Title: Today 'They' Won the Battle part 5
Author: Rhasa
Rating: PG-13
Category: Drama
Keywords: Max and Alec developing relationship.
Summary: Max learns to prioritise, organise and delegate, all the while
fearing she'll make a mistake and get someone 'else' killed. Alec learns to
accept responsibility.
Disclaimer: Not mine. No money being made. No infringement intended
although some fun is.
Feedback: Gee, what can I say? I'm a feedback junkie. Make my day
Rhasa4@yahoo.com
Author's Note:
Thanks to all those souls who have read my other stuff and sent me warm and fuzzies.
Today 'They' Won the Battle. By Rhasa
Old habits die hard. That was just one of the things Max was thinking as she sat at the now occupied conference table in the early hours one morning in Terminal City. Who would have thought that Alec was a sucker for status reports.
Prioritisation. Organisation. Delegation.
She was surprised to find that Alec craved these things in Terminal City. But she couldn't blame him.
"We need to make some sort of sense out of all this chaos, Max," he had said to her earlier that day after hearing the complaints of many fellow TC inhabitants. It had been two days since his little impromptu party in the command centre, where he had smuggled in a keg of beer and some alcohol. His gesture had lifted everyone's spirits, including Max's, but it was only temporary and soon forgotten in the day to day grind that they found themselves up against as they fought for survival amongst the ruins in their stronghold.
Alec was making a name for himself. He had lead raids on warehouses, organised medical supplies, and seen to the morale of those around him. He was a getting a reputation as someone who got things done, someone who listened to the myriad of concerns that surrounded them and as someone who cared.
It was natural that the others look towards him. He had been a unit leader whilst at Manticore; leadership skills were something someone usually had for life. For some unknown reason Alec exuded a gentle but persistant and unquestionable authority that had everyone, even Max, turning to him. She'd admitted to herself that she wasn't surprised. He had been resourceful since the day they met.
"It's getting harder to accommodate everyone. With the influx of new transgenics everyday we are running low on everything. We need to prioritise, organise, delegate," he sighed.
"Tell me something I don't know," she had replied brusquely.
"Look, these people are used to living rough, doing it tough. But if we're going to have any kind of chance of seeing this through, then we have to organise better. The raids have been somewhat successful-" he saw Max blanch at his words knowing that she felt the loss of seven transgenics on one of those so called raids anything but successful, "but we can do better."
She nodded.
"Get everyone together," she had said. "It's time to lay down some long term plans."
They had been at it for just under four hours. The never empty command centre, buzzed and hummed as a group pounded out the most urgent of issues that required action to ensure their survival. Max sighed, and stretched a little in her seat. She had admitted to those before her that she was someone who preferred action to talk, but recognised the necessity for having this meeting, despite secretly fearing she wouldn't be able to remain in her seat for long.
Before her sat Alec, Mole, Dix, Luke, Travis and Kyra, those transgenics whom Max felt were most useful, and who at sometime, since this whole mess began, had put themselves in charge of one thing or another. Mole was the self proclaimed munitions and weapon procurer, Dix handled communications, Luke helped with food distribution and perimeter security and Kyra ran the infirmary. Travis was a relative newcomer and had appointed himself as accommodation officer. All of them had pressing concerns. All of them had a list of requests. All of them were beginning to run out of patience and Max had a headache.
"I'll say it again, our first priority has to be defence," Mole roared, spittle flying out of his mouth. "We don't know when those outside are coming over those walls, we've been lucky they've kept their distance so far, but believe me, they 'are' coming. We have to be prepared. We have to arm ourselves. Our first priority is weapons and ammunition."
"A lot of good weapons and ammunitions are going to be to us if our people starve to death first," Luke huffed in response. "We need food. Stuff that we can store, that will last. And we need some sort of mess hall. That's the fairest way of distributing it. I know of X5's on Oak that are hoarding. I think if we allow that to continue things could get ugly really quick."
"You're worrying about what's for dinner, when you should be worried about a bullet to the head," Mole sneered at him.
"What makes you think they're going to attack? They have waited this long. I think it is a pretty safe bet that their current strategy is to starve us out. We need food!" Luke yelled as he slammed his fist down on the table in pure frustration.
"Okay! That's enough!" Max stood abruptly, after having her fill of the seemingly endless debate. "We've been going over all this for nearly four hours now. We've discussed everything from weapons and food to the need for training classes, a gym and a daycare centre. Rome wasn't built in a day, people. I think we'll have to agree that there are some things that are equally important." She sighed and raised a hand to her right temple, her frustration and fatigue closely watched by Alec who remained silent as he had done for the last hour or so. "There is no reason why we can't set food and weapons as our joint first priorities. Mole I know you already have some knowledge of just what kind of firepower we have here in Terminal City. I'm betting you already have a detailed shopping list on you as well."
"You betcha," he smirked.
"Well then, assemble a team of five to ten and go for it. I prefer you were discreet. No knocking off the Seattle Police armoury that'll just piss them off more and they'd definitely see that as a threat, if not an all out attack. I'm sure you could find less honourable targets. Drug cartels, the Seattle Marfia, hell, they'll likely have more firepower than the police anyway. Be careful. I'd prefer if we didn't make the heads of the underworld the latest 'kill the freaks' fans. In fact, try buying most of what you need first, though I doubt anyone will want to deal with us once they know where the guns are headed."
"I'll use Tony, X5, as the front man. He's got Canadian connections. I can get about half of what I want through purchasing, though knowing how desperate we are, the dealers are most likely gonna double, maybe triple the usual asking price."
"Fine. Do the best you can. Just keep in mind the image we are trying to create for ourselves here. We are not looking for trouble, but we'll be damned if we're not going to defend ourselves if the need arises."
