Alrighty, less description in this chapter and a whole lot more dialogue (sorry if you prefer description over dialogue)

The beige-shirted man led Adam through the base, going onto a street that seemed to run down the entire middle of the base. Most of the houses were little more than burnt out shells or collapsed rubble but several of them had been reconstructed with new wooden frames and walls. Makeshift tents were scattered about, most of them crouching under the shelter of the new houses or the old stone wall.

"So, where are you from?" the man asked conversationally, easily jumping over a large half-rotted log that blocked the path.

"Uh, the tundra," Adam replied, going over the log with less ease. "East."

"Nice. You were part of an army or something?"

"Nah, just lived with my parents in a valley."

The man turned and walked backwards, his head tilted slightly as he took in Adam's even strides, the bow over his shoulder and the dagger at his side. "You hunt?"

"I survive, and it's hard to eat if you don't have food."

A grin spread along the man's face and he started walking forwards again, storing this information but not commenting on it. "Stephan knows most of the surrounding area and he's super social, so he knows basically everyone. He'll be able to-"

"Hey, Adam!"

Adam glanced to his left and saw Ian jogging over. He had donned a thick jacket over his blue shirt and his sword was missing from his side. He was grinning as he joined the two men, hands in his pockets.

"You made it," he said happily to Adam. "And I see you've met Mitch."

"Wait, you know him?" the man, whom Adam now assumed to be Mitch, asked.

"Yeah," Ian said as if it was obvious. "He's the guy I told you about."

"Ooh, that Adam," Mitch said, nodding to himself.

Ian rolled his eyes. "Remind me why we made you the leader here?"

"Cause it's my grandpa's old base?"

Instead of replying, Ian turned to Adam. "I'm willing to bet that he didn't get around to asking your name. Come on, I'll give you a quick tour of the base. Assuming you want to stay?"

Adam shrugged while Mitch looked like he was about to protest about his horrible introductory skills. "Well, I've come this far now. And I definitely can't head home while it's winter."

Ian took that as a yes and proceeded to give Adam a tour of the old army base which was finally getting rebuilt after so many years. There wasn't much to see as most of it was in ruins and that which wasn't was swarming with workers.

"How do you feed them all?" Adam asked, looking at the workers.

"We send hunters into the forest daily," Ian said. "We only have two proficient hunters but since Mitch is sorting out what's being built over here, Jason's handling the hunt. Although his expertise lies more in traps and snares, which aren't always successful. So if you're staying...?"

"Yeah, I can help hunt."

"Great!" Ian grinned. "I think Jason might be heading out soon, so there's no time to start like the present."

Ian took Adam to near the base of the wall where several people were gathering. Among them, Adam saw two spears, a few daggers and two pathetic excuses for a bow. His hand lightly touched the end of his own bow, carefully handcrafted and glued together after years of practise. Two men, both probably a year older than he was, stood slightly separate from the group, talking quietly together with their heads bowed but they both glanced up when Ian and Adam approached.

"Who's the new guy?" one of them asked, jerking his chin towards Adam. His hair was slightly lighter than the colour of the walnuts that grew on the trees near Adam's old house and part of it threatened to drop into his eyes, the skin around them tight as he stared at Adam. He wore a zipped up grey jacket which matched his pants and his hands were buried deep inside the pockets.

"Guys, this is Adam," Ian introduced. "Adam, meet Ty and Jason."

Jason, the one who hadn't spoken, nodded and smiled at Adam but the other narrowed his eyes more. "Don't try to tell me you're sending him on the hunt. Or that you're gonna assign him to my building group."

"He's good with a bow, Ty," Ian said. "We need that otherwise we might not last the winter."

"Just relax, it'll be fine," Jason told him. Ty huffed a little and raised his eyes heavenward. He turned, hiding his face from Adam as he muttered a few soft words to Jason, but Adam heard them anyway. "Keep an eye on him, I don't like the look of this one."

Ty then walked away, Adam watching him go. Jason shook his head and gave Adam a warm smile. He wore a light blue jumper that was the same style as Ty's and had black pants, the pockets of which were lined with bright orange. His brown hair was short and stayed well back from his blue eyes. Adam also noticed that he had a sling and a pouch which was presumably filled with stones tied to his belt at his left leg. "Sorry 'bout him," he said with a head nod towards Ty's retreating back. "He's a bit edgy to newcomers but nice once you get to know him. If you're ready to go hunt, we'll leave now."

Adam's hand drifted to check his quiver as he followed Jason who had started to walk out through the partly-broken wall. The rest of the gathered group quickly followed once they saw their leader leaving. It didn't take them very long to reach the forest, although Adam was starting to get tired of all this walking. They spread out in a thin line once they reached the trees, all within visual distance of the people on either side of them. Adam snuck along with Jason ahead and to his right, his blue jacket easily seen among the green and brown of the trees. He saw the young man kneel down and examine something, then stand up, shaking his head disappointedly.

Some small creature ruffled the branches in a tree ahead and both Jason and Adam's heads flicked towards it. Jason had his sling in his hand and he loaded it, but Adam was faster and his arrow spat from his bow with barely a sound and disappeared in the tree. A moment later, something feathered dropped out of the tree and Jason paused for a moment before dashing forward and picking it up. Adam couldn't quite see what it was but it seemed to be a feathered bird of a sort, although bigger and plumper than the ones he saw at home. He could see Jason's grin and heard him call out "Ian wasn't kidding when he said you're good with that bow."

Adam's reply was only a shrug and he started moving forward again, another arrow on his bow. This was a different type of hunting to what he was used to, with multiple trees, and leaves and branches covering the ground and though it was winter, the ground was free of the snow which would normally tell him where the animals had gone into hiding. He and a few others took down a few more animals, only one of which looked slightly familiar, but it had no antlers like caribou do. Jason seemed very impressed, as did several of the others, which made Adam wonder what kind of a life they lived if they didn't hunt often. At home, almost everyone had a weapon of some sort to hunt with and his skill was mediocre at best.

After an hour of hunting, Jason deemed that they had enough and the group started the walk home. Adam easily carried the caribou-like creature (he had been told that it was a doe) on his shoulders. The doe was lighter than what he was used to and thinner as well, but the brown fur was soft and spotted with freckles of white, as if it had snowed and the snow had stuck to the doe's coat. It was quite a pretty creature and Adam felt briefly sorry for causing its death, but food was food.

"It was good timing, you coming when you did," Jason said conversationally, walking next to Adam. He held the strange bird and a few creatures he called possums in his hands. "I was starting to worry that we wouldn't be able to last the winter with our hunting skills."

"Your traps are pretty smart though," Adam said quickly. "I've never even thought of setting traps like that before." He wasn't exaggerating: Jason's snares included ones where a mesh net was hung over a noose. Any unsuspecting animal who stuck their head in the noose to eat the bait would become stuck when they tried to take their head out. Jason had captured another bird with that contraption.

Jason shrugged but Adam could tell that he enjoyed the compliment. "I learnt it from my uncle. When it became illegal to hunt except for Lord Dan's personal entourage, I started sneaking the animals I caught to the nearby villages instead of taking it home."

"Why would someone ban hunting?" Adam asked with a frown.

The man shrugged then picked up his pace. "Come on, we should get back soon if we want dinner to be on time."

Okay, next chapter we start getting into the story. Things start heating up.

Or, you know, cooling down.

Bai!