the faces around him, Valery pressed the transmit button.
"PADRE?"
"It's a survivor settlement on an island off the coast of Georgia," Krennick explained. "Near Savannah."
A brief pause followed.
"It wasn't supposed to become this."
The general's voice carried a trace of weariness.
"It was meant to help rebuild. Help people survive long enough to put things back together."
For a moment, nobody aboard the station spoke.
The fact that organized survivor communities still existed was astonishing enough.
The fact that one was operating from an island made a certain amount of sense.
It was defensible, isolated and easier to control access.
Then Krennick asked a question of his own.
"Besides Atlanta, have you seen anything else?"
The crew glanced at one another.
Marcus answered first.
"Very little."
Valery nodded.
"For the most part, the world is dark."
Sarah floated toward the viewport.
"We've seen occasional lights."
"Rarely," Keller added.
"Mostly isolated sources."
Takahashi checked several notes they had compiled over the previous months.
"We observed some activity over the United Kingdom."
"Not much," he clarified. "A few lights. Small clusters."
He shook his head.
"Nothing comparable to Atlanta."
"No other major cities?" Krennick asked.
"None that remained consistently illuminated," Keller replied.
The radio fell silent for a moment.
The implications were difficult for either side to ignore.
If Atlanta truly was one of the few cities visible from orbit, then whatever was happening there was significant.
Before anyone could continue, a loud burst of static erupted through the speaker.
The signal meter dipped sharply.
Takahashi immediately looked toward the orbital display.
His expression tightened.
"We're running out of time."
The others understood instantly.
North America was already sliding behind them.
The station was moving relentlessly eastward.
Valery keyed the microphone.
"General Krennick, our orbit is carrying us out of range."
The transmission crackled.
"What?"
"We are losing connection."
Sarah quickly checked the map.
"Another minute. Maybe two."
Static hissed through the speaker.
Valery continued.
"It will take approximately ninety minutes before we pass over your region again."
The general was silent for a second.
Then."Ninety minutes?"
"One full orbit," Keller explained.
The signal weakened further.
Static began swallowing portions of every sentence.
"We'll attempt contact again during the next pass."
"Understood," Krennick replied.
His voice faded briefly before returning.
"We'll be waiting."
Another burst of interference swept through the channel.
The connection was rapidly deteriorating now.
Valery tightened his grip on the microphone, neither side wanted the conversation to end.
Yet neither side could stop it.
The Earth continued turning beneath them, with the station continued racing across the sky.
And with every passing second, the distance between them grew.
••••••••••••
The radio speaker crackled with increasing static.
"...approximately ninety minutes..." Valery's voice came through, broken by interference. "...one full orbit..."
General Krennick tightened his grip on the edge of the table.
Around him, several communications specialists remained focused on their equipment, doing what little they could to keep the connection stable.
"We'll attempt contact again during the next pass," the voice from orbit continued.
"Understood," Krennick replied into the microphone. "We'll be waiting."
For a few moments, the transmission continued to deteriorate.
Static swallowed the entire transmission.
Finally, all that remained was the familiar hiss of an empty frequency.
With the he room falling silent, as nobody spoke for several seconds.
General Krennick slowly lowered the microphone.
The all the information still settling in.
Six people had survived three months in orbit while the world below had collapsed.
And somehow, against all odds, they had managed to establish contact.
One of the officers standing nearby finally broke the silence.
"Well, sir..."
The man shook his head slightly.
"I wasn't expecting that."
A few quiet chuckles spread through the room.
Krennick allowed himself a faint smile.
"Neither was I."
The second officer folded his arms.
"You think they'll make it back down?"
The General looked toward the dark radio equipment.
"Eventually they'll have to."
The answer carried little comfort.
Returning to Earth without any help, it would be extremely difficult, there's no doubt about it.
Then Krennick's thoughts returned to the city the astronauts had mentioned.
Atlanta.
The General glanced toward the two officers.
"What do we actually know about the situation in Atlanta?"
The officers exchanged a look.
The first one spoke.
"The last reliable reports we received described the city as lost."
Krennick nodded.
He remembered those reports well.
The outbreak had overwhelmed the city. Large portions of Atlanta had been abandoned, and the military had resorted to bombing infected areas in an attempt to slow the spread.
Nobody had expected the city to recover from that.
The second officer crossed his arms.
"Yet somehow they're still there."
"Not just there," Krennick replied.
"The astronauts saw the city from orbit, lighted like a Christmas tree."
That fact alone was difficult to ignore.
The first officer nodded.
"If the power grid is running, then somebody managed to regain control."
" Remnants of the unit's deployed most likely," the second officer said.
Both men looked toward him.
"The power plant didn't restart itself. Neither did the substations."
Krennick slowly nodded.
It made sense.
Three months after the collapse, restoring power to a city required manpower, security, organization, and resources.
A lot of resources.
"Which means the military presence around Atlanta must have regrouped," the officer continued.
"Or somebody else with the same capabilities," Krennick said.
The room fell silent for a moment.
Either possibility was significant.
The General walked over to a nearby map.
His eyes settled on Atlanta.
A city they had long assumed was gone.
Now astronauts aboard the International Space Station were describing it as one of the few illuminated locations visible at night.
"What bothers me," Krennick said after a moment, "is that we haven't heard anything."
The officers looked at him.
"No broadcasts. No requests for assistance. No attempts at communication."
