The light rowed closer and closer to the shore, not stopping, even though Victoria - who'd made amazing time through town, Trish thought idly - was holding her gun out.<br/><br/>As the boat - for that was what it was - came closer and closer, strange sounds could be heard. "Help! Help us, please!" and the stomping of hooves, a horse's whinny. Trish reached over to try to get Victoria to lower her gun, but it was useless. The woman was in the zone. She looked over to Kayla for support, but Kayla very quickly looked away, concentrating on the small light bobbing closer.<br/><br/>The rowboat had three figures in it. One was a teenaged girl in a long, hooded robe, almost like the monks wore (though she was coming from the wrong direction to be coming from the monastery). The next was a much smaller child that the teenaged girl held in her arms. And looming above them was a giant, white horse, whinnying into the cold night air, its breath turning immediately to steam.<br/><br/>Trish saw three problems with this scenario:<br/><br/>1.) No one ... and NO ONE ... had come to Hatchet Falls in over three years. They had accounted for everyone within a 30 mile radius, and so far as they knew, the communities that existed beyond that radius were uninterested in their existence. Sure, there were stragglers, like that old hermit who lived out in the middle of nowhere and only came to town a few times a year, but they KNEW the stragglers.<br/><br/>2.) So far as anyone knew, Hatchet Falls was the farthest western town still remaining. Beyond the river - and they had CHECKED this - was all desolation and ashes. The girl and her companions were coming from a wasteland.<br/><br/>3.) Where the hell had the rowboat come from?<br/><br/>A crowd was gathering. The girl stumbled from the boat. "Please help. My sister is dying."<br/><br/>Trish looked around nervously. "Victoria, lower your gun," she hissed, though the woman just barked her orders yet again. She looked toward Kayla, who at least had experience dealing with girls around the age of the girl on the boat. "Talk to her, maybe? Like one of your students?"<br/><br/>The girl was blubbering on ... "We came when we heard the transmission. The radio ..."<br/><br/>Trish froze. The transmission had been shut off three years earlier. She looked toward Kayla and Victoria with worried eyes, hoping they would pick up on this flub.<br/><br/>(OOC: If you've posted a character in the discussion thread, feel free to introduce that character her. Perhaps our hermit friend heard the alarm and came to investigate? Perhaps you woke up and are standing, watching the confrontation? Or perhaps you're one of the girls on the boat?)