They ate in silence, each bite small and measured. The food should have tasted like home, but now it felt distant, abstract. Afterward, Lucy and Emma helped clear the dishes while Jude and Susan prepared the floodlights for the night watch. The poles and lanterns would cast long beams over the camp, to illuminate movement, to break the night's camouflage.
When all was ready, they planted the lights around the perimeter.
"Is that all?" Grace asked.
Jude hesitated. "There's one more thing."
They turned toward him. His wife's faces gathered there, reflecting his own fear.
He swallowed. "I want someone to stay awake with me tonight. Vigil. Watch and talk. If anything happens… we'll know."
Grace raised her hand. "I will."
Emma offered her name. Lucy followed. One by one they volunteered. They filled three shifts, four hours each until dawn.
