3 Another Outing (1/2)

As we loaded into the truck, I grabbed a decent chunk of steel and filled it with water and loaded it into the truck bed. Next, I went and grabbed Rocko, so he wouldn't be jealous this time and then had Zack drive while Alice and I were in the back.

”I don't really think that's possible.” Alice said as I was trying to get her to adjust the temperature of the water. ”I can't be sure but how would I even do that?”

”Temperature isn't what you should be thinking about.” I replied as I lifted a small piece of metal and placed it in her hand. ”Everything is moving at a certain speed so if you slow it down it will be colder and if you speed it up it will get hotter. Watch.” As I said that I started to cause the lump in her hand to speed up its vibrations and it warmed up a bit. ”I'm not very good at it yet but you felt it warm up right?”

”I don't get it but if you can do it with metal, I guess I should be able to with water.” With that she floated some water through the back window into the truck and tried to change temperature. After a while I could see the water shifting strangely and looked at her questioningly. ”I think I get the idea, but for some reason it isn't working.”

I cupped my hands and said. ”Try to put it in my hands and I'll try to help.” As the water lowered into my hands, I could feel the water lapping in my hands and realized I misspoke earlier. ”I think I said something dumb earlier. It's not trying to move the entire pool of water around. You need to focus on making the entire pool vibrate. It's not about shaking and sloshing it's just little vibrations to heat it and stilling those vibrations to cool it.”

She looked at me with a confused look on her face and then nodded. ”I feel like if I do this...” she shifted her body and tilted her hands a bit which was kind of funny since it wasn't necessary. It reminded me of kids trying to open combination locks for the first time. ”How's that?”

The water felt a bit warmer. ”Like that. Can you go any faster?” She nodded and then I felt the water get even warmer. She couldn't make it boil or freeze but I was pretty sure she would be able to in the future. ”Great job! I think if you keep working at it you could maybe even freeze or boil the water once you have a better grasp and get a bit stronger.” I flung the water out the window behind me and brushed my hands on my shirt. ”You might even get to the point where you can make arrows for yourself out of ice.” I wanted to instill that idea now, so she could get an image in her head.

”That would make my life much easier. I would already have a stockpile of weapons and why stop at arrows. Maybe a spear or a dagger would be possible too.” She was really excited. ”I don't know why we met or why you think about such weird stuff, but I definitely want to keep working with you. I think you are going to go a long way in this crazy new world.”

”Umm... This is a bit much for just giving you a way to protect yourself. I'm just a nerd. Don't worry about it.” I didn't know what was going on, but it was a little creepy.

We pulled into the parking lot and went towards the back where the loading docks were. I could see a few people in the distance, but I wasn't too worried about it yet. Dealing with what's in front of you is the most important. As we climbed out of the vehicle Alice stopped and held her hand out for me. I wasn't sure if this was another side of her admiration or if it was something else, but I decided not to over think it and just accepted her help.

”So, what are we grabbing here.” Alice looked at me expectantly.

”Solar panels and batteries that charge off of them. We can store up power and also if need be, we can use the batteries for trade in the long term.” I didn't want either of them to go grabbing anything we didn't need. I walked around the side of the building and made sure it was empty before I called Rocko. ”Rocko, Idite syuta.” His commands were in Russian originally so when I start using them, he pretty much ignores everyone else. As he ran up to me, I squatted down and said ”you are scout with Alice. Keep her safe.” I looked at Alice and said ”Make some noise if anyone goes to enter. If you don't think you can deal on your own his commands are, voz'mi ikh to attack, and pyatka will make him stop.”

”That's not quite right but Russian right?” She looked confused.

”He and Lyla are both service dogs that didn't have owners. Lexi's parents trained them, so we took them in, but I don't speak Russian and neither do her parents. It was supposedly a request by the guy that was gonna be working with him.” I shook my head. ”If the people being attacked can't say the commands, they can't stop him in a bad situation or something like that.” I trailed off.

