Chapter 10
"You can bet your ass Amy grabbed all the condoms and birth control she can find." While precious and welcomed, there were those who didn't want babies and… even without protection, were still dumb enough to have sex. He didn't want to dictate personal lives, not really, but if they had a baby boom, they were going to be in trouble. "So… anything in a box is probably no good." 'Chet' tapped a very old box of pancake mix, the box itself was faded. "Anything in a tin… as long as it's not bulging anywhere or rusted, is fine." He watched as she immediately started checking out the cornstarch, frowning. "What are you doing, Abbie?" He asked curiously.
"Cornstarch is excellent for rashes on babies. I'm hoping we can bring some back because baby powder, a lot of times, doesn't work as well." Abigail explained, picking up the box and checked to make sure it hadn't been tampered with or anything. "It's an old home remedy and it'll work, so as long as you think the stuff will be okay, we should take some for emergencies." Handing him a box, she waited to see if he approved and, once again, that odd familiar feeling washed over her. "So, even canned goods can go bad if the can is bulged out or rusted?"
Since they usually had to rely on environmentally friendly, washcloth diapers, diaper rash wasn't a thing. But… this was handy, and he bet like hell it would also work on the adults who would break out in heat rashes during the summer. Even an old dog could learn new tricks.
"Yes, canned food usually has an indefinite shelf life." He explained, beginning to drop said canned goods into his open, reinforced bag. No trash bags for this shit.
"Hey Chet, don't forget to find the lollies, you know how Taker is about those." Amy called, having finished with the pharmacy and was lugging all their loot to the doors to be collected. She winked at Abigail. "Big boss likes to pass them out to the kids as a treat."
Big boss was going to wring his pretty friend's neck.
"Lollipops, you mean? That's sweet…weird, but sweet."
Abigail didn't think lollipops were necessities, but whatever the boss wanted, he got. She began putting all the cornstarch in his bag, after asking permission, along with the canned goods and other supplies he wanted to grab. He handed her another reinforced bag to continue putting canned goods in and when she tried lifting it, there was no way to do it.
"Wow, this is really heavy…" She grunted, blinking when he picked it up with ease and smiled sheepishly at him. "Thanks. Is there anything else we should grab or anything else you want to show me to look out for?"
"We'll have to see what else has been grabbed."
Others were ransacking old public buildings currently, so this was too good an opportunity to pass up. Taker wished they had come earlier in the day; they'd have been able to make a few trips. As it was, he would go talk to Steve since they had a few good hours left. They could pick a place, pile the extras there in bags, and try to come back for it tomorrow or the day after. Clothing was something they were going to need, bedding and pillows, what might have survived… Taker groaned, rubbing his temples.
He gestured Abigail to go on with Amy, turning and headed for the 'children' section, eyeballing the school supplies. Unlike Wyatt, he believed in educating these kids, boys and girls, at least the basics. Reading and math, history didn't seem to matter so much anymore… sighing again, his mind wandered to the new woman. She had said the lollies were weird… why? Why was it weird?
They were only supposed to grab the necessities, things people needed to survive, but in the process, that had been tossed out the window. And yes, it was weird for that giant to hand out lollipops to children. She couldn't picture it in her head and figured Amy was yanking her chain or something. Undertaker was…not who she thought, that was for sure. He was the complete opposite of Bray in every way, which was a good thing. She remembered when Bray would give the shirt off his back to anyone in need, herself included, but now…now he had warped into a monster…and there was no fixing him.
Abigail knew he had to be destroyed, by any means necessary. Following Amy out of the first store, they went into the second one to start gathering up pillows, blankets and stuffing them in bags. How the hell were they supposed to bring all of this stuff back without a trailer of some kind? Abigail decided that wasn't her problem and they'd been doing this a long time, so they knew what they were doing obviously.
"All right, you jackasses, unload your shit." Steve ordered once everyone had brought their 'loot' outside by the bikes.
