23
They reached their new home on the evening of their third day of travel. Inside what used to be a national park before the Cataclysm, the settlement was situated beside a lake at the foot of a mountain. Ridley couldn’t have imagined a more beautiful home if she’d tried. The sun had just dipped behind the mountain as they approached the collection of log cabins, and Ridley rubbed her hands up and down her arms to ward off the chill. It was definitely colder here than in Lumina City. A large bonfire had been lit a short distance away from the cabins, and several people were already gathered around it, sitting on blankets.
As Ridley and the others she’d traveled with drew nearer, two women stood and walked toward them. Nathan shouted a greeting to them, and they smiled and waved. Then th