"Oh the need will arise for sure. That's one thing I can guarantee," he said as he relaxed a bit back into his chair now that he had essentially got permission to do what he was going to do all along anyway.
Max nodded at his warning and turned towards Luke.
"Luke, where are food supplies at at the moment?"
"I couldn't tell you for sure," he looked sullen. "As I said some are hoarding but that's their own stuff, supplies they obtained on their own before the siege began. As for the supplies we gained during the first raid, we are short. I mean, maybe three or four days, but even then I don't know. More and more seem to be turning up everyday. It's hard to plan a party when you don't even know how many guests are going to show up, if you know what I mean."
"It sounds to me like we need some kind of census," Alec offered, back in the conversation once more.
"Yeah, that would help. Just knowing how many of us there are would go a long way in planning for how long we can last on the supplies we get," Luke looked hopefully at Alec.
Sitting up straighter in his chair, Travis piped in, "A census is a great idea. If I know numbers I can plan the accommodations a bit better. I have some quarters where four or five are bunking down, other's with two - usually mating partners - and some are still without digs altogether. Knowing who wants to go where and with what would also help. I mean the canines don't like the smell of the felines and vice versa." he trailed off.
"Great, it's not enough that we have to steal everything just to survive from day to day but now we have to worry about personality clashes as well?" Mole slurred.
"Fine," Max announced, essentially ignoring Mole and turning to her right. "Alec, you and Luke will coordinate for another raid for food. I'm sure there is going to be some special dietary requirements as well." She looked at Luke again. "Am I right?"
"Yeah. We've got only meat eaters, non meat eaters, some of us require live prey, chickens, mice things like that-"
"Well thank god for the rats around here then," Mole chuckled.
"Yeah, but with the numbers we have here, soon even the rats are going to run out," Luke hissed back at him not appreciating his little joke.
"Gross," Alec mouthed silently to Max.
"Luke," Max shouted, regaining his attention once more. "Co ordinate with Alec, get a list of basic food stuffs that we'll need. If we are going to make another hit we want to ensure it will be useful stuff we're getting." She turned back to Alec once more," You let me know when and what you're going after, assemble a team, you know what to do. Just don't go in until you clear it with me first."
Alec was about to protest. This was a job he could certainly handle, but he understood that ever since the last raid, since they had walked into a trap set by White, that Max was going to overly cautious. She couldn't stand to lose more men. Instead of protesting and stepping on her toes, he simply reassured her.
"You got it, boss," he said cheerfully.
Still turned to him, Max continued. "After the raid, after the pressing issue of the immediate food shortage is addressed we'll get a census going. You'll be in charge of that too, Alec. If there is one person in this whole forsaken place that all groups seem to equally tolerate, it's you. People feel they can approach you, feel that they can talk to you. And if there's anyone who can get 'information' out of anyone it's you."
"Must be my winning personality or something," he joked.
"Or something." she joked back, a small smile playing on her lips, grateful that at least one of them was optimistic about all this.
Turning back to the group, Max left the table and began walking around a little. "I think the next priority should be Kyra's medical requirements." She stopped opposite the other woman. "Kyra, you did an amazing job a few weeks ago pulling all those people through after White. after White's. attack. " She faltered at the painful memory of that day.
"I wish I could have done more," the woman whispered sadly.
"There was honestly nothing more you could have done," Max tried to reassure her, hearing the very same words Alec had shared with her.
"There are still others, sick, or injured. Some have conditions I have never even seen before and don't have the first clue about treating. We have eleven pregnant females who have had no ante natal care whatsoever." Kyra shook her head, overcome with what obviously was even more concerning medical matters but completely unable to voice them right now.
"What do you need?" Max asked.
"A real doctor," Kyra said bluntly.
"I don't think that's going to be-" Max began before Kyra cut her off.
"You had a doctor friend on the outside, didn't you Max?"
"Yeah. His name was Sam. But he was a friend of Logan's. He did Logan some favours. Guess one of those favours was me."
"Maybe he would be willing to help us."
"I don't see how."
"Supplies, medications, maybe he could take a look at some of the people still in the infirmary. Hell, even a few textbooks would help. I'm flying blind here, Max."
"It's a hell of a lot to ask the guy," Dix offered. "Not only would it be a momentous task smuggling him in here, I don't think scaling an eight foot high fence is something he'd be particularly skilled at. Then there's always the risk of exposure to the biohazards, and exposure in the sense that if anyone discovered that he was helping us his life outside would be pretty much over, not to mention the lives of his family."
"Well, maybe just supplies then."
"Why can't we just raid a medical warehouse?" Alec asked an obvious question.
"We could, but the stuff you'd get would be next to useless if I don't know how to use it. There's so much more I still have to know." Kyra sighed heavily. Max could tell that the young woman before her was tired.
"We'll do our best," she tried to reassure her. "For now, make a 'shopping list' of all the things you need and all the things you think you need. I'll set a team on it. That's it for now. We'll put a time on these requests. Lists, plans of assault and execution of all raids should be completed within three days. Agreed?"
"Agreed," the rest of them muttered as they all made moves to leave.
"It's like Christmas, people," Alec announced cheerfully, rising to his feet. "We're making our lists and checking them twice."
"Only this time, we're going to be naughty not nice," Max joked back. "Let me know when any team is going out so we can watch your back. Be careful and good luck."
****
Alec felt as ridiculous as he looked. Clipboard in hand all he needed was a shirt and tie or a telephone headset and his transformation into his former boss "Normal" would be complete. He was never one for administrative duties. His sword, or in his case his back kick, was always mightier than the pen. Still, he knew why he was stuck with the job of collecting the census, he was the one to have suggested it in the first place, but no time during his suggestion did he imagine that he would be the one to handle the monotony of compiling population data. He wished he could have said that it was a nice change from the danger of successful warehouse raids, the like of which he had pulled off only a few days before, but truth be told, he was an action-rather-than-talk kind of guy, much the same as Max was.