He watched as those with proper motorcycle began opening their saddlebags – many of the bikes were equipped with luggage racks on the backend and, repaired many times yet still serviceable, empty luggage cases – already strapped on. Cans were loaded by size and weight first across the saddlebags. Diapers and feminine products were stashed in the luggage compartments attached to the backend of every bike except Amy's, only because she had a passenger. Everyone had brought old school backpacks, and most could manage two at a time: medicines, tools, and things of that sort were divided into them, based on who could carry what. Within a decent time, everyone was ready to go, and Steve grinned. They had this routine down. During those early years, they had really screwed up via trial and error, but now… now was different.
"Fuckin' lollipops…" Amy pointed at 'Chet', shaking her head when he stuffed a bag of the sweets into his jacket, betting anything that bastard had some really big pockets.
"Hey, if it makes kids happy, I'd rather them be happy than miserable and whiny."
Amy concurred to that and they laughed, finishing up strapping their belongings and goods to the bike. Abigail had a feeling Amy didn't have nearly as much on hers as she should've due to her, guilt consuming her. Oh well, what was done was done. It was weird, and interesting, how the DOV hadn't attacked them at all. This was technically their territory, but they had stayed back and allowed Taker's team to do what needed to be done. As Abigail looked around, she could tell everyone was waiting for an ambush attack, herself included, but…nobody came. Nobody showed up, not even one soldier.
"Where's the DOV, Austin? They gotta know we're here by now…"
"I know…" Steve shared a look with 'Chet', seeing the confusion written all over the man's face. "Maybe it's a miracle…" He snorted, not buying that for a second, and glanced over at Abigail and Amy before straddling his bike.
That was worrisome. For a year now, they had been trying to make it here, and the fact that they had so easily, didn't sit well with him. His eyes raked over his crew again, finally resting on Amy and Abigail before glancing back at Steve. Wonderful was relying on only the men patrolling right now… his teeth gnashed.
"Top off your tanks people, we're leaving!" Steve read Taker's mind, knowing if the DOV wasn't attacking them here, they could be trying to breach the town again. And Taker wasn't there to keep them from actually doing it this time.
Bray, don't do anything reckless, Abigail thought, having a feeling she knew why they were rushing back to Wonderful. The ride back was full of tension. From head to toe, she could feel Amy's body rigid and not relaxed like it was on the way here. By the time they arrived at the gates of Wonderful, all was…quiet and peaceful. Abigail hopped off the bike with Amy while Steve looked positively flabbergasted.
"What the fuck is goin' on here? Why didn't they attack us like all the other times?"
"Maybe your miracle theory is right, baldy."
No, something wasn't right, and Steve could feel it, shaking his head. He knew Taker could feel it too. Where was the damn DOV? Why had they suddenly tucked tail and stayed away? Abigail helped carry the supplies inside with Amy, their eyes peeled for any sudden movements and…nothing. Absolutely nothing happened or was out of the ordinary. She overheard 'Chet' talking to Bradshaw to ask about the patrolling and he'd said the same thing they were all thinking. Something wasn't right.
After checking in with the corner towers and watches, Taker was feeling left… unsettled. Nothing and nobody had been sighted since they had left, hours ago. He had shifted to one of his 'normal' forms: heavily tattooed, long jet-black hair and a black beard, his green eyes acidic as they narrowed in thought. Wyatt was constantly pressing them, trying to get to the hundreds of people under his protection. Frowning, he moved to stare over the short, stone wall to stare down into his town.
It had housed thousands back in the day, and now they only used the main square and blocks outside of that. A lot of buildings had been destroyed in the war and, what they couldn't save, they had scavenged. The walls had been built over the years until they were what they were now, and land had been cleared for growing their own food and raising what animals they could. All that technology was becoming useless as the years went by; they were unable to maintain factories that put out power and he had yet to meet an engineer since the great Revolution.
"Something is wrong…" He hissed, his eyes landing on Abigail and Amy, who were among others unloading the supplies and he could see people milling about, waiting to collect a share of the goods. Taker couldn't afford to relax, not when something was afoot.
