Gearing Up

by Daniel Schinhofen

  Becky didn’t hesitate, just leapt and started toward the exit. Glancing back one more time, she watched Alvin make the jump and follow after her. He still had the same feral smile on his face he’d had when he tossed the dynamite at the queen, even with the dust and blood covering him.

  Chapter Four

  The rope anchored to the truck proved very useful as they climbed out of the hole. Becky grabbed Alvin for a kiss as he emerged in a cloud of dust. Wrapping his arms around her, he pushed her against the tailgate of the truck and returned the kiss with interest.

  “Damn…” someone said after a minute, which finally got the couple to stop.

  “You asshole,” Becky said, wiping at his face to see how bad the damage was. “I thought you were going to get buried back there.”

  “You’re not the only one,” Alvin agreed, spitting to the side in an attempt to get some of the grit out of his mouth. “What the fuck was taped to the dynamite?”

  Shawn brushed dirt out of his hair and chuckled, “Mostly nails and screws. Though, there might have been a little extra kick in the middle of the dynamite.”

  “Little?” Alvin asked.

  “What we had with us,” Han said from nearby. “Dad makes the stuff. It's kind of like Tannerite; it reacts to other explosives going off and seems to amplify the effects. I take it the tunnel had issues?”

  As if waiting for that cue, the ground suddenly shifted a few hundred feet away, a crater a good thirty feet deep forming with a roar and cloud of dust. “I’d say so,” Becky replied with a glance at Han.

  “Ooops,” Han laughed. “I’ll make sure to use less next time. Was that enough to kill the queen?”

  “Since the tunnel just collapsed, I’m going to say yes,” Alvin shrugged. “I’ll find out when I get back to the car. I see you guys have been hard at work,” he motioned to the men cutting the hide off the drake.

  “Didn’t see a reason not to work,” Han said, scratching his chin. “Thanks for the healing thing, it worked nicely,” he wiggled his previously injured hand. “Can you guys do something about those bodies?” he asked, pointing at the ant corpses that had been left on the surface.

  “Gothy, go get replacement medkits for us and check with Jarvis to see if the queen is dead. We’ll loot, then wait for you to get back before splitting it up,” Alvin said as he leaned against her side, kissing her cheek.

  “Oh sure, make me the gofer,” Becky said as she started to walk away. Alvin was sure her hips had some extra sway, and after a few steps, she looked over her shoulder to catch everyone not otherwise occupied watching her. Her lips twisted into an evil smirk as she winked at Alvin and continued to walk away.

  “God damn,” Milo said with a whistle, “how has she not given you a heart attack yet?”

  Alvin snorted, “High Hardiness. Come on Shawn, let’s loot and catalogue what we have.”

  “Queen is dead,” Becky announced when she came back. “Decent XP, too,” she added. “What does the loot look like?”

  “Mostly trash,” Alvin said, “though two things kind of stand out. A book of knowledge; teaches the person who reads it the basics of mining. The other is a good quality rune of Holding. It’ll add four storage slots to a bag, or two to an item of clothing. The rest of the loot is bits of ant that looks like it could be used to fashion armor, and a common rune of Silence, which dampens the sound of the item it’s equipped to by twenty percent.”

  “Now that she’s back, can we split it?” Shawn asked with an exasperated tone.

  “She was in the crawl with us, which means she gets a share as well,” Alvin said pedantically, like he’d said it multiple times already.

  “Damned right I get my share,” Becky said, raising an eyebrow at Shawn.

  “Whatever, you’re obviously a team. I just wanted to get a share for my people who were busy looting the damned drake,” Shawn grumped.

  “Give me the runes and you can have everything else,” Alvin said simply.

  “But both of those are useful,” Shawn argued.

  “Yes, they are, and we’re going to be heading out in a day or three, so we’ll need them more than you guys, all hunkered down here,” Becky argued back.

  Shawn’s frown disappeared. “What if I cut you in on a bigger haul? Would you trade this loot for intel and manpower to go after something even bigger?”

  Lips pursed, Alvin eyed Shawn for a long moment. “That’s a gamble, isn’t it?”

  Shawn tried to keep his face blank while shrugging. “Your call, but I know of a place that has a lot of useful shit just laying around.”

  “Gothy? Input?” Alvin asked.

  “He hasn’t tried to fuck us yet,” Becky replied bluntly. “Give him some rope. If he hangs himself, then we know where he stands.”

  “Really?” Shawn frowned at her. “You think I’m like that?”

  “You should be if you want to lead a Settlement,” Alvin answered Shawn’s question. “You’re going to need to be a little ruthless. I’ll agree, for half of whatever you have in mind.”

  “No fucking way,” Han interjected from nearby.

  “That good, eh?” Alvin chuckled. “Fine, I’ll take thirty percent.”

  Shawn shook his head. “Even that is way too far outside—”

  “Okay…” Alvin paused as he turned it over in his mind for a moment. “How about this? Whoever goes with gets the Contracted Power. I will lead the expedition, and I get twenty percent of the haul. Everyone else splits thirty percent, and the rest goes straight to your Settlement.”

