Still recovering from this stupid flu! Anyway, so far, no-one had given me any ideas what to do about None So Blind. I'm appealing once more for help with it otherwise it will be abandoned until I come up with some inspriation! I await your thoughts, Samdagger.
Chapter 17
A month later saw Farm station, Tesla station and Murphy's group reach their destinations. Farm station went first to village 4 which was centred on the old world town of Ann Arbor. They decided to build a camp near the north of the town but south of Barton Pond. They'd check the area to the north of the pond where farmland once was. If it was good enough, they'd start clearing areas for planting. Monty and Bruno had gone with them to start them off but wanted to return to Polis to help with the others. They had people checking the soil and others checking the old town for stores they could use, specifically for tents and tools and clothing. It would take some time but they hoped to be up and running within a month. Building houses or clearing them out for their own use was something that would have to wait until the planting was done.
Sterling's people had fitted the crude wagon Cooper had made and left at Tesla station with some of the equipment and the people going to check those villages for themselves. Sterling would drive the wagon and teach one other to drive as well. They went to village One which was on the site of Western Michigan University. They'd have to check where the best place to live was but they also needed to check on farmland. None from Farm Station had been in Tesla Station so they didn't know exactly what was needed, but they could check the area for signs of farming.
After a week of traipsing a mile and a half to a pond for water, they decided to move there instead. There were more green areas over there anyway. They made camp just south of Asylum Lake. There were two freshwater lakes there and some green areas they could clear for planting.
Sterling took a couple of people from Tesla station with him to go exploring north of the lake. They found a tool store and one of the big supermarkets there. They'd do more exploring once they had found a good place to plant.
Two weeks later, he left six people there and took the other five people on to the next village. It was north of the first one and was centred on Cutlerville and 40 miles away. There weren't many water sources that they could find, but they did find a couple of ponds near each other with houses all along the shores. They decided to make their homes there until they found a better place. They found signs of lots of fields there but they'd have to be cut down. Most had trees growing in them but some had berry bushes in them. Those would be left alone other than clearing the grasses and weeds around them. Sterling remembered Clarke telling him that blueberries were grown in Michigan. He had no idea what they looked like so he left them alone - just in case. Looking out over the area from the top of one of the remains of a building, he saw lots of potential. He sighed, thinking about his life so far on the ground. From criminal to a trusted advisor and now leader of some people. It was a heady thought. He wasn't even 18 yet but he knew his life was much better now the mountain was gone and now they had their own lands. He wasn't sure where he wanted to live. Polis was the most settled he'd felt, but that may have been because of the work they'd done to integrate with the clans. Either way, life was much better on the ground than it had been!
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
"Sleeping Bear Dunes," read Murphy. The sign was rusted but the words were still recognisable, well, the top two lines were, the rest of the sign was missing.
"Weird name," said Brad. Murphy shrugged. He looked along the shoreline. He still hadn't found a place to put those who didn't want to play nice with the others.
"Boat!" called out Emma. Murphy swung around to her and saw she was looking out over the lake and pointing. He looked where she was pointing and saw a small dot on the horizon. The boat became bigger until they could see the crew on board. The boat stopped just shy of the land. Murphy decided to see who they were and motioned for them to come in. They went down to the shore to meet them.
"Greetings, you are Skaikru people?" a man asked.
"Sha. I'm Murphy kom Skaikru of Polis."
"Yergan kom Podakru of Escana." They shook arms.
"You are looking for a place to live?"
"We are," Murphy said.
"Good, those on Hydro station need to move soon," Yergan said.
"At the moment, there are people looking to the south of the area." Murphy pulled out his map and showed the Podakru sailor where they intended to live at first.
"Why are you up at this end if you are going to live down there?"
"We're looking for a place for those people who do not want to live peacefully with the clans - or with us. So far, we haven't found a good place." Yergan nodded.
"These two islands are those ones out there," he said, pointing back out into the lake where Murphy could just make out a blurry outline of trees on the horizon. Murphy was now interested.
"Are they big enough to live on?"
"Sha, they'd have to eat fish, but there are some food plants there."
"Well, I think we can spare some seeds for them to plant." He thought about going out to check them out.
"What can we trade for passage to the islands and back to check them out for our uncooperative people?" Yergan thought about it.
"We need to get your people off our lands. How about we move some people down towards your villages? We take you to the islands to check them out and then when we drop you back on the shoreline here, we go and bring some people from Hydro down to the bottom of this area."
