Chapter 19

Cid Robinson was a man who felt on edge and rightfully so. He stood on the beach waiting patiently for Doctor Sarah Spencer who was at this moment going over manifests and giving orders inside the belly of the giant tanker ship towering above him. There were two things that made him jittery; one was thinking about his daughter Haley, thousands of miles away on the other side of the world, and the other was the armed men standing guard over Doctor Spencer as she worked. He did not know their faces, but he knew who they were. These men were part of a much larger group of raiders who had been stealing food and equipment from his former home town of El Centro California.

"I don't know Doc; I still get the shivers when I see them Raiders walking around like they own the place" Cid admitted on the ride back.

"Sorry... what was that?" Sarah said, looking up from her paper work.

"I was thinking... are you sure we're doing the right thing?"

Sarah let her head drop as she sighed.

"Please Cid; let's not go there again" she pleaded "I know it's not the perfect solution, but it really is the best chance we've got. Sage and the Raiders will be on their way to Mars in about a few months and if all goes well, Blue Calla and Abigail will be back by then and we'll be able to get back on track."

"Yeah maybe, but what about your friends on Mars?" Cid asked what Sarah did not want to consider.

"Look I know it's hard to do, but everyone is just going to have to trust me on this."

And so after that blunt declaration, Cid decided to drop the subject for now. Doctor Spencer was clearly upset by the line of conversation and although she tried to spend the rest of the journey going through her paperwork, she found it impossible to concentrate. Unfortunately things went from bad to worse when the pair drove down into the Railgun Complex. Waiting for them at the bottom of the ramp, Colonel Joshua Cook stood with more guards than he really needed, and they all looked very impatient.

"Sage wants to see you" Cook declared menacingly.

"Of course he does" Sarah shrugged "Can't he see we're doing our best? And things would go much quicker if he'd just let me get on with my work."

"NOW Doctor Spencer" Cook insisted.

"Now... yes" Sarah said in resignation.

Engineers, technicians and a few scientists leapt left and right, desperately trying to avoid being hit by one of the three electric carts racing through the corridors. Sarah almost fell out on a few of the sharper corners, but she did manage to keep her seat until they arrived at Sage's central headquarters.

'Inside!" Cook barked.

"Naturally" Sarah shrugged again.

Unlike all the previous times Sarah had been called to stand before the glory that is Neville Sage, the reason this time was not to intimidate her into working harder. Instead as she entered, Sarah found herself looking at a grotesque site. Tied to a chair in the centre of the room, one of her technicians sat and bled; he was covered with bruises and had one badly swollen eye. As soon as she saw him, Sarah came close to breaking down in tears.

"Oh Noodle... what did you do?"

"Your friend here has been causing great unrest" Sage stated as he strutted around the back of the beaten man's chair like a particularly violent peacock.

"Did he look at you in a funny way?"

Sarah bent down to untie the ropes holding her friend. Two guards moved to stop her but Sage just waved them away.

"I have been reliably informed by the guards in Clean Room 4 that this Buck Luttrell, whom to you refer to as 'Noodle', was overheard secretly discussing a covert plan you have to stop me from getting to Mars."

"WHAT? There's no plan to... oh Noodle, what did I tell you all before Sage arrived?" Sarah asked the bruised technician.

"Not to say anything that might anger him" Buck replied weakly as a small trickle of blood ran out of the corner of his mouth.

"Exactly; there is no secret plan and everyone knows it" Sarah insisted.

"But Doctor... we can't just..."

"We can and we will" Sarah snapped "If we don't, things like this will continue to happen... or worse."

"Tell me Doctor Spencer" Sage interrupted "How can I be sure you have my best interests at heart when rumours like this are going around the complex?"

"What rumours?" Sarah asked forlornly.

"This man was overheard talking about split fuel lines, toxic gasses... and incorrect trajectories."

"Oh come on Noodle..." Sarah threw up her hands in frustration "Where did all that come from?"

Buck dropped his head as Doctor Spencer started to wipe his face.

"I... I was just trying to work out what you may be doing... it was just speculation, I didn't think anyone could hear us."

"Us; there are more of you?" Sarah started to panic.

"I have three more of your people being held in the next room" Sage informed the Doctor "Fortunately for them, my spies tell me they were not very interested in what Mr. Luttrell was suggesting. But I'm not sure if I should release them... now they have been given ideas."

"Let me talk to them; I'm sure they're not going to try anything" Sarah begged.

Sage raised his head so he could look down his nose at the desperate woman. He thought for a moment before raising his two way radio to his lips.

"Let Doctor Spencer talk to the prisoners" he ordered.

"Thank you" she smiled with relief "I'll be right back Noodle... and for goodness sakes, be good."

"Yes Doctor" Buck nodded weakly.

Sarah's heart pounded as she left the room. Things were not looking good and she knew it would take some fast talking and a few compensations to placate Sage and get everything back what was now considered normal. Her mind was racing with possibilities as she walked, and it caused her nothing but confusion; so before she entered the next room, she stopped and took a deep breath. After a few seconds, she reached out for the door knob but before her fingers could make contact, the crack of gunfire rang out from the room she had just left.

Sarah froze on the spot until her arm started to shake. Unable to hold her composure any longer, she sank to her knees and began to sob.

