"Is this a threat?" Darren asked, voice low.
Jude shook his head. "No. It's a test."
He folded the letter and slid it into his coat. "We're leaving."
They traveled light, avoiding main roads and sticking to back routes, weaving through ghost towns and forgotten villages that still bore the scars of collapse. The northern region wasn't just cold, it was forbidden territory now. Cut off from the grids, unreachable by any of the corporate eyes or governmental leftovers that still tried to enforce order in broken zones. The rumors were worse than the truth. Tales of ancient machines buried in ice, of people disappearing without a trace, of voices in the wind that didn't belong to the living.
They reached the northern edge of the Expanse four days later.
