"Plane just landed." She spoke into her cellphone as she walked out of first class.
"You know what type of car they get you yet?" Becca asked with what sounded like a mouth full of toast.
"Not yet, but I mean it was a first-class seat, overnight to Atlanta, but it's probably gunna be a nice one since they clearly think this job requires buttering me up." Ren smirked.
"How long of a drive is it to get to where you're going?"
She looked at her papers, "About an hour and a half to the mountains."
"Wait they're sending you to the mountains? Why? What high tech thing-a-ma-jig broke up there?" Her friends continued to eat her breakfast.
"No idea, but I guess I'll find out soon." Ren laughed at her, "Hopefully it doesn't take too long."
"Damn straight, you have a wedding to plan." Becca said, "And you still haven't let me try on all the bride's maids' dresses possible!"
"I'm such a bitch! How could I?" Ren gasped before laughing as she made her way to the car rental place, "Start getting the list ready, because I know you've started one. I have to go though, I'm about to see what car I'm getting."
"Text me with a picture!" Becca almost sang before hanging up the phone.
Ren walked up to the counter and gave her name. After signing a few things, she was handed the keys and went to get her luggage, which was now clearing out, everyone now heading to get their rental car and she grabbed the large bag from the conveyor belt with no trouble at all. When she walked outside the airport, she held up her phone, taking a picture of the red car and texted her friend with the caption 'Audi'.
She hadn't even started it when she got a text back saying, 'Hot damn this must be an important gig!'
Ren laughed again as she pulled out of the airport and got onto I-75 North, making her way towards the hotel address she had been given.
It was a small town. It was a smaller hotel. And she hated her bosses because now everyone in that town and who worked at that hotel were looking at her like she was an alien for showing up in a car that cost more than it would cost for her to stay in the hotel for a year. Hiding her embarrassment from her 'city girl' persona, she put her stuff in the hotel and made her way to the address she needed to be at for her work, which was in the National Forest.
On her way there, her phone started ringing and she smiled as she answered, "You're up early."
"Yeah, Veronica called me with an emergency." Her fiancé's voice still sounded like he was half asleep, "I'm assuming you made it to Atlanta?"
"Yeah, I'm on my way to the work site now. I'm hoping it doesn't need much." She told him.
"Hey, they're paying you a crap ton to be out there, so take your time." He joked.
"While you're not wrong about the pay, we do have a wedding to plan." She often had to remind him of this and after six months and only having set a date that was a year and a half out, it was beginning to make her a little anxious.
Chris chuckled, "Don't worry, we have plenty of time. Get everything taken care of out there, make bank, then come back and we'll start looking at locations."
"Promise?" She asked.
"Of course." He told her, "Ren, everything will fall into place. You worry too much."
"No, I'm just practical." She muttered, "I'm pulling in, so I have to go."
"Alright, love you."
"Love you too." She replied before hanging up her phone and getting out of the car. Walking into the building that looked more like a large cabin she went up to the front desk, "Hi, my name is Ren, I'm the tech from GCH."
"Yes, they told me you were comin'." The woman said, her southern accent strong but sweet. Standing, she went around the desk and led the way as they went back to a back area. The woman opened the door to a room and inside of the tiny space was a cramped desk with a lamp, a bunch of papers, and a very, very old computer on the desk.
"Woah! Is that an HP A4033A?" Ren gasped as she moved into the tiny room.
"I told 'em I didn't think you'd be able to do much with it since it's so old." The woman said.
"Yeah, I might new some new upgrades and a floppy disk converter, but this is amazing! This is the first computer I ever re-built!" Ren smiled and looked at the woman. Realizing her excitement was probably not the best placed at the moment, she quickly went back to professional, "What is it exactly that I'm supposed to be fixing?"
"We've lost the ability to contact our towers in the forest. There was some kind of short or spark or somethin', and we weren't able to fix it. Had to call everyone back since we couldn't keep ears on 'em." The woman told her.
"Alright." She booted up the computer before sitting down, "I might have to make some calls and get some better tech in here, but let's see if I can find the source first."
