It’s Not Easy Making Money In the Apocalypse – V5 - Chapter 20

After talking to Raven and asking a bit about the area around us that she gained while scouting the last few days, I had given the guards my explanation of what I needed from them as well as payment. They still had dazed expressions on their faces as I sent them back into the city with orders.

“Is that everything?” Raven asked irritably as we watched them leave.

“Yeah, we’re finished up here. I’d like you to bring them back to the Ascension headquarters.”

“You’re not coming?” Her eyebrow raised.

“No, I’ll return on my own. I have some other things I need to prepare for.” I admitted awkwardly. “You should be okay though, right?”

“I don’t know about that… it’s a pretty large group.” Her eyes darted to the large group behind me. “Why am I starting to feel like your errand girl?”

“You’re imagining things.” I coughed. “You saved me back there. I can’t do this without you.”

Her usually hard expression softened slightly at my words which sounded almost flirtatious. I didn’t like those kinds of shady tactics other guys used to seduce women. I had seen them used on my sister and mother countless times so I was more familiar with them, and they gave me a bad taste. The worst ones were the ones that worked. However, Raven had always had a prickly personality. Since I realized Raven was a girl and she had attacked me in bed, she had only grown pricklier.

Besides, I wasn’t exactly telling a fib. Her presence had been necessary to keep the guard and his cronies under check. I had already sent them back into the city after explaining their roles. I handed them a few crystals and a mission, and I trusted they’d do it too if they wanted to keep the money flowing.  In essence, they were my liaison in the city. They would escort my goods into the city and directly to the councilmen’s storage.

Why did I ultimately hire and put my trust in such shady characters? Well, there were several reasons. First off, shady people were easier to control in some ways. It was obvious what they wanted, and where their bottom line was to get it. I didn’t want to risk the lives of good people, and I wasn’t even confident I’d convince anyone else to be able to act as my courier.

Besides, these guys were selfish, not stupid. They wouldn’t rip off the councilman directly or attempt to steal a shipment inside his city. Even if they skimmed a little off the top, I’d factor that in and use it as a means of keeping them tied to me. It was something I had learned after dealing with Riley and the slave traders. Everyone had their motivations. If you wanted to tie people to you, you needed to make their motivation tie in with your own, otherwise, they’re likely to just take off. In this world, few had the resources of Twin Elms to chase after those that owed them.

“Are you sure you can make it back to headquarters on your own?” Raven looked at me suspiciously and with just a tad of worry.

Although Katarina and Kiera knew about the fact I came from another world, I hadn’t told Raven any specifics about it. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust her, but that it was a complicated subject. Katarina couldn’t wrap her head around it, and even though Kiera was in my world and could see it, she still thought of it as some kind of special colony. For someone like Raven, I dreaded the thought of convincing her. She’d likely think I was trying to pull a prank on her. Furthermore, telling her would be the same as telling the rest of the Fire Ravens, and I wasn’t sure I trusted them all with such a major secret.

If the Syndicate learned of my ability, they could cause all kinds of trouble. It wasn’t even my access to the technology I was terrified of. It was Marsh and his Cock and Balls. They had come to my world. They had kidnapped my sister. They had the technology. What would happen if the Syndicate raided the Allco R&D and secured the technology for themselves? An army of Syndicate using technology that made my world look like a joke could suddenly appear. My world would end just as quickly as this one had.

I could only shake when I thought of the possibility. That was why I had to get back as fast as I could so that I could meet with Jacque and sneak into Allco. I didn’t just want the technology for myself. I wanted to make sure that no one else had the technology. It was the only way to protect my world from following in the footsteps of this world. Of course, if I walked home with Raven, I’d just manage to get back in time, but after what happened under the hospital in that hidden Research area, I realized I couldn’t risk it. I had to get back as soon as possible.

I reassured Raven that people from my colony would be assisting me from here on out, which was why I couldn’t include her. She was regretful that I wasn’t taking her with her and annoyed that I was giving her such a hefty task as escorting such a large group back, but a group that size was unlikely to be messed with, and with the additional men I armed, they had more than enough defenses to protect against anything.

Finally, she took the group and left. I continued to watch until the group disappeared from my sight. Almost immediately, the dangers of the wasteland came pressing down on me. I recalled that it was the first time that I had ever been on my outside. I felt like my eyes were watching me, but it had to be in my mind. I quickly left the area, heading into a nearby building.

If one looked closely at the building, one might be able to identify it as a former bank.  Inside the building, there were signs of life. There were the black markings of a fire as well as the signs of human presence. This was where Raven and her group had stayed while I was within the safety of the city. It had an old turret attached to the wall which was set to fire at anyone who acted aggressively. This was enough to keep raiders and mutants at bay. As I walked by, it scanned me and determined that I wasn’t a threat. Had I left a weapon out, it would have immediately delivered a warning before firing.

It seemed like Raven had already known about this place before even coming to Twin Elms, and it was the reason that she had been willing to stay outside without a fight. I wasn’t interested in this main area though. I had already walked by the abandoned camp and went to a door. I plugged my adapter into the door and uploaded the Master code. According to Raven, if someone walked through this door without having the proper identity, the turret would grow hostile toward them. Thankfully, it was pointing away from the door and toward the entrance, so it wasn’t a threat, but I didn’t want it to become hostile so I immediately registered myself anyway.

I opened the door after a green light showed, and it opened into a stairway. Turning the light on from my Perco, I walked down to the stairway. I was in a basement area that was primarily taken up by a giant vault in the middle of the room. Walking up to the vault, I plugged my adapter in once again. No one had managed to open this vault in decades. Even for a powerful hacker, such a thing was a difficult task. Yet, with my Perco 9000, it was made easy. Only a few moments later, the door made several thudding sounds and then rolled open.

I walked into the bank’s vault and looked around the room where there were stacks and stacks of cash. Then, I let out a sigh. Picking up one of the stacks, I could see the face of the statue of liberty, except that they were carrying a scroll, not a torch. This was money from this world pre-war, and it was completely useless. It wasn’t like every bank had deposit boxes and gold. It was just useless money. It was no wonder that no one had ever bothered to go to the effort of entering this vault.

However, it was secure and ended up being the perfect drop-off point for supplies. The councilmen had given me a list of things he wanted that I could provide from my world. I would use this place to satisfy his list. I would give him a little bit at a time until we could get our caravan set up properly. That was the job of those guards. They’d come by once a week and deliver some of the supplies to the councilman. I’d also be letting them have a small slice as payment. I also let them know that if they took more than their proper quota, a bomb would go off, killing them all. We still had several security measures left over from the mall, and Cecelia could manage at least that much with some video recorders and a basic algorithm.

“Now, I just got to get it all set up.” I nodded to myself. “World Travel!”