Chapter 7 — "Old Ghosts, New Friends"March 28–30, 2025 — 154 days before Day One
A Shared Thread through back channels:
Contingencies aren't about if.
They're about who you trust when if arrives.
Eli — Sumterville (Night, Garage Lights Low)
Eli didn't send a mass call.
He sent four messages.
No details. No explanations. Just coordinates, a time, and a single sentence:
If you still trust me, come quiet.
The garage smelled like oil and humidity and old cardboard. The door stayed half-closed. One light on. No phones allowed.
Eli stood with his arms crossed, feeling the old part of himself wake up—the part that counted exits before faces.
Headlights cut across the driveway.
The first knock was soft. Deliberate.
Eli opened the door.
Xander Stokes stood there, duffel over one shoulder, eyes scanning corners before Eli's face.
"You called," Xander said simply. "I came."
Eli nodded. "Good."
No hug. No backslap.
They didn't need one.
Five minutes later, a rented sedan rolled up.
Avi Rosenberg stepped out, smaller than Xander but coiled tight, like he'd learned early that space was something you earned. His gaze flicked to rooftops, windows, tree lines.
"This isn't contained," Avi said immediately, before Eli could speak. "I wouldn't be here if it was."
Markus Richardson arrived last—youngest, still carrying the posture of someone who hadn't been out long enough to forget ranks. He looked at Eli like he was waiting for orders even though he knew better.
Then Sayid Jarrah walked in through the side gate like he'd already mapped the property.
He didn't ask where to stand.
He chose a spot where he could see everyone.
"This feels like a controlled narrative," Sayid said calmly. "Which means someone's afraid of timing."
Eli closed the garage door.
Xander — The Room (Old Habits Returning)
Xander dropped his duffel and leaned against a workbench, arms loose, mind sharp.
Eli looked different.
Not weaker.
Sharper.
Like a man who'd already accepted something the rest of the world hadn't.
"You gonna tell us what this is?" Xander asked.
Eli shook his head. "Not yet."
Avi raised an eyebrow. "Trust test?"
"Yes."
Sayid smiled faintly. "Good."
Eli paced once, then stopped.
"I want to know how you'd handle this," Eli said. "No hypotheticals. Real answers."
He slid a map onto the table.
Not a city map.
A network.
Roads. Back routes. Supply nodes circled in pencil. Names written in shorthand.
Xander's eyes narrowed.
"You've been busy," he muttered.
Eli pointed at a red circle. "Fuel depot two counties over. Private. Not guarded like a military site."
Markus leaned in. "You reconned this?"
Eli nodded. "Quietly."
Avi looked up. "You're not asking if it's possible. You're asking who's willing."
Eli didn't deny it.
Sayid studied the map longer than anyone else.
"This isn't evacuation planning," Sayid said finally. "This is sustainment under pressure."
Eli met his gaze. "Go on."
Sayid tapped a finger near Sumterville. "You're building redundancy. Overlapping routes. Civilian cover. Plausible deniability."
He looked at Eli. "You're preparing to operate outside official response."
Silence.
Xander exhaled slowly. "You planning on telling us why?"
Eli didn't answer.
That was the test.
Avi — The Intel Drop
Avi reached into his jacket and pulled out a folded sheet. No logos. No seals.
"Europe's ahead of you," Avi said. "Or behind. Depends how you look at it."
He laid it out.
Reports. Redacted. Translated notes.
"France. Germany. Israel," Avi continued. "Same anomalies. Same denial language. Different accents."
Markus frowned. "So it's global."
Avi nodded. "And that means containment already failed."
Eli felt something cold settle in his chest.
Sayid spoke softly. "Then the story they're telling isn't about stopping it."
Avi looked at him. "It's about shaping the aftermath."
Xander glanced at Eli. "You know this already, don't you?"
Eli didn't lie.
"Yes."
Markus swallowed. "So what are we doing here?"
Eli looked at each of them in turn.
"I need to know who I can trust when this stops being theoretical," Eli said. "Because once it turns kinetic, there's no pulling punches."
Xander straightened. "You didn't call us to watch."
"No," Eli said. "I called you to decide."
Sayid — The Truth Spoken Aloud
Sayid stepped forward slightly, hands loose, voice level.
"Let me say something you already know," he said. "The state will prioritize continuity of power, not continuity of people."
Markus bristled. "That's—"
"True," Sayid finished calmly. "Everywhere. Every time."
He looked at Eli. "So your line—your real line—is whether you're willing to act before permission exists."
Eli didn't hesitate. "I am."
Xander's jaw tightened.
Avi nodded once. Approval.
Markus hesitated. "And the cost?"
Eli's gaze flicked—just once—to the door leading into the house.
"To my reputation," Eli said. "To my career. To anything that assumes the system will protect my family."
Xander followed that look.
That's when he heard the laughter.
Small. Unbothered.
A child.
Xander — Grayson
Grayson Miller stood in the doorway in dinosaur pajamas, rubbing one eye.
"Dad?" he asked sleepily.
Eli turned instantly. "Hey, bud. What's up?"
"Bad dream," Grayson murmured.
Eli scooped him up without thinking. "You're okay."
Xander watched it happen.
The way Eli held the kid—not tight, not loose. Protective without panic.
Xander felt the last doubt fall into place.
This wasn't about surviving the end.
This was about winning what came after.
"You're not preparing for survival," Xander said quietly.
Eli looked at him.
"You're preparing for war."
Eli didn't deny it.
Eli — The Reveal (Partial)
Eli set Grayson back down and sent him off with a whispered promise and a glass of water.
When the door closed again, the room felt heavier.
"I'm not telling you everything," Eli said. "Not yet."
Xander nodded. "Fair."
"But I need you," Eli continued. "Not as soldiers. As planners. As ghosts."
Avi smiled thinly. "I'm already one."
Markus took a breath. "You want us to help build something."
"Yes," Eli said. "Quiet. Mobile. Protective."
Sayid folded his arms. "And when this goes loud?"
Eli's voice went hard. "Then we choose people over protocol."
No one argued.
Xander — After (Outside, Night Air)
Later, Xander stood by his truck, the night thick and buzzing.
Eli walked out with him.
"I'm going to Georgia," Xander said suddenly.
Eli stilled. "Rick."
Xander nodded. "And Travis Manawa. You're not the only one waking up."
Eli met his eyes. "Be careful."
Xander smirked. "When have I not?"
He hesitated. "You doing the right thing?"
Eli looked back at the house. At the light under Grayson's door.
"I'm doing the only thing," Eli said.
Xander got in the truck and drove off.
Old ghosts.
New friends.
And a line crossed—not loudly, but forever.
Xander headed east to find a sheriff who remembered a different ending.
Avi started drafting contingency trees that assumed governments would fail.
Sayid began mapping influence instead of territory.
And Eli Miller stood alone in his garage, staring at routes that no longer led away from danger—
—but straight through it.
Because survival was no longer the goal.
Control was.