4338.211 · July 30, 2018 AD
Zip-Lock Secrets
Every Guardian carries secrets. Luke keeps his in labelled bags beneath the wardrobe floor—lives catalogued, suspended, waiting for someone to need them. When he trusted Beatrix with the key, he thought he was sharing a burden. He didn't expect her to find an opportunity in the gaps between his careful instructions. She left with a plan he hadn't sanctioned and a name on her lips he hadn't heard in months. Maggie.
The campfire conversation had already stretched thin—supplies dwindling, tensions rising, Luke's plan to bring his Adelaide family through the Portal landing like a stone in still water. Paul handed over his house keys with the quiet resignation of a man who'd accepted his old life was gone. Kain limped past on crutches, bitter and unhealed. And somewhere beyond the chainlink fence, the silence of Clivilius pressed in like a held breath.
But the real revelation came later, in Luke's house, beneath the wardrobe floor.
A safe. Hidden. Locked. And inside: zip-lock bags, each one containing the suspended life of a settler—phones switched off, wallets emptied of purpose, codes scrawled on paper like last wills. Luke's system was meticulous, almost clinical. Even the driver's licences were kept separate, for reasons he refused to explain.
When he admitted the finances were failing, Beatrix felt something shift. Not despair—opportunity. She had an idea. A dangerous one. One that involved Jarod and something—or someone—named Maggie.
She left Luke standing in his living room, portal light swirling, her final message already sent.
I'm coming for Maggie.
