Black Market Merchant

Riding on Dixon’s hover bike made it far easier to catch up the fleeing townspeople. The path most of the people took was easy to follow because their footprints were easy to spot in the sandy ground and they rarely deviated from following the river too. The sun was already well on its way to falling into sunset by the time he caught up with the slowest of the townspeople.

The first of the people they caught up to were made up of the elderly or sick. Their conditions were so bad that many of them had not even traveled out of sight of the town yet. Lagging far behind, be it due to abandonment or by choice, there was hardly any sight of the younger generations. Seeing these old wrinkle souls hobbling and shuffling along was a heart wrenching sight.

At first Nathan would ask Dixon to land so he could speak with them directly, full well knowing that their hearing would be bad or that they would be too stubborn to return. After a few times landing then taking off again it was clear to him that this was going to b a lot more challenging than he expected. It took him a long time to explain the situation individually to them and he often had to repeat himself over and over. In time he was able to get them to go back and go towards the dam.

Though as he flew off to find the others he worried if these old and sickly people would be all right. They were already in poor condition and with little to no food or water in this young summer heat, it was entirely possible that heat stroke or other medical conditions might kill them. Yet there was not anything more he could do for them other than swiftly get them back to Lisa and the others.

Finding the rest of the fleeing townspeople ended up not being that hard. Traveling in larger groups and tossing up dust clouds as they went, the townspeople were easy to spot from above. What ended up being hard was getting them all to go back.

Many feared he was lying to them or trying to purposefully slow them down so that others ahead of them would escape. Nathan had to explain the situation carefully and make sure he addressed each person’s worries in a way that made since to them. This kind of explaining was much different than what he had done back at the ERM headquarters. Delegating the right wording and explanations to calm their fears was much harder than answering questions with half empty promises and assurances.

Another issue that was most evident was that the people from the westside of town had no idea who he or the East River Militia were. To them he was just a nobody that just happened to be flying on a hover bike and telling them to go back towards the supposed danger looming behind them. He ended up having explain what and who the East River Militia were and that they were organizing themselves to be the governing body for the town. If it were not for the eastern townspeople scattered among these western groups supporting Nathan’s argument and claims, it might have been impossible to convince everyone.

The hardest part to explain was how the Twisted Hoard was forced away from the town. No one on both sides believed that a handful of people could have stopped such a monster force. Many of them had seen the hoard themselves and they were the hardest to convince. However, Lisa’s tip to use the Sun People’s name and reputation helped significantly to win them over. As well as the prospects of being able to get food and water again, rather than suffering for weeks in the desert scrubland, also made for a compelling argument.

He continued to go from group to scattered group until the sun had already fallen below the horizon. The last group he could spot in the dying light happened to be the largest group thus far. Nathans voice had already turned scruffy and hoars by now and was not looking forward to shouting to all these people so that his message could be heard by all. As soon as he got Dixon to land at the front of this group, he was relieved to see that Mr. Flanagan was leading them.

“Mr. Flanagan, I finally found you.” Nathan called down hoarsely as Dixon descended.

Looking above him with an unexpecting look on his face, Mr. Flanagan was relieved to see that it was Nathan. “I didn’t even hear that hover bike coming this way. What happened to the hoard? If you are here, then something must have gone wrong. Are the Twisted coming our way right now?”

Dixon came to a stop just a meter above the ground and Nathan hopped off. He then calmly stretched his back before speaking. “I am actually bringing good news, the Twisted have left the town.”

Mr. Flanagan acted as if he couldn’t understand Nathan. “All the Twisted are gone?”

“Yes, all the Twisted are gone.” Nathan said with a grin. “We managed to hold them off somehow. Lisa and the Hunter Mech, with a surprising assistance from a young girl named Hanna, pushed that big white Twisted off the cliff and into the river. It was then the Sun People showed up on a barge and shot some sort of gas at the monster. The gas drove off that large white monster and all the rest followed it out of town. Lisa and Gillian will be doing an organized check of the town to be sure. So, at this moment it is safe to return.”

Mr. Flanagan was so relieved to hear this news he instantly sat down on a nearby rock. “Finally! I can stop trying to run. Everyone!” He called to everyone that was curiously gathering around them by this point. “Let me tell you all the good news.”

As Mr. Flanagan relayed the news Dixson got Nathans attention. “Hey, I think we will have to postpone searching for the others that might be further ahead. The sunlight is nearly gone now, and we might end up passing by them in the dark.”

