Downtime and Death (Apocalypse Gates Author's Cut Book 5)

by Daniel Schinhofen

  “Gothy, Nohel is looking for you. Where are you?” Alvin asked over the radio.

  “I’m with Megs at the auto shop,” Becky replied.

  “On the way,” Alvin replied. “Gothy’s in the shop,” Alvin told Nohel, pointing ahead of them.

  “Thank you,” Nohel said, taking off running for the auto shop.

  “Crazy stalker incoming, Gothy,” Alvin said softly so the throat mic would pick it up. “She’s running to you.”

  “I’ll talk to her, Hero, don’t worry.”

  Shaking his head, Alvin followed the teen into the auto shop. By the time he made it inside, Becky, Kuro, Amie, Megumin, and Nohel were talking off to one side. Justin was checking the engine on a car. “Hey, Justin, how are you doing?”

  Stepping back from the car, Justin looked up and blinked at him in confusion. “Huh?”

  “How are you?”

  “Good. Amie was upset earlier but looked better once she talked to Meg for a bit,” Justin said, looking over to see even more people in the shop. “Though the other three weren’t here when I started this job.”

  “Gothy was looking for Megumin, and then Nohel was looking for Gothy,” Alvin shrugged. “I came to let you know that I’ll be parking my Humvee next to your shop for a day or two. Bill’s truck is going to be taking up space in my base.”

  Justin frowned, “I was wondering if he was going to let me work on it. I guess not.”

  “I think he wants to see what my base can do, more than anything,” Alvin said, trying to be diplomatic for once.

  “Maybe. Parking it next to the shop is fine,” Justin shrugged. “Is that all you wanted?”

  Glancing at the women chatting in the far corner of the shop, Alvin stepped a little closer to Justin and turned his mic off. “So, about Megumin... What happened?”

  “We agreed to maybe see how things go,” Justin said, looking at the women standing together. “I’m not sure how to explain it to Joanna, though.”

  “You think she’ll take it bad with as much as she loves you?”

  “She saw her mom killed. I’m not sure she’ll accept me having another woman in my life.”

  “That’s a tough one. I can’t help any. I’d just tell her, though. If you try to hide it at all, she might take it worse.”

  “Yeah,” Justin sighed, rubbing his head and smearing some oil on it. “Maybe.”

  “What’s your daughter hoping to apprentice in?”

  “Not this,” Justin chuckled. “She’s too much of a girl. I think she wants to cook, and that would mean she’d be with Terry all day. Maybe she’ll like something else, but I’ll only know when she tells me.”

  “Luck with that,” Alvin chuckled. “If any of us knew ahead of time what a woman wanted, it might cause a second apocalypse.”

  Justin snorted, the grin on his face subdued, “I can’t argue that.”

  “Didn’t mean to take up all your time. I’ll see you later,” Alvin said.

  “Have a good one,” Justin replied, turning back to the car.

  Alvin went back to the inn, waving to Terry as he passed through the taproom. Joanna also waved back at him as she followed Terry through the kitchen. Shaking his head, Alvin could not help but think, Maybe she wants a mother figure back in her life? Justin, your daughter might be far from upset if you get together with Megs. Shaking his head again, Alvin crossed the portal into the base a minute later.

  “Sir, miss is planning to cook this evening. Dinner will be served in two hours.”

  “Okay, I’ll make sure to be here,” Alvin said. He went to the garage and moved the Humvee, parking it beside the auto shop. A group of teenaged boys was heading his way, clearly intent on intercepting him. “What’s up?” Alvin asked.

  “We were wondering if you’d be willing to take us out?” one of them asked.

  “Not really,” Alvin replied. “I have plans for today.”

  “What about tomorrow?” the young man pressed. “All of us are going to be hunters, so we thought it’d be a good idea to get a taste of what the world is like now. We know you can handle the zombies and mutants. If we went with you in this,” the kid tapped the armored door of the Humvee, “we’d be safe and still get some experience with what it’s like outside.”

  Alvin looked the group over. At least one of the young men was clearly not cut out for a life outside the walls of a settlement. “I’m going to have to clear that with Susan first. If it is, I have a better idea. It’ll be a couple of days probably, but I’ll get you an answer. Where can I find you all normally?”

  “We do odd jobs, but we’ll stop by the inn at noon tomorrow and the day after,” the leader grinned. “I’m Geovanni— my friends call me Gee. These are my friends: Wes, Brian, Alan, and Ian.”

  “I’ll let you know,” Alvin said as he walked past the beaming kids. “If it’s a yes, you need to be geared up, otherwise, I’ll refuse. Make sure you’ve got armor and weapons.”

  “No problem,” Gee laughed. “See you tomorrow.”

  Alvin held back his sigh as he walked away. I’ll talk with Bill later and take them into the base... need to get my keys back from some of the others. A run-through in the training room will let them find out if they’re going to hack it as hunters. Might as well break them that way rather than get them killed.

  He reached to open the door of Bill’s truck when an angry voice yelled, “Hey, that’s not your truck, asshole!”

