56 Review

Kelly smiles at Manu's colorful description of things, "She's definitely resourceful."

"She stole my ride. We had to walk several miles to gain cover." Uzu cuts in.

"Winston and Tony hung back at our rendezvous point near the Wastelands then we headed in toward the abandoned labs. The place wasn't as damaged as we first thought. I'd like to petition to go back for any supplies they might have left behind. Pheno might find some uses for some of the stuff there, but I'm not sure if they were a pharmaceutical company or not?" Kelly reports to Dennis. "We parked out front and went straight in. The first thing we noticed was a few dozen roach corpses."

"Huge fu*kers! Size of me type of fuc*ers," Manu held his arms out a bit wider than his own torso. "About this wide and this tall."

Kelly ignores the interruption and continues, "She started her broadcast early. Which should have been a sign that she'd noticed us enter the building,"

"Didn't she even say she knew we were out there?" Uzu chimes in.

Ika furrows his brow and watches Dennis in his peripheral. The leader is listening patiently. He is tugging on the lower lobe of his pierced ear while attentively focusing on Kelly and his crew.

Kelly sets his elbow to the tabletop and runs the fingers of that arm across his forehead, "But we just took it as a coincidence. She was fuc*ing with us. She continued to talk until I stumbled upon her on the 4th floor. She was standing in front of a window ready to jump out. When I caught up to her, she was surprised and ran into the window sill before falling a couple feet onto an overhang. I thought we'd lost her there, but that collision into the glass seemed to slow down her escape. When we were driving off we encountered her again. She fell unconscious and we loaded her up into the van."

"Which seemed to be her plan all along, so she could steal my van," Uzu knocks on the table. "Come to think of it the weather was getting worse at that point anyway."

"After we'd gotten away from the labs, she started acting strange. I thought it was the head injury, but the moment we stopped the car and got out to regroup..."

Uzu runs his tongue over his front teeth as he tries to suppress a smile. Manu taps the fingertips of his right hand on the table and glowers at the tabletop. Winston and Tony smirk at each other.

"She scrambled up and stole the van right from under our noses," Kelly chuckles at the memory.

Dennis's brows furrow, "You don't seem too bothered."

"I'm impressed actually. She fooled us all into thinking she was dying. I've never seen anything like it. She really seemed to be going through some sort of cardiac arrest or something. I wonder how she accomplished that," Kelly replies. "We were able to rendezvous with Winston and Tony after acquiring our packs and getting shelter."

"You got your van back?"

"Oh no, actually....I'm surprised to say, she drove off and threw our packs out a mile or so down the road."

Dennis frowns at the information, "So, you don't think she wanted you dead?"

"Seemed to be an "it's not personal" gesture in my opinion. Have you confirmed where she's from yet?"

Dennis shakes his head, "Washington City is still the only place she mentioned in anyone's presence...and any other place has either been confirmed to be uninhabited or is an untraveled territory."

"Let's say she was telling the truth. Wasn't Washington City one of the first places bombed? I can't imagine how they'd survive a direct hit."

Dennis makes eye contact with Eli. Eli nods, "From what we've gathered they probably would have lived underground this entire time. They'd have generators, enough resources to feed their people, enough materials to cloth them, and clean conditions. There is one thing we can confirm: She didn't have any branding marks."

"So, they're a free people?" Kelly asks.

"As far as we know, or her master is so influential they don't need to brand their women. She didn't appear to be that troubled with the separation either. In my opinion, she wasn't in much of a rush to meet back up with them. She barely spoke about them," Eli continues.

"A lot of us are thinking this is a scout from Richards' bay," Dennis runs a hand over his hair, his fingers run through the tightly braided rows of hair. "But besides our suspicions, there isn't a lot to go on."

"Have there been any broadcasts?" Kelly asks.

"No," Dennis slowly shakes his head and lowers a hand off the table to grasp the left armrest of his chair.

"But that's not very unusual for them. I find it unusual that they'd only send one woman out at the edge of the Wastes. What's their game plan?" Eli ponders aloud.

Dennis sighs and moves on in the agenda, "I'm glad we've got you guys back. Unfortunately, we've got some bad news."

Kelly leans forward on his elbows. His men adopt solemn looks. Dennis waits a moment before announcing, "Ralph's team is confirmed dead and we've lost a few people from Ika's crew as well."

Kelly covers his mouth with one of his hands and dips his head forward, "I'm sorry to hear that."

Everyone takes a moment to let the news settle in. Uzu lowers his hood to reveal brown hair. He bows his head and mutters a few words under his breath. Manu tips back in his chair and focuses on the ceiling with a grimace on his face. Winston and Tony sit silently with mournful eyes.

"We've lost a lot of good people recently, and these storms have been beating our asses. Anita will be handling the mourning services after the current storm lets out." Dennis continues.

Everyone nods in agreement.

"Some good news, depending on how you look at it, we've got a new addition to WARTS."

Ika rolls his eyes at the name. Eli chimes in here, "We've got another merchant source that is willing to trade for protection, but we still aren't sure if he has a point of refuel or if he's only stumbled across the supplies recently."

