Perimeter Fatigue

I took a drive toward the perimeter today, just to see. The people manning the edge—the ones in the uniforms—look absolutely exhausted. Their rotations have become shorter, their faces are grey with fatigue, and their conversations are conducted in low, urgent whispers. Usually, that level of exhaustion means that whatever they are guarding against has become so constant that it no longer needs to be explained. They aren’t alert anymore; they are just enduring. When the guards are this tired, it means the threat has become the environment. They aren’t waiting for a fight; they are just trying to stay awake in a world that wants to sleep.