  “That’s too fucking much,” Han snapped, but Shawn held up a hand to cut his brother off.

  “I’ll agree to the Contracted part, and the half straight to the Settlement, but you get ten percent and the rest gets split to the others.” Shawn elbowed his brother when Han tried to interject again, “Stay out of it for fuck’s sake, Han.”

  Alvin glanced between the brothers, then at Becky, who gave him a small nod. “Deal. Those conditions, and this loot is yours, if you’ll add one more addendum to it?”

  Shawn’s lips thinned, “What addendum?”

  “I get to pick my ten percent before the rest gets divvied up,” Alvin’s smile was sharp.

  “Not a—” Han began again, only to cut off when Shawn spun around and got in his face.

  “Why can’t you let me do what Dad put me in charge to do?”

  “But he’ll take all the really good stuff,” Han snapped.

  “He’ll take ten percent, which can’t be too much of the good stuff. For fuck’s sake! Without them, we wouldn’t have gotten the kids back, wouldn’t have a chance to really survive, or even be getting this haul that we can sell for XP.”

  Alvin waited for the brothers to pause before he cut in, “So do we have a deal, Shawn?”

  Spinning back around, Shawn held out his hand. “Deal.”

  Shaking hands, Alvin pushed the loot they’d collected from the ants toward Shawn. “This is all yours then.”

  “Thank you,” Shawn said, pocketing the runes. Holding the book out to Han, he addressed Alvin, “We’ll be starting out tomorrow evening for the place I was talking about.”

  “Where is that?” Alvin asked.

  “The Hawthorne Army Depot,” Shawn grinned. “Lots of stuff there that’s going to be worthwhile.”

  “What do they store there?” Becky asked.

  “Depends on which bunker you go to,” Shawn laughed. “Jeeps in crates that just need to be assembled, shit tons of grenades of all kinds, chemical and biological weapons, and tons more. Millhouse worked out there and kept a journal of what places to avoid. Everything else should be worthwhile.”

  “Wouldn’t that journal have violated his security clearance?” Alvin asked.

  “Probably, but Millhouse was always a bit fuzzy on rules.”

  “I kind of get the feeling I might have liked him if he hadn’t been killed by the drake. Aside from the whole shooting me in the face thing, I mean,” Alvin mused.
<
br />   “We should help the others so we can finish this today,” Han added, sulky at having been told off.

  “That’s a good point,” Alvin said. “Jarvis, pull the Mustang around, please.” A moment later, Ruffian came around the drake.

  “What the fuck?” Shawn said, looking at the car driving itself in astonishment.

  “It was a Power that’s no longer available,” Alvin chuckled.

  “I forgot you could do that,” Becky said, her eyes focused on Alvin. “Why did you make me walk all the way over to it if you could have had Jarvis pull it around to us?”

  “Because I wouldn’t have gotten to watch you walk away,” Alvin snickered.

  “I’m going to make you pay for this later, Hero,” Becky growled at him, the twinkle in her eyes giving away her inner laughter.

  “Promises, promises,” Alvin smirked.

  “You two done?” Han asked from next to the truck. “We could use some extra hands to help peel the hide back.”

  His back to Han, Alvin rolled his eyes and made a face, “Be right there.”

  Becky managed to keep her face straight until Han turned away, then laughed silently as she walked toward Alvin. “You are the worst, and I love it.”

  “Wait until later, and I’ll show you what ‘the worst’ can really be,” Alvin said as he fell into step with her.

  Chapter Five

  It was late afternoon when they finished skinning the drake. Milo almost lost a hand when one of the chainsaw blades hit a scale and the blade had snapped. The broken blade had come back over the top of the saw and cut deeply into his hand, leaving it hanging by a few shreds of muscle. Shawn borrowed Jarvis to buy medkits, one to heal his friend and the other to replace the one Han had used, before they had gone back to work. By the end of it, they had broken a couple of other blades, but not in such a spectacular fashion.

  Loading the trucks with the hide, scales, and what was left of the claws was taking some time. Alvin and Becky had the best time of it as the blood and gore slid right off their clothing, unlike the others. They were packing the last pieces when Becky called out to the group.

  “Incoming. Looks like ravens,” Becky said pointing to the west, where a group of very large birds was flying toward them.

  “Back the trucks away from the corpse,” Alvin said, as the ravens approached at speed. “I’ve dealt with them before; they aren’t a danger to us,” he added, watching the others grab their guns. “Just calm down and start heading back to the Settlement.”

  Shawn shook his head. “We’ll back up, but if they’re going to be neighbors, I should meet them.”

  Milo jumped into Shawn’s ride and pulled it back, while Ivan did the same with Han’s. Han stood next to his brother, watching the approaching birds with a scowl. Alvin shrugged and had Jarvis back the Mustang off as he and Becky waited with the other two.

  The flock landed on the far side of the corpse. One of them hopped forward with his wings flapping slightly. “Friend?” it croaked, tilting its head to peer at Alvin.

