Renn was dozing. The sun was high in the sky, the shade of a tree whose trunk she currently rested against cooled her skin, and a breeze from the south brought with it the scent of the forest. Her heavy eyelids drooped and her head bobbed. The tool in her hand, a hand-fashioned thing she used for breaking earth, finally dropped from her slackened grip.<br/><br/>She'd only paused in her work briefly, planning to give her feet a rest, eat some lunch, then return to work. Before she knew it, she had drifted off. It was understandable, really. After all, in addition to working the crops the day before, she'd been called out in the middle of the night to respond to yet another alarm. The vampires had been spotted again. This time dangerously close to her tiny valley. A mere three day journey. It was too close. She was one of few who could remember far enough back to know the valley had once been a small city in the state of Wyoming. Star Valley, she guessed. It had been 15 years since the world ended. There were explosions, storms, and earthquakes. She was only twelve at the time. Her parents, along with the parents of all of her friends, had been called away to do something she never understood till later. Now, she knew there had been a war. The parents never came back. They were left, a group of fifty terrified children hiding in a church basement, in a town that was completely empty.<br/><br/>Ten years, and a lot of work later, she was the leader of a tiny village created from the remains of their former lives. They worked crops for food, purified the water in the streams, huddled together in the old abandoned houses at the center of town, and prayed no one would ever find this tiny valley. Mountains hemmed it in on all sides, with a road heading north through a canyon, and also south, the only entrances to the valley. The roads had long since been destroyed, or left to crumble under the weight of neglect.<br/><br/>Her head snapped up, she snorted softly, and dragged her eyes open. It was so hot... and the breeze felt so good... It did make her eyes itch though... Shaking her head, she rubbed her eyes, slapped her cheeks to wake herself, and reached for the canteen. Twisting the cap off, she lifted it and drank deeply, hoping the cool water would refresh her and cast off the weight of sleep. No such luck. Even as she was twisting the cap back on the canteen, her eyes were already closing. She fought it. Hard. She dragged her eyelids open again and again, sat up straight without allowing herself to rest back against the tree, but nothing worked. She couldn't seem to hold on to consciousness. Finally, she succumbed.<br/><br/>Dreams of her life swirled around her as the afternoon approached evening. Visions of her friends, her neighbors, the kids she'd grown up defending. They were all so young in her eyes still, though they were all adults now, many starting families of their own now. It was a great burden to carry the responsibility over all of this, but she loved every day of it. They were happy, and she knew she'd helped to make that happen.<br/><br/>She was resting so deeply, dreams so fully clouding her mind, sleep so completely holding her body, that she never heard the footsteps approaching as a figure climbed the hill toward her until it was too late. Firm, hard, rough hands extended toward her. The hands brushed a stray lock of hair from her eyes, then the owner of the hands leaned forward, and kissed her awake.<br/><br/>She responded slowly, clawing her way to consciousness with the help of the kiss. Finally, her hands lifted and she returned the kiss. Smiling, she pulled away and murmured sleepily, "Hey there."<br/><br/>Karl smiled and stood, holding out a hand to help her up as he rose to his feet again. "Come on, sleeping beauty... you're needed. There was another spotting. The think we've been discovered."