The phone begins ringing again, and Russia is jerked out of his thoughts. Arizona answers, turning off the radio and connecting the phone to the speaker.

"Hey, can everyone hear me?" California asks.

Texas agrees. Several other states do as well.

"Okay, so, I think York-y and I figured out what happened. We're pretty sure some official is working as an informant and is tracking purchases from our cards."

"So renting hotel rooms is out of the question," Dixie comments.

"Unless we stock up on cash, yeah," California answers, "and I don't think we should be withdrawing anything right now though. I'm afraid they're right on our tail."

"Well, what should we do? I can't drive constantly," Texas says.

"And I can't sleep in a moving car," New Hamshire complains.

"How much longer can you guys drive?" Colorado asks.

"I can manage, but I'd rather get settled sooner than later," Texas replies.

Several other answers also come in, varying from "I'm fine" to "I'm about to pass out."

Colorado sighs.

"Dixie?"

"Yeah, kiddo?"

"The next road you can turn off onto, take it. It doesn't lead really anywhere, but the end shouldn't be visible from the main road."

"Hold up, how many cars are with us?" Utah asks.

There is a brief pause before Dixie answers, "11, the right number. Why?"

"I was just making sure," Utah replies.

Dixie sighs.

"Don't be scaring me like that," Dixie mutters.

Then after a few moments of quiet, the car slows, and it turns down onto a gravel road. The road winds around the trees, and rocks clang against the undercarriage of the car. Looking out the window, Russia watches the trees overtake the sky.

Finally, they pull over and the overhead light in the car flickers on. America groans.

"Is it safe to get out?" Texas asks after pulling the parking brake.

"Yeah. Nothing here," Massachusetts replies.

"Come on, let's get out and find somewhere to sleep. If don't find anything, we should just stay in the cars."

America gets up and stumbles out. Texas pulls Russia out in a fireman carry. Russia shivers at the winter air. He briefly sees the others begin to dig through the trunk and pull out blankets. The group walks down the now narrowing path.

The wind whips by and Russia's shivering gets a little worse.

"Hey, can one of y'all toss a blanket on top of Russia here?" Texas asks.

Someone tucks a blanket around him and the wind feels less harsh.

"Why can't we just stay in the car?" Ontario asks. His siblings chime in with agreement.

"I've got a very bad feeling about staying in the cars," Dixie replies begrudgingly.

"That is not a good reason," Quebec complains, her french accent making her nearly unintelligible.

Dixie stops and turns around.

"Please. Y'all have to trust me on this. We can't stay in the cars. We can't," Dixie says, a pleading look in his eyes.

The others look torn.

"Y'all, I think Dixie might be right 'bout this one," South Carolina says.

"Yeah. Let's just see if there's anywhere we can set up camp for the night. I ain't sleeping on the floor," Texas says, leaving the "again" unspoken.

There are a few more minutes of walking until they stumble upon an abandoned building. It looks like it used to be a homely one-story cabin. Now, both front windows are broken, and one is boarded up. It looks abandoned, but not unstable. The logs making up the outside walls are thick and dark.

"Hey Coco, wanna help me and New Mex search to make sure there's no one already here?" Texas asks.

Colorado nods and a group of four states walk in, guns out, and clear the house. It takes only a few moments for them to reappear and wave everyone inside. Russia looks around and sees that the cabin only has one room and a curtain that used to be used to divide the space is ripped, and the entire interior is covered in pieces of discarded items.

"Who's keeping watch?" Dixie asks.

"I will," Connecticut volunteers.

A few other states volunteer, and Texas lays Russia down on one of the blankets that had been put on the ground, his back against the wall. America snuggles up next to him, laying in his lap. Once America lies down, the states follow. Before he knew it, Russia finds himself surrounded by a huge group of people shuffling around. There is a bit of complaining, but it quiets quickly. Surrounded by people, and America tucked under his arm, Russia feels warm.

The younger children try their best to push their way to the center of the group to get closer to  America. When America is covered, some of them even crowd around Russia. He felt less exposed.

Unfortunately, this does not last.

Russia doesn't remember when he'd drifted off, but he wakes up to the sound of a muffled walkie-talkie and shuffling outside the building. He looks around the darkened room and finds that he's sitting up against the wall.

