Character: Nathaniel “Nate” Bishop
- Chapter 14, Act 1 What the Ridge Held On a remote ridgeline, a former systems engineer and his wife catch the county's monthly aerial survey on a receive-only radio and spend the…
- Chapter 14, Act 2 Over the Rise Alone on the ridgeline, Nate closes on a doe through frost-softened tracks and bird alarm calls, reading the mountain the way he once read…
- Chapter 14, Act 3 What Silence Reports Across a shallow bowl of beargrass, Nate and a matte quadruped machine break their standoff. What follows is a chase, a trap, and a…