As he turned down towards Oak street to begin the data collection of the largest concentrated groups of X5's, Alec smiled at the thought of Max. She had shown great strength and leadership this week as she had pulled everyone together, just as Alec knew she could. Mole had successfully procured around two-thirds of the weapons he had desired. Alec thought he was a little "too gun-ho" as he helped unload the crates of arms and munitions from one of the *two* semi trailers that Mole had commandeered. Still he was happy that one of the two main priorities the group had set had been met with the minimal amount of fuss. Alec's food and supply raid with Luke went off without a hitch, well, only if you could say that having an all out screaming match with Max about her involvement just prior to the hit was not a hitch.
All he had said to her was, "No way."
"Alec!" she yelled back at him.
"No way, Max. You're not coming," he threw over his shoulder at her as he walked towards the stairs.
"Well, you really can't stop me, can you," she screamed and huffed, as she had picked up her bag and chased after him.
Alec didn't want to start anything with her at the moment, not with all eyes in the command centre trained on them. He spun around and closed the distance between them, leaning down to whisper, through clenched teeth. "You said, 'assemble a team, you know what to do', Alec. Well, I did that Max. We're going and there's no need for you to come along. Someone has to stay here and co ordinate the others. You know that."
"I'm coming. End of story," she hissed in her usual stubborn can't-tell-me- what-to-do- kind of way. As she went to move past him, she was stopped by his hand suddenly gripping her arm.
"Let go of me, you big ape," she yelled, while punching him in the shoulder.
Alec ignored her struggles. "I'm not going to let you do this, Max. I'm not going to let you relive the raid we did a few weeks ago. This isn't a trap. We've planned this for days. White's not going to be there. We're going to be fine. Let it go. Let me go," he said even quieter as he began to relax his grip on her. "Trust me, Max," he whispered.
She looked up at him, his eyes piercing hers, detecting a hint of moisture in her brown depths. She sighed, "I do trust you, Alec."
"Then you know I can do this."
"I know that. but if anything should happen, if something were to go wrong and I wasn't there. if I wasn't there to watch your back.," she looked down uncomfortably at the floor. "I could never. I would never forgive myself, if something happened to you, Alec," she whispered, raising her eyes to meet his again.
His stomach did a flip at her words. She was afraid for him. He knew she took too much of the responsibility for the loss of lives at the last raid, he knew that it haunted her. But now she was admitting that it was something a little more personal that fuelled her desire to go along.
He pulled her against him in a hug, not caring who was watching and what they thought. She was scared and he'd try to reassure her any way he could. "Nothing's going to happen, Max," he said as he stood there holding her close and stroking her hair. "I'll be right back," he promised.
And true to his word, he was.
They'd only been gone two hours. Some sort of speed record for the size of the raid they did. But two hours was apparently long enough for Max to work herself into such a worried state that made Alec think she was just about to keel over when he got a look at her on his return. She was at the dock to meet them as the trucks pulled up. Alec had caught a glimpse of her biting her fingernails as he rounded the corner, a part of him thinking she was somewhat "adorable" for her concern.
Pleased with himself, not only for the stuffs they had effortlessly acquired, but also for his speedy return, he jumped down from the trucks with quite a self satisfied, shit-eating grin on his face, wondering, just slightly, if Max would welcome him with a hug.
Boy he couldn't have been further off the mark.
He turned, after giving orders to a group of workers on what to unload, only to catch a right hook in the jaw. He hadn't seen it, or 'her', coming.
"What the-" he began, as he rubbed the tender spot.
"You missed your last radio check in," an irate Max yelled at him.
"I'm happy to see you too, Max."
"You were supposed to call in at zero, two hundred," she hissed.
"Everything was going fine. That last check in was only fifteen minutes ago. We thought we'd maintain radio silence for a few more minutes since we'd be back here much quicker than we had originally intended. We had a window."
"That's not the point," she said, hands on hips.
"What's the point?" he asked, moving past her, heading towards the command centre.
"You had me worried, Alec. After what we talked about before you left, I was worried."
Her words instantly made him feel guilty. Perhaps he had been too wrapped up in his own success. He hadn't really thought about her worrying back at base. They had just been so close to getting back and every radio communication was a risk, most likely being monitored by the Seattle police and other outside forces.
He turned back to face her. Her eyes were flashing with concern and anger. He really had scared her. "I'm sorry," he said softly.
She stood and stared at him, a silence between them drawing out far too long for Alec's liking. As Alec watched her, he wondered if a worried Max wasn't worse than an angry Max.
"I'm sorry, Max," he said again, his words breaking whatever spell had fallen over her.
"Whatever," she replied gruffly, before moving quickly past him. "Get your ass to the command centre. You've got a census to organise and conduct."
***
Now, two days into his new task, as he shuffled the completed 'details' forms inside his folder, he couldn't quite figure out if Max was punishing him by giving him this little census detail so soon after his return for the stunt he had pulled or if she truly believed what she had said. "If there is one person in this whole forsaken place that all groups seem to equally tolerate, it's you. People feel they can approach you, feel that they can talk to you. And if there's anyone who can get 'information' out of anyone it's you," she had said. But despite whatever confidence she had in him, hers words were proving to be easier said than done.
