Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Goals and Allies

I woke up, blinking, as the light over my head shone unsteadily from its place on the concave concreate ceiling, now and then shutting off completely and throwing my adjusting eyes into darkness. My head was throbbing; its incessant beating speeding as my heart rate increased.

"Morning."

I rolled on my side stiffly so I could see where Zoltan was lying on a stone bench a few feet away. Between us were abandoned cots and boxes of supplies; I recognized them from my colony, and I foggily remembered Xyli and I stumbling home, dragging a semi-conscious Zoltan behind us.

"You ok?" I asked, and he shrugged, so I rolled onto my back and stared at the flickering light a little more.

We were back underground, in the abandoned subway terminal we called home, along with our colony of about three hundred women and kids. Most of the men had been recruited for the war a long time ago, and most of the teenage guys were in gangs. That's why I stayed here. It was a pretty chill place to crash after a hard day of foraging, with lots of nice ladies that would have your back.

One of these ladies approached me, a young woman whose husband was recruited then killed in Africa, leaving her with three children. I had brought her medical supplies one time her little boy was sick, and she had taken it upon herself to make sure I was fed and clothed whenever I stayed in the colony. Her concerned face blocked my view of the flickering light.

"Are ya feeling alright, sweetie?"

I nodded and stood up, taking the damp cloth she offered me and held it to my throbbing head.

"I'm alright, thanks. How bad is it?"

The lady crouched beside me, holding my chin up to look closer at my face. I took the towel down to let her look and heard her exhale softly.

"You'll have yourself a shiner, and a busted lip, but your friend over there got the worst of it. Stay feet for a while and you'll be right as rain."

She gave me a sad, but reassuring smile and I returned it.

We never talked much, but that was alright. We understood each other.

When she had left, Zoltan mumbled, "You sure are popular around here."

"I do bring the most supplies," I replied, watching the woman tend to her three children, two boys, and a girl.

"Yeah, because you stay out for months at a time collecting," Zoltan sighed, "I don't know how you do it."

I shrugged and didn't answer.

"You didn't have to do that you know," Zoltan looked over at me, and I saw a bloody slash over his left eyebrow.

"Do what?" I asked, even though I knew the answer

"Jump in there with me. I was doing fine getting myself killed without your help."

I laughed despite of myself.

"I know. But what are friends for if not to get killed together?"

"I'd prefer you'd both not get killed," Xyli walked up to us, gingerly picking her way around cots and blankets full of sleeping or playing children. Dropping her backpack beside my cot, she sat down tiredly beside it.

"I know," I mumbled, reaching over and tugging on her ponytail.

She giggled nervously, and we all joined in before lapsing into a troubled silence. We were all worried about collecting supplies and staying out of the Scorpion's way.

"I was just checking with some of the leaders here... They're running low of supplies," Xyli mumbled, fingering a strap of her backpack.

"You think we don't know?" Zoltan asked, not unkindly.

"We can't keep stealing from the Scorpions, Zolt," I added, "It is getting too dangerous. And I can't keep going into the ruins, either. All the grocery stores and warehouses that humans can get into are empty now, and the rats have taken what's left. Foraging won't keep anyone alive anymore. At least not around here."

I hadn't mentioned this before, so I was a little surprised when Zoltan nodded. A few little boys, no older than ten, rushed past us, playing some sort of game. I watched them dodge between the cots and boxes, contented smiles covering their faces.

"I just don't know where else to get the supplies. The Scorpions collect it from all around. Government workers deliver stuff to them. It's all the best of the best, and the families down here need it. They're the only ones we can steal from," Zoltan rolled over.

"We're running out of everything. Food, clean water, medicine... gas mask filters, Kora. That's what scares me most, I think. We're saving all we can but it's not enough. They're running out."

Zoltan's voice was quiet and had a hint of hopelessness in it.

"I know," was all I could think to say.

Zoltan sat up, kicking at a metal box of bandages.

"We can't just stand by and do nothing."

"We're not!" I argued, "But what else can we do?"

"What about the Plant?" Xyli suggested meekly.

The Plant was an old government building far outside of town where the army used to manufacture poisonous gases like Mustard Gas and Phosgene. About two thousand government employees worked in the plant and lived nearby until a massive explosion from a shell destroyed sections of the storage facilities, releasing much of the gas into the air. It killed about half of the workers and their families and was called the Plant Catastrophe until later in the war when other horrors took its place in the news.