'

'

"Hold still" Abigail ordered as she un-wrapped the bandage on Stan's forehead.

"OWW! Why isn't this being done by one of the medics?" Stanley complained.

"I am one of the medics now" Abigail replied "I was drafted into their ranks because of all the latest injuries."

"And whose fault is that?" Stan said mockingly "Gran only started pushing us to learn hand to hand combat because of you and your stories."

Abigail glared at the injured man.

"Don't blame me for Gran's paranoia; the chances of Neville Sage ever making his way here must be a million to one" she declared sternly.

Stanley gave another loud cry as Abigail cleaned his wound with a mix of water and alcohol.

"Okay... so it stings a bit; do you need to be such a baby about it?" Abigail noted.

"Actually, it stings a lot. It's been a few days since I got hit with the bottle, so shouldn't it be starting to heal by now?" Stan enquired.

"Maybe it would if you wouldn't insist on scratching it all the time" Abigail replied.

"But it itches" came the forlorn reply.

With the wound cleaned and a fresh bandage applied, Abigail followed Stanley out of the infirmary where her two escorts waited by the door.

"Okay guys; where too now?" she sighed.

"Gran says there are a few minor cuts for you to attend to on the south wall" one of them said.

Abigail had always thought the fortifications across the southern pass were quite formidable, but lately Gran had decided the wall designed to keep everyone safe from wandering animals was nowhere near enough to fend off any force trained and led by Neville Sage. Materials for the increased fortification were freely available from the massive piles of rock and timber that had only lately buried the tunnel entrance, and were now slowly being raised into a wall near impossible to penetrate.

On her way over, Abigail was pleased to see Calla and her guards going in the opposite directions with their wheelbarrows, on their way to collect more material. Calla smiled back when Abigail waved but they were both soon reprimanded for their actions. It seemed Gran had finally lost patience with the girls and ordered them to be kept apart during the day so they could only catch up on the day's events when they were locked up in their room each night. They were even banned from eating with the rest of the population, and took each meal only with whoever was on guard duty at the time.

After being paired up with one of the senior medics, Abigail spent the rest of the day cleaning up scrapes and scratches until it was time for dinner. As she made her way across the top of the wall to a convenient ladder, Abigail was surprised to spot five people she had never seen before. The group consisted of a man, a woman and three young children and it appeared Gran and Eric were showing them around the outer compound.

"Who are they?" she asked one of her guards.

"New people; they arrived while you were changing Stan's bandages" he informed her.

"More kidnap victims?" Abigail said derisively.

"No" the guard replied tersely "They heard about how safe this place was and have asked if they can become part of our growing population."

"Three kids; Gran must love that" Abigail noted.

"They'll all make a good addition to the community."

"Tell me, what would have happened if they had all been an old couple, with no children?" Abigail wondered.

"There are enough adults here already" the guard said bluntly "Gran needs to think about the future of the settlement."

Of course, Abigail thought, that was why they did not take DeGroot; Gran only wanted the younger members of the Bull Ant crew. Looking at the parents as they walked across the compound, a thought came to mind.

"I wonder if those two people realise how lucky they are? It's only because Gran doesn't like to break up families, that they are allowed to stay. Otherwise she probably would have taken the kids and thrown their Mom and Dad out in the snow."

"Now don't you go making trouble with the newcomers... and tell your friend she better mind her own business too" the guard insisted.

Dinner that night was the usual lonely affair; Abigail missed those recent evenings when people would gather around to hear of her adventures. She hurried to finish her meal so she could get back to her room. The short period before lights out was the only time she had to talk with Calla, and being separated all day meant they always had much to talk about too. The guards even had to hurry to keep up as the young lady was keen to get back to her room and not waste the light.

"HEY! Where do you think you're going?" one of Abigail's escorts called out.

"Back to my room... or should I say my cell?"

"Not that way; you've been moved" the guard informed her.

"Moved? Why?"

"Well there are only two of you now your brother is gone" the guard said "And the new family need the bigger room."

When Abigail saw her new accommodation, she was quite shocked. Instead of her large space divided into rooms with hanging tarps was a tiny space with only two bunk beds inside.

"What happened to all our stuff?" she gasped.

"None of it was yours" the guard insisted.

"What are you talking about? We built some of that furniture ourselves" Abigail protested.

"With help from us and with our materials" the man argued.

"That's nothing but a load of bull. Calla and I worked hard to make that stuff... and we've done all we were told to do."

"What can I say" the man shrugged "It was all needed for the new family so you'll have to start again."

"So Gran can steal it all again? Next time you all get buried under a landslide, you can dig yourselves out."

Abigail sat down heavily on the lower bunk, intending to pout while waiting for Calla to get back. She realised there was no use in complaining about her new situation, for there was no chance at all Gran would ever listen to her.

'

'

It is so good to be back writing this story again, and I have something funny(ish) to tell you all.

My kitty, Boo Cat, is always bringing dead mice to the door (this is good as it keeps the area rodent free). A few days ago I heard her special "I've got something for you" meow, so I went to see what it was. To my surprise it was not a mouse, but a tatty old ripped mouse mat; too old to be put on my computer desk.

Makes me wonder what other rodent themed junk she may bring in the future (?)