Exclusion Zone Refugees - WT

The Exclusion Zone Refugees are those who are displaced by the great fire of 22XX, pushed out of the Sacramental region and northwards around the San Joaquin lakemarsh to Sutter. They are bonded by the singular need to escape, though do not form a full identity of their until their dwindled numbers reach Sonoma at last and form a small camp at its border.

These refugees are humans from the San Joaquin Exclusion Zone, and hail from the southern end of the zone all the way to Sutter, where their journey turned wast towards the mountains.

No matter how long we walked, the heat of the fire was forever at our backs. At first it was just the rolling clouds of black smoke breathing down our necks, but ashfall soon followed, and under the darkness of the horizon rose a sun of dancing flames that rose higher and higher until we were practically jogging to stay ahead of it.

Like a hungry predator it claimed our slowest first. It grazed on the grass as an appetizer, shooting through the straw and chewing down the few trees left across the sprawling horizon. By the time it caught up with us, only the best prepared and the fastest were able to keep ahead of it. Some tried to stick closer to the water, but the soft earth and meandering canals trapped and slowed them, and by the time they tried to turn inland it was often too late.

"Don't count them," her mother advised. Malcolm didn't follow her advice, and soon regretted it as the number dwindled with every sunrise.

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