”Oh ok.” She smiled brightly. ”I know a bit of Russian from my grandparents, but I don't really speak it. I do speak Spanish though.” She bragged at the end. ”We'll set up over there.” She pointed to a commercial car trailer. ”Rocko can get up and down easy enough and I'll have the elevated advantage.” She pulled the bow from her shoulder and nocked an arrow as she climbed up onto the trailer. Rocko followed after without anyone saying anything and Zack and I repeated the breaking and entering from earlier.

As we entered the main store through the loading dock I immediately went to where the green energy section was and was delighted. ”Yes!” I exclaimed. ”Way more than we'll need.” I grabbed a flat cart over and pointed. ”You get that end and we'll grab 2 at a time.”

”Alright Rei...” He seemed a bit off. ”But should we take more than we need? What if someone else needs them?” He seemed genuinely upset.

”We are taking them all because the 8 of us will be too crammed into just my house. I plan on adding some more once we get a handle on the situation. I want to make a small safe haven for people that aren't looking for glory and just want to live their life. I had the idea when Alice offered to work for us if we saved her brother.” I have always been quite greedy, so this was probably a surprise for him.

”If you plan on making a town or whatever...” He looked into the distance. ”I guess that's fine as long as you're not trying to build up some harem.” He laughed as he finished that sentence. ”You couldn't even control one girl more or less a whole harem.” He stopped moving the panels because he was bent over laughing.

”Is something funny Papa... What could be happening that's so funny to my dear old daddy...” I changed my voice to sound childish and when I said Papa he stopped laughing and his body stiffened.

”Yeah,” he scratched the back of his head. ”About that, is now a good time for this?”

”Whether it's a good time or not is irrelevant.” I said firmly. ”We aren't in any position to decide on this since there's probably not a lot of clinics open in this new world. We just get through today and then tomorrow. One day at a time. Now hurry up.” He pushed a button for me since I couldn't have kids, naturally I'd get a bit jealous.

”Sorry, I am just scared. I probably would have said something similar even without everything that's going on.”

We loaded up the panels onto the trailer and I sealed them in with metal, so no one could see them. Next, I loaded in battery after battery. They were about half the size of a generic car battery and had a small slot that the panels could clip into. With the right allocation of resources, we had enough for easily 30 times what I actually needed. The batteries would be useful in the fall since the sun refused to come out in October around these parts. I looked around the store one last time and decided I would come back in a week for some other things, nodded, and then jumped into the truck. As we pulled out, I whistled and Alice and Rocko both peeked out from the car on the trailer and then climbed down.

We pulled up to the pharmacy and I looked at everyone. ”We grab as much as possible. I'm gonna make some carts that hold a lot and are light, so you guys just grab drugs. Antibiotics are the most important but I'm gonna make sure to grab anything I can for Delilah, so you two get everything useful. Even if it doesn't seem useful grab it. Vitamins too. We don't know what kind of diet we are going to be looking at 6 months from now.”

”OK”

”You got it!”

They both shouted and after seeing that Rocko barked.

”Feeling left out bud?” I said as I scratched behind his ears. ”let's go.”

As we walked into the pharmacy, I grabbed some carts that were there and filled in the gaps and made them reach from just over the wheels to right under each of our chins. I had unlocked the door so hopefully no one was in here but that didn't seem to be the case. As we walked towards the back, I saw a young boy hiding from us through a security mirror in the corner. He looked to be a newer elementary school student, 5 or 6, and he had a small branch in his hand. I signaled everyone because a child is the last person I wanted to hurt.

”Hey kid? I saw you when we came in.” I was talking louder than I needed to, so he didn't realize I knew right where he was. ”We are here for antibiotics and medicine for my brother's wife because she's pregnant. We aren't gonna hurt you and if you come out, we might help you.” I watched the mirror indirectly, so he wouldn't get a surprise attack in and saw him throw the branch into the aisle in front of me.