  Frowning, Alvin turned to see Joshua heading toward him. “No shit, really?”

  “You’re always trying to take other people’s shit. What, you think you can just do whatever you want?” Joshua sneered as he closed the distance to Alvin.

  Alvin grinned when he realized that Joshua was not wearing anything on his head. “And if I said yes, then what?” Opening the truck door, Alvin snickered, “You going to stop me?”

  “Damn right,” Joshua said, sprinting the last few feet, his arm pulled back to punch Alvin.

  Shaking his head, Alvin ducked as Joshua swung. Joshua’s gloved hand met Alvin’s hat-covered head, and neither of them flinched. Alvin’s uppercut caught Joshua under the chin. Joshua’s teeth snapped shut and he staggered back, shocked at the pain he felt. Alvin did not stop, and hit him again with a left cross.

  “What the fuck!? Joshua!” Eric shouted, coming out of the bunker to see Joshua fall to the ground. “You fucking asshole!”

  Alvin sighed, rolling his eyes as Eric came running at him. “Seriously? One of you attacking me isn’t enough?”

  Eric closed on Alvin, only to slam face first into the truck door as Alvin swung it further open. The sound of body hitting metal and the door slamming echoed in the yard. Heads started appearing in windows and doorways as people looked to where Joshua and Eric were sprawled on the ground near Alvin.

  “Knock it the fuck off,” Alvin said loudly. “Bill wants me to get his truck fixed and you just dented it more. If you need to prove your dicks are bigger than they are, go pick a fight with someone you can actually hurt.”

  He got into the truck and started it. Eric and Joshua climbed unsteadily to their feet as he put the truck in gear. Hitting the accelerator, the tires spun a little on the gravel, throwing stones behind them. Joshua glared as Alvin drove around him and into the glowing portal of the garage entrance.

  Alvin laughed as he got out of the truck. “What idiots.”

  “Sir, you do realize that they are going to be telling quite a different story than you will?” Jarvis said as Alvin came into the living room.

  “Yeah, probably,” Alvin chuckled. “I’ll give them a moment to dig their own graves, then I’ll head out.”

  “If you think that best, sir.”

  “I don’t have anything else to do,” Alvin shrugged. “Might as well have some fun.”

  “I doubt Susan would view it the same way,” Jarvis replied primly.

  “That’s a good point. She was just asking me not to cause trouble,” Alvin shrugged.

  “Wh
ile you didn’t start that, it seems that even your high Personability won’t help with some people.”

  “They did lose a good amount of XP to us. I can see where they would hold a grudge. Never would have come to that if they hadn’t been trying to measure their dicks.”

  “You did help them into that spot, sir.”

  “I’m heading out,” Alvin said, walking away.

  Alvin passed Becky, Kuro, Megumin, and Nohel going the other way in the hallway of the inn. “Okay, what the hell?”

  “Showing off our home,” Becky smiled. “I got the key for Nohel from Amie. I saw Bill dealing with Joshua and Eric. You went easy on them.”

  “Susan asked me not to cause trouble, so I only hit them instead of just putting them down.”

  “Going soft on me... and before I’ve had fun?” Becky smirked.

  “Go give them the grand tour,” Alvin replied, rolling his eyes. “I’m going to go clear up the fight.”

  “Dinner in two hours,” Becky reminded him as he went past.

  “I’ll be back in time, barring major issues,” Alvin told her as he started down the stairs.

  When he got to the yard, Alvin slowed his pace. Bill was still talking to Eric and Joshua. “You’re telling me that you tried to ask him what he was doing and he attacked you without provocation?”

  “I already told you what happened,” Joshua snapped. “If we’re done now?”

  “Without provocation?” Alvin asked as he came closer. “Yelling at me and accusing me of theft isn’t provocation?”

  Joshua spun on Alvin, “Look, asshole—!”

  “Shut the fuck up, dipshit,” Alvin yelled back, his eyes going cold and flat. “You accused me of stealing his truck and took a swing at me. When you failed to hurt me, I put you down and was getting on with what I had been asked to do when dipshit number two here decided he wanted a go.”

  “Motherfucker,” Eric snarled. He turned to take a step toward Alvin, but winced when Bill’s hand came down hard on his shoulder.

  “Did you forget the rules, Eric?” Bill growled. “Fighting inside the walls is prohibited.”

  “What about him?” Joshua asked. “Or is it okay because he’s your friend?”

  “He didn’t start the fight, now did he?” Bill snapped. “Is this done, or are you going to continue this bullshit?”

  “Whatever,” Eric said, pulling himself out of Bill’s grip. “He’d just better stay away from us.”

  Alvin shook his head, “You’re not worth my time.”

  Eric and Joshua stormed away, and Bill watched them go before turning on Alvin. “Didn’t Susan just say something about you causing trouble?”

  “They attacked me when I went to get your truck,” Alvin shrugged. “Not my fault.”

  “Just stay away from them,” Bill sighed. “How much longer you here for?”

  “A few days.”

