"What happened?" Carol asked when she saw him.
Greg sighed as he took a seat next to Carol. "She wants
us to do a favor."
"What does she want?" Jackson asked.
"There's another group in town," Greg said,
"apparently there's some competition for the resources left in town. She
wants us to convince the other group to join her."
"What do we get for doing that?" James asked.
"A week's worth of food."
"That would be a big help," Laura said.
Carol nodded. "Definitely."
"What's the catch?" Shirley asked. "If
that's all she wanted, why'd she have to take you off alone?"
"If they won't listen, she wants us to persuade them.
Destroy some of their supplies and such."
"Ah," Jackson said, "she wants us to do her
dirty work?"
"Why not just do it herself?" Shirley asked.
"She said communication has broken down. Claims her
people get shot at whenever they get close."
James nodded. "So she thinks a fresh face has a chance
to talk to them. And if that fails, well you're already there so you can cause
some trouble."
"And, why put her own people at risk if we'll do it for
her?" Jackson added.
"What happens if we don't do this?" Laura asked.
"Nothing," Greg replied. "She said they'll
let us stay the night and then we'll have to be on our way in the morning.
Without any additional supplies of course."
"There might be another option," Jackson said.
"What's that?" Greg asked.
"How many people were with you when you had your
talk?"
"Just us. There were guards nearby I guess, but just
the two of us as far the conversation went."
"Okay," Jackson said, "maybe her people don't
know about what she's planning."
"What do you mean?" Carol asked.
"Well, we're not dealing with a hardened group of
people here. These are just some people that banded together to survive. They know
each other, they care what each other thinks. They survived the initial
outbreak pretty well so they've never gotten desperate enough to do whatever
they need to do to survive. So maybe we can work out a deal with the other
group."
James nodded. "Tell them what she's planning. Maybe
they'll be generous and give us enough food to last a few days."
"Don't they already have an idea?" Laura asked.
"If they're shooting whenever her people show up...”
Jackson shrugged. "She may not have been entirely
truthful. Maybe she said what she did to get Greg to see things her way."
Greg nodded. "Maybe it isn't an issue of the other
group refusing to join. Maybe Dawn wants to control them.'
James nodded. "It's worth checking out. Go in with an
open mind."
"Alright," Greg said, "that's what we'll do.
I want us all to go though, I don't think I trust her."
"That's a good idea," James said, "we can get
out of here if something goes wrong."
The group ended on that note and spent the rest of the night
resting. They didn't know what was going to happen tomorrow so they figured
they needed to be well rested. Morning came and one of Dawn’s people delivered
them a box of oatmeal for breakfast and a map of the city. The area they needed
to go to was circled in red. After breakfast, the group headed to their
vehicles and drove over.
They saw a fenced in area as they approached. Greg stopped a
good distance away and they proceeded on foot. "Laramie Mobile
Homes," Greg read aloud as they got closer. The mobile home park was
completely fenced in. Greg could see that mobile homes were just on the other
side of the fence. He quickly figured out they were using these to man the
fence as he saw people with rifles spaced every twenty feet or so.
"They're organized," James announced. "The whole
perimeter is guarded. And look around," he said indicating the street
around them. "No wreckage anywhere, nothing to hide behind. They'll see
anyone coming from a long ways off."
"Why would they even want to join up?" Jackson
asked. "They've got a nice defensible set up here, completely
fenced in. They probably don't have as many people to support either."
"Let's approach slowly," Greg said. "We don't
want to make them nervous."
"Make them nervous?" Carol asked. "What do
they have to be nervous about? They're pretty much sitting on a fortress."
Greg chuckled. "Okay, so maybe I'm a little
nervous." He led the way forward and stopped when they were addressed.
There was an older man standing on the other side of the
gate. He looked to be around fifty or so. He was dressed in a pair
of camouflage pants and a matching shirt. "You folks picked a
bad day to come through Laramie."
"I'm sorry?" Greg said.
