It’s Not Easy Making Money In the Apocalypse – V6 - Chapter 15

“What’s the plan?” One of the two men asked, looking specifically at Jacques.

“We’re working together now?” Jacques asked, an amused look on his face.

“Well, you see the threat we’re facing. We’ll all die if we head over there individually. We need a plan.” The other man stated.

“Don’t you mean a distraction?” One of the cloaked men spoke. “A patsy to die while the rest of us take what we want?”

“To hell with that!” The guy who came with the woman spoke up. “I’m not going there to die! Raiders were demanding I give them my girlfriend for protection. I thought if I joined Cock and Balls, I could protect her, but I’m not just going to throw my life away.”

“Ah…” His girlfriend gasped at his words.

“I tried another option.” He looked at her with desperate eyes. “There is no other way. The leader said you just need… you just need to sleep with him when he comes around. Once a month, right? That’s not too much for survival!”

He reached out to grab her hand, but she pulled her hand away, turning away from him. His expression turned from desperation to anger. He took a step forward, but one of the men in cloaks stepped forward and pulled a gun from his belt, aiming it up at the men.

“Seems the lady doesn’t want to go with you.”

It was enough of a threat to cause him to pause. He looked from the man’s gun to the girl cowering behind. His expression turned dark.

“Is that how it’s going to be? You’re going to just suck one of these guys’ dicks and expect them to help you? They won’t protect you like I will. They’ll use you and throw you away.” He glared at all of us as he backed up, and when he saw no one responding, he lifted his middle fingers. “Fuck you, you whore. A dumb bitch like you isn’t worth dying for.”

He spun around and started running back in the direction he came. However, he barely made it ½ a block before a boom shot out. Blood splattered from his head and he stumbled to the ground before dying.

“Fuck!” One of the two brothers cursed as he ducked for cover.

The sound of Roks screeched in the distance.

“Who the hell was it?” The other brother snapped.

“It wasn’t any of us.” Jacques remained calm.

“A sniper?” The man who had previously brought out his gun looked warily at the sky as he crouched down, glancing at the girl. “You okay?”

The girl nodded, but her face was white and she crouched back into the rubble like she wanted to disappear. She distinctly didn’t look where the boy’s body was lying.

“It’s more likely it’s the Cock and Balls observational recruiter.” Pick explained, lighting a cigarette and taking in a deep inhale. “Dip, was it?”

“He’s only supposed to shoot us if we take off with their tech!” I hissed.

“It seems like he changed his mind.” Jacques shrugged. “He had a message to tell us. We go forward, or we die. His message was loud and clear.”

“Yeah, well, he has a funny way of passing messages.” One of the men looked up warily. “The noise put the Roks in a frenzy. They’re starting to search for us. I think we’re pretty hidden from above where we are, but if we poke our heads outside, we’re dead. We’re sitting ducks out here.”

“We are right now.” Jacques declared, looking around a bit before finding a spot in the rubble nearby the half-collapsed walls and lying down. “However, the Roks will be sleeping during the day.”

“The day?” One of the men asked incredulously. “Their vision is even better during the day!”

“You’re welcome to go now.” Jacques shrugged, throwing a blanket over his legs. “I’d rather get some sleep while I can. Tomorrow morning is going to be a dangerous time.”

Although this was supposed to be a race to grab the best tech, no one wanted to die. We couldn’t flee, and the situation outside was now too volatile to risk traveling further. The best we could do was hunker down under some collapsed rubble that still had enough walls and a roof that the Roks couldn’t see us. Everyone came to see things the same as Jacques, although some of them hesitated and argued with themselves for a while before finally setting up camp.

The camp was quickly established, and even though we were opponents, not friends, the camp formed as one. A small nuclear oven was pulled out, and one of the pair of men tossed some food at the girl.

“You can make yourself useful and cook this.”

She didn’t have a choice, so she started cooking the food given to her. To my surprise, the two men shared the food with everyone. I got a small piece of meat as well, although I stashed it in my digitizer rather than eat it. Instead, I took out a meal bar and secretly consumed it when no one was looking my way. I had a few months’ supply of meal bars, so I could survive in the Wasteland for quite a while if I became trapped again.

Once the heater was put away, I started to realize just how cold it was. We had been running half the night and were under enormous stress, so I had been sweating most of the time, but now that we were sitting in one place and it was deep into the night, the chill started to cut through me. I pulled a blanket from my digitizer and draped it over me.

My eyes couldn’t help but glance over at the girl. The boy she had been traveling with had been carrying all the supplies, and when he took off, he had been carrying them. The pack was now lying a ½ block from this place, but if she attempted to leave, she’d either be shot or attacked by Roks. The result was that she could only sit curled up shivering. Her eyes went from blanket to blanket, and to my horror, I realized I could guess what was on her mind. The only chance of having warmth tonight was to share it with someone present. She looked like she was seriously considering climbing into the bedding of the single man who had protected her earlier. It was clear that she was a bit intimidated by the group of two men, who may want to share her.

“Here.” I tossed her a space blanket from my digitizer.

She froze when it fell on her feet, but after a moment she reached out and picked it up, wrapping it around herself. “T-thanks.”

I didn’t want her to get the wrong idea, so I turned away immediately. This left me facing Jacques, who rather than sleeping, was watching me with an amused look.

“What?” I asked.

“You’re still far too nice for the wasteland, Daniel.” He responded in an almost fond voice.

“Whatever…” I shook my head before glancing back his way. “What is the plan tomorrow?”

“The Democracy convoy was hit in the Rok hunting grounds. They’re not dumb beasts. They know that such equipment will bring people. They’ll be waiting to attack anyone greedy enough to come looking. Going to the convoy is suicide.”

“Wait, then what are we going to do?”

“I’ve been watching their movements.” He glanced up, and I realized he had positioned himself in a spot where a gap in the ceiling allowed him to watch the sky overhead. “They seem to coming from that direction.”

He made a weak gesture with his hands in a general direction a bit north of where the convoy was supposed to be.

“Where do they come from?” I asked cautiously.

I was pretty sure I wasn’t the only one listening. I had a feeling like every ear was turned to us at that moment.

“I prefer to hit where they least expect it,” Jacques replied. “If they are laying in the hunting grounds waiting for an ambush, then they won’t be protecting their nests. We leave some incendiary bombs on a timer. When they erupt, the nests will burn sending a cloud up in the sky. All the Rok will return home in a hurry, and then we loot the convoy for all its worth.”

I watched him for a few seconds. “Will that work?”

He shrugged. “It’s my plan. As I’ve said, you’re welcome to do what you want.”

He didn’t say anything more, instead closing his eyes. I knew that he likely had his hand on the trigger of a gun, and was just as alert as he always was. I leaned back and wrapped the blanket around me like a cocoon. I wished I could just return to my world and come back here in the morning, but I knew that was impossible. I had promised myself I wouldn’t be risking my life anymore in the wasteland, and here I was on the outskirts of a city with a crazy plan to invade some mutant bird nest.

I pulled out my blade, keeping it at my side so I could use it at a moment’s notice. As the Roks passed overhead, they made loud shrieking noises, making it very difficult to fall asleep. Surprisingly, despite all the dangers around me, I felt my body slipping into unconsciousness anyway.