”Don't get mad at me.” He was whimpering, and I could see tears in his face when he stepped into the aisle. ”my mom has a cut and I don't know where to get the white paper for her.” He was shaking from how upset he was. ”Will you help me?”

”OK, but don't try any funny business.” I looked him straight in the eye the whole time and he never tried to break eye contact. ”I actually know a bit about helping hurt people so where is your mom?” I looked to Alice and Zack and nodded. ”You 2 get looting and I'll take Rocko as my back up.” I pushed my cart towards Alice and gave Zack the list that Kara gave me earlier. ”let's go bud.” I walked over and grabbed a generic first aid kit and after making sure what was in it, I grabbed a bottle of iodine to be safe and followed after the boy.

As we walked out the back off the store, I could see the broken window the boy must have come through. ”Did you hurt yourself coming in here?” I couldn't see anything wrong, but I wanted to make sure.”

”No, I made sure to not touch the glass.” He responded without turning and just kept leading.

”How far are we going?” I wanted to get him to be comfortable around me, so he didn't do anything if I caused his mom to yell out when I was working on her.

”Just a ways. We live in that blue house and she is in the living room.” He pointed at the house and kept walking.

When we entered the house, I smelled copper and rushed into the living room. Luckily it was a superficial wound on her right calf. ”Oh, thank god it smelled like it was worse than this.” I said quietly as I knelt down. ”I'm Reika. Your son said you needed help.” I opened the first aid kit and started cleaning the wound.

”I'm Leah and you've met my son Jacob.” She said as she tried to smile. ”We were attacked, and I won. It's not my blood you're smelling mostly.” She pointed to the other room and I saw a pool of blood forming at the crack of the door.

”Oh, that explains a lot.” I wasn't going to console her, and I wasn't worried about her opinion of me either. ”Let's get you patched up to start. And then you can worry about that.” I said as I nodded towards the door.

”Where did he find you?” she asked me as I was finishing up with her leg.

”My brother and I, and a... Friend? Of ours were getting supplies. We were trying to make sure we didn't have to deal with stuff like this. If you're interested, we are building up a small group of people, and both my sister and I are capable of treating the wounded like yourself. And I have a niece and nephew that are about the same age as Jacob there.” I wasn't sure if she would be trustworthy, but she had been extremely calm since I got here and had killed someone. It may not be a great quality, but it would definitely be useful if we had any scumbags show up ever.

”That's not a bad idea. It's been just Jacob and I since before he was born so with everyone being able to make weapons almost out of thin air, I don't think it would be wise to stay that way.” She stood up and started to limp a bit towards the bloodied door. ”I really don't want to see my ex like this. He was always a bit crazy but now that he's dead I don't think I could use the clothes here.” She looked like she was about to cry.

”Why don't you come with us right now? We can pick up clothes for you later and until then you can borrow mine and Jacob is about the same size as Jason. We can do a clothing run in a few days once things calm down a bit.” If she was coming with us, I didn't want to let us be separated until she was back at my house.

”OK, if you're OK with having us.” As she nodded her head her red hair stood out by the windowlight and I noticed the freckles on her face.

”Well first.” I walked to the back door and pulled the metal screen door out. I turned it into a crutch for her to help with mobility. ”You're an earth manipulator, right? And Jacob's Plant?”

”Umm... Manipulator?” She was trying to get used to the crutch and didn't understand what I was saying.

”You can move Rocks and dirt?”

”Oh yeah, but how did you know?” she seemed nervous now.

There were holes all over the floor from where I assumed, she had pulled the rocks she used to defend herself. I knelt back down and pointed.

”Oh!” She exclaimed. ”It's so obvious and I didn't even realize.”