It wasn't long after he began that he had found that quite a few of the inhabitants of Terminal City tended to move around a lot. He thought he was seeing things as he kept running into the same people over and over again, but alas, many transhumans simply liked to keep on the move, and who could blame them after their static stay at Manticore for so long. So they simply stayed in the one place for a few nights then picked up and moved on to another. It was problematic, but not something Alec couldn't overcome and there were advantages to the job. Alec had managed to catch up with half a dozen "buddies" from Manticore. He had even located two members of his former unit which left him thinking how remarkable it was that they all seemed to have congregated here. But two out of twelve wasn't such a great number and it still left him wondering about the rest.
As he walked closer towards Oak Street he wondered just who else he might find. With new arrivals everyday there was a small possibility that others he had known back at Manticore had just come in.
He knew he had entered so called "X5 terroritory" with the noticeable cleanliness of the streets. If it was one thing most X5's were used to it was KP and garbage control. Most of them thrived on order and discipline and Alec was not surprised to find that this extended to their digs in terminal City as well.
He had had word that there was something like eighteen X5's bunking down in the area, but after only two hours Alec knew that that number was severely underestimated. So far he had counted twenty-three adults and two infants and he still had more than half the district to go. He suddenly felt for Luke, knowing what the transhuman was up against with the job of trying to feed this motley bunch without knowing just how many of them there were.
Approaching a free standing building close to the centre of Oak street, Alec paused as he was about to knock on the door. The gesture of announcing his prescence and introducing himself and his purpose to those who did not know him, or who did not know him all that well, reminded him of something people used to call 'door-to-door salesmen', a thing of American's consumer driven past. Instead of selling a product, some could draw the comparison that Alec was selling an idea and hope. A hope of things coming together, a cohesiveness that had eluded them since their escape at Manticore, not to mention a sense of belonging and inclusion. He paused and smiled, maybe this thing was going to work afterall.
He raised his hand and knocked, only to find, somewhat surprisingly, that the door was not its hinges but merely resting up against the frame and having it come crashing down inside the entrance way. The noise was enough to wake the dead and almost immediately a woman appeared and stood before him looking anxious.
"Hi. Sorry about that," Alec gestured to the fallen door. The young woman looked at him but didn't seem to be bothered too much about the door, so Alec just continued.
"Hi," he said again. "I'm-"
"Alec. I know," she said softly, staring intently at him.
"Oh. Okay. I'm here to-"
"Collect data for a census."
"Yeah."
"I was told you were coming by," she said, still looking at him a little strangely. Alec couldn't escape the feeling that he had grown two heads or something. The way she was studying him, scrutinising him, made him feel like a bug under a magnifying glass. "Do you want to come in?" she asked finally, stepping aside to allow him better access.
Alec took a few steps forward. He had seen cleaner digs in his day. Hell, even that hellhole of an apartment that he had 'liberated' from Brain was better than this. Judging by the state of the place, Alec surmised that it hadn't been inhabited for very long.
"I just moved in," the young woman said, as if reading his mind. "I only came in at the beginning of the week. I've got my work cut out for me, I know."
"Oh, I don't know," Alec began, sweeping his eyes across the room. "A dust pan, broom, and mop would make a hell of a difference to this place."
Alec looked up at her again and saw that the young woman was slightly smiling at his words. She reached up and took a bandana off her hair, allowing her brown tresses to fall and almost reach her shoulder, and for the first time since they'd met a flash of recognition passed through Alec's mind.
"Hey, do I know you?" he asked.
"Maybe," she said, suddenly shifting uncomfortably. "Manticore was a big place."
"Tell me about it," he joked. "I guess I didn't really know how big, until I started this little exercise," he said as he held up his census folder. "Maybe we trained together?" He asked, intent on finding out just why it was that this young woman was jarring some long lost memory that he couldn't quite put his finger on.
"Perhaps we did," she said, suddenly turning away from him and picking up the door to lean it once again against the door frame.
"Your designation was?" Alec asked, hoping that he could at least recognise her serial number.
"They call me Mary now," she said turning back to him. "I prefer Mary."
"I understand." Alec paused to look at her once more, similar to the way she had looked at him. It was becoming obvious that they had met before, but when the answers to that particular mystery had not presented themselves, Alec went back to the task at hand. "Well, Mary, I guess you won't mind if I ask you a few questions."
"No," she said. "Fire away."
Like a true administrator, Alec got out his trusty census form and a pencil. "Well, for name, I'm putting down Mary," he began, talking more to himself than to her. "You arrived this week. Are you planning on making this your semi permanent residence during your stay in Terminal City?"
"It'll do for now," she said softly.
"Any other-" He began to ask the next question only to be interrupted by a soft crying in an adjacent room.
'Mary' left for a moment, while Alec tried to crane his neck around the corner. She returned in a few seconds carrying the answer to his question.
"Occupants?" he continued. "I'll put down a 'yes' for that."
He watched as she adjusted the small bundle in her arms, a small hand protruding from the blankets, as she tried to comfort it.
"The baby's name?" Alec asked. "We have to include it on the census. It will help us with our planning, you know, food, supplies, diapers."
"It's a boy. Josiah," she said. "His name is Josiah, but I call him Jed."
"Okay. Jed," he said taking down the particular detail on his form.
"Do you want to see him?" Mary asked suddenly stepping closer to Alec.
Slightly put off by the unexpected question, Alec stepped back and began uncomfortably, "Um, no, that's okay." But as Mary moved closer he couldn't help but acquiesce.
She pulled the blanket back so Alec could first see the golden brown hair of the baby boy before him, then turned him slightly in her embrace so Alec could better see the face.
His eyes. The baby's eyes.
Alec's mouth fell open out of surprise. He turned to look at Mary, and then back to the baby. His heart began to beat faster as he continued to stare at the small helpless infant, unable to break away. Without really remembering how, Mary placed the baby into his arms. Once again he looked up at the mother everything finally fell into place as he realised he recognised her after all.