"You're kidding. The place is like a cloud of gas all the time. New containers rust and open every day," Zoltan dismissed the idea with a wave of his hand, but I considered it for a moment.

"Who cares?" I said suddenly, causing both my friends to look over at me in surprise.

"Hear me out," I continued, "The Plant is about a day's walk, and it's huge, so it'll take a few days to explore. We'd have to fix up a truck or something to carry all the supplies back. If we do get in and get the supplies, we can save everyone here. That stuff would be enough to keep everyone safe for years! Or at least, until politicians can get their act together. It'll last until something changes."

"Are you missing the point about the deadly gas?" Zoltan reminded me, but I shrugged.

"We have gas masks, don't we?"

"That's not the point!" My friend continued, waving his arms to signify the importance, "Half of the gases in there will burn your skin right off! And the other half are unidentified experiments, so who knows what they'd do to you!"

"So, we wear suits!"

"Suits that could withstand that kind of chemicals? That would have to be the latest in technology. We'd never get anything close to it."

Zoltan shook his head and rolled over, too tired to even argue with me anymore.

"Zol is right, Kora," Xyli said, putting her hand on mine, "it would be too dangerous without special equipment."

"Yeah, it would," I observed quietly, "I don't know. I guess... I guess I was thinking that if we don't go, we'll probably survive and keep foraging through remains for supplies. Until a well-placed shell or falling building kills us. Or the Scorpions finish us. Or we all get old enough, recruited and killed somewhere in Africa. Or we starve or die of thirst with everyone else here."

"What's your point?" Zoltan called from his bench.

"My point is we're all going to die sometime. I'd rather die trying to save some of these families than wait for fate to catch up with us."

I sat up, the words giving me energy. All was silent for a brief instance and we could hear the low voices of others in the colony.

"It's a suicide mission," Zoltan mumbled finally, but I shook my head.

"Not if we're smart. We stick together and use our brains, and we might just make it out for all the people down here to throw us a celebratory parade."

Xyli brightened, "I like parades. I've seen them on the TV."

"It's not likely that they will give us a parade," Zoltan argued.

"It's about as likely as us making it back alive!" I countered.

Zoltan was quiet for a moment, then sighed.

"Well, if you put it like that, I'd like a parade too."

"Does that mean you're in? Because I can't do it alone."

"I'm in!" Xyli said shyly, an innocent smile on her face.

"Ugh... I thought I did my hero bit yesterday," Zoltan remarked but was silenced by a fierce look from me.

"Fine! Fine, ok, I'm in, lets save the day and get a parade."

I accepted my victory; however sarcastic it may have been.

"Cool."

"But we'll need proper supplies! I'm not risking my life without some actual gear."

"You just want to look awesome in a gas suit," Xyli giggled and Zoltan pretended to be outraged at the accusation.

"Actually..." My two friends looked at me, "I think I might have an idea about the suits."

"What?"

I gave them a sly grin.

"His name's Pan."

@ @ @

"His name is Pan?" Zoltan looked skeptical, taking a few steps to the left to avoid a massive pothole.

"It's short for Panther," I explained as we walked, but that explanation did not satisfy my friends.

"Why- "

"He was in the WildCats Program," I cut Zoltan off, reminding him of the government program that took gifted young inventors and forced them to design weapons for the Alliance. The program was dissolved after the governments ran out of materials to make the new designs, and the WildCat inventors had become the go-to people for innovated materials. If I ever had something special that no one else could make, all I had to do was find a WildCat, and Panther was my go-to guy.

Xyli, Zoltan, and I were walking through a make-shift street market where Scavengers could trade their wares to passerby for food or supplies. The road we were walking on was one of the only unbroken roads left in the city and went by the name Miracle Road for that reason.

"Remember, we're not here to shop," I reprimanded Xyli as she stopped for the fifteenth time at an interesting stall, this one selling old books and newspapers taken from ruined houses.

"I'm not shopping, I'm looking!" Xyli pouted, but Zoltan took her hand and pulled her along.

"Where is this Panther?" Zoltan complained after we passed through the marketplace and walked for a little way along Miracle Road.

