The next few days ran like clockwork. Tori woke up first and got dressed then shook Diana awake when she was ready, giving her a few more minutes to sleep. When they were ready they would wait in the living room for Marie to emerge, who was usually only a couple of minutes behind them. After they were all good to go they met the boys downstairs and waited with them until the field trucks came and waved goodbye. Tori would lead the way to the produce stand with the girls in tow and then hug each of them before they split off to their own jobs. Diana would linger for a second and sneak in a small kiss, nothing major since they were in public, but something for Tori to remember her by for the day. When the girls were out of sight Tori would enter the storefront and help drag the stands out and set them up with the help of her boss, Ralph.
That particular morning Ralph was in the store trying to drag the tables out by himself, coughing horribly each time he strained his muscles. Tori ran in and grabbed the other side of the table he was holding onto and helped him get it through the door. They had barely sat it down before Ralph started another coughing fit, sitting down in his rocking chair to get some rest.
"You OK?" asked Tori.
"Oh yeah, I'll be fine. It's just the ol' cancer flarin' up" said Ralph.
Tori frowned. "What kind of cancer?"
"Lung, of course. People always ask me why I don't stop smoking now that I have lung cancer, and I tell 'em hey, I already have the cancer, and it's not gonna go away, so why should I stop now?"
"Can't argue that. Do you have any medication for it? Pain relievers or anything?"
"Ran out. Can't get anymore since I can't afford it here. Del and his goons raided all of the pharmacies around here and they keep all the meds locked up in the City Hall building."
"I guess nothing will make pills any cheaper, huh?" asked Tori. "We have some stuff that we salvaged from a pharmacy on our way here. I can bring you whatever you need if we have it."
"Not worth it really. I'm gonna go no matter what I start taking now, it's just a matter of time."
Ralph laughed and coughed at the same time, wiping sweat from his forehead with a bandana he kept in his pocket. He stood up after a minute and waved Tori back inside to grab the rest of the tables and finish setting up.
A few blocks away Diana was partnered with a construction crew cleaning out and repairing a street of large houses. The downtown area in any city usually held some of the nicest houses, and Cheyenne was no different. Both sides of the street were adorned with huge homes. Some of brick, some of stone. A couple had large balconies on the upper floors, something Diana had always wanted in a house of her own. These places had been thoroughly looted long before they got there, but surprisingly they were in pretty good shape. Some of them suffered fire damage while a couple down towards the end of the road were caught in a gas line explosion, but the majority of them stood just as they had a month ago. Diana looked to her crew leader who pointed to the second house on the left and her and the rest of their crew went inside.
The large dark stone house looked like it hadn't even been touched from the outside, but as soon as they entered it was obvious there wasn't anything left of value. The furniture had been turned over and papers were scattered everywhere. Ash from the fireplace coated the floor from someone supposedly thinking that something could be hidden in the chimney and the tools were tipped over into the opening. The kitchen was pretty much intact, with the majority of dishes still in their proper places. A glass cabinet stood open with some empty shelves and Diana guessed that there must have been some valuable china in it. Upstairs the five bedrooms had all been ransacked, but the master suite got it the worst. Drawers were completely removed from the dark mahogany dressers and the bed had been flipped over onto the floor. The tops were broken off of the bedposts as if something could have been stuffed inside them. The more Diana went through the house the more she liked it. The open floor plan, the cathedral ceilings and hardwood floors. She wondered if maybe she could convince Del to let them move into it, but that was probably a long shot.
From the window of the master bedroom Diana noticed one of the guards standing in the road talking on his radio. He paced back and forth and kept looking towards the house she was in, then down to the clipboard in his hand. It seemed like he may have been talking with Del about who was where in the cleanup effort but she didn't notice him looking anywhere else than at where she was. He wrote something down on the sheet and clipped the radio back to his belt, taking to pacing the street once more. Diana watched him for a minute, noticing every time he turned back in the direction of City Hall he looked towards the house she was in, but not any of the others. She wondered why he would be watching her so closely and decided to keep her magic on the down low for the day.
Before her sixteenth birthday Diana had gone about everything as a normal teenager. Studying for tests and going to concerts, talking on the phone and sneaking out at night. When she met Adam and the circle fell into place, everything she did changed. Instead of doing things manually she would use magic at every whim to speed up the process. Opening doors when she carried groceries into the house, holding the phone to her ear so she could use both hands without straining her neck. Then after everything came crashing down around her, she swore to go back to the way things were before, using magic only when it was absolutely necessary. Lately she found herself using it again in bits and pieces. Moving heavy objects and picking up glass, and even lightening the load when she took out trash. It was a dangerous habit to get back into and she thought about the consequences of falling back into that pattern, but she had Tori now and Tori would be there to help her out if things got bad.
One of the crew members came up the stairs and when Diana realized she wasn't alone anymore she got back to work, not wanting anyone to possibly rat her out for not working the whole time. A kind-faced girl poked her head into the master bedroom and waved at Diana then headed into the room next to it and began cleaning it out. The girl must have been twelve or thirteen, short and thin. Diana filled a trash bag with debris from the room and used it as an excuse to head out into the hallway, turning to head into the room the girl had disappeared into.
"Hi, I'm Diana."
"I'm Sarah. Are you new here? I haven't seen you before."
"Yeah. My friends and I got here yesterday" said Diana.
"Are they all your age?" asked Sarah.
"Yep. Do you have any brothers or sisters, or anyone around your age that you can hang out with?"
"Not really. Most of the people here are older, but there's a few kids." Sarah worked while she talked, putting papers and broken things in one trash bag and clothes in another. "We usually hang out at the YMCA after the work day is done."
