22 Walk-Through Part 2 (2/2)
”Everything is back on the right track.” Faco says while smiling at the proceedings.
Robert and Turner are lifting a body by the arm and legs into camp.
”Yup, looks like everything is going as planned.” Sid says to himself before jogging over to the pair.
”I'm glad he's still unconscious.”
”How hard did you hit this guy?” Robert wonders.
”I only hit him a few times, and then gave him a breather,” Sid says with a shrug.
Robert looks at the bleeding and bruised face of the Savage leader. His clothing is torn.
”I'm pretty sure this arm is broken.” Turner says before dropping the Savage's body without care.
”Let's let him sleep it off at one of these trees. Tie him up to one, around the neck too, and secure his limbs to each other.”
”Isn't that overkill?” Robert argues.
Turner rolls his eyes, ”Do you wanna be worried he broke free in the night, or worse, while you're crapping?”
”Good point.”
The pair picks up the Savage and hefts him over to a large tree.
Finally, Sid finds the time to sit down and rub the back of his neck. He uses two hands to press at the base of his neck and breath deeply. All the excitement and enhancements have tired him out. His body might not feel weak, but his mind feels wired and stressed out by the constant danger and bustling around. He puts his forehead to his knees and breathes slowly.
An empty rusty rifle is tossed at Sid and hits the curled-up man in the spine.
”Aaaaah,” Sid straightens up and rubs his back, ”That hurts!”
Ika walks by with a bloody arm hanging at his side and drops that by Sid's side as well.
”Present.”
Sid jerks and rises from his seat.
'And I was worried about you!' he thinks to himself.
He looks down at the arm and shivers before kicking it farther away from his seat.
”Not a good thing! Insubordination!” Sid yells.
Ika flips Sid off and continues patrolling the camp and calculating their losses. Sid chuckles and follows the man. After circling the camp, Ika squats by a burnt-out campfire and moves some coals around. He pulls out a baggy from his side pocket and starts adding pieces of coal into it.
”Whatcha doing there?” Sid questions from behind.
Ika disregards Sid. After collecting the pieces of coal, Ika puts the ziplocked bag back into his side pocket.
”You know, they are giving out jugs of purified water, right?” Sid reminds Ika.
Ika starts walking toward his flattened tent.
Eli interrupts their one-sided conversation, ”Is that for the mighty water scientist?”
Ika narrows his eyes and gives the area in front of him a dirty look. He doesn't look at either of them.
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When Ika gets to his tent, he moves around the material to get to his backpack and rifle. Eyeing the condition of his weapon, he contemplates the odds of taking both men out before anyone notices.
'Why do I tolerate these fools?'
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A steady soft glow plays across the sky as the sun sinks lower in the horizon. Some Purple Diamond volunteers are reading survivor names off a list. Others are gathered together near the helicopter with their backpacks and sleeping bags.
”Evans, Leon!”
Faco sits at a campfire with Sid and his crew.
”Is there a reason your people are staying over there?” Robert says while biting into an apple.
”Scared someone will steal their wings?” Turner says while peeling an orange for Priya.
Priya sips at a cup of tea and breathes in the scented vapors. Dan is sitting with his back to the group tucking his charge into his sleeping bag and slipping a water bottle into the side. In case the child wakes up thirsty in the middle of the night.
”Ferren, Brian!”
Faco grins sheepishly and shrugs.
”I think I'd be over with them if it wasn't for the …. excitement from earlier.”
”Are they quaranteening ya?” Pheno wonders while putting another piece of wood into the fire.
Carla gets a little too close to the fire. Eli puts a hand on her shoulder and pulls her back a safe distance. Sid smiles at this and settles down beside Eli.
”So, they watching to see if the air or anything mutates you?” Sid asks.
Faco shrugs.
”What made you all decide to come over here?” Eli asks.
Faco raises his brows and blushes.
”Well, it's a long story.”
”We aint got nothing else going on.” Carla says throwing a pebble into the campfire.
Eli hands her a stick to doodle in the dirt with. Confused, she looks at the stick in her hand and tosses it into the fire. Eli sighs and looks back at the relief worker.
