“The world can never go back to the way it was!” Marcus barked suddenly. “The old world is gone, and this is the only way I know how to survive in the new one. If we were to do this, we’d be risking everything.”
“We’re a family, Marcus,” the blonde woman reminded him. “The Scavenger nation is a way of life, not a single location. As long as we stick together, we will survive any adversity that comes our way.”
“The answer is still ‘no,’” the man with slicked back hair repeated. “It’s dangerous, reckless, and foolish. I will not risk my men in a suicide mission, especially when we’ve lost so many good ones in the last few months.”
Natalie crossed her arms and stared her leader down.
“This is about the city, isn’t it?” she observed. “You don’t want to abandon your hometown.”
“That’s not it,” Marcus snorted.
“Yes, it is,” Natalie chuckled with frustration. “You weren’t here when the bombs went off, so now you feel like it’s your sacred duty to make sure nothing else happens to it. What a good little soldier.”
“That’s enough!” the leader hissed and narrowed his eyes. “I will not have you talk to me like that, Natalie. You may be one of our best fighters, but I’m still your leader. I said no, and that is my final word. Now, I’d suggest you both go back and celebrate with your friends while you still can. I want us to be out on the water first thing in the morning.”
Natalie went to say something, but Marcus completely blew her off. He turned around and grumbled to himself as he disappeared back into his tent, and then the two of us were left alone.
“Fucker,” the blonde woman mumbled underneath her breath.
Everything good over there? Karla chuckled. According to your vitals, you’re about a minute away from having a brain aneurysm.
“The Scavenger leader isn’t going for our plan,” I explained to Miss Nash. “In fact, he thinks we’re both idiots for even suggesting it.”
That’s a shame, Karla sighed. You could have really used a few more men for this one.
“You’re telling me,” I agreed. “I guess we could try again tomorrow? Maybe he’ll be in a better mood if we’re not interrupting his mating session.”
Suddenly, Natalie motioned for me to follow her. We walked a few feet down the shore, and when we were finally out of the earshot of Marcus, the blonde woman leaned in close.
“Tell the voice in your head we won’t need to try again tomorrow,” Natalie interjected. “We’re going tonight.”
“Beg pardon?” I chuckled. “The power plant is many miles away. Even if we started walking right now, we wouldn’t get there until at least tomorrow evening. And what about the Forest of Fallout? I don’t know what that is, but your leader made it sound like it wasn’t a place you wanted to be without backup.”
“I saw how we worked together back in the Fallen Lands,” Natalie reminded me. “It wasn’t pretty, but we overcame terrible odds and made it back safely. Sure, it’s not ideal to go off alone… but if anyone can do it alone, I think it’d be us.”
Let me guess, Karla’s voice spoke up, she’s trying to convince you to go right now?
“Yup,” I confirmed.
Good girl, Miss Nash snickered. I’m liking her more and more by the minute.
I didn’t know… this sounded like a really dangerous mission. And, as much as I trusted Natalie’s skills and Karla’s guidance, going into it literally in the dark with only two people sounded like it was beyond risky.
Then again, what choice did we have?
Marcus made it obvious he wasn’t interested, and I doubted anything short of a miracle would change that. Sure, we could probably round up a few more members of the Scavengers and get them to come along, but that would just draw the attention of their leader.
I could tell I was already on thin ice with this guy, and pissing him off even more was probably not a good idea, even if Natalie did have my back.
“I guess we don’t really have another choice, do we?” I shrugged.
“If we head back to my quarters, we should be able to scrounge all the supplies we’ll need.” Natalie nodded. “I doubt we’ll be gone for longer than twenty-four hours, so we should only need to pack the essentials.”
“Twenty-four hours?” I questioned. “It’s gonna take us at least that long just to get there on foot.”
“That’s why we’re not going by foot, Hunter.” Natalie just rolled her eyes and grinned excitedly. “We’re going to steal a vehicle.”
Chapter 8
“Aren’t your people like, badass warriors?” I chuckled nervously as Natalie and I made our way back to her tent. “I love your gusto… but isn’t stealing one of their precious modes of transportation and pissing them off a really bad idea?”
“It is, but how would they be able to catch us?” Natalie joked with a sly smirk. “You said it yourself. We can’t walk to the plant, or we’d be walking forever. And if we were to move on foot, the rest of the Scavengers would be able to catch up to us in no time.”
I guess she had a point. If you asked me to bet money on a race between a man and a dune buggy, I’d go for the dune buggy every time. Hell, even Usain Bolt couldn’t outrun one of those things.
Eventually, we arrived back at Natalie’s punk-rock, patch-covered tent, and she threw back the door and marched inside while I awkwardly waited for her out on the sandy beach. Finally, the blonde woman poked her head back out.
“For fuck’s sake, Hunter,” she sighed, “you don’t need an invitation to come inside.”
Oh, right. I guess “knocking” and “personal space” also weren’t things the Nuclear Generation practiced.
I wandered into the Scavenger’s tent and then tried my best not to be nosy. Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see Natalie kept everything inside of her dwelling nice and tidy and packed away.
The walls of her tent were decorated with the same gaudy patches as the outside. Two battered mannequins stood next to the woman’s bed, each one dressed with an outfit that looked like it was ripped straight out of a Hot Topic. A simple cot with a blanket sat at the far edge of the tent, while the rest of the perimeter was lined with ammo boxes.
“Are you… stockpiling bullets in here?” I gasped.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” the blonde woman chuckled as she bent over and flipped open one of the large metal tins. “I use these for storage after they’re empty. It really fits with my aesthetic, huh?”
Couldn’t argue there.
As Natalie rummaged through one of the longer boxes, my eyes wandered up her long, slender legs until they finally came to a halt on her firm ass. She was still in her combat pants, but they were so tight against her curves that I thought she was going to pop out of them at any moment.
Finally, the blonde woman came up with two small, torn-up blue backpacks. She tossed one of them over at my feet and then nodded for me to pick it up.
“There’s a supply house just north of my tent,” she explained as she slung her backpack over her shoulder. “It’s the one-story building with the crumbling green siding. Gather up all the supplies you can think of, and then meet me back here in an hour.”
“Wait,” I questioned, “they’re not gonna just let me waltz in there and take anything I want, are they?”
“You’ve still got a lot to learn, Hunter,” Natalie mused. “The door will be unlocked, and there aren’t any guards there at all. Scavengers don’t really give a damn about our generic supplies. A roll of toilet paper or a can of beans is shared with the community since we can always go out and scavenge some more. Now, if you tried to steal one of William’s vodka bottles or one of Marcus’ paintings? That would be another story.”