"That could work," Murphy said, thinking it through. "Is this area called anything by the clans - other than Azgeda land?"
"No, not really. The people who lived here lost their land before we became clans. There were several people living in several areas but I do not know of a single name for the entire area."
"In the old world it was called Michigan State. We call it Michigan but I don't know if we'll keep it. It was an old world name and now we are living in a new one," Murphy said. Yergan nodded.
"Come on, we can take you to the islands to check and then go get some of your people to help you establish your villages." Murphy nodded and left three people behind while he took the others onto the boat.
After they came back having found the islands good enough to live on. There were plenty of crops on the islands as well as fruit and vegetables. Murphy surmised that the wheat they'd found must have come from bird droppings and just multiplied over the years. There was enough food and the lake was freshwater so they could live comfortably. It would be up to them how they lived and built their own shelters. Once on the islands, they would be left there to figure it out.
Murphy took his map out and showed them where to drop off the people from Hydro and asked them to send some people inland to find the two villages being set up near the east side of the area. Yergan nodded and after waving to them, set off for Hydro station.
Murphy and the others decided to go down the coast and wait at the village designated as village 8 alternative. Murphy thought it could be village ten and would be calling it that until a name was decided upon. The village was on the coast, south of Grand Haven. They'd wait there and then they'd all go and find village three which was roughly 30 miles east southeast. Hopefully he'd be able to drop them off there and the other village and let them join up with those from Tesla station. If they needed a third village, he'd send them back to the one on the coast. Once that was done, he'd head home to Polis.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
Queen Cooper sighed once more. She was in a meeting with representatives from all areas of Azgeda. At the moment she was listening to a pompous man waffle on and on about something that had happened over ten years previously and had already been dealt with. Apparently a man had an affair with a woman from another area and there was a small war over it. Nia had heard about it and had sent forces to stop it. The young couple were moved to another area and Nia left people there in charge. It became a more productive area and Nia was pleased with the profit it gave her. The young couple had actually fled over the border into Trikru lands and asked for sanctuary which the then Commander granted. They became Trikru and moved further south where they still lived in blissful ignorance.
"What does this have to do with moving your mining operation south to the known mines down there?" Cooper asked the man, interrupting him in full spiel. He looked non-plussed.
"Ai kwin?" he asked.
"What does that young couple and the war fought over them have to do with moving your people to a more productive mine?"
"Nothing, ai kwin," he said, still unsure why she'd stopped him.
"Then kindly stick to the point we are discussing. An event more than ten years old and already dealt with is of no use to me nor do I wish to know about them."
"But, ai kwin-"
No! You will leave here and move your people south to the location I have given you. I want your people moving within a month, is that understood?" Cooper was firm and unforgiving.
"Sha, ai kwin," he said, bowing.
"Good, you may leave," she said, waving him backwards towards the door. Jardin moved to his side and subtly moved him to the door and through it. Cooper sighed in relief.
"Are there any more people who will bring up old feuds?" she asked Koby.
"More than likely, ai kwin."
"Marvellous!" Cooper said sarcastically. Koby grinned. He much preferred Cooper's sense of humour than Nia's - Nia never had any unless it was laughing at torture. Cooper turned to Katsuri.
"Who's next?"
"There are three representatives from the new farming area and one from the north, asking for help with several wolf packs that have moved into the area."
"Wolves? I thought the population of wolves was stable up here?"
"It was, but Nia's aggressive logging and mining in that area has driven the wolves out of their home ranges. They seem to have moved over and up to Aftan's area, ai kwin."
"Do we have enough loyal warriors to send up there?" Katsuri thought it over.
"We could send some, ai kwin, but most of them are still chasing the remnants of Nia's warriors. The general has gotten rid of most of them but there are still pockets of them around."
"Hiding out?"
"Sort of, ai kwin. They've moved over the border into another's lands. Those lands do not belong to any clan of the kongeda."
"Who's lands are they invading?"
"We don't know his name, but Nia called him Brother Bandit."
"That doesn't sound good."
"No, ai kwin, but from what we hear, he's actually a good leader. In the early days he had to stamp down insurgency and resistance to his rule, but now he's one of the better leaders. I wouldn't call him a wardlord, but I think Nia thought he was."
"Could we open a line of communication with him?"
"We could try, ai kwin." Cooper nodded.
"How do we get to his lands?"
