Letchworth, Western New York
The gorge announced itself before they ever saw it.
The road bent west through a corridor of oak and maple, bare-limbed and gray against the pale sky, and then the land simply dropped away on the right side and kept dropping, carved out by ten thousand years of river patience.
The Genesee cut through the stone far below, dark and cold and moving fast with snowmelt.
Jason slowed the bike.
Not because the road required it.
Because the gorge always made him do that.
Mike pulled up even beside him.
"Forgot how deep it was."
Jason nodded.
"Yeah."
Hugo coasted in behind them, standing slightly on the pegs to see over the ridge.
"That's not a gorge," he said.
"That's a warning."
Jason glanced at him.
Hugo nodded toward the water far below.
"Anything coming up that river is going to have a hard time."
Jason hadn't thought of it that way.
He thought about it now.
The terrain here was exactly what Mike had said back in Fillmore.
Natural kill lanes.
Ridge approaches with clear sightlines.
The gorge itself acting as a moat God had dug before anyone thought to ask.
Mike studied the river below.
"Shane always liked this spot."
Jason looked over.
"You came through here with him?"
Mike nodded.
"Roofing job years back. Storm took half the town's shingles."
Hugo grinned.
"Of course he did roofing here."
Mike shrugged.
"Paid honest."
Jason twisted the throttle gently.
"Let's go find Corrine."
⸻
The Approach
The approach to Letchworth's main settlement followed the ridge road north along the gorge edge for nearly a mile before the town came into view.
It wasn't large.
Maybe eighty people if you counted the outlying farms along the plateau.
But someone had been thinking.
They had built on what Mike had given them with his Earth Bastion.
The road into town passed through two natural choke points where the ridge narrowed. At each one, timber barriers had been built across the road with a hinged gate wide enough for a wagon.
Watch platforms were set back from the road rather than directly above it.
Which meant watchers had angles without being obvious targets.
Jason approved of that without saying so.
The guards at the first gate heard the bikes a quarter mile out and were already in position when Jason cut his engine and rolled the last hundred yards on momentum.
He stopped short of the gate and raised one hand.
"Sanctuary."
One of the guards — a lean woman with a bolt-action rifle and a canvas coat — studied the three bikes carefully.
"You guys just leave Fillmore?"
Hugo blinked.
"Word travels fast."
The woman allowed a thin smile.
"Smoke signal at dawn."
She stepped aside and gestured toward the gate.
"Corrine's expecting you."
⸻
Inside the Settlement
Letchworth's main structure was a converted park lodge.
Thick timber walls.
Steep roof.
A wide porch wrapping three sides.
It had clearly been a visitor center before the Shroud.
Now it was a command hall, meeting room, medical station, and community kitchen all at once.
Corrine met them on the porch.
Corrine was slight. Early fifties. Silver hair cut short and practical.
Eyes that moved over all three of them like she was already finished assessing and had moved on to conclusions.
She had a cup of something hot in both hands and did not put it down.
"Jason."
"Yes ma'am."
"Mike. Hugo."
A single nod each.
"Cross sent the smoke detail at first light." She looked out toward the gorge. "Told me the basics. Water threat. Bite transmission. Mutated."
She turned back.
"Come inside."
⸻
The Briefing
The interior of the lodge was warm from a central fireplace.
A dozen people sat or stood around the room — hunters, farmers, two women who clearly ran the medical side of things, and a young man at a table with ledgers and ink.
Everyone looked up when they entered.
Corrine set her cup down on the central table.
"Tell me what Cross didn't."
Jason pulled off his gloves.
"How much did the smoke detail carry?"
"Water threat. Bites. Avoid the river."
He nodded.
"Then I'll fill the rest."
He laid it out exactly the way he had in Fillmore.
Arizona origin.
Research lab.
Mutation spreads through bites.
Aquatic adaptation.
River systems.
Military contact near rivers confirming aggression.
Great Lakes already showing signs.
Cure research beginning at Sanctuary.
The room listened without interrupting.
That was different from Fillmore.
Here people waited.
When he finished, Corrine turned to the young man at the ledger.
"Marc. Write that down. All of it."
Marc was already writing.
Corrine looked to the two medical women.
"Becca. Isolation protocol starting today."
One nodded immediately.
"We have the back room off the medical wing."
"Good."
Corrine turned to the hunters.
