Bell led the group towards the run-down farmhouse that sat, improbably, miles from anywhere.

“Run-down” was perhaps being kind: the sagging roof likely had leaks if not outright holes, several stretches of the eaves were warped, mold and moss were growing in large patches on the siding, and there was peeling on nearly every painted surface. All the windows were boarded up, though some of the planks had rotted away leaving gaps in the barriers. The surrounding fence was losing its battle to contain the tide of overgrown shrubs and weeds.

Bel had stumbled across the house several nights ago while the Night Walkers were having an informal orienteering run. She misread the crudely drawn map Sergiu had created and wandered a quarter mile off course. After figuring out her mistake, she righted herself with a bearing towards the next navigation point and found the abandoned structure directly in her path. She noted the location on the map, and came back during the day to get a better look at it.

Its potential was obvious, and she told Alina about it that evening. Alina told Sergiu, because of course she did, and he wanted to have a look.

“The upstairs is a dump,” she said as they crossed through the gap in the fence line, “but the main floor is in good shape. And there’s a cellar, with an entrance there.” She pointed to the large wooden doors in the ground as they crossed what used to be a manicured yard and was now just a thicket of weeds. “There’s even a well in the back, though I haven’t tried it out.”

“Fireplace, too,” Sergiu said, looking at the brick structure climbing the wall up past the roof.

“Yup. C’mon inside.”

The door protested loudly on failing hinges as Bel pushed it open. Alina and Sergiu went in first. Neena, Hassi, Eduari, and Patia followed. Bel came in last, closing the door behind her. They were all clumped in the entry, looking it over. Their ingress had kicked up a large dust cloud, and Patia had a brief sneezing fit. They could see the sunlight in the air where it shone through gaps in the makeshift shutters.

It was dim inside, but not dark. Not that either would stop a Night Walker.

Sergiu let out a low whistle. “Damn. This would make one hell of a clubhouse for us. A little inconvenient, but you can’t beat it for privacy.”

Alina added, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen this much dust in one place.” She rubbed her foot on the floor, kicking up another small, gray cloud. “No one has been in here for a long, long time.” She pointed to Bel’s boot prints. “Until you came along, of course.” Alina grinned.

Bel smiled back and continued her sales pitch. “The ground floor has a couple of large rooms–the fireplace is in one of those–and a kitchen. Oh, and there’s access to the cellar in here, too.”

She led Sergui and Alina into one of the larger spaces. The others followed closely, murmuring excitedly.

“Looks like the leak is making its way down here in a couple of spots,” Sergiu said, pointing to discolorations in the ceiling. “There and there.”

“But it’s not too bad,” Alina added.

“No. Not too bad.” Sergiu paused. He pointed up with his index finger, and shook his hand slowly as a thought came to him. “I bet I know what this was. I think it’s an old mine office. We should be careful outside; the mine entrance may be nearby. Even if it’s boarded up properly, it’s still dangerous. Last thing we need is someone falling in one and fucking breaking something.”

From behind them came Eduari’s voice. “Was this from one of your dad’s mines, you think?” He was asking the question everyone was thinking.

“I dunno, Ed. I don’t think so? There were a lot of small mines around here a while back. Several of ‘em shut down when they stopped producing. The ones that lasted eventually got bought out, then shut down over the years.”

“You mean ‘taken over’, asshole,” Alina corrected.

Sergiu shot her an annoyed look. “Same difference.”

“But you don’t know,” Eduari replied.

“No, Ed, I don’t fucking know. Dad and I have an agreement. He doesn’t involve me in his business, and I don’t fucking ask about it.”

“So it could have been one he bought out,” Neena suggested.

Bel stayed silent, trying to will the others to do the same. This subject was a sore point with Sergiu, something she learned early on.

He turned to address the group. “Do you geniuses know why I hang out with you all? There’s a lot of reasons, but a big one is that none of us fucking talk about my dad’s fucking mine. Also, because he and his cronies are always talking shit about the people who work in them, and laughing about it like it’s a fucking joke, and I hate being around them. You all aren’t jokes to me, and I don’t want to ruin this thing we have by talking about my dad’s fucking mine!”

This speech was followed by an uncomfortable silence, which Alina broke by saying, “You’re going soft on us, Sergiu.”