"There's a bridge in Podakru territory that leads to his lands. Other than that, we'd have to go over our border and a lot of Nia's people are there. I doubt we'd make it through." Cooper nodded her head again.
"Okay, I'll send a message to Polis to send to the Podakru Ambassador. Maybe they'll let us use that bridge. Maybe they have information about this 'Brother Bandit'."
"We can hope, ai kwin."
"Okay, after this, I'll write messages for both our embassy and Podakru's ambassador. I'll send a letter to the Commander as well."
"Sha, Ai kwin."
"So send in the one who needs help for the wolves first and then the farmers' representatives. Hopefully we'll be out of here before dawn!" Koby smiled. He really did like this queen.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
Commander Lexa took the scroll handed over by the Azgeda Ambassador.
"Do you know what's in here?" asked the Commander.
"Not specifically, Commander, but Queen Cooper did tell me roughly what was happening and what she wanted to do about it." The Commander nodded. Lori bowed and left the room. The Commander looked at Ryder who shrugged in return. Lexa broke the seal and unfurled the letter. It was written in gonasleng and she couldn't read it very well. She sighed.
"Send for Clarke would you? Queen Cooper wrote it in gonasleng and I need Clarke's help in reading it."
"Sha, Heda," Ryder said and left to send a warrior to the Skaikru Embassy.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
Clarke walked into the throne room when the Commander gave her permission.
"You asked to see me, Commander?" Clarke asked after bowing to her.
"Yes, Queen Cooper has sent me a letter but it's written in gonasleng. Can you read it out loud to me please?"
"Of course." Clarke took the scroll and unfurled it.
ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo
"Commander,
Greetings and salutations from Azgeda."
ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo
Clarke stopped when she saw confusion on Lexa's face.
"It's the equivalent of a bow in written form, Commander. It's just politeness and respect to start off." Lexa nodded and Clarke continued.
ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo
"I have a small problem, Commander and would like help in fixing it. Nia's thugs have crossed our border into a land not of the kongeda. Katsuri - one of my advisors - says that the name of the leader over there is called 'Brother Bandit', or at least that's what Nia called him. I would like to send a message to him about those crossing into his lands but the only place along my border is where those thugs are. Katsuri says that there is a bridge to his lands in Podakru's lands. I have written to the Podakru Ambassador about possibly allowing a couple of my people through their land and over the bridge and hopefully they have some information on him or his lands that could help us reach him.
"Once those thugs are dealt with, I hope to have Azgeda sorted to my satisfaction. Already I have moved the farming south and the mining too. I do have one problem with wolves moving out of their home dens due to Nia's ruthless deforestation and mining in that area. They have moved both north and east into one of our other areas and have been killing and attacking my people. I need to send warriors up there but I cannot until Nia's thugs are caught. I will be sending ten men up there who are experienced in both fighting and hunting to aid them, but until I can get warriors in number up there, the best they can do is keep them at bay. Our animals up there are being slaughtered.
"I do not ask you for people because it is an internal matter, but if you could help with getting permission from Podakru so I can send a two-man delegation to this 'Brother Bandit', it would be appreciated.
"Oh, and If you see Clarke can you tell her that I can give her around twelve horses and three wagons to aid her in moving her people and supplies to their new home land. I will be sending a letter to her as well on this subject. Those horses and wagons are hers. Think of it as a gift. I still don't know what to give the Trikru or Podakru though. Any ideas would be gratefully received."
Your humble servant, Queen Cooper kom Azgeda."
ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo
Lexa was quiet for a few moments.
"Queen Cooper is really trying to help you," she said finally.
"Whether it's Queen Cooper or Cooper, I don't mind, either way, we are getting help. Those horses and wagons will be invaluable."
"She didn't say where they would be taken though."
"She may have told me in my message. I guess it's at the Embassy by now waiting for me." Lexa nodded.
"What about the other things she said?" Clarke asked her. Lexa smirked.
"The leader over Podakru's border is well known to me. It is my cousin. He was run out of our clan after an incident with Podakru. He got the leader's daughter pregnant. Both ran over the border and helped Brother Bandit take over from the warlord there. When that leader was killed in the final battle for the land, my cousin took over and became Brother Bandit. It is a fiction and the deeds Nia found nice were done by the other leader. I tell you this in strictest confidence, Clarke. It is not something that Heda Clarke needs to know."
"Sha, Heda," Clarke said, bowing again. "So what can Clarke know that Heda Clarke can't?"
"Not much, it's still need to know."
"So why did you tell me?"
