# Character State: ch-27

## Marcus Thorne
Location: The Kitchen Porch, Cypress Bend, Florida.
Physical: Tremor in right hand; soaked from the rain.
Emotional: Morally eroded; feeling the weight of the "Steward's Choice."
Active obligations: Owes Sarah a life free from indexing (Ch-01) — IN PROGRESS; Owes Leo a future (Ch-12) — IN PROGRESS; Owes the Hiker ("Caleb") safe passage to the South Perimeter (Ch-26) — PAID.
Open loops: The Ocala "Ghost" Signal (Ch-22) — UNRESOLVED; The Avery-Quinn "Deep Scan" Retaliation (Ch-25) — UNRESOLVED.
Known secrets: CARRIED (Ch-01—unresolved): Knows the Alpha-7 empathy protocols were a lie to facilitate mass firings — Julian does NOT know he kept the back-end logs.
Arc: 145% -- Marcus has transitioned from protecting an individual to actively choosing the survival of the collective over a singular human life.
Permanent: YES

## Sarah Jenkins
Location: The Kitchen Hub, Cypress Bend, Florida.
Physical: Exhausted; soot-smudged forehead; hands gripping a cold iron stove handle.
Emotional: Defiantly mourning; struggling with the loss of "simple charity."
Active obligations: None.
Open loops: The Hiker’s Sanctuary Status (Ch-26) — RESOLVED.
Known secrets: CARRIED (Ch-01—unresolved): Knows the Alpha-7 empathy protocols were a lie — Julian does NOT know she has weaponized that detachment.
Arc: 130% -- Sarah has accepted that the "Sanctuary" requires a tactical cruelty she previously despised.
Permanent: YES

## David
Location: South Perimeter Treeline, Cypress Bend, Florida.
Physical: Hand on sidearm; scanning the highway; fully healed.
Emotional: Resigned; acting as the physical arm of the group's compromise.
Active obligations: Owes Helen a legacy (Ch-01) — IN PROGRESS.
Open loops: Perimeter Breach via Hiker (Ch-26) — RESOLVED.
Arc: 140% -- David has finalized his role as the "Wall," recognizing that mercy is a luxury they can no longer afford.
Permanent: YES

## Elena
Location: The Server Shed / North Bank, Cypress Bend, Florida.
Physical: Eyes bloodshot from monitoring sensor ghosting.
Emotional: Validated; relieved the "biological noise" of the hiker has been removed.
Active obligations: Owes Marcus a physical failsafe (Ch-10) — UNPAID.
Open loops: None.
Known secrets: CARRIED (Ch-10—unresolved): Knows the manual axe-throw is the only physical failsafe for the power line — Marcus does NOT know.
Arc: 132% -- Elena has reinforced the "True Dark" status of the Bend by removing the outlier variable.
Permanent: YES

## Arthur Silas Vance — DECEASED (Ch-01)
Established: Died peacefully in his sleep after ensuring the "dead-zone" logic was intact.
Legacy: His tradition of "The Long Wait" and the emergency stores he left behind provided the food that saved the hiker's life.

# World State: ch-27

## NPC Memory
- Caleb (The Hiker): ABANDONED -- Blindfolded and left at the South Perimeter -- Now a variable in the world who knows the location but cannot find his way back.
- Julian Avery (Avery-Quinn Corp): WATCHFUL -- Analyzing the thermal anomaly and wait-times in the sector.

## Faction Attitudes
- Avery-Quinn Corp: PREDATORY -- Escalating "Human Baseline" scans in the Ocala-adjacent sectors.

## Active World Events
- The Moral Test: COMPLETED -- The group chose isolationism over individual rescue.
- The Sovereign Mesh: ACTIVE -- Currently masking the hub, now stabilized after the hiker's exit.