7
Wren knew that there would be questions about where she’d been. She’d been gone for over an hour, without telling anybody where she was going. She knew her parents’ rules, that nobody leaves the forest unaccompanied and without an agreed time of return, but she was in a really good mood as she entered the forest. She’d had a great afternoon, even though she knew that she may have to pay for it now.
The trees gave way to a large clearing in which a community of over one hundred dwellings sat. At the centre was a large concrete bunker, the only building that could be described as permanent. A wall of sharpened tree trunks surrounded the settlement, providing protection against unwelcome intruders, and sentries patrolled the perimeter wall, two guards standing at the tall wooden gate that