"Because I trust you and we may be in a position to help Cooper when she becomes Skaikru again."
"How?"
"Patience, ai hodness, all will be revealed later on." Clarke grumped.
"Okay, so what do you want to do about Brother Bandit and Queen Cooper?"
"I'll send him a letter explaining what Queen Cooper told me. If we can get a way to him, we may have trading opportunities."
"And maybe another clan for the kongeda?"
"No. I have enough on my hands right now, but I have thought about it before."
"You haven't been in touch with him since his rise to leadership?"
"One or two letters at the beginning, just telling him I had no intention of invading his lands nor of letting any of the clans do the same."
"That's good. So do you think he'll listen to you or Cooper?"
"He should. It would be nice to reconnect with him. He was always my favourite cousin when we were growing up. I lost touch with him once I went for training and only knew about his exile from family members once I became the Commander."
"Good, now I have to return to the warehouse to see if that message is waiting for me, but is it alright if I spend the night here?" Lexa smiled.
"No problem at all, Hodness." Clarke grinned, and with a promise to return, she bowed and left the room, still grinning.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
Clarke returned to the warehouse and entered. Bellamy looked up to see her enter.
"Clarke! There's a scroll for you from Azgeda!" he called across the warehouse. She nodded and went to her office where she knew all such correspondence was put for her to read. She sat at her desk and picked up the scroll. This was the first official message sent directly from Queen Cooper. All other messages had come via the Azgeda embassy and ambassador. She looked at the wax seal. It was the first time she'd really looked at the Azgeda sign. A hand, fingers splayed with lines within the hand swirling around. She'd seen it on the banners hanging in the throne room, but she'd never really taken time to examine it, but she knew Azgeda's colours were blue and white. Clarke was sure that if Nia had her way it would have been changed to blood red instead of blue!
She broke the seal by cutting the ribbon instead of just breaking the wax seal. This first one she wanted to keep. She set it and the ribbon aside and unfurled the letter. As she read it, her eyebrows rose and fell from surprise to frown. Cooper had told her about the thugs that had escaped their capture or death, of the horses and wagons she was gifting to Skaikru, and of the trials and tribulation she'd gone through as the Azgeda queen. Reading between the lines, Clarke noted that she never actually said one thing that was truly Azgeda business, just the day to day life Cooper was living - and what she had to put up with!
Cooper had also said that the horses and wagons would be sent to Michigan with a small peacekeeping force led by Echo. The twelve horses and three wagons would be left with the first village and then Echo and the others would withdraw back to their own lands.
She'd need to send Rose up there to deal with them as Monroe was off at Hydro still. Problem was that they had horses that needed looking after as well. Maybe those horses could be returned to the Commander's stables to be looked after until Monroe returned. It was a question to ask Lexa that evening and a good excuse to visit.
At the bottom of the letter however was a note to Raven. All it said was Radio Towers. Clarke wondered what Cooper meant. She got up and went to find Raven who was in her workshop.
"Raven?" Clarke called out.
"Here!" a voice called from the back. Clarke went towards it.
"Hey, Raven, Queen Cooper sent a letter explaining that she was giving us twelve horses and three wagons for our use. We get to keep them. But, at the bottom of the letter was a note for you. All it said was 'Radio Towers'." Raven's face broke out into a wide grin.
"It was something Cooper and I talked about before she went and became queen of the northern clan. We talked about the need to communicate with our other satellite villages and she asked about building radio towers and what was needed."
"What did you come up with?"
"Well, we've been so busy that I put that to one side. After we figured out we'd need a shit ton of electronics and radios and transceivers and stuff, we knew we couldn't take the time to go find them."
"But did you formulate any plans or ideas on how to implement them?"
"Some, but those were before we had our own homeland. Now, we could do that and with only 30 miles between villages, it should be doable if - and this is a big if - if we have the right equipment and I have the people needed to erect and test them."
"What do you need?"
"We could build wooden towers and put the equipment up there, kind of like a watchtower with a roof. If one was erected in each town, we could talk to a few of them, but it would be limited. We couldn't talk more than maybe a hundred miles at most, so we couldn't talk to all of them at once. You'd either have to still send messengers to those you can't reach, or trust those in other villages to pass along the messages faithfully and not their own interpretation of your message."
"So in other words, doable but it would take a lot of time and effort just to locate the parts needed," Clarke said.