Nathan sighed. “Your probably right. Besides its not like everyone is going to want to wander back to town in the dark. We will need to make camp right here then.”

…

It was late afternoon by the time Dixon and Nathan made their return to the dam. They had traveled almost fifteen kilometers during their search for everyone from town. They hadn’t been able to find any more tracks in the sand further than that distance and it was safe to assume everyone would be returning.

As they approached the dam Nathan could not believe the mouthwatering smell rising from below. There looked to be dozens of fires burning all over the parking lot, on the dam, and even surrounding the powerhouse building property. Around these numerous fires were hundreds of people and more were still arriving back in town to join the throng.

“Now that smells good! What could Lisa and the others have found to be able to cook on so many fires?” Nathan called up to Dixon.

Dixon glanced back over his shoulder. “I am not sure but my guess from the smell is that its meat.”

There was nowhere easy for them to land at near the powerhouse building but on the far side of the dam it was open. As they came in for a landing, they found that Gillian was already there. He and many from the ERM were gathering the dead bodies of the Twisted together as requested.

“Gillian!” Nathan called out getting off from the hover bike for the last time. “What is going on over on the other side of the dam? It looks like a festival is going on.”

“I guess it does. Hmm, who knows, today might become a town festival.” Gillian replied wiping his black blood smeared hands on his already stained pants. “Last night I came up with a short-term solution to our food shortage. Lisa agreed that it was a viable choice too. Though I need to check on one thing. Dixon? Are you ok with not collecting any materials from the Logos Cutters?”

Dixon turned off his hover bike and came over to join the other two. He looked over at the pile of dead twisted and let out a shrill whistle. “Wow, in that pile is way more Twisted than I expected. So, yah, we shouldn’t need to get anything from the Logos Cutters. Their claws are really the only thing about them worth keeping.”

Gillian nodded. “Good, because the food we found are the Logos Cutter themselves.”

“You are eating Logos Cutters!?” Both Nathan and Dixon said in unison.

“Yes, they looked just like rabbits and after eating them they taste the same too.” Gillian answered.

“That’s borderline crazy!” Dixon said giving a nervous laugh. “I have never heard of anyone trying to eat the Twisted.”

“Well, I thought it was an original idea, but look over the edge of the dam. The Sun People eat Twisted too.” Gillian said motioning with his thumb to point behind him.

Dixon and Nathan hurried to the dams edge and peered over. Sure enough, the Sun People had a few fires going and the bones scattered around these fires looked to be the same size as a Logos Cutters.

Nathan turned away from the dams edge and looked back at the smoke coming from the fires across the dam. “Gillian, are you sure that the Twisted are safe to eat? Everyone knows that the Sun People are not the sanest of people.”

“I had eaten them this morning and felt fine all day.” Gillian replied. “I haven’t even had any diarrhea either, which is a pleasant change for once. All the rations back at the ERM headquarters did not sit well with my stomach.”

Nathan took a big whiff of the breeze wafting his way. “I’ll trust you this time, Gillian. My stomach is getting the better of me.”

…

“So, what do you all think about my offer?” Lisa asked. “Once the dam gets working at full force with the energy production, there will be so many opportunities for employment.”

“That sounds amazing! I might not be able to give up running my stall in the market, but I could possibly sell some of the products in town for you.” Tusk said waving a Logos Cutter leg bone at Lisa.

“That would be a promising idea. Local sales are also something that needs to be done too.” Lisa replied. “I am glad you survived the Twisted too.”

“As am I. Just let me know what you got, and I’ll see if its sellable.” Tusk replied.

Lisa then looked over the rest of the people gathered around the small fire eating happily. “What about you all?”

“Sounds good to me.” One man with a yellow baseball jersey replied. “I came from the southern end of the river and all the docks are burned down. There won’t be as much river trade coming here now that they are gone. I’d look into working for you.”

A few other people around the fire also voiced their agreements or murmurs of consideration. Their reaction had been like the others gathered around other fires. Most merely liked the idea of new employment opportunities, while a fair amount of them were actually interested in working for her. This was good news for Lisa, for now all she needed to do was keep spreading the word and then take over the Mad Dogs.

Lisa said her goodbyes to everyone and headed for the next group of people. She smiled and thought to herself, “Two more days to check the town for any leftover Twisted and get things in order with the storage units for future employees to move in. Then it is time for Hanna and I to finally deal with Martinez once and for all! I plan on taking him down hard.”