"I said you picked a bad day to come through. You just
landed yourselves in the middle of our little civil war. We'll talk more
inside. Have some of your people grab your vehicles."
Greg found himself confused. This wasn't at all how he
thought this meeting would play out. He hadn't expected them to be outright
hostile, but he wasn't expecting them to be welcoming either.
"I can see that your confused," the man continued,
"let's get you inside and I'll explain."
Greg nodded. "Jackson, Shirley, go get the cars,
please." They nodded and headed back towards the vehicles. The man
retrieved a set of keys form his pocket and unlocked a large padlock. Two more
men stepped forward and pushed the gates open so the vehicles would have enough
space to get through.
Once everyone was inside, the gate was closed and the man
directed the group to follow him. He led them to an area that had several
wooden picnic tables, Greg thought it might be where they had their meals.
"I'm Richard Fritz," the man said, "you can
say I'm the leader of this little band."
"Greg Lyons," Greg replied as they shook hands.
"This is James, Laura, and their kids Maddy and Junior. That's Carol over
there and Jackson and Shirley are the ones driving the cars."
"Nice to meet you all," Richard said. "Why
don't we have a seat?" Once everyone was seated he continued, "We've
got a few sandwiches left over from breakfast if you guys want any." When
they nodded, Richard gestured towards someone nearby and explained what he
needed. The group made small talk while they ate and James told the story of
how Greg stayed behind when they had to escape the house in Ashton.
"That's impressive," Richard said in appreciation,
"not many would do that."
Greg shrugged the compliment off and the group continued to
make small talk until Greg decided it was time to ask some
questions. "So what did you mean about a bad time to come through?"
"Well you can say we've got a civil war of sorts going
on. Dawn wants to have all the town's resources under her control even though
there's plenty for both of our groups to have what they need."
"She did mention something about the resources,"
Greg said. He decided to take a leap. He didn't trust Dawn at all but Richard
seemed pretty honest. "She wanted us to convince you to join her
group."
Richard shook his head, "I'm afraid you've been
duped."
"What do you mean?" Greg asked with a frown.
"Dawn knows full well you wouldn't have been able to
convince us to join her. What'd she offer?"
"A week's worth of supplies. She wanted us to destroy
some of your stock if we couldn't convince you but we had no intention of doing
that."
"Glad to hear it," Richard replied, "not that
you would've succeeded mind you. But the thing is, Dawn doesn't really care
what you do here. You're a scapegoat."
"What do you mean?"
"Dawn's a smart woman. She knows you would've failed.
Her offering you that food tells me you guys are probably desperate for
supplies so she used that to manipulate you. I'm thinking that she's planning
on attacking soon and she can blame whatever happens on you."
"What?" Greg asked. "Why would she do
that?"
Richard shook his head. "Dawn's surrounded by a good
group of people. I'm talking about average folks. They're not gonna stand for
outright attacking people for no good reason. I actually know some of those
people over there, we used to frequent the same bar before all this
started."
"So she can't do an outright attack because she
wouldn't have any support."
"Exactly. Now, if someone were to come along, say
someone that was only gonna be around for a few days. Well, maybe she can blame
things on them and get away with it."
"She would really do that?"
Richard nodded, "I'd expect her attack to be any day
now. She has to do it while you're still here or she'll lose her chance."
Greg took a moment to look around the table and made a
decision. "How can we help?"
"Help? This isn't your fight. If it wasn't you, she
would've convinced someone else to come out here."
"But it is us and I don't like being used," Greg
said angrily.
"I won't say no to extra help but I want you to know
I'm perfectly willing to give you some supplies and send you on your way."
"The rest of you feel the same way?" Richard asked
as he looked around the table.
"I'm with Greg," James announced. "I don't
like the way she used us."
"I wouldn't feel right knowing she attacked you guys
because of us," Laura said.
Carol, Jackson, and Shirley all nodded their agreement.