"Yep, that's about it. I have asked that anyone going out and finding old world places to check for electronics. They don't have to bring them back with them, just note where they are and once we have the time - I know we don't have any - we can go get them and Monty and I can figure it out."
"Any way to boost the signal?"
"How far?"
"Erm…from here to Michigan?"
"Unlikely at the moment. We'd need some serious electronic equipment. Anything we find at the moment is just local stuff, designed for local stuff."
"What would be needed to give us more range?" Raven thought it through.
"If you can find a radio station, one of those commercial radio stations that played music, I can have a look, but again, some of them were only for local people and had limited range. Maybe some military hardware, maybe from a ship or something. Other than military bunkers, I have no idea what we could find even in Tondc and the surrounding areas."
"There's a thought. Tondc was once the capital of the entire USA and there were a lot of military bases around there."
"True, but most of them were destroyed because of their proximity to the capital."
"Mount Weather?" Clarke asked hesitantly.
"No, I checked it out when we were in there and it's all local stuff, nothing more than around eighty miles."
"Okay, I'm asking you to check out where you think we could get equipment from and how we could use it to communicate with our people in Michigan from here." Raven looked at her and saw she was serious.
"Alright, is this a priority?"
"No, but just think about it. When Monty comes back I'll have him do the same." Raven nodded.
"Thinking. Alright I can do that." Raven grinned and Clarke grinned back.
"You do realise that once your mother can reach you through the radio, she'll be on it whenever she can?" Clarke groaned.
"Don't do that, Raven! Here I was thinking it would be a good idea and you've just given me a reason why it's not!" Raven laughed out loud at the thought that Clarke debating its use on the grounds of her own mother's stubbornness was amusing.
"Okay, I've got to go and figure out how Rose can be in two places at once. See you." Clarke gave a backwards wave as she left the workshop and Raven watched her go. Radio towers were a good idea. Maybe they could bounce the signal along several towers to its destination, kinda like the old telephone service before portable telephones had been invented. It was something else to think about. Raven sighed and returned to the work she had been doing and got back to it.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
Another month passed and most of the Skaikru were migrating towards Michigan and the villages. Day by day, more and more arrived and Sterling and the others were hard pressed to put them where they were needed. Abby would go to village 7 or maybe village 5 which was located near the settlement of Jackson. Eric Jackson, their other doctor would have to go to another village, probably near the other side so that he could help those villages. Sterling wished more people had been trained as healers, but with both of their surviving doctors at Arkadia, no-one thought about others training in, at the very least, first aid. Well, he'd recommend to Clarke that she ask her mother and Jackson to train others in basic first aid and maybe some other procedures too. Their Hyppocratic Oath would need to be modified on the ground as would the laws pertaining to who can treat who based on their training.
With each new arrival, they were mostly directed to other villages. Sterling's people had gone off and checked each place Cooper had marked. They had found places near to them and then had gone off and found five more, all of them within around 30 miles from at least one other village. It would be a network of villages at first and the pathways would soon be worn down and easier to find. The planting was coming along nicely and they had wheat, barley, oats, corn, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, cauliflower, peas, beans, parsnips, beets and sweet potatoes growing. Seeds had been planted for fruit trees as well but it would be a few years before they would provide enough fruit to pass around the other villages. They had also planted raspberry, blueberry - though there were a lot of those bushes over on the eastern side already - blackberry, strawberry, mulberries, gooseberries and grapes. Sterling hoped that there would be enough to distribute to other villages as soon as the next year. Foraging for food for three hundred people was not an easy thing to do and could strip a place clean in days! Nevertheless, he'd had to tell some people not to take everything in one area otherwise they'd never come back and they'd starve because of it. Clarke would have to send people to each village to instruct them on land management, but that was Clarke's job, not his. He just had to deal with the influx of people all descending on this one town because it was the first they reached.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
Murphy made it back to Polis and informed Clarke of the two islands with freshwater and food plants on them, and of the deal he'd struck with the Podakru sailor Yergan. Clarke approved it, even if it was after the fact, and made a note to ask the Podakru Ambassador if they could do a deal to get all of Hydro to Michigan. Murphy had told her of how far down they'd have to travel to get to the villages, but Clarke was willing to ask for the boats to take them all the way down the coast and not just drop them off at the top of Michigan and leave them stranded there. She wasn't sure what to offer them as the deconstruction of Hydro was already promised to them. She stopped. Was it all of Hydro or just half? She'd have to look it up. If it was half, then the other half could be used for the deal.
