Chapter 9: The Stranger in Their Midst
The air was cool and still as the night settled over New Haven. The usual sounds of the community, voices, clanking tools, the occasional laughter, had died down, replaced by the soft rustle of leaves in the wind and the crackling of a nearby campfire. The guard shift had just changed, and those who were off duty began retreating to their makeshift shelters for a well-deserved rest.
Amidst the refugees who had arrived earlier that evening, one figure moved with silent purpose. She was cloaked in the same weary exhaustion that weighed down the other survivors, her face streaked with dirt and her clothes torn and ragged. To anyone watching, she appeared as just another lost soul seeking safety in New Haven.
But this woman, this seemingly harmless newcomer, was far from ordinary.