As we made our way back to the pharmacy, I learned that the man Leah had killed was Jacob's father, but she hadn't had anything to do with him since he walked out when she got pregnant. He had shown up today to take Jacob and when things got heated, he attacked with a sword he made out of metal. I couldn't understand why every other metal user was so focused on making metal weapons when I just planned on launching metal spears or daggers at anyone that threatened my friends and myself. Anyways, Jacob knew nothing about his father, so he and Leah fended him off together and when he died Jacob immediately went looking for help. As we approached the back door, I heard Alice and Zack talking inside, so I called out as quietly as possible to prevent any kind of accident. They had loaded up a lot of bottles and boxes into the bed of the truck and they had found a tarp to cover everything with.

”More lost puppies?” Zack said with a smirk.

”Oh, shut up. She was attacked, and I didn't want her to have to deal with the body. Plus, Jacob is like Jason and she is an earth mover like you.” I was getting exhausted from all the running around, so my temper was running thin.

At this Jason leaned towards Alice and said ”She's cranky. If you tell her she'll like you more.” He had a smile on his face and I didn't know what it was for.

I looked at Alice and raised an eyebrow. ”What's up?”

”I'm not sure how you'll feel about it, but we found a box of kittens. It was stuck back by the dumpster and the mewing was pretty bad. I'm guessing they're getting to be about 7 or 8 weeks old.

If you're against it, I understand but I would like to take them back with us.” She had a pleading look on her face.

”I guess Zack didn't tell you.” I decided to play it out to tease her a bit. ”The dogs were both adopted by Lexi.” I paused at that and then when I thought she was gonna start tearing up I finished with, ”I have always had a weak spot for cats. Especially kittens.” I smiled as I walked towards the box.

”Where are they?”

”Right here!” She cheered happily. ”You scared me for a bit there.” She grabbed my arm and pulled me towards the truck.

As I looked into the back of the truck there were 3 kittens eating from a can of cat food and I couldn't help myself. ”Oh my gosh they're so little. How could anyone be so mean to you?” I asked as I scooped up a black and white spotted kitten. As I looked at its face, I could tell it needed a bit of medicine but otherwise it was fine. ”You said you were studying to be a vet, right? Do you think you could get the dosage right if I got the medicine for these guys?”

At that Alice smiled and replied. ”I found the right medicine here, so we don't have to worry about that. Plus, I definitely can handle the dosage. Even if I get a few scratches from these guys.” She was happy and excited.

After piling into the truck and having to really cram in with 5 people and 3 kittens we finally managed to figure out how to seat everyone. Rocko hopped into the back of the truck and laid down on the tarp. Alice and I sat in the back again this time with Jacob sitting next to me and Zack drove with Leah up front. While we drove back, I told everyone about my idea for housing since it was going to get crowded here soon. I had a decent amount of property because Lexi and I were going to try to make an animal sanctuary once we had gotten settled down. 20 acres should be easy to build a few houses and I was going to make a decent sized plot for crops and a large water reservoir for each home. First, I wanted to wall up the property, so I had to make sure we could get a decent flow of metal and stone piled up. I wanted to steal a dump truck of some kind for the stone and I wanted to get a flatbed for the metal but any large truck I could modify and make work. As we made our way back, I kept seeing people out on the streets. Nobody was trying to take control of anything yet but there were many people fighting. When we got to about 1 mile from my house, I saw two girls about Alice's age running from a group of men. The fact that their clothes were ripped gave me an idea as to why they were running.

”Stop the truck!” Alice yelled. Right after she shimmied her way to hanging from the back window and drew the bowstring back. ”Don't lay a hand on those girls!” She yelled to the pursuers. The girls came running up to the truck and started to plead for help.

”Hop onto the tarp, we don't have much further to go.” I said to them.

As the group got closer Alice yelled out again. ”If you get any closer, I will fire. I don't care what you can do, can you stop a flurry of arrows aimed at nothing but kill shots?” She loosed the first arrow and nocked another. This one was a serrated tip meant to damage. The arrow the fired had hit a man in the stomach in a nonfatal spot. ”That is your only warning!” As she yelled that some of the men stopped while others ran away.

”You'll regret that bitch!” One of the men yelled. He formed a small fireball about the size of a quarter and started running.