The woman watched her as she started typing on the keyboard, her fingers flying. She turned to head back to the front desk, leaving Ren to do her work in peace as she picked up her cell phone to make a call.
Four hours and two phone calls later she leaned back in the hard, wooden chair, her ass hurt like hell from the hard-wood and her eyes felt dry, but she at least had some kind of idea of what was happening. Getting up and leaving the room she made her way back to the front where the woman was still sitting but this time a man was standing across from her, the two talking, he was dressed more like a ranger than the woman was. When the woman saw Ren she smiled, "Murray, this is the tech GCH sent out from California."
"Nice to meet you ma'am." The man smiled at her.
"Hi." She looked back at the woman, "I think I know part of the issue."
"Well good thing Murrays here then, he's the man in charge." The woman motioned to him.
"Oh, okay then." Ren turned to face the man again, "From what I can tell you had some type of surge that pushed back on the system burning it out. I can access the first tower out from here, but I can't get into the meat of it so either there's a problem in some of the wires connecting it to here or there's a problem in the programming, but I can't even get an echo. Either way, I need to get out there to see what's going on."
"I got a guy that can take you out there. You sure it isn't just somethin you can tell us how to take care of?" Murray asked looking her up and down quickly.
She didn't even notice it as she said, "It's a lot of programing language that's going to be needed and I might possibly have to re-wire somethings. I'll also have to call in to the central hub to get in deep into the I.P.s and servers out here."
"Say no more. I'll get you out there." Murray laughed. As they finished talking the loud noise of an engine was heard pulling up outside. The man looked at the door, "And here's our guy now."
Murray walked to the door and motioned for the person outside to come inside and the rumble of the truck cut off. Ren watched as a man with long shaggy hair, a goatee, and slightly baggy and dirty clothes walked in. The man didn't even look at her, "Lost their tracks 'bout a mile from the river. I'mma pick 'em back up tomorrow t' see if I can find new ones." He the motioned, "Also who the hell is driving that red thing out there?"
"That would be-" Murray turned to look at her realizing she never got her name.
"Ren." She answered for him, holding up a hand in a sort of wave at the man.
"She was sent to try and get the comms back running in the towers." Murray told him, "In fact she needs someone to take her out to Tower One. You're the only one allowed out there with the radios down." Murray looked back to Ren, "Ren this is Daryl, he can get you out to the tower and make sure you're safe the whole time."
"Safe? From what?" It was just a forest, so what the hell had this man been tracking.
Daryl looked at the girl. She was short but lean, he could tell she wasn't a total weakling. Looking at her and the skinny jeans and t-shirt she wore he was surprised to hear she was the one driving the sports car, he'd have figured the person would have been dressed up more. The girl was pretty though, prettier than anything he'd seen in a while, her green eyes staring at him as she waited for an answer. "Lots of things out there can kill you. Wolves're what I've been trackin', attacked some people last week."
"Well the people were in their home." Ren shrugged, "It's like getting bitten by a shark in the ocean then getting mad at the shark. You invaded their space."
"Still don' mean I ain't gotta keep someone like you safe from it." He replied.
Someone like you. Ren hated that, but she was used to it. She smiled at him, "Well then, when can we go so you can get back to your wolves?"
"How longs it gunna take?" He asked.
"Depends on the problem, which I could probably figure out in an hour or two." She told him.
"Let's go now, we can be back before sundown." Daryl turned back to the door.
"Here." Murray reached over the desk, "Satellite phone in case you need to call one of your people, I don't think you'll get cell service out there."
"Thanks." Ren smiled taking the phone from him, before heading to the door as she followed Daryl. The truck he was in wasn't the nicest, but out here that didn't matter, as long as it didn't get stuck on the trail, it was perfectly fine. Taking a deep breath, she opened the handle, preparing herself to have to spend at least the next few hours with this guy who thought of her as nothing more than a little girl from the city with a fancy car.
A/N: This is my first ever true AU, so please let me know what you think! I love reading peoples thoughts :)