  “Friend. It’s good to see you again, Muninn,” Alvin said.

  Shawn’s forehead wrinkled. “Its name is Muninn?”

  “Muninn?” The raven said and flapped its wings, “Yes, me is Muninn.”

  “We’ve pulled the skin off for you, Muninn,” Alvin grinned at the raven. “This is Shawn Botham. He’s the leader of a group of people close by that way.” Alvin pointed toward Beatty.

  “Shawn, friend?” Muninn asked, hopping closer and peering at Shawn.

  “Yes, I’m a friend,” Shawn said as he looked up at the large raven. “I’m happy to meet you.”

  “Friend, happy… Food?” Muninn asked, looking at the remains of the drake.

  “Strip it down,” Shawn nodded. “We’ll come back for the bones later.”

  “Food, friend, bye,” Muninn turned away from them and spoke to the other ravens, who nodded and started tearing strips and chunks of meat from the corpse.

  “And that is Muninn,” Alvin said as he went to his car. “It might take them a few days, but they should strip it right down to bone for you.”

  “Maybe they’ll be okay to deal with,” Shawn muttered as he headed for the trucks. “Let’s head home, we’ve got another trip tomorrow.”

  As they drove, Alvin had a question for Jarvis. “So butler, riddle me this: when they sell the stuff off and get the XP, is there any way for them to get us our share easily, or do we have to use the Orb?”

  “XP tokens are available for purchase in set amounts, plus a small surcharge. They are tradable, and function as currency at any kiosk or with me,” Jarvis replied.

  “Hmm,” Alvin said, turning over the beginnings of an idea in his mind.

  The trip back to Beatty was peaceful. Alvin saw what looked like an argument going on when they pulled into the Settlement behind Shawn and Han. The brothers stopped short of the regular parking area, hurrying over to the small crowd gathered around their dad and a group of strangers. Alvin went around them, parking Ruffian before he and Becky got out to see what was going on.

  “We should have equal status! It doesn’t matter if you’ve all been here since the start,” The same older guy that had been a dick in Tonopah, Howser, was mouthing off to Wynn.

  “This is still my land,” Wynn replied in a cold voice. “If you don’t like the rules, get the fuck off my property.”

  “This is a Settlement! You have to let us in. Where else could we go? Anyway, the asshole who came through Tonopah said we had to come here,” Howser sneered.

  “Actually, I said that you should go to Ely or Beatty. The world has changed again since then, though. You can go back to Tonopah and have a chance to make it a Settlement now,” Alvin said, cutting into the conversation.

  “Either way, I’m the Overseer here and you are not allowed to stay,” Shawn added in a hard voice as he got into the older man’s face.

  Pushing Shawn back, Howser’s hand dropped to his pistol, “Look, kid, either you—”

  A gunshot echoed and the older man fell dead, the shot blowing out the back of the man’s head and covering those nearby with brains, blood, and bone. Han’s pistol was steady as he looked at the thirty other people who were standing off to the side.

  “If anyone else wants to put hands on my family, they’ll get the same damned thing,” Han said into the stunned silence.

  “He was being bullied,” a younger girl said, then withered under Han’s glare.

  “He was picking a fight,” Han said slowly, “and he got what he deserved. Now either follow the rules, or leave.”

  Shawn nodded. “What he said. It’s your choice, but we don’t abide physical violence to others in the Settlement, and we don’t hold to child abuse or rape. Other than that, all we ask is that you help the Settlement grow. We’ll be starting up hunting parties as well. To join those, you need the Contracted Power from the store. There will be a meeting after dinner about something big coming up. If you decide to stay, find an empty room, get a nameplate to mark it, and it’s yours. Until then, help out wherever you can.”

  The people from Tonopah exchanged looks, unsure if they should stay or go. George Ueland Jr., the teen from Tonopah, stepped out of the crowd to address Shawn, “I’ll stay. Maybe we can make a Settlement in Tonopah now, but there isn’t anyone left there. It's better to be here and have some help than to try and go it alone… again.”

  “Find a room and help out. If you want to really get in on the ground floor, see about buying the Contracted Power at the kiosk, and make sure you’re at dinner,” Shawn said. “If you’re not staying, then head out. We’ll let you use the bathroom and grab some water, but I want anyone who’s not staying gone within the hour.”

  Alvin shook his head and went to the trucks to grab a piece of the drake hide. “Might as well check to see what we can get for this since they’re busy.”

  Ivan frowned at Alvin as he pulled the smallest piece of hide out of the back, but didn’t say anything o
r try to stop him. “It's not like he hasn’t earned some of it,” Becky told Ivan.

  Han appeared next to the truck. “We’ll drive the trucks over there. We’d hold onto it, but none of us can work it into anything. At least, not yet.”

  “We’ll see you over there, then,” Alvin said as he slung the hide over his shoulder and walked past the crowd from Tonopah, who were debating on whether to stay or go.

  No one was at the kiosk, thankfully, so he was able to place the small section of hide straight into the lower part of the kiosk. Once it was inside, he turned his attention to the screen.