Baird forced himself to hold his tongue. There were so many vile words he wanted to spew, but this was a life or death situation for him. He helped Liz up; Bennett smiled at the two before escorting them out of their makeshift hospital/holding cell. He led them through the compound. The buildings intact were connected with the remains of other buildings. Baird admired the construction. Bennett led them to one of the larger buildings. Their town hall, it would appear. He was some sort of leader-mayor type. His office was two rooms, technically. A sheet was separating them. Bennett lived in the other half. He motioned for them to take a seat while he disappeared into his bedroom.
"There's no door to this half," he idly chatted away, "I made myself an escape route into a panic room. Not a whole lot of space, but it has enough supplies for the women and children. You know, in the event of COG or Locust invasion."
"That's great," Baird rolled his eyes.
Liz eased herself into a chair. Her sporadic lifestyle was beginning to take its toll on her body. Her head throbbed, her leg ached, and her shoulder screamed in agony. She felt her body heating up; her chest was pounding. Baird idly glanced her way. He prepared himself for some smart remark from her. Either about him looking at her, or their situation, or the current location. Anything, really. She didn't say anything. Liz didn't even notice. She was pale and exhausted.
"It's getting pretty dark out," Bennett continued.
Baird stood behind Liz. "She's probably sick. All those bullets going through her," he thought, "That's why she's pale. Sick is all. Not dying. No rustlung because there's no coughing. She's just sick. Put your hand on her shoulder. Make sure this guy knows she's with you. And Liz'll know you're here. Is she really with you? Shit. What if she's not sick, and is just really pale all of a sudden? And if you put your hand there she might fucking break it. Or rip us apart with her words. God she's so fucking hot. For a girl, that is. I mean... That came out wrong. Shit, shit, shit."
Baird compromised and rested a hand on Liz's shoulder as Bennett returned to the room. He smiled at them, mumbling something about young love even in desperate times. To which Baird expected a crack about it being very desperate times if she was really with him, but there was only silence. He squeezed her shoulder.
"As I was saying, it gets pretty shaky after dark. Haven't seen Kryll in a while, but we still get some patrols running through. Lately, it's been other Stranded camps. Ones that aren't too keen on civilization," Bennett said.
"So what's your point?" Baird asked.
"It seems to me that your little lady isn't up for a lot of moving. You two have an awful lot of ground to cover to get back to Jacinto. It'll be harder at night with really only one of you mobile."
"So you want us to stay here. That's what you're getting at."
"Here or your little hiding place. We'd have to move you quick. One of the Stranded gangs holes up around here at night too. They," Bennett coughed, "They really enjoy the company of women, but... Lack the charm to get them properly..."
"Pretty subtle way of saying they're a bunch of rapists," Baird snorted.
He wondered about their guns and their stash back in that apartment. What if the Stranded gangs found it? Would they be hunted and/or executed? He kept his thoughts to himself for a change.
"No one in my town knows about that panic room. If folks come through looking for two strangers, word travels fast you see, nobody's gonna know where you went."
Stranded talk to each other, Baird surmised. He made a mental note of that as he reconsidered their offer. As it stood, he could take Bennett up on his and hide, or go back to that apartment and hope for the best. He considered Liz's opinion. She looked like she was dying. She probably wouldn't want to hide.
"Some of those gangs, besides being rapists, have a tendency to shoot COG, Bennett added.
"What?" Baird's thoughts derailed.
"Son, I did my service through the Pendulum Wars and even a ways after E-Day. It ain't hard to notice a Gear when I see one. You may as well smell like one."
"We'll... Um... Stay here, if that offer still stands," Baird decided, "Can we have our guns back?"
Bennett nodded. Baird nudged Liz, but she didn't move. He, carefully, lifted her and followed Bennett to his "panic" room. Their guns were waiting for them.
"Made the windows myself. Medical supplies over there. Food there. Bedding... Your guns there... Hey," Bennett seemed lost in time once his eyes rested on their guns.
"Liz's rifle," Baird said aloud, but more to himself.
"That's... Interesting. Haven't seen one of those in a long while. Holler if you need anything," Bennett muttered.
Liz woke up again a few hours later. Baird had a screwdriver to her beloved rifle. Her body still ached, but her stomach hurt the worst. She wasn't sure if she had eaten or not. Food wasn't really important. Baird, the screwdriver, and her baby.
"Baird, why are you mauling my baby?" she demanded, sitting up slowly.
"Bennett, as it turns out, used to be a sniper for us. Back in the day. He was telling me that some of the older rifle models had been modified by some soldiers," Baird explained, tapping cautiously at the rifle butt.