Those deep green eyes of the child before him.
"I was one of your breeding partners, back at Manticore," she said, finally. "This is your son."
Tbc
Feedback would be great and may just make me write the next part faster Rhasa4@yahoo.com
Author's Note:
Thanks to all those souls who have read my other stuff and sent me warm and fuzzies.
Today 'They' Won the Battle. By Rhasa
Old habits die hard. That was just one of the things Max was thinking as she sat at the now occupied conference table in the early hours one morning in Terminal City. Who would have thought that Alec was a sucker for status reports.
Prioritisation. Organisation. Delegation.
She was surprised to find that Alec craved these things in Terminal City. But she couldn't blame him.
"We need to make some sort of sense out of all this chaos, Max," he had said to her earlier that day after hearing the complaints of many fellow TC inhabitants. It had been two days since his little impromptu party in the command centre, where he had smuggled in a keg of beer and some alcohol. His gesture had lifted everyone's spirits, including Max's, but it was only temporary and soon forgotten in the day to day grind that they found themselves up against as they fought for survival amongst the ruins in their stronghold.
Alec was making a name for himself. He had lead raids on warehouses, organised medical supplies, and seen to the morale of those around him. He was a getting a reputation as someone who got things done, someone who listened to the myriad of concerns that surrounded them and as someone who cared.
It was natural that the others look towards him. He had been a unit leader whilst at Manticore; leadership skills were something someone usually had for life. For some unknown reason Alec exuded a gentle but persistant and unquestionable authority that had everyone, even Max, turning to him. She'd admitted to herself that she wasn't surprised. He had been resourceful since the day they met.
"It's getting harder to accommodate everyone. With the influx of new transgenics everyday we are running low on everything. We need to prioritise, organise, delegate," he sighed.
"Tell me something I don't know," she had replied brusquely.
"Look, these people are used to living rough, doing it tough. But if we're going to have any kind of chance of seeing this through, then we have to organise better. The raids have been somewhat successful-" he saw Max blanch at his words knowing that she felt the loss of seven transgenics on one of those so called raids anything but successful, "but we can do better."
She nodded.
"Get everyone together," she had said. "It's time to lay down some long term plans."
They had been at it for just under four hours. The never empty command centre, buzzed and hummed as a group pounded out the most urgent of issues that required action to ensure their survival. Max sighed, and stretched a little in her seat. She had admitted to those before her that she was someone who preferred action to talk, but recognised the necessity for having this meeting, despite secretly fearing she wouldn't be able to remain in her seat for long.
Before her sat Alec, Mole, Dix, Luke, Travis and Kyra, those transgenics whom Max felt were most useful, and who at sometime, since this whole mess began, had put themselves in charge of one thing or another. Mole was the self proclaimed munitions and weapon procurer, Dix handled communications, Luke helped with food distribution and perimeter security and Kyra ran the infirmary. Travis was a relative newcomer and had appointed himself as accommodation officer. All of them had pressing concerns. All of them had a list of requests. All of them were beginning to run out of patience and Max had a headache.
"I'll say it again, our first priority has to be defence," Mole roared, spittle flying out of his mouth. "We don't know when those outside are coming over those walls, we've been lucky they've kept their distance so far, but believe me, they 'are' coming. We have to be prepared. We have to arm ourselves. Our first priority is weapons and ammunition."
"A lot of good weapons and ammunitions are going to be to us if our people starve to death first," Luke huffed in response. "We need food. Stuff that we can store, that will last. And we need some sort of mess hall. That's the fairest way of distributing it. I know of X5's on Oak that are hoarding. I think if we allow that to continue things could get ugly really quick."
"You're worrying about what's for dinner, when you should be worried about a bullet to the head," Mole sneered at him.
"What makes you think they're going to attack? They have waited this long. I think it is a pretty safe bet that their current strategy is to starve us out. We need food!" Luke yelled as he slammed his fist down on the table in pure frustration.
"Okay! That's enough!" Max stood abruptly, after having her fill of the seemingly endless debate. "We've been going over all this for nearly four hours now. We've discussed everything from weapons and food to the need for training classes, a gym and a daycare centre. Rome wasn't built in a day, people. I think we'll have to agree that there are some things that are equally important." She sighed and raised a hand to her right temple, her frustration and fatigue closely watched by Alec who remained silent as he had done for the last hour or so. "There is no reason why we can't set food and weapons as our joint first priorities. Mole I know you already have some knowledge of just what kind of firepower we have here in Terminal City. I'm betting you already have a detailed shopping list on you as well."
"You betcha," he smirked.
"Well then, assemble a team of five to ten and go for it. I prefer you were discreet. No knocking off the Seattle Police armoury that'll just piss them off more and they'd definitely see that as a threat, if not an all out attack. I'm sure you could find less honourable targets. Drug cartels, the Seattle Marfia, hell, they'll likely have more firepower than the police anyway. Be careful. I'd prefer if we didn't make the heads of the underworld the latest 'kill the freaks' fans. In fact, try buying most of what you need first, though I doubt anyone will want to deal with us once they know where the guns are headed."
"I'll use Tony, X5, as the front man. He's got Canadian connections. I can get about half of what I want through purchasing, though knowing how desperate we are, the dealers are most likely gonna double, maybe triple the usual asking price."
"Fine. Do the best you can. Just keep in mind the image we are trying to create for ourselves here. We are not looking for trouble, but we'll be damned if we're not going to defend ourselves if the need arises."
"Oh the need will arise for sure. That's one thing I can guarantee," he said as he relaxed a bit back into his chair now that he had essentially got permission to do what he was going to do all along anyway.
Max nodded at his warning and turned towards Luke.