”Enough!” Alice yelled and released the arrow. It lodged directly in between his eyes and he fell. I couldn't help but watch because I was curious, but as soon as the arrow hit, the flame didn't go out, but it was out before his body hit the ground. With that the men picked up the man that was wounded and took off leaving the dead man there.

As she climbed into the truck and Zack pulled off, I grabbed Alice and looked her in the eye. ”Are you OK?” I asked holding her face and not letting her look away. ”I need you to talk to me.”

”I-I-I'm good.” She said shakily. She had tears in her eyes. It's not easy to kill someone so she probably was hurting right now.

”No. You just killed someone.” I whispered into her ear. ”If you're OK I'm gonna kick you out of this car right now. Look at me.” She kept lowering her head and trying not to look me in the eye. I raised her face with both hands and brushed her hair out of her face. Tears were streaming down, and she was shaking like a leaf. ”I've never killed someone, but I've watched people die. If that can screw someone up, then being the cause must be terrible.” I kept running my hand through her hair and ended up hugging her as we rode the rest of the way home in silence.

As we pulled into the driveway Zack looked back at me. Alice had fallen asleep in my arms and I didn't want to wake her up yet. ”Unload what you can without me. Don't forget the babies and just put them in the garage near the chicken pen. There is a heat lamp in there so hang it over the box for them today.”

”Alright.” Zack replied. ”What should I do with the strays?” He said nodding his head towards the girls in the truck bed.

”Introduce Jacob to Jason, they have the same power and might be able to learn from each other. The girls should be fine but have Kara come out and greet them. They were through hell, so they are gonna take time to get used to guys again.” I didn't want to baby them, but they looked barely 20 so I didn't want to push them too hard either. ”If you could grab a blanket for us, I'd appreciate it because she is out like a light and I could use a nap.” I smirked at the end to show that I was fine. After a little while of sitting there running my hand through Alice's hair Kara came out with Jenny and some blankets. Without a word Jenny climbed into the truck and wrapped the blanket around us careful as to not wake Alice. She smiled and nodded at me and then went into the house with Kara and the girls.

I nodded off for a bit and when I came to a black four door sedan was pulling into the driveway. I readied myself for trouble but had a guess as to who it was. As it parked next to me, I saw Darren getting out and he saw me through the window. He came over and after seeing Alice whispered,

”Long time no see Reika. Thanks for keeping everyone together while I was gone. Who's this?” he nodded towards Alice.

”We met this morning when Lyla saved her. She had to shoot someone with a bow and it took its toll.”

”Oh, then I'll leave ya be.” He started to turn.

”Before you leave what's your ability?” I asked so I knew for later.

”Wind...” he replied sheepishly and walked off.

With that I ran my hands through Alice's hair and fell asleep.

I woke up again but this time to movement. I felt Alice stirring and looked down at her. Her head was tucked in between my neck and shoulder and it was extremely comfortable. She started to panic so I whispered, ”It's OK. I'm right here.” I could already feel her pulse and breathing relaxing. ”I'm sticking with ya until you're ready to be alone. You've been through a lot.” I turned and saw her looking up at me. ”Are you hungry? I'm not one to brag but I'm a pretty good cook.” I smiled at her and finally realized that I'd been holding her for a few hours.

With a wry grin she lifted herself a bit and then said, ”I could eat but I'd be fine staying like this for a bit. I'm really starting to feel a bit better, but that's probably because of what those guys would have done if we weren't there. I definitely never want to do something like that again, but I know if it came down to it I could do it again.” As she said that she turned under the blanket so that we weren't facing each other but were side by side. I thought we were going in when she leaned against me and put her head on my shoulder. ”Can we stay like this for a bit and just talk. Treat me like a normal girl for a bit.”

”I mean normal was never my strong suit. If Lexi and I weren't so drawn to each other as soon as we met, I'd probably never spoken to anyone outside my family aside from necessity.” I look at the girl leaning against me and she took my hand under the blanket.