Dan gets up to go switch watch with Ika. He glances at the conversing group and jogs away.
”Reacher, Morrice!”
”Well, there are transmissions that come through from here and some websites record them. They go over them and if any…important information has been recorded they update their site with it. Mostly it's conspiracy sites, but some press sites as well. The really important stuff is spread through internet traffic.” Faco sips at his water for a moment.
”I came across a message a couple months ago. It was a few months old. It was a girl. She was broadcasting a few hundred miles away from here in Coldstone. Her message really touched me. It took a while for me to join a group that was into this sort of thing. Helping foreign lands. Then a few months to gain enough funds and supporters to make this trip viable. We just wish we could have let the girl and her people in Coldstone know we'd heard her. We heard her call and we want to help you all.”
Faco's eyes the water in his bottle as he continues talking, ”But Coldstone is a no-fly zone.”
He gulps down more water and cradles the bottle between his legs.
”It was the first plea that really touched me, and I can't even give them aid. She's probably gone…dead. We're too late.”
Everyone is silent for a moment.
”Amor, Rachel!”
Turner looks up from his peeled orange and hands it over to Priya. She makes a face at him but accepts the orange. Turner smirks and waves a hand in Faco's direction.
”Hey, better late than never.”
Faco sniffles at that.
”We sure appreciate the aid.” Carla says with good cheer.
”People didn't even know the areas hit south of Washington are still inhabited. It'll start slow, but I really believe that more aid will come. It'll keep coming.”
Sid smiles and shakes his head.
Sid gets up to check on the Savage leader and is walking towards the dark tree line when Robert comes over and catches the edge of his shirt.
”Hmm?” Sid slows down and looks over the young man.
”Who'd have known that a little transmission would be such a help,” Robert remarks.
Sid shakes his head, ”Yeah, it's almost unbelievable, but that's our usual luck.”
”Didn't you meet Dan in Coldstone?”
”Hmmm, yea.” Sid continues walking again.
”You think he knows anyone who used the radios or something. What if we know her?” Robert wonders.
”The odds of that are…..”
TITANIC
Sid snorts and smiles, ”I don't think that's likely, but you can ask.”
Ika deposits his backpack into his tent. He begins walking over to the campfire the rest of his companions are situated around it.
”Chen, Sia!”
He pauses in his walking and changes course to meet the relief worker reading from a clipboard.
”Cheng, Francis!”
”Sia Chen.” Ika says to the woman.
”Ch--, Oh. Oh…Sia. Okay. Come with me please.” The woman walks over to a crate with small parcels in brown wrapping paper.
She steps onto a little stool and digs into the crate. ”One minute. I remember that one. It has a ---”
It takes a few moments, and a few tossed packages before she straightens up with a small package wrapped in red and black wrapping paper. It's deformed and has some water damage on the corners but overall it is intact. She hands over the package with a triumphant grin.
”Found it...I'm glad we were able to find you. Sorry, you were in the female list. I think it wasn't updated correctly. We have a lot of scrambled records about survivors here. Most of the lists are missing persons, so I don't think most of the people's loved ones will receive the materials that has been sent. We tell them we'll keep on looking anyway, but it seems so hopeless. But not right now! Is it alright if we publish this success? It'll really uplift--”
Ika is barely listening to the rambling woman. He gives a thumbs up and walks off. He jogs over to his tent and places the package into his bag. Then goes back toward the campfire. He checks around him to see if anyone is paying attention to him. Everyone is focused on Faco.
Turner has shared some Cinalian homebrewed alcohol with him.
”It just seemed like she was speaking straight to my heart!” Faco exclaims holding his cup to his chest.
Eli and Turner laugh at the intoxicated male.
”Aaah, you thought you were her knight in shining armor, didn't you?”
”No! I just…. she talked about having the same dreams as me. Wanting to help people, and how she missed her sister. I thought, damn, I have a brother, and I've been to those places.” Faco's dark hair falls into his face, ”I strive for the same things. It could have been me out there. Trapped while on vacation or something...It could have been me.”