"Luke, where are food supplies at at the moment?"
"I couldn't tell you for sure," he looked sullen. "As I said some are hoarding but that's their own stuff, supplies they obtained on their own before the siege began. As for the supplies we gained during the first raid, we are short. I mean, maybe three or four days, but even then I don't know. More and more seem to be turning up everyday. It's hard to plan a party when you don't even know how many guests are going to show up, if you know what I mean."
"It sounds to me like we need some kind of census," Alec offered, back in the conversation once more.
"Yeah, that would help. Just knowing how many of us there are would go a long way in planning for how long we can last on the supplies we get," Luke looked hopefully at Alec.
Sitting up straighter in his chair, Travis piped in, "A census is a great idea. If I know numbers I can plan the accommodations a bit better. I have some quarters where four or five are bunking down, other's with two - usually mating partners - and some are still without digs altogether. Knowing who wants to go where and with what would also help. I mean the canines don't like the smell of the felines and vice versa." he trailed off.
"Great, it's not enough that we have to steal everything just to survive from day to day but now we have to worry about personality clashes as well?" Mole slurred.
"Fine," Max announced, essentially ignoring Mole and turning to her right. "Alec, you and Luke will coordinate for another raid for food. I'm sure there is going to be some special dietary requirements as well." She looked at Luke again. "Am I right?"
"Yeah. We've got only meat eaters, non meat eaters, some of us require live prey, chickens, mice things like that-"
"Well thank god for the rats around here then," Mole chuckled.
"Yeah, but with the numbers we have here, soon even the rats are going to run out," Luke hissed back at him not appreciating his little joke.
"Gross," Alec mouthed silently to Max.
"Luke," Max shouted, regaining his attention once more. "Co ordinate with Alec, get a list of basic food stuffs that we'll need. If we are going to make another hit we want to ensure it will be useful stuff we're getting." She turned back to Alec once more," You let me know when and what you're going after, assemble a team, you know what to do. Just don't go in until you clear it with me first."
Alec was about to protest. This was a job he could certainly handle, but he understood that ever since the last raid, since they had walked into a trap set by White, that Max was going to overly cautious. She couldn't stand to lose more men. Instead of protesting and stepping on her toes, he simply reassured her.
"You got it, boss," he said cheerfully.
Still turned to him, Max continued. "After the raid, after the pressing issue of the immediate food shortage is addressed we'll get a census going. You'll be in charge of that too, Alec. If there is one person in this whole forsaken place that all groups seem to equally tolerate, it's you. People feel they can approach you, feel that they can talk to you. And if there's anyone who can get 'information' out of anyone it's you."
"Must be my winning personality or something," he joked.
"Or something." she joked back, a small smile playing on her lips, grateful that at least one of them was optimistic about all this.
Turning back to the group, Max left the table and began walking around a little. "I think the next priority should be Kyra's medical requirements." She stopped opposite the other woman. "Kyra, you did an amazing job a few weeks ago pulling all those people through after White. after White's. attack. " She faltered at the painful memory of that day.
"I wish I could have done more," the woman whispered sadly.
"There was honestly nothing more you could have done," Max tried to reassure her, hearing the very same words Alec had shared with her.
"There are still others, sick, or injured. Some have conditions I have never even seen before and don't have the first clue about treating. We have eleven pregnant females who have had no ante natal care whatsoever." Kyra shook her head, overcome with what obviously was even more concerning medical matters but completely unable to voice them right now.
"What do you need?" Max asked.
"A real doctor," Kyra said bluntly.
"I don't think that's going to be-" Max began before Kyra cut her off.
"You had a doctor friend on the outside, didn't you Max?"
"Yeah. His name was Sam. But he was a friend of Logan's. He did Logan some favours. Guess one of those favours was me."
"Maybe he would be willing to help us."
"I don't see how."
"Supplies, medications, maybe he could take a look at some of the people still in the infirmary. Hell, even a few textbooks would help. I'm flying blind here, Max."
"It's a hell of a lot to ask the guy," Dix offered. "Not only would it be a momentous task smuggling him in here, I don't think scaling an eight foot high fence is something he'd be particularly skilled at. Then there's always the risk of exposure to the biohazards, and exposure in the sense that if anyone discovered that he was helping us his life outside would be pretty much over, not to mention the lives of his family."
"Well, maybe just supplies then."
"Why can't we just raid a medical warehouse?" Alec asked an obvious question.
"We could, but the stuff you'd get would be next to useless if I don't know how to use it. There's so much more I still have to know." Kyra sighed heavily. Max could tell that the young woman before her was tired.
"We'll do our best," she tried to reassure her. "For now, make a 'shopping list' of all the things you need and all the things you think you need. I'll set a team on it. That's it for now. We'll put a time on these requests. Lists, plans of assault and execution of all raids should be completed within three days. Agreed?"
"Agreed," the rest of them muttered as they all made moves to leave.
"It's like Christmas, people," Alec announced cheerfully, rising to his feet. "We're making our lists and checking them twice."
"Only this time, we're going to be naughty not nice," Max joked back. "Let me know when any team is going out so we can watch your back. Be careful and good luck."
****
Alec felt as ridiculous as he looked. Clipboard in hand all he needed was a shirt and tie or a telephone headset and his transformation into his former boss "Normal" would be complete. He was never one for administrative duties. His sword, or in his case his back kick, was always mightier than the pen. Still, he knew why he was stuck with the job of collecting the census, he was the one to have suggested it in the first place, but no time during his suggestion did he imagine that he would be the one to handle the monotony of compiling population data. He wished he could have said that it was a nice change from the danger of successful warehouse raids, the like of which he had pulled off only a few days before, but truth be told, he was an action-rather-than-talk kind of guy, much the same as Max was.