"Or, he could have killed and looted the real merchant." Winston comments.

Nard snorts, "Doesn't seem the type."

Dennis raises a brow and tilts his head, "From what I've seen he's very quick on his feet."

"Cowards usually are," Nard fires back.

Ika places a hand on Nard's elbow. The Jamaican relaxes back in his seat and crosses his arms over his chest.

"We've got an outbreak of some kind," Ika announces.

Eli turns to Ika with surprise, "What do you mean? Has Pheno told you something?"

"The new guy came across a sick kid. The kid was definitely out of it. He looked like one of the orphans. Has Melissa come forward about anything?"

Dennis squints over at the other man and scowls, "One of the orphans? If something spreads while we're cooped up in this bunker..." He runs a hand over his face then settles the hand over his eyes.

"This will be a disaster," Eli adds.

Dennis sighs once again while shaking his head, "So, we've got funeral rites to handle, a new guy that may be a big help or a new hindrance, and a possible contagion loose. Great."

"Maybe whatever that kid's got will take care of the new guy before we have to?" Nard mutters.

Eli's eyebrows shoot up into his auburn hair, "Is it contagious?"

"Too soon to tell," Ika replies before standing from his seat.

"I'll need Pheno down here, ASAP. We'll need to reconvene this to talk about if we'll be continuing trade with the Savages of group R. Meeting adjourned," Dennis wraps his fist on his table three times before unlocking the brakes on his wheelchair and gliding over to his younger brother.

Kelly tries to meet Ika's eyes before he turns away from the table. Ika's gaze is glued to the tabletop as he grasps the top of his chair. The tall blonde drags his fingertips across the table dividing the parallel tables as he strolls over to Ika. His shadow comes up over Ika's shoulder and the other man peers over his shoulder.

"You good?" Kelly gazes down at the other man with his eyebrow raised.

Ika scrutinizes the metal surface of the table for a moment before raising a shoulder momentarily. Kelly lifts a hand to sympathetically pat Ika's shoulder. Ika pushes in his chair and rotates around to stand face to face with Kelly. Kelly's hand sinks back down to his side.

"It's a damn shame, man, really. I figure it has to do with the Savages? Did Raco finally flip the script on you?"

Ika averts his gaze to stoically watch the other men exit the room, "Something like that."

Kelly opens his mouth but thinks better of what he is about to say and closes it once again. He shuffles in place.

"Let's go, man! I'm starving...," Tony calls to his scout leader while holding the door to the stairwell open.

"Go serve yourself! I'm not your mother!" Kelly calls over his shoulder.

"Tisha hides all the good stuff for you! Give her a smooch or two and get me some of those salted meat cans. Don't be a selfish bast*rd!" Tony yells back.

The flesh at the back of Kelly's neck and along the sides of his face redden. Kelly turns on his heel and glares back at his comrade while pulling a face. He marches over to the exit and shoves Tony through it.

"What?! Everyone knows--" Tony's voice cuts off when the door slams shut closed behind the two men.

Dennis wheels over to the end of Ika's table. He locks his brakes. Ika continues to stand silently beside his wooden chair.

"How are you doing?" Dennis focuses on the deep circles under Ika's eyes.

Ika watches the last of the men exit the lower level. The door slams shut and he meets his older brother's gaze, "I'm fine."

"You don't look fine."

Ika snorts, "I'm just tired."

His grey eyes mist over as he stares off into the distance. Dennis tilts his head and waits for more to come.

"I'm tired of all of this. I...I wish I didn't have to wake up anymore and deal with all of this. If it's not one thing it's another. It never stops," His monotone voice fades into nothing.

"What happened to that excited muchacho that found this job exciting?"

"He grew up," The strain in Ika's voice increases.

"Tsk," Dennis runs his hand over his head. '¿Anita, dónde estás cuando te necesito?' [Anita, Where are you when I need you?]

Ika raises a hand toward his face, but thinks better of it and shoves his hands into his pockets.

"You aren't thinking of doing anything...um," Dennis grips the armrests of his chair before rushing through his next statement. "You aren't thinking of ending your life are you?"

Ika sighs and shuffles a few steps away from the table, "Of course not."

Dennis raises an eyebrow, "Of course not?"

Ika closes his eyes and debates talking further. Dennis won't understand the decisions he's had to make, the people he has to deal with day in and day out...the hours of unrest. Because of the accident, Dennis has been confined to their base. Safe. Ika and Anita handle all of the outside arrangements and deal with all the degenerates that come with a disaster of this size. And it'll never end. Unless he finally meets his inevitable end. Every form of help on this God's green earth has forsaken them. They are the damned.

The radio on Ika's hip, as well as the one hooked onto the side of Dennis's wheelchair, comes to life. A message blares from the small transceivers.

"I don't know who else is seeing this, but I need back up along the back end of the Wreck yard. Louis is being held up by.....Sh*t! Louis is down! Fu*k!," The message cuts out for a few seconds before blaring back to life again. "I've never seen anything like this! This guy is fu*king everyone up! I don't see a weapon! He might have a knife! He's attacking so fast...I'm going for Louis! I repeat back end of the Wreck yard!!!"