"Here!" I said, suddenly turning off the road and walking through a brick wall.

On the other side was a quaint little workshop, full from top to bottom with gadgets, parts, and inventions. In the very middle was a tall desk and chair, raised a few feet off the ground by some sort of reverse gravity device. On the chair, behind the desk, was a little blonde boy no more than ten, clacking away at a laptop computer.

"Can you turn off the holographic wall for a minute, Panther?" I asked quietly, so as not to break his concentration.

He looked up for no more than a second to press a button on his desk before going back to typing.

I turned around and watched the brick wall behind me flicker. One moment, it dissolved into numerical static, the next I was staring out into the street at the two astonished faces of my friends.

"Come on in!"

They walked into the workshop with awe-struck expressions that made me giggle.

"This is Panther's laboratory. Neat, isn't' it?"

Zoltan and Xyli nodded dumbly, their eyes wandering the walls and floor.

While they were doing that, Pan finished whatever code he was working on and pressed a button that lowered his hovering chair to the floor.

"Hia, Kora!"

"Hey, Pan."

He rushed over to hug me, even though his head only came up to my waist.
"Who's this?"

I introduced my friends, and Zoltan shook his hand in admiration while Xyli fell to her knees for a big hug.

With the pleasantries out of the way, I got right down to business.

"Pan, we need your help."

Pan stood straight and serious, asking, "What can I do for you?"

"We need suits. Full body suits to protect us from gas."

Pan considered this request.

"You know, the Consortium ran out of mustard gas the skin-harming gases a long time ago..."

"I know, but we're not worried about that. We're going to the Plant."

"The Plant!" He echoed, and again, "The Plant!"

I nodded seriously, giving my friend a moment to consider.

"Well," He said when he had collected himself sufficiently, "You will indeed need some special equipment."

Pan rushed around, choosing different tools and bits of metal, hollering as he did, "GRIFFEN! Did we have some of that Tyvek leftover from that experiment we did... Project Shellfire?"

The artificial intelligence system, named Giffen from the acronym of Geological Intelligence Fact Finder Evidentiary Network, blinked to life from the tiny box where it stayed like a pet on Pan's desk.

"I believe we have some TYVEK in the LEFT CABINET."

"Thanks!" Pan called after retrieving the item in question.

My friends looked over at me in confusion as Pan rushed back and forth sewing and typing and inventing. I nodded reassuringly at them. He knew what he was doing. We just had to wait.

While he did that, I went over the formulating plan in my mind. There were a lot of supplies in the Plant, and the whole mission would be a failure if we couldn't get them back to the colony. The roads, however, were a tragedy, and finding a working vehicle would be a miracle. There was no way we could get a big truck to the Plant and back.

Then it hit me.

"Hey, Pan?"

My voice broke his concentration and he looked up at me in annoyance. I held up my hands in apology but spoke out anyway.

"We also could use a vehicle. I was thinking a chopper?"

"A helicopter? The kid has a helicopter?" Zoltan asked, eyes wide and disbelief obvious in his voice.

I didn't blame him for doubting; the government had commandeered most standard-issue helicopters long before, but Pan's chopper was not standard issue. He had built it himself from spare parts, and rarely let it out of his sight.

"You want the Ostrich?" Pan asked, the disbelief in his voice rivaling Zoltan's.

"You named your helicopter the Ostrich? Ostriches don't fly!" Xyli interrupted, but Pan shrugged.

"The point was that I'm such a good inventor I can make an Ostrich fly."

"Ahh," Xyli got it, "Clever!"

"Thanks," Pan beamed, "I thought so."

"Excuse me, go back to the part where you have a chopper?" Zoltan interjected.

Pan looked from him to me.

"Please, Pan. We really need it," I begged.

He crossed his arms.

"The suits are a favor for all the business you've thrown my way over the years. But the Ostrich? I'm going to need something in return."

I nodded.

Fair Enough.

"How about I bring you the plans from the Plant's hard drives?"

"The plans for all the old military weapons? And surveillance equipment?" Pan's eyes lit up and shone like a lightbulb, and I grinned. He was hooked.

"Yeah."

"Ostrich is out in back, go get settled! I'll bring the suits right out!"

I grinned at my two friends, and we all turned to leave.