"Oh thank goodness, you two are back! We could really use the help here to serve dinner! Abbie, here." Stephanie shoved the tray, the same tray she had last night, and pointed to the tower out of the window. "Go deliver the boss his food and then come right back, okay? Please?" Being pregnant made her a tad pushy, but she was exhausted and dead on her feet due to all the energy the little beast inside of her sucked out of her.
"O-Okay, I won't take long!"
Abigail could tell Stephanie was ready to drop and would be in for another long night of cooking and cleaning, rushing over to the tower as fast as she could without tipping the tray any. Swallowing hard, she was tempted to just leave the tray outside the door and had to force herself to move forward, to actually knock the same way Steve had. Only, it was just her this time around as her midnight blue eyes looked up at the giant once the door opened. Once again, he was blanketed in darkness and she could only see his eyes.
"Good evening, Undertaker. Stephanie sent this for you."
He stepped back, flipping on a low-level light and gestured at the desk where he took his meals, turning away from her. "Why did they send you?" Taker asked, wondering what Stephanie's damage was to send the new girl up after a long day. He looked back, noting she was rubbing her arms, betting that heavy tray and long walk wasn't doing her any favors. She needed to build some upper body strength. "Amy sent word you want to learn how to use a gun."
"Stephanie is running on fumes and I don't mind." Abigail set the tray down on the table, like she did the previous night, only they hadn't gone upstairs. "And yes I do. I need to protect myself from the DOV and anyone else who tries to hurt me or people I care about. I'll be honest, I have no fighting experience at all, but I'm a fast runner and learner. I'm sure shooting a gun won't be that difficult." As long as it wasn't a machine gun, which was some of the weaponry the patrolmen used. "I asked Amy for help, and I'm sorry if that was out of line, sir…I mean Undertaker." Damn it, she slipped up and lowered her eyes from him.
He eyed her doubtfully, wondering if she'd be able to handle the kickback, the recoil, from a gun, even a compact, semi-light Beretta. Taker didn't know what the hell she was apologizing for and moved so he was in her space, grabbing her wrists and pulling her arms up, watching her face intently. "You need to get some arm strength, woman." He advised flatly, letting go and blinked when her arms came down like dead weight, rubbing the tip of his rather blunt nose, both amused and irritated. "Bullets are pretty precious around here," Sort of, Mythril bullets were damn handy, but… he preferred using Mythril for things that weren't going to be lost in a body or just lost in general. Daggers and swords, awesome. Bullets… could wind up somewhere besides the target and then they had to hunt that stuff down to melt and recast it. "BB gun pellets…" She could learn using those.
"Whatever you think is best. Amy gave me this dagger, but I don't know if I'll be any good with it…" She gestured to the holster around her thigh and shrugged at his raised brow. "I guess she didn't want me going with her and the others unarmed…" Abigail stepped back tentatively, putting some space between them. This was day 2, it would take far more than that to convince herself he was trustworthy. "Oh…this guy named Chet came with us today and…he said you wanted lollipops for the children. Amy took them to the common house if you want to go grab them when you're done eating. I'd better get back and help out, unless…you needed something else from me?"
"Are you…" He raised a slow black eyebrow, having noticed how she put distance between them and didn't care. She was probably not used to strange men just raising her arms like that. "Tattling on Chet?" That was what it sounded like. She could have easily said 'we got your lollies' and called it a day. Taker couldn't keep the amusement from his tone as he studied her. "And give me that dagger." He held out a hand for it, wondering what the hell Amy was thinking passing out a Mythril dagger to someone he hadn't given his seal of approval on. "I'll find you something more suitable." He promised, turning to set it down.
Judging by the way he took that dagger from her, Abigail surmised it WAS made of Mythril. So that was Mythril, a bluish-black stone forged into weaponry. Bray couldn't get his hands on it; she could feel the immense power generating from the dagger while having it on her person throughout the day.