As he turned down towards Oak street to begin the data collection of the largest concentrated groups of X5's, Alec smiled at the thought of Max. She had shown great strength and leadership this week as she had pulled everyone together, just as Alec knew she could. Mole had successfully procured around two-thirds of the weapons he had desired. Alec thought he was a little "too gun-ho" as he helped unload the crates of arms and munitions from one of the *two* semi trailers that Mole had commandeered. Still he was happy that one of the two main priorities the group had set had been met with the minimal amount of fuss. Alec's food and supply raid with Luke went off without a hitch, well, only if you could say that having an all out screaming match with Max about her involvement just prior to the hit was not a hitch.
All he had said to her was, "No way."
"Alec!" she yelled back at him.
"No way, Max. You're not coming," he threw over his shoulder at her as he walked towards the stairs.
"Well, you really can't stop me, can you," she screamed and huffed, as she had picked up her bag and chased after him.
Alec didn't want to start anything with her at the moment, not with all eyes in the command centre trained on them. He spun around and closed the distance between them, leaning down to whisper, through clenched teeth. "You said, 'assemble a team, you know what to do', Alec. Well, I did that Max. We're going and there's no need for you to come along. Someone has to stay here and co ordinate the others. You know that."
"I'm coming. End of story," she hissed in her usual stubborn can't-tell-me- what-to-do- kind of way. As she went to move past him, she was stopped by his hand suddenly gripping her arm.
"Let go of me, you big ape," she yelled, while punching him in the shoulder.
Alec ignored her struggles. "I'm not going to let you do this, Max. I'm not going to let you relive the raid we did a few weeks ago. This isn't a trap. We've planned this for days. White's not going to be there. We're going to be fine. Let it go. Let me go," he said even quieter as he began to relax his grip on her. "Trust me, Max," he whispered.
She looked up at him, his eyes piercing hers, detecting a hint of moisture in her brown depths. She sighed, "I do trust you, Alec."
"Then you know I can do this."
"I know that. but if anything should happen, if something were to go wrong and I wasn't there. if I wasn't there to watch your back.," she looked down uncomfortably at the floor. "I could never. I would never forgive myself, if something happened to you, Alec," she whispered, raising her eyes to meet his again.
His stomach did a flip at her words. She was afraid for him. He knew she took too much of the responsibility for the loss of lives at the last raid, he knew that it haunted her. But now she was admitting that it was something a little more personal that fuelled her desire to go along.
He pulled her against him in a hug, not caring who was watching and what they thought. She was scared and he'd try to reassure her any way he could. "Nothing's going to happen, Max," he said as he stood there holding her close and stroking her hair. "I'll be right back," he promised.
And true to his word, he was.
They'd only been gone two hours. Some sort of speed record for the size of the raid they did. But two hours was apparently long enough for Max to work herself into such a worried state that made Alec think she was just about to keel over when he got a look at her on his return. She was at the dock to meet them as the trucks pulled up. Alec had caught a glimpse of her biting her fingernails as he rounded the corner, a part of him thinking she was somewhat "adorable" for her concern.
Pleased with himself, not only for the stuffs they had effortlessly acquired, but also for his speedy return, he jumped down from the trucks with quite a self satisfied, shit-eating grin on his face, wondering, just slightly, if Max would welcome him with a hug.
Boy he couldn't have been further off the mark.
He turned, after giving orders to a group of workers on what to unload, only to catch a right hook in the jaw. He hadn't seen it, or 'her', coming.
"What the-" he began, as he rubbed the tender spot.
"You missed your last radio check in," an irate Max yelled at him.
"I'm happy to see you too, Max."
"You were supposed to call in at zero, two hundred," she hissed.
"Everything was going fine. That last check in was only fifteen minutes ago. We thought we'd maintain radio silence for a few more minutes since we'd be back here much quicker than we had originally intended. We had a window."
"That's not the point," she said, hands on hips.
"What's the point?" he asked, moving past her, heading towards the command centre.
"You had me worried, Alec. After what we talked about before you left, I was worried."
Her words instantly made him feel guilty. Perhaps he had been too wrapped up in his own success. He hadn't really thought about her worrying back at base. They had just been so close to getting back and every radio communication was a risk, most likely being monitored by the Seattle police and other outside forces.
He turned back to face her. Her eyes were flashing with concern and anger. He really had scared her. "I'm sorry," he said softly.
She stood and stared at him, a silence between them drawing out far too long for Alec's liking. As Alec watched her, he wondered if a worried Max wasn't worse than an angry Max.
"I'm sorry, Max," he said again, his words breaking whatever spell had fallen over her.
"Whatever," she replied gruffly, before moving quickly past him. "Get your ass to the command centre. You've got a census to organise and conduct."
***
Now, two days into his new task, as he shuffled the completed 'details' forms inside his folder, he couldn't quite figure out if Max was punishing him by giving him this little census detail so soon after his return for the stunt he had pulled or if she truly believed what she had said. "If there is one person in this whole forsaken place that all groups seem to equally tolerate, it's you. People feel they can approach you, feel that they can talk to you. And if there's anyone who can get 'information' out of anyone it's you," she had said. But despite whatever confidence she had in him, hers words were proving to be easier said than done.
It wasn't long after he began that he had found that quite a few of the inhabitants of Terminal City tended to move around a lot. He thought he was seeing things as he kept running into the same people over and over again, but alas, many transhumans simply liked to keep on the move, and who could blame them after their static stay at Manticore for so long. So they simply stayed in the one place for a few nights then picked up and moved on to another. It was problematic, but not something Alec couldn't overcome and there were advantages to the job. Alec had managed to catch up with half a dozen "buddies" from Manticore. He had even located two members of his former unit which left him thinking how remarkable it was that they all seemed to have congregated here. But two out of twelve wasn't such a great number and it still left him wondering about the rest.
