Chapter 8: Drums In the Distance

"…and that's how we convinced Gastown to give us a better deal on their shipments!" Sibella proclaimed as she and Shaggy left the saloon.

Just then, the two heard a phone ringing from a nearby callbox.

"You want me to g-" Shaggy began.

"Thanks for the offer, but I'm not that drunk."

Shaggy was silent as his old friend made her way to the callbox and picked up the receiver.

"What is it, Jasper?" she asked.

"We've got something of a situation outside the gate."

"Define 'something of a situation'."

"Sheriff's got a van with a weird paint job following her ride, and there's a bus parked about a couple hundred yards away from them."

"Anything else?"

"Yeah- sheriff says she's brought some prisoners from Scrapheap."

"Raiders?"

"Three of Eiling's goons, actually."

"…I see. What about the van?"

"Drivers are the two ladies from Mystery Inc."

"Let them in. Now, what about the bus?"

"Three women and a blond guy on the roof, and Miss Frankenstein's bike is a few yards in front of it."

A pregnant pause filled the air.

"I'll be back with you in a few." Sibella finally said.

A moment later, the sound of a dial tone emerged from the receiver, followed shortly thereafter by Sibella punching the "0" button on the keypad.

"Hello, operator? Get me Elsa's Garage."

The dial tone came back for a few moments, and then the call connected.

"What can I do you for, Sibella?"

"I don't want to alarm you, old friend, but you do know your bike's outside the gate, right?"

" Good- he's back."

"Who's back?"

"One of those detectives who popped by- the blond guy with the orange bandana."

"What's he doing with your bike?"

"I let him borrow it for a bit. As for why, it's kind of a long st-"

"Can you please give me the basics?"

"He went to that old shopping center to get some things to pay for his van's engine overhaul. And if I had to guess, that's where the bus and the women came from too."

"I see. Well, it's been nice talking with you, but I've got to get back to Jasper about the visitors at the gate."

"Understood. Catch you later."

Almost as soon as the dial tone began again, Sibella punched the "0" once more.

"Operator, get me the front gate."

"That you, Miss Mayor?" Jasper asked once the call connected

"Yes."

"So, what do you want me to do with the people on the bus?"

"Let them in."

"Come again?"

"Call it woman's intuition, but I don't think they'll be any trouble."

"…well, here's hoping that you're right."

The call ended, and the gate began to open, with the first vehicle to enter being Cinnamon's muscle car.


Mockingbird Jail- several minutes later

"Now, Specialist Tan, we have some questions we want to ask you." Cinnamon said as she and Jonah eyed the captured teenage soldier.

"What sort of questions?"

"Like where you came from and what you were doing in this neck of the woods." Jonah growled.

"Do you want to know where I was born or where I was deployed from?"

"Deployed."

"Fort Zmeck, out near Oklahoma City. Our company was part of an initial forward detachment-"

"Spare us the fancy talk, kid. Now just tell us what you're doing this far away from Oklahoma and why the hell we found you and your buddies in that old fallout shelter." Jonah butted in.

Dana let out a loud sigh.

"Our orders were to secure the town's radio tower- and our company commander decided to aid that along by sending in the robots and a handful of troopers to 'deal' with the residents. Once the robots were done, then Max would go in and fit a repeater up to the tower while Terry and I served as a cleanup crew-"

"So how many innocent lives did you destroy as part of the 'cleanup'?" Jonah snarled.

Dana threw up her hands.

"If you're insinuating that Max, Terry, and I gunned down civilians, then you've got another thing coming! The three of us didn't find a soul in that town when we went through!"

"And now for the $64,000 question- why were you in that shelter in the first place?" Cinnamon asked.

Dana winced at the memory.

"We got bushwhacked, and Terry got pretty badly wounded."

"Serves him right." Jonah hissed.

"Then what happened?"

"Everything went helter-skelter. Our company commander got his head blown off-"

"Again, serves him right." Jonah snarled, only to earn an elbow in the ribs from Cinnamon.

"And while we were recovering from that, then a bunch of surviving townsfolk charged in and routed the rest of us. And with Terry being in the state he was in- well, since we couldn't keep up, our only other option was to hunker down."

"And why should we believe a God-damned word of what you've just said?" Jonah hissed.

"Because I don't have any reason to lie. I mean, if we go back now, the three of us'll probably be shot for desertion."


Mayor's Office- shortly after Dana's interrogation

"Well, this is just fang-tastic." Sibella grumbled as she saw the report from the sheriff's office on her desk.

A s a dark cloud settled over her, she turned her attention to the phone sitting upon her desk.

Well, it looks like the time has come. she thought as she dialed the number.


Mockingbird Comms Center

Winnie snapped to attention as the sound of a ringing phone echoed through her ears.

"Hello?" she asked, the greeting soon turning into a howl.

"Winnie, send out signals to the following settlements: Gastown, Blackwater and Ag Center, Mescalero, Oasis, Ybanez, Lubbock, Amarillo, and Abilene."

"Whatever for?"

"Apparently, we've got some very powerful new neighbors with bad intentions for this neck of the woods."

"Okay, okay- cool your jets! I'm on it!"


Marketplace- "Uptown" Mockingbird

"It's really you!"

Thorn turned her head upwards at the sound of the strange voice.

"Who's there?"

Right on cue, a blue ghostly young woman materialized out of thin air.

"Finally, some real live pre-war talent!"

"…and you are?" Dusk asked.

"Oh, where are my manners? I'm Phantasma, and I run the theater in this town, and you ladies are just what I'm looking for!"

Dusk's face lit up in anger.

"You mean to tell me that we spent the past half-decade or so squatting in an abandoned shopping center being worshipped by a cargo cult when we could've been performing in an actual venue in front of an actual audience?!" she growled, grabbing Thorn by the lapels.

"I didn't know!" the Hex Girls' lead singer meekly replied.