"Modified."
"They usually hollowed out the butts to make them lighter. Especially the Indie ones. Those were more accurate, but the kick and the weight were obnoxious."
"So they desecrated the poor things?" she scoffed.
"Helped with the weight. Some of them were made airtight, so you could put pictures and shit in there. That's what Bennett said, at least," Baird shrugged.
Liz glared at him. Baird pretended not to notice and kept working away at the rifle. Liz coughed a few times. He looked up, flashed her a grin, and went back to work. She scowled. Liz's eyes darted around her to find something. Rock, pillow, knife, pistol. Anything really. She preferred a pistol. To shoot him. Right in his hands. Filthy hands that rubbed against her rifle.
"So... Uh," Baird coughed, "What'd you do before those Gears brought you in? People were saying you had contraband... Stuff. Guns and shit."
"Terrorist bullshit again?" Liz sighed.
He laughed, "Yeah, but there's gotta be some truth to it. Hoffman wouldn't have stuck you in CIC for all those months if you didn't know your way around the machines."
"I did the same shit in CIC. I stole any working computers and equipment I could find to set up my place. Got in to CIC and just monitored for the longest time. Had Stranded breaking in my doors until I made a deal with them," Liz said.
Baird snorted in disapproval.
She shifted slightly. Her body still ached, but now her chest was pounding. It was getting harder to breathe. Baird seemed to have found a gap to wedge the screwdriver in. Liz kept telling herself that was why she couldn't breathe. Her poor rifle was getting raped.
"Every now and then I'd track down abandoned COG shit and tell them where it was. Ammo, food, water, salvageable equipment. And in return," she hesitated slightly.
Baird looked over at her. She was shaking and staring in her lap. Obviously, something wasn't right. He set the rifle and screwdriver down. It was a great internal debate whether or not he should move closer to her. There wasn't really time to mull over the consequences. He sat on the floor beside her.
"In return," Liz continued, "They'd leave me the fuck alone. Some camps offered protection if I moved to exclusively help them. That... Caused more problems. I'd deny their protection, and they'd fucking shoot at me and shit. Other gangs would shoo them away. Tried to. Uh. Force me to... It was a mess. Eventually, their fighting got so damn big the COG finally fucking noticed. That's when they caught me. My equipment interfered with the Tac-coms. Only took... Five days to fucking find the right building... CIC couldn't see where the interference was coming from."
"You bounced it between multiple points," Baird finished.
He had... Broken into some encrypted files to see what all the hullabaloo was about. That and Hoffman wanted some things changed to Prescott's report. Baird found he was quite impressed by her feats. For a girl, she was pretty... Pretty alright.
Liz was still shaking. Was she cold? Baird couldn't tell. The blanket pooled around her legs. He couldn't see goosebumps on her arms. Cautiously, he touched her arm. Liz barely shifted away.
"Do you uh... Wanna talk about it?" he coughed.
"I'm just cold," Liz snapped, "We should get moving."
"We're safer here. For the moment. We're surrounded by Stranded and probably grubs."
"They won't fire at us. The Stranded, that is."
"Bennett said other camps stay in the area come night fall. Ones that aren't so fucking civil. So if you want to take your chances with the fucking monsters out there, be my guest. Don't get raped. Marcus will never let me hear the end of it."
Baird struck a nerve, and he knew it. The worst part was that he felt bad for it. Liz wasn't visibly shaking anymore, but she looked away. He tugged on the blanket and covered her. He really didn't know what to do. Machines were easy to fix. Grubs needed to be killed. People, on the other hand, were complicated. Females were endlessly complicated.
It rumbled outside. The room light up with a bright flash and bang. Rain could be heard outside. They sat in awkward silence. As the rain continued, the room got colder. Liz was staring at her rifle. Baird noticed with each flash of lightning her gaze never left.
"We're leaving once the sun comes up," Liz said.
He stood, "Fine."
"We'll take turns keeping an ear out for grubs or nosy Stranded," she continued.
"No," Baird shook his head, "You're not leaving that fucking spot. If I get my ass chewed out again because your fucking recklessness, I'm going to shoot you myself."
"You can't stay up all night and walk back to Jacinto!" Liz snorted.
"Watch me."
"I... Stay here. With me. I'm pretty sure it's safe enough," she argued.
"Stay... Like sleep in the same... Bed thing?" Baird coughed.
"Right. It's cold out. We should um..."
"Because it's cold. Right."
Endlessly complicated. Baird shifted uncomfortably.