Murphy went to his bed and lay down and fell asleep. He didn't wake up until the following morning, when he stumbled out of his room and over to the latrines and then to the food hall to get some food before returning to his bed to sleep away the day again. Clarke let him. She knew it had been a tough ride and she was sympathetic to the toll it took on your body riding day after day. He'd be himself soon enough.
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
"Murphy?" Clarke said a couple of days later.
"Yeah?"
"We need to go check out Granary Station, it's the only other one we haven't had contact with other than Arrow and Freight."
"That's the one that dictator came from, right? The one who took over Arkadia?"
"Yeah, we need to make contact with them." Murphy winced.
"Where are they?"
"Somewhere near Cumberland, Kentucky. It's mountainous territory, according to the maps and was made up of small towns."
"Hard to get to?"
"Probably. They did say they travelled for ages before they even saw signs of humans still alive."
"I assume you want to send me?"
"Yeah, take at least nine others, Murphy. I don't trust Granary purely on the basis of what happened at Arkadia." Murphy was nodding. "I want you armed with guns. I'll ask the Commander for permission because of what happened. You are authorised to use deadly force if necessary, but try not to kill them. If we can get them to our new lands, away from any other grounders, maybe we can salvage some of them."
"Maybe those who went to Arkadia were the rotten apples," Murphy said.
"I hope so," Clarke said with fervour, "but don't count on it. If you do find that they are friendly - or at least not wanting to kill the grounders - make a deal with them."
"Where do I send them? Are they having two villages?"
"Hell, no, I don't trust them yet. I want them all split up into small groups and sent to all the villages." Clarke pulled up her maps and pointed out the villages. "Tesla are going to the west to villages 1 and 3, Farm is going to 4 and 5, Arkadia is being sent to 7 and alternate 7. I do not want any of them ending up in 2 or 8, Murphy. Until we know what they are like, they stay away from any form of defence other than the village from predators!" Murphy pointed to alternate 8.
"When I did that deal with Yergen, I asked him to drop people from Hydro at alt 8, from there we took them to 3 and 1 and left them with Sterling. Alt 8 - or village ten as I think of it - is viable for some of Hydro. We could send some of them there as well."
"Agreed. Village six is for overflow once we figure out who is needed where and what's being grown where."
"So if they are friendly, I get them moving and hopefully get the leader there to figure out who goes where. Do I tell them that others are more or less in only two villages from other stations?"
"No, just that we are placing people in villages until next spring when we can figure out who can do what job and who can actually do it." Murphy nodded.
"And if they are…reluctant to go along with us?" Clarke sighed.
"If necessary, take out the leadership who wants to fight the grounders and us. If you still can't get them to agree, I'll get the Commander to take them out as invaders." Murphy looked shocked but also respectful.
"I hope they see sense, or at least some of them do. If it's split into two groups, I'll work with the one who wants to integrate. If we can get them out, we can leave the others behind and then the Commander can do what she wants with them." From his tone, she knew he wasn't happy about it but in truth, neither was she but this was Earth, not the Ark. The adults were no longer in charge and they had to be taken care of. Leaving xenophobes behind with weapons was a really bad idea!
"When do I go?"
"Let's see who's willing to go with you. Bear in mind you may have to capture and hold them hostage, you'll need people who can stand up to them and not back down, people who can make the hard choices but still look to you as their leader." Murphy nodded and pulled on his lower lip as he thought of those he knew could do it.
"Is Bruno back yet?"
"Yeah, he got here a few days ago. He may not want to go on another long journey just yet."
"You're making me!" he said.
"You're a leader, Murphy, you've proven yourself to me. I trust Bruno but it's still up to him." Murphy nodded.
"Alright, I'll go over who's still here and who can help me with this and then we'll get our gear together. When can you get permission from the Commander?"
"Hopefully today. I'll take Miller and Liz and go see her this afternoon."
"Then we'll go tomorrow unless we don't get her permission." Clarke nodded and Murphy left to begin preparations. Clarke sighed. She hoped Granary behaved!
xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx
Murphy and his group left on horseback. The Commander had lent them the horses. They had been given permission to raid Mount Weather for rifles and small arms. All rifles would be checked and left in gun cases strapped to the horses. Hand guns would be hidden in their clothing and everyone would be given lessons on gun safety and maintenance. Murphy hoped to find those tranq guns and use them instead of killing anyone. It would be easier. He set off for Mount Weather first before they would head southwest to Granary.