As he walked closer towards Oak Street he wondered just who else he might find. With new arrivals everyday there was a small possibility that others he had known back at Manticore had just come in.
He knew he had entered so called "X5 terroritory" with the noticeable cleanliness of the streets. If it was one thing most X5's were used to it was KP and garbage control. Most of them thrived on order and discipline and Alec was not surprised to find that this extended to their digs in terminal City as well.
He had had word that there was something like eighteen X5's bunking down in the area, but after only two hours Alec knew that that number was severely underestimated. So far he had counted twenty-three adults and two infants and he still had more than half the district to go. He suddenly felt for Luke, knowing what the transhuman was up against with the job of trying to feed this motley bunch without knowing just how many of them there were.
Approaching a free standing building close to the centre of Oak street, Alec paused as he was about to knock on the door. The gesture of announcing his prescence and introducing himself and his purpose to those who did not know him, or who did not know him all that well, reminded him of something people used to call 'door-to-door salesmen', a thing of American's consumer driven past. Instead of selling a product, some could draw the comparison that Alec was selling an idea and hope. A hope of things coming together, a cohesiveness that had eluded them since their escape at Manticore, not to mention a sense of belonging and inclusion. He paused and smiled, maybe this thing was going to work afterall.
He raised his hand and knocked, only to find, somewhat surprisingly, that the door was not its hinges but merely resting up against the frame and having it come crashing down inside the entrance way. The noise was enough to wake the dead and almost immediately a woman appeared and stood before him looking anxious.
"Hi. Sorry about that," Alec gestured to the fallen door. The young woman looked at him but didn't seem to be bothered too much about the door, so Alec just continued.
"Hi," he said again. "I'm-"
"Alec. I know," she said softly, staring intently at him.
"Oh. Okay. I'm here to-"
"Collect data for a census."
"Yeah."
"I was told you were coming by," she said, still looking at him a little strangely. Alec couldn't escape the feeling that he had grown two heads or something. The way she was studying him, scrutinising him, made him feel like a bug under a magnifying glass. "Do you want to come in?" she asked finally, stepping aside to allow him better access.
Alec took a few steps forward. He had seen cleaner digs in his day. Hell, even that hellhole of an apartment that he had 'liberated' from Brain was better than this. Judging by the state of the place, Alec surmised that it hadn't been inhabited for very long.
"I just moved in," the young woman said, as if reading his mind. "I only came in at the beginning of the week. I've got my work cut out for me, I know."
"Oh, I don't know," Alec began, sweeping his eyes across the room. "A dust pan, broom, and mop would make a hell of a difference to this place."
Alec looked up at her again and saw that the young woman was slightly smiling at his words. She reached up and took a bandana off her hair, allowing her brown tresses to fall and almost reach her shoulder, and for the first time since they'd met a flash of recognition passed through Alec's mind.
"Hey, do I know you?" he asked.
"Maybe," she said, suddenly shifting uncomfortably. "Manticore was a big place."
"Tell me about it," he joked. "I guess I didn't really know how big, until I started this little exercise," he said as he held up his census folder. "Maybe we trained together?" He asked, intent on finding out just why it was that this young woman was jarring some long lost memory that he couldn't quite put his finger on.
"Perhaps we did," she said, suddenly turning away from him and picking up the door to lean it once again against the door frame.
"Your designation was?" Alec asked, hoping that he could at least recognise her serial number.
"They call me Mary now," she said turning back to him. "I prefer Mary."
"I understand." Alec paused to look at her once more, similar to the way she had looked at him. It was becoming obvious that they had met before, but when the answers to that particular mystery had not presented themselves, Alec went back to the task at hand. "Well, Mary, I guess you won't mind if I ask you a few questions."
"No," she said. "Fire away."
Like a true administrator, Alec got out his trusty census form and a pencil. "Well, for name, I'm putting down Mary," he began, talking more to himself than to her. "You arrived this week. Are you planning on making this your semi permanent residence during your stay in Terminal City?"
"It'll do for now," she said softly.
"Any other-" He began to ask the next question only to be interrupted by a soft crying in an adjacent room.
'Mary' left for a moment, while Alec tried to crane his neck around the corner. She returned in a few seconds carrying the answer to his question.
"Occupants?" he continued. "I'll put down a 'yes' for that."
He watched as she adjusted the small bundle in her arms, a small hand protruding from the blankets, as she tried to comfort it.
"The baby's name?" Alec asked. "We have to include it on the census. It will help us with our planning, you know, food, supplies, diapers."
"It's a boy. Josiah," she said. "His name is Josiah, but I call him Jed."
"Okay. Jed," he said taking down the particular detail on his form.
"Do you want to see him?" Mary asked suddenly stepping closer to Alec.
Slightly put off by the unexpected question, Alec stepped back and began uncomfortably, "Um, no, that's okay." But as Mary moved closer he couldn't help but acquiesce.
She pulled the blanket back so Alec could first see the golden brown hair of the baby boy before him, then turned him slightly in her embrace so Alec could better see the face.
His eyes. The baby's eyes.
Alec's mouth fell open out of surprise. He turned to look at Mary, and then back to the baby. His heart began to beat faster as he continued to stare at the small helpless infant, unable to break away. Without really remembering how, Mary placed the baby into his arms. Once again he looked up at the mother everything finally fell into place as he realised he recognised her after all.
Those deep green eyes of the child before him.
"I was one of your breeding partners, back at Manticore," she said, finally. "This is your son."
Tbc
Feedback would be great and may just make me write the next part faster Rhasa4@yahoo.com