"Quite the welcoming party that is." I muttered as I watched the line of men slowly make their way closer to the car. With each step they took, my heart picked up its pace.

"What do they want?" Ahren hissed as the men finally arrived outside the vehicle.

"I don't know, why don't you ask one of them." Jasper suggested, an edge of sarcasm glossing his words.

The men had now surrounded the car so there was no way for us to escape. One of the men proceeded to tap on Ahren's window with the end of the barrel on his firearm.

Ahren rolled the window down so it had the slightest crack in it.

"We don't see people driving through here very often." The man said, speaking through the small crack in the window. "What brings you three around?"

"We were just heading north, assumed the cold must slow the dead ones down some." I told the man, peaking my head into the front seat before Jasper or Ahren had the chance to answer.

"Dead ones?" He questioned. "Around here we call them rotters."

I thought about that for a moment. Rotters, I liked the sound of that. A lot more distinctive than, 'dead ones'.

He nodded slowly as he licked his lips before speaking again. "I'm sorry to tell you, but we've staked a claim on the land from here to the edge of the Alberta."

I nodded back. "Is there any chance you know a way to get to Fort McMurray?"

The man's eyebrows shot up. "Fort McMurray eh? I'm afraid that's just under our claim. In fact, it's right over there."

The man pointed towards the forest on the right side of the road past where his men had been lined up.

"That's our HQ."

Well, there goes everything we drove out here for.

"Sadly, that's actually where we were headed," I told the man who nodded slowly again. "But I guess we'll just turn around, seeing as we can't get there."

The man tightened a smile and shook his head while taking a deep inhale of the cold air surrounding our car. "I'm afraid I can't let you do that."

Shit. My face froze in an instant as I heard him start shouting orders to his men. "Open the doors and grab them all. I want each of them on their knees in a line."

With that our doors were yanked open and each of us was dragged out of the vehicle.