Ferret Company will fail. Night after night, the man in the red pickup truck will return to headquarters and tell Nedrick the Sanctimonious that exile forest camps are empty. They will not know about the tunnels.
While Nedrick tries to maintain his failing campaign, his New America will crumble. Breeding camps will fall mere months after being established, residents burning them as they escape. The New American Army will be divided. Some will follow because they are frightened. Some will defect. Some will be murdered by the Sniper.
The Sniper will know where to find them—in groups. She will know of their meetings and their hideouts. She will arrive in just the right spot behind enemy lines from underground.
The exiles will have decided, after years in the trees, that tunneling is their only hope. Or their downfall. They won’t be sure. But they have nothing to lose, so they will dig.
The Sniper looks familiar to me from the back. She wears boots that have a hole in the right sole. She usually has dirt all over her. She’s intriguing.