Even if he could move, he would still be frozen in terror.

He stares around and sees that the people who were on watch had drifted off against one of the walls, except for Dixie. Dixie stares up with wide eyes at the window behind Russia's head, in his hands is a shotgun. Dixie meets Russia's eyes and brings a finger to his lips as if to shush him.

"What are we even looking for?" a voice says.

"The people who were in those cars," a second voice replies, a deeper tone than the first.

'Who is that?'

"But how do we even know they're here?"

"This is the direction they left in."

'Are they some of the soldiers that were chasing us? They have to be.'

Russia tries to keep his breathing as calm as he can manage.

"Well, what cars were they supposed to be driving anyway?"

"..."

"You're no help."

"Well, the cars are empty. I opened 'em up and checked. You think anyone's in here?"

"Nah. Listen, I'm f***ing freezing, and I don't want to be walking around here any longer than I gotta be. Besides, it's almost dawn and the cars are cold. We'll just tell 'em we found a few cars from an old wreck. I am not going in there."

"We have to investigate. We can't just go back without looking."

'Please don't.'

"Oh, but why? It looks empty anyway and I don't want to run into any rattlesnakes."

There is a long sigh.

"Fine, we'll go back to the patrol car. But we are keeping watch."

"Okay."

The crackling footsteps leads away from the cabin's wall. Russia holds his breath until he hears a nearby car roar to life.

"Wha-" America starts, rubbing his face.

Dixie shushed him harshly. America falls silent and looks up to Russia, confused.

"What's going on?" he mouths.

Russia shakes his head. When America begins to sit up, Russia puts his arm on America's back, trying to pull him down. America relents, giving Russia a confused and panicked look.

'Please, don't say anything. Please. They're too close. Stay quiet.'

America looks away and closes his mouth, still looking confused, but he puts his head back down into Russia's lap.

The car speeds around the area, and Russia can still almost make out some of the conversations the soldiers are having when they would occasionally get out and continue to stray closer and closer to the cabin. Russia feels paralyzed, and the look on Dixie's face makes Russia believe that he felt the same.

America begins to look more panicked. Then, the soldiers' conversations became intelligible again.

"Boss is not gonna be happy," the deeper voice says.

"And? I told you, I was looking through the windows and didn't see anybody."

"We should still check before we leave."

Dixie clutches the gun tighter.

"Well, I don't hear anything. And besides, no one tried to run. Face it, no one is here."

"Then what's with the cars?"

"They were cold when we got here. And no one was sleeping in them. Come on, let's get back to Lambda. Our shift is almost over anyway."

"I'm still gonna look."

Then, Russia hears them walk around the house. America hurriedly sits up and pulls Russia down under him, curling around his head. America used his back to muffle the sound of the fall. America flinches after hitting the ground but doesn't make a sound.

Russia could have sworn he felt someone staring right at him.

'Please don't see us. Please.'

He bits his lip and tries to stay as still as he can. He hopes, prays, that no one saw his subtle shivering.

There are a few moments of silence before the footsteps retreat.

"Looks like it might be a couple of druggy squatters. Guess you were right."

"I told you!"

"Let's head back to base. Maybe they turned around and went the other way."

"That's what I've been saying!"

The footsteps trail away, and the car started back up. Russia heard both doors close and the car speeds off. Once the engine was out of earshot, America whines.

"America," he tries to say.

His voice doesn't cooperate, and his mouth feels full of cotton.

America hisses in pain.

"I think I may have ripped the stitches or something," America stammers out quietly.

Dixie slowly pokes his head up, peeking out the windows. Then, he quickly makes his way over to America. The states silently shuffle out of his way.

"Why did you do that?!" Dixie hisses.

"He would've seen Russia," America defends, shaking.

Then Dixie gasps. "Oh lord, there's blood everywhere," he mutters.

Texas pulls Russia away and Massachusetts hurries forward. Virginia and Delaware herd the other states away to give California and New York enough space to work.

"Dad, you need to be more f***ing careful," Massachusetts hisses, summoning a dull green light.

New York and California quickly approach and Russia watches on, helpless as America tries not to thrash around while California and New York examine his wound. New York curses under his breath and Louisiana sits nearby with Georgia, ready to step in if needed.

'What do we do now?'