“Fuck you, Alina.”

“Is that a promise?”

Everyone else snickered at this, most of the kids trying and failing to hold it in. Though they acted otherwise, Bel was pretty sure the two of them were a couple and just went to great lengths to hide it. It was a suspicion shared by every member of the Night Walkers.

“OK,” Sergiu said, sighing heavily and rolling his eyes, “If we are all done being children, can we please go upstairs and see how bad it is up there?”

Bel was eager to move on. She grinned and said, “Right this way!”

She led them to the decaying stairs, and carefully up to the second story. The musty smell of mold assaulted their noses as they reached the top.

Everyone agreed that the upstairs was, indeed, “a huge, fucking mess”.

“Gods,” Alina said, staring at the gaps in the roof. “I’ve seen colanders that hold more water.”

Sergui snorted. “Fuck. Of course it had to be too good to be true. That roof is not long for this world, and it just might take someone with it. Fuck! I really wanted this to work out.”

That was when Hassi finally spoke. “I think we can patch it.”

Neena practically laughed in response. “You think we can patch it? Why is that? Because of all your experience working on roofs?”

“Hey! My parents are carpenters!”

“And because ‘your parents are carpenters,’” Ed mocked, “You are suddenly a fucking roofing expert?”

Bel found this sort of childish bickering exhausting. As much fun as the Walkers could be, they could also be equally exasperating. She stomped her foot and yelled, “Enough! Unless there’s anyone here who does have roofing experience, can we at least listen to the one person who might actually know what they are talking about?”

To Bel’s surprise, Sergiu came to her defense. “Bel’s right. Unless one of you lot knows more about this than Hassi, just shut it and let him talk.”

No one spoke.

“Hassi? Go ahead.”

“Well,” Hassi said, glaring at Eduari, “to patch it properly we’d need plywood and some tar. But that’s not practical.”

“Right,” Alina said. “None of us are carrying hot tar and sheets of plywood half a day from Diamond Lake.”

“But we could do a temporary patch, with a water resistant tarp. We drape it over the apex so water doesn’t just run under it. I’ve seen my folks use them. Not in this exact way, but it should still work.”

“Great!” said Alina. “So where do we get a waterproof tarp? One big enough to cover that?”

Bel knew the answer to this. Her mom worked a lot of odd jobs, and a couple of years ago she spent a good part of the summer making tents. Tidwoad had gotten a large order from the garrison, and didn’t want to lose the sale due to a lack of supply. “We make it from a cloth sheet and linseed oil. You stretch the sheet out and make it as taught as you can. Nail it down around the edges to keep tension in it. Then paint it with linseed oil. I’ve seen my mom do it.”

“Right,” Hassi said. “The tension and the angle help keep the water from dripping through. It just rolls off. The linseed oil makes it more durable. It wouldn’t last forever, or keep the water out like a proper repair, but it’d be loads better than just letting the rain in.”

Alina and Sergiu looked at one another, considering this new opportunity. Finally, Alina nodded her head, and then Sergiu did too. “OK. This is good. This is really good. I think we have a place we can call our own, and a plan for fixing it up.

“Now. Let’s go take a look at that well.”

The well turned out to have drinkable water. It had an odd taste, but not a bad one, and it looked clean. Bel watched from the porch as several of the teens took turns lowering and raising the bucket. They had made some sort of impromptu game out of it, and Bel was trying to work out the rules when Sergiu came over and stood next to her.

“You did good, Bel.”

Bel looked at him warily. Sergiu had stopped being outright mean to her a few months ago, but he’d never even graduated to “indifferent”, much less “nice”. She wasn’t sure if he was being honest with her now, or setting her up for a backhand to the compliment.

“Look,” he said, taking on a serious tone. “I’ve been a real shit to you and I just want you to know that I’m sorry. It wasn’t right. I’ve not been fair. I’m still not happy that you came in so young, but that’s on me. Truce?”

He held out his hand for Bel to shake.

Bel was sure his change in tone was, in very large part, a result of her finding the abandoned house, and not some spontaneous change of heart. But, that was still something, and it was a trade Bel was willing to make. It was, in fact, one she was hoping for. So she gripped his hand in hers, and shook it firmly.

“Truce.”