Chapter 2

It’s been days since we traveled to the hideout, hoping to storm the keep and rescue Clari. Except, they were all dead. All the rebels were dead. Machine gun fire. Sean and I kept Desmond from the worst of it. The interrogation chamber, were we thought we would find Clari, was only filled by the corpses of Ralph and Veronica. Serves them right.

“Where could she have gone?” Desmond asked again interrupting my reverie. We were hanging out in Clari’s old garage, trying to make sense of everything.

“She had to been alive, right? I mean, that’s why they took her, right, Alfred?” Desmond looked at me worriedly.

I sighed. “Sean. Could you put Des to bed please?”

“C’mon Des. Time to sleep,” Sean commanded autonomously. I watched him take Des through the door in the back and I sighed again. Life was tough for us now.

I continued my courier business, just trying to keep us alive. Just the other day I found some Hydrospeed by chance. It was our happiest day. We sold it for enough cash to keep us fed for a month. Sean was a little paranoid about us losing it, so we hid spilt it up into small hunks and hid it around Clari’s apartment. I took a little and hid it my apartment too. Luckily no feral’s been nesting there and no other Sector 7 member has taken it over. I stay there at night, usually. Sean and Des crash here. Des has been trying to work Clari’s machines, but it doesn’t really work out the best. He’s just not old enough to figure out. But then again, neither is Sean, our resident twenty-five year old.

We have been working out plans for everything for about a week now. Take the card, and get the hell out of here. Since Clari’s gone, there is no reason for us to stay. Neither Sean nor I had the heart to tell Desmond. We didn’t want to hurt him. Sean walked back in the room.

“Well. Tomorrow’s the day, eh?” he chuckled humorlessly.

“Yeah. Tomorrow’s the day,” I chuckled as well. We sat there in the junk of Clari’s garage. The lamps were dying down. Silence permeated the room, both of us lost in our thoughts.

“Mind if I crash here tonight?” I asked Sean suddenly. He turned to look at me. “I have all my stuff for the move, so…..”

“Sure, man. Let’s just hope that Desmond takes it well,” he slumped down in his spot and started to doze.

I walked around the garage, turning all the lamps off. I felt my way back to my spot and curled up for the night.