The first officer nodded.
"If they're operating at that scale, you'd expect some kind of radio traffic."
"Exactly."
The second officer studied the map.
"We need to establish contact."
"We do," Krennick agreed.
The first officer hesitated before speaking.
"That may be easier said than done, sir."
Krennick raised an eyebrow.
"The port."
That immediately brought the conversation to a halt.
Everyone in the room knew about it.
The massive concentration of infected that had gathered around Savannah and the surrounding coastal areas had made movement by land considerably more dangerous.
"Sending a team directly through the port would be difficult," the officer continued. "Even if they got through, extracting them again could become a problem."
The second officer looked at the map for a moment before speaking.
"There is another option."
Krennick gestured for him to continue.
"We avoid the port entirely."
The officer pointed farther north along the coastline.
"Use a boat to put a small team ashore somewhere away from the larger concentrations of infected. Once on land, they acquire transportation and continue inland toward Atlanta."
The General considered the suggestion.
It wasn't a bad plan. It was risky, certainly. But not impossible.
After a few moments, he shook his head.
"Maybe."
Both officers waited.
"But before we start sending people across half of Georgia, we'll try the simpler option first."
"Try getting in contact over the radio?"
Krennick nodded.
"The station will be overhead again in less than ninety minutes."
His eyes moved briefly toward the silent communications equipment.
"If Atlanta has functioning military units, there's a good chance the astronauts can help us establish contact."
Neither officer disagreed.
For now, there was no reason to rush into a dangerous reconnaissance mission.
Not when they might be only ninety minutes away from speaking directly to someone in Atlanta.
"Prepare a list of questions," Krennick ordered.
"And have the communications team ready when the station comes around again."
"Yes, sir."
As the officers moved to carry out the instructions, Krennick glanced once more toward the radio.
Less than ninety minutes.
After months of silence, it suddenly didn't seem like a very long wait.
••••••••••
Several blocks away from the safe zone, three figures stood inside the upper floor of an abandoned office building.
The windows had long since been shattered, allowing a cool evening breeze to drift through the dark interior.
None of the men paid it much attention.
Their focus remained fixed on the city below.
More specifically, on the safe zone.
From their elevated position, they had a clear view of the district.
Streetlights illuminated the roads.
Checkpoint floodlights cast bright pools of light around the entrances.
Behind the HESCO barriers, civilians and soldiers continued moving through the streets despite the late hour.
For several moments, nobody spoke.
Then one of the scouts lowered his binoculars.
"I still can't believe it."
The others glanced toward him.
"That they got the power back on?"
He nodded.
"Yeah."
His gaze returned to the city.
"When we came through here weeks ago, everything was dead."
Rows of illuminated streets stretched into the distance.
Not every building had power, but enough did to make the city stand out against the darkness beyond Atlanta's limits.
The second scout adjusted the binoculars hanging around his neck.
"The military must've managed to get part of the grid running again."
The first man grunted.
"Looks that way."
A third scout, who had spent the last several minutes observing one of the checkpoints, spoke up.
"Think we could connect Woodbury to it somehow?"
The other two looked at him.
"What, run power lines all the way from Atlanta?"
The scout shrugged.
"I'm just saying. If they've got electricity..."
He let the thought trail off.
Nobody dismissed the idea entirely.
Electricity had become a rare luxury.
The first scout raised his binoculars again.
Below, another military vehicle rolled through one of the checkpoint entrances before disappearing behind the barriers.
His eyes narrowed.
"You know what bothers me?"
"What?"
He slowly swept his gaze across the streets outside the safe zone.
"The dead."
The others exchanged glances.
"What about them?"
The scout lowered the binoculars.
"When we came through Atlanta the first time, there were thousands of them."
He pointed toward one of the nearby avenues.
"You couldn't go a block without seeing a herd."
The second scout nodded.
Atlanta had been one of the worst places they'd ever seen.
Now?
Now they had barely encountered any walkers during the entire trip into the city.
A few stragglers, but nothing more.
The third scout folded his arms.
"Those explosions and gunfire we kept hearing weeks ago."
The others looked at him.
"You think that was them?"
The scout gestured toward the safe zone.
"Who else?"
Nobody had an answer.
Over two weeks ago they had heard distant artillery, machine-gun fire, helicopters, and explosions echoing from the citys direction.
At the time, they'd stayed well away.
Now the explanation seemed obvious.
The military had been clearing Atlanta.
The first scout let out a low whistle.
"That had to take a ridiculous amount of ammunition."
"Didn't seem to slow them down."
The second scout nodded toward a checkpoint where several soldiers stood watch.
"That's the strange part."
"What?"
"They don't look worried."
The others followed his gaze.
The soldiers moved with confidence.
Not the nervous alertness common among most survivor groups.
Not people counting every remaining bullet.
Not people barely hanging on.
They looked organized.
Well supplied and established.
The kind of people planning months ahead instead of worrying about tomorrow.
For a while, the three men remained silent as they watched the illuminated district.
Eventually, the first scout lowered his binoculars and stepped away from the window.
"We've seen enough."
The other two nodded.
One final glance was cast toward the safe zone before they began moving toward the stairwell.
"We heading back?"
"Yeah."
The scout adjusted his rifle.
"The Governor is going to want to hear about this."
Without another word, the three men disappeared into the darkness of the abandoned building.