"See?" Greg asked. "We're helping."
"Alright then, I'm glad to have you.
"Why don't we take a walk around and I can figure out
where to put you?"
Greg nodded. "Sounds good."
Richard took them on a tour of the trailer park. There
wasn't a great deal to see. It was basically a large square enclosed by a wire
fence. At regular intervals, there was a trailer home set against the fence
which gave the guard on duty a clear line of fire over the fence. Greg had seen
this on their way in. The interesting part came when Richard led them to an
area that was blocked off by several trailer homes.
"This is our little 'secret spot'," Richard
explained as they approached. The 'secret spot' as Richard referred to it was
just a number of trailer homes arranged in a square. Inside they saw an
assortment of vehicles in various stages of repair.
"This is our auto shop," Richard explained.
"Why do you have so many cars?" Greg asked.
"Well, it's not so many as it appears. A number of
these are just being used for parts. There were a lot of accidents on the day
of the outbreak so not everything is in great condition. Hey, Giovanna!"
he called. "Take a break. I want you to meet someone."
A figure slid out from underneath one of the cars and stood up.
She appeared to be Hispanic with black shoulder length hair and was
dressed in a pair of overalls. If the oil stains were any indication, she knew
her way around a car. She used a sleeve to wipe sweat from her brow which only
smeared a bit of oil in its place but she didn't seem to notice. She approached
the group while wiping her hands on a rag that she pulled from one of her
pockets.
"Hey there," she said as she reached them.
"I'm Gio. Richard insists on using my full name just to irritate me."
Greg chuckled. "Nice to meet you, Gio," Greg said
as he extended his hand.
Gio shook hands and smiled. "So, what's going on,
Richard?"
"Our friends here have been caught up in Dawn's latest
scheme. They're gonna stick around to help out."
"Great!" Gio said enthusiastically, "could
always use a hand around here. Any of you know your way around a car?"
Greg glanced at Jackson who shook his head. "Afraid
not."
Gio shrugged. "Oh well, didn't hurt to ask. You fill
them in on the master plan yet, Richard?"
Richard chuckled, "I was getting to that,
Giovanna."
Gio rolled her eyes at his use of her full name.
"Alright, back to work. These cars won't fix themselves." Gio left
the group and was quickly ensconced back under a vehicle.
"What this master plan?" Greg asked.
"Well, I've been thinking and I don't think we can stay
here long term. Eventually, all the easy to grab food will be gone and we'll be
stuck trying to farm. I don't see that going to well with Dawn breathing down
our necks."
"You've got a good spot here though," Carol
said.
Richard nodded. "It's not bad, but it's only good so
long as the food and ammo hold out. After that, it becomes a trap."
"What's the plan then?" Jackson asked.
Richard nodded towards Gio. "I want to get out of here.
Gio is working on getting enough vehicles working. Should be done in the next
few days. Then we leave and Dawn can have this place."
"Where will you go?" Greg asked? "We've got a
similar plan I guess. We were just getting away from Emerald Falls but we
really don't have an end destination in mind."
"I'm thinking the outbreak has made a lot of prime real
estate available. Plus, there's no government authority to say what belongs to
whom. I figure we find an isolated spot and try to build something of our
own."
"That doesn't sound like a bad idea," Greg
replied.
"It's a great idea," Richard said with a smile.
"We hit the hardware store the other day. Got seeds, you know, tomato,
cucumber, corn, and so on. Bunch of stuff that should grow pretty well. Also
got a few loads of lumber and such so we can do repairs when we find a place.
Don't know what condition it'll be in."
"Sounds like you thought of everything," Carol
said.
"Probably not," Richard said with a chuckle,
"but it's a start. Staying here just isn't gonna work. Dawn isn't gonna
leave us alone and she might have eventually convince enough people to come
after us in force. Don't get me wrong, if a bandit comes through I've no
trouble giving them some bullets. But I'm not ready to start shooting people
I've known for years."