It’s Not Easy Making Money In the Apocalypse – V6 - Chapter 16

I felt a pressure on my shoulders, and my hand instinctively tightened around the knife under my bed. With the flick of a switch, my blade would become incredibly sharp and capable of cutting through just about anything, including anyone who threatened me.

“It’s morning. Time to go.” Jacques spoke gently near my ear.

Wordlessly, I pushed myself up. The knife was still in my hands as I pulled it out from under the pillow I had used. The pillow returned to my digitizer as I moved to my feet. Everyone else appeared to already be up. Most of them were checking their supplies, but one or two of them watched me. When they saw the knife, they gave slight nods. Whether it was the acceptance that I wasn’t a pushover or acknowledgment of the troubles they’d have to experience if they went for me, I didn’t know.

“We’re going for the nest?” I asked quietly as I pulled a bottle of water from my digitizer, opened it, and drank it all in a single swig.

By the time I had my hand down, it had already disappeared in the digitizer. I didn’t want the others to get to see too much about what I had. If they became aware that I was holding fresh food and water, let alone my façade as a raider, I might not even be safe. Only Jacques knew a bit about my abilities, and perhaps Pick had noticed a thing or two as well. Yet, other than my Perco, I didn’t let any of them know anymore about me either.

“I’ve been analyzing the signals all night,” Cecelia spoke in my earpiece which I hadn’t taken out the previous night in case she needed to alert me to something around me. “I’ve managed to piece together a localized map. The markings are any technology giving off a signal. I predict that the convoy is three klicks to the south and the bird nest is two klicks southeast.”

“You can even predict where the nest is?” I hid my question with a yawn as I stretched my arms.

Cecelia was the other reason I could be confident in this group. I left her watching my back all night, so even though I fell asleep, it wasn’t like she couldn’t warn me immediately. Unfortunately, my ear ached where I had left the headphone in my ear. It wasn’t like it was invisible to others either, but this world never developed wireless headphones, and most people in the Wasteland made it a habit not to ask questions.

“They likely took any tech they found shiny back to their nest,” Cecelia explained. “The nest might be as good of an area to hit as the convoy.”

Her calculation of where the nest was seemed to match Jacque’s assessment. Jacques probably knew more than he was letting on, including the fact there was tech there. Was that his aim? He wanted us all looking at the convoy. We’d all be rushing to the convoy while Jacques would clear out the nest and walk back with plenty of resources. I wondered if I silent sniper would accept such items as convoy items. I suppose it depended on what Jacques found, and what he was willing to bribe the other man with before he allowed him to leave alive.

Yeah, it hadn’t been said out loud, but we all figured out on our own that we wouldn’t be leaving this suburb without paying him a tax. So, we wouldn’t just need to gather enough technology to get accepted into Cock and Balls, but we also had to get enough to pay him off as well. This was the way of the Wasteland, and a raider group wouldn’t expect any less.

I just felt bad for the girl. She had avoided jumping in someone’s bed last night because of me, something that had earned me a few dark looks, but that morning my blanket had been gently folded at my feet. She had no weapons and no means of surviving an incursion. I was debating whether I wanted to hand her one of my guns when Jacques walked over to her and held out a pistol.

“Here, take it.” He declared, and when he noticed me eyeing him, he snorted. “No one should die unarmed in the Wasteland.”

He had just been telling me the previous night I was too nice, but now he was acting quite good himself, even though his words seemed to suggest that she’d probably die anyway. That didn’t phase her though, even when dying in a scorching desert, you’d lick any drop given to you. She quickly snatched the gun before nodding and whispering thank you. One of the single men glowered at that, and it was clear by his face he was waiting to save her from a desperate situation to win her affection. Now that she was armed, that was less likely to happen. Well, it wasn’t like if the situation didn’t become dangerous, he wouldn’t abandon her in a second either way. Every single one of us was disposable to the others.

“Are we going?” I asked, replacing my knife with the gun I almost gave the girl.

“We might as well get going. Stay low and stay quiet. If you can be under something, be under something. Roks have extraordinary vision and if they see us, they will hunt us down even if they have to dog us for miles.”

I nodded, and the group of us started moving. It wasn’t until we started heading out the door that we noticed two people staying behind. Jacques rose an eyebrow at the two male groups.

“We’ve decided to go for the convoy,” The man said.

“The convoy?” One of the cloaked men growled. “Don’t you mean you’re going to wait until we make the distraction so you can get the first pick?”

The girl gasped, while Pick spit to the side. “Making us do the hard work and trying to reap the rewards.”

The two men cocked their weapons, standing defiantly against the rest of the group. “You want to do something about it? You said you would do you, and we could do what we want. What you do at the nest has nothing to do with us. If you failed, we’d be on our own, and even if you succeeded, we still had to get close with all of those Rok’s overhead. If we reap rewards, it’s only our luck for making a good choice.”

“That’s not…” I started to speak, but Jacques grabbed my arm.

“Don’t bother with them. We’re trying to become raiders, not family. They don’t owe me anything, and I don’t owe them either.”

I looked over at him and then nodded. He was right. I had already stopped myself from speaking before he grabbed my arm. I had already remembered that there was no fairness in the Wasteland. Perhaps, this would be their best decision and ensure their positions. Maybe, it would get them killed. Only time would tell.

The rest of us left as they kept their weapons trained on us. Only when their grinning faces were out of sight did I feel like taking in a deep breath? I wasn’t intimidated by them, but I did feel annoyed. I supposed most of the people present would try to kill them if they got the opportunity, but I wasn’t sure what I would do. I didn’t dare say anything though because we were outside already and had to remain quiet.

We moved in a small line. Jacques took the lead and everyone else seemed to follow him. His charisma had seemingly put him in charge once again. However, it wasn’t just a smile, but also how he carried himself. He moved with confidence, and that confidence was infectious. Although even though it put everyone at ease, no one was foolish enough to put their guard down. Everyone kept their eyes up and were constantly on the lookout for Roks.

Occasionally, one would fly overhead, although Jacques appeared to be right. They were all coming from one direction and heading to another. The direction most of them were heading was away from the spot we were going and toward where the convoy coordinates were that we were given. As we got closer, I only saw one or two Rok’s flying overhead. As for the nest, it was a parking lot. That wasn’t the right term. It looked like a car lot, except all of the cars and electrical components had been picked up and then plopped around, creating a nest made out of shrapnel and iron.

It was hard to determine anything of value in that spread of random stuff grabbed by the Rok, but Cecelia had already mapped out everything that was putting off a signal, which meant everything that had any value to me would be a breeze to find. I’m sure Jacques had his plans of using us to acquire the maximum rewards, but I had my tricks and I was the one who was going to benefit the most from this incursion.