"River watch doubles. No solo movement within four hundred yards of the gorge edge."
One of the farmers raised a hand.
"What about the cattle?"
Mike answered before Jason could.
"How close to the gorge are your pastures?"
"Maybe a hundred fifty yards."
Mike nodded.
"Move them."
The farmer frowned.
"That's twenty head."
Mike didn't raise his voice.
"Move them."
The farmer looked at Corrine.
She didn't hesitate.
"Move them, Abe."
Abe nodded slowly.
"Alright."
Hugo leaned slightly toward Jason.
"They've been preparing."
Jason had noticed.
Corrine heard him anyway.
"We had a sickness move through here two winters before the Shroud," she said. "Lost four people. Learned from it."
She looked at Hugo.
"You survive long enough in a small place, you stop being surprised by threats."
Hugo nodded.
"That's a better answer than most towns give."
"Most towns didn't lose four people in February."
⸻
After the Briefing
The room broke into working groups.
Hunters moved for gear.
Medical staff gathered supplies.
Farmers spoke quietly near the door.
Marc kept writing.
Corrine stayed at the table.
"You're going to Geneseo next?"
Jason nodded.
"Then the salt mines."
She handed him another cup.
"Tom's solid. Geneseo won't be a problem."
Jason nodded.
"He knows the territory."
Corrine's expression shifted slightly.
"What about the Retsof corridor?"
"If the waterways are compromised," Jason said, "salt trade slows."
She nodded.
"That worries me more than the mutants."
Jason raised an eyebrow.
"The mutants we can fight," she said. "Salt keeps people alive through winter."
Mike set his cup down.
"It doesn't break."
She studied him.
"You sound certain."
"I am."
He leaned on the table.
"Retsof sits on the Genesee, but the mine entrances aren't near open water. I built walls, towers, and a dry moat around them."
Corrine raised an eyebrow.
"You did?"
Mike shrugged.
"Earth Bastion."
Hugo coughed suspiciously.
Corrine nodded slowly.
"If the overland route holds, the salt holds."
"It will."
She studied him.
"Cross said you think like a foreman but act surprised anyone listens."
Hugo snorted.
Jason stared at the wall.
Mike sighed.
"I do not—"
"You do," Corrine said calmly.
She took a drink.
"Shane picks people who have something real in them."
Jason studied her.
"You've met Shane?"
"Once."
She gestured toward the ridge.
"Roofing job about ten years ago."
Mike blinked.
"That was here?"
Corrine nodded.
"Him and his crew fixed half the town after a storm."
She looked at Jason.
"People here don't need to know what he is."
A pause.
"Just that he's one of ours."
The wind moved through the gorge outside.
Jason stood.
"We need to keep moving."
Corrine nodded.
"Geneseo by midday if you push."
"That's the plan."
⸻
Back on the Road
The bikes rolled south along the gorge road.
The Genesee flashed below through gaps in the trees.
Hugo watched it.
For two miles he said nothing.
Then—
"Something in that water."
Jason kept his eyes forward.
"Yeah."
"Not here yet."
"No."
Mike's voice came across the channel.
"Corrine will hold."
Jason nodded.
"Fillmore too."
Hugo spoke again.
"You know what I keep thinking about?"
Jason sighed.
"The gorge."
Hugo nodded.
"Everything in that watershed funnels here."
Mike answered immediately.
"Into the gorge."
"Exactly."
Jason processed it.
"Which means if the outbreak reaches Western New York…"
Hugo finished it.
"Letchworth and Mt. Morris either become the corks in the bottle."
A pause.
"Or the first things to break."
The road curved east.
The gorge disappeared behind the trees.
Jason rode in silence for a moment.
Then said quietly:
"I'm sending Saul a message when we stop."
"What message?" Mike asked.
"Reinforce Letchworth and Mt. Morris."
A pause.
"Not because they can't hold."
Another pause.
"Because the geography matters too much."
Hugo didn't joke.
"Yeah."
"Yeah."
⸻
The road to Geneseo stretched ahead.
Fields.
Old farmhouses.
Thin smoke from chimneys.
People still living.
Still working.
Still not knowing what was moving through the rivers toward them.
Jason twisted the throttle.
There were still towns to warn.
⸻
"If you enjoyed Shane's journey, please drop a Power Stone! It helps the Common Sense Party grow!"