  “Maybe they’ll go out again tomorrow and save us more problems,” Bill grumbled.

  “Oh, a group led by a kid called Gee asked to go outside the walls with me,” Alvin said. “Told them it would have to be cleared first.”

  “That’s probably not the best idea. The town is safe, minus the fish-demon. They’d get the wrong idea without getting further away from here.”

  “I’d need my base keys back. Then, I could take the teens into my training room and show them how dangerous it is outside.”

  “I’ll talk to Susan, but that might be a good idea for all of the teens,” Bill admitted. “Since you came back, we’ve had quite a few folks that are suddenly sure they could survive outside.”

  “Tell Susan I’ll stop by tomorrow to talk to her about that,” Alvin said. “I have dinner waiting. Only came back out to tell you the truth about what happened.”

  “Fine. Here’s my key,” Bill said, handing over the base key.

  “See you later,” Alvin said, taking it and walking back toward the inn.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Becky, Kuro, Megumin, and Nohel were in the kitchen with Jarvis, who was seated at the table with a cup in his hand. “Welcome home, sir.”

  “Union break?” Alvin laughed.

  “Very droll, sir.”

  “Gothy asked him to let her cook, and the other two wished to watch,” Kuro told him. “Megs because she would like to learn, and Nohel because she wants to help.”

  “Nothing wrong with that,” Alvin shrugged.

  “You seem very lenient at the moment, sir.”

  “Susan and Bill both asked me to back off in their own ways. I’m willing to give the dumb fucks a chance to tie their own rope. They’ll try something again at some point, and next time…” Alvin trailed off with a shrug.

  Nohel muttered something under her breath, and Kuro spun on her, “Hero is no ordinary man!” The venom in Kuro’s voice made Alvin blink. “Gothy, your friend has insulted our Hero.”

  Nohel flushed red, “No! No, that’s not what I meant. You took me the wrong way.”

  Becky stepped back from the stove, bringing herself and Megumin out of the crafting fugue. Megumin looked around in confusion. “Huh?”

  “Nohel? What did you say?” Becky asked.

  Nohel swallowed, not meeting Becky’s eyes. “That of course he’d go to violence next, just like any man.”

  Becky sighed, “You’re right and wrong. It was Hero who saved you from your abuser.”

  “By killing him in cold blood,” Nohel said softly. “All men prefer violence as the solution to their problems.”

  “Give me your key,” Becky said quietly.

  Nohel’s head snapped up. “But…” Seeing Becky’s eyes, Nohel hiccupped and handed over the key to the base. “I’m sorry…”

  “Go home,” Becky whispered. “If you can’t see Hero for who he is, the man who saved you, then you don’t belong here.”

  Sniffling and with tears falling from her eyes, Nohel bolted from the base. Alvin watched her go with a sad shake of his head. “She wasn’t wrong.”

  “No, she wasn’t, but to have no respect for the man I love is unacceptable,” Becky replied. “Pity... Back to cooking. Sorry for the interruption, Megs.”

  “Maybe I should go, as well,” Megumin said.

  “Nonsense,” Becky replied, putting her arm around Megumin’s waist. “You are learning from me. Now, let’s get back to it.”

  “Hero, would you like something to drink?”

  “Yeah. Thanks, Mousie,” Alvin said. “I’m going to make sure the room door is shut first, so I’ll be right back.” When he got back, Alvin took a seat. “She left the door open on her way out.”

  “Gothy wasn’t wrong, either,” Kuro said softly as she set the coffee on the table in front of Alvin and took the seat next to him. “You rescued her from someone much like the men of my world. She should at least have been respectful enough to not make those comments aloud.”

  Alvin shrugged, “It doesn’t matter. It’s not like she would have been here past dinner.”

  “I’m not sure about that, sir. Miss did ask me about the position of maid when they came home.”

  “That wouldn’t have worked, anyway. I don’t want another person living here with us. It’ll take an exceptional person, like Mousie, to be allowed to stay.”

  Kuro blushed lightly, “Thank you, Hero.”

  “Maybe you should have this conversation with miss later, sir.”

  “Probably right, Jarvis. What’s she making?”

  “Steak and baked potato combination,” Jarvis replied. “It is currently the most difficult recipe Megumin can attempt, which means that with miss teaching her, it will be easier for her to understand the concepts and make it easier for her in the future. Coincidently, it is also Justin’s favorite meal.”

  Alvin chuckled, “Coincidence, my ass.”

  “It was very cute when Gothy told Megs she would help her learn it,” Kuro murmured, sipping her coffee. “I believe Gothy would have tried to recruit her if she wasn’t already set on Justin.�
�

  “Definitely need to have that conversation tonight,” Alvin sighed. “Otherwise, Gothy is going to end up shopping every time we visit a settlement.”

  “Not unlikely,” Jarvis replied.

  “I need to get the plates ready for her,” Kuro said, getting to her feet.

  “Dinner shall be ready shortly,” Jarvis added. “Mousie was asked to get the plates ready when miss pulled the potatoes from the oven.”