"I heard about that" said Diana. "Is it nice?"
"Sure is. They have games that aren't missing any pieces, and there's even a swimming pool. It's not ready to be used yet but Del said it would be soon."
"Well I might have to come by tonight and check it out. I'll look for you."
"OK."
Diana returned to the other room so she could get back to work and have something to show for her time in the house. The little girl seemed pretty unphased by everything that had happened. Diana wondered if maybe she lived in the area before the conflict and was sheltered from most of the violence by her parents, then herded into this new town as soon as it was started. Whatever the case was, she assumed that there were at least a few other people in the town like her that would be level-headed when it came to big decisions. The thought comforted her and she continued cleaning up for the remainder of the afternoon.
Out at the fields Dom was learning how to drive a tractor while Matthew was in a group of people that did a few different tasks, ranging from picking crops to tending some of the farm animals they had rounded up into a large barn. There were four pigs, a cow, five horses and about a dozen chickens. Del had some breeders set up in the barn trying to get the animals to mate and strengthen their numbers. The sun was bright and hot overhead as they worked their separate jobs. Some people baled hay, some shucked corn and some worked in the large garden off to the left side of the fields. The garden was home to dozens of different things. Cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, peas, beans and even peppers. A few women in gloves and aprons were the main tenders of the garden, having had experience in greenhouses before the conflict.
Dom, being the most careful of everyone in the group, naturally had wandering eyes the whole time they were out there. He watched all of the other crew members, but his main source of distrust was the guards. There were so many of them for such a small group of people and Dom couldn't figure out exactly why. Sure, the food supply needed to be guarded carefully in the current situation of the country, but Dom didn't think the risk really warranted fourteen guys with guns. Some of them were even automatic. They used radios to stay in contact at different points of the fields all day long, especially when a group was on the move to a different spot. Any time people or product moved, the guards were on top of it with watchful eyes.
That afternoon Matthew was in the barn wrangling the horses when he noticed there was a back door in the far left corner. A guard stood on that end of the barn, one of the ones with an automatic rifle, and paced back and forth the entire day. Matthew watched him over time to see if he ever left his post, and sure enough, he was there, rock solid, all day. There must have been a reason for one person to be stuck in a barn guarding a door with heavy weaponry like that, but Matthew wasn't really in the mood to find out what would happen if he asked questions or was caught sneaking around.
One of the stable boys came in called for lunch so Matthew put the horses back in their stalls and headed out front. The truck was backed up to the garden area and people were already swarmed around to buy what they wanted. Dom waited in the back for Matthew and waved him over when he came out from the barn.
"How's it goin' in there?" asked Dom.
"Fine. I'm not really sure but I think there's something going on here. There's a door in-"
Dom put on his stern face and looked to the right without moving his head, code that the brothers had memorized from a young age that there was an adult closing in and they needed to be quiet. One of the guards walked up to them and waved them forward, signaling that the line had died down a bit and they could move up to get some food. The boys moved up and each bought an apple and a bottle of water for two white chips each, then retreated to the far end of the road so they could talk in private.
"As I was saying," said Matthew, "there's a door in the back of the barn that's closed all day long, and a guard with a full auto stands next to it the entire time. I never see anyone come in or go out, but there's gotta be something back there if it's guarded like that."
"That's dangerous talk" said Dom, pouring a little water over his apple and shining it on his shirt. "You may very well be right, but we need to be careful what we say outside of our apartments. We don't know who we can trust yet or how fair the law system here really is."
"Wisdom well received, but keep a look out." Matthew laughed after the last line and shook his head. "Who am I kidding? You always have a look out."
Dom smiled. "Better to be a little stressed on the outside than totally relaxed on the inside." Some people might have thought that to be some sort of zen saying, but Matthew knew Dom was talking about prison, not health and body.
The rest of the afternoon went quickly as Dom had mentioned before. Being so busy all day makes the time go by quick. The sun started to lower in the sky, smearing oranges and purples behind whispy bands of clouds. Matthew and Dom met up and hopped into the back of the second truck as the first one pulled away. The trip back to town always seemed longer than the trip in, since they were going home to relax and looked forward to it. Back at the building they took turns getting in a shower before they knocked on the girls' door, opening it and entering upon audible permission.
Marie sat on the left end of the couch while Diana sat on the right. Tori lay across with her head in Diana's lap and her feet in Marie's. The boys walked in and sat on the floor, fixing ruffled hair and straightening t-shirts.
"I think we should make a run to the outskirts of the city, see if we can salvage some stuff for our places" said Matthew.
"Like what?" asked Marie.
"I don't know. TVs, video game systems, movies, books, whatever we can find. Hopefully some CDs or something."
"Damn!" Tori yelled, scaring everyone in the room. She sat up on the couch and looked upset. "I left my iPod in my car. I hope they didn't take it."
"We can go look sometime. If they did we'll get it back, I promise." Dom nodded with certainty and when Tori smiled he smiled back. "Field workers have weekends off, so Matthew and I can take the next couple of days to do some searching."
"Cleanup crew does too" said Marie, with a nod from Diana.
"Well that stinks" said Tori, pouting her lower lip. "I have to work."
"They got you on seven days a week?" asked Diana.
"Not necessarily. Each stand has two people running it and you switch the days off, but since I'm with Ralph and he's not doing so hot I'm making up extra hours."
"What's the matter with him?" asked Matthew.
"He has lung cancer" said Tori. "I think it's really getting to him. Over the past few days he's been coughing up chunks of tar or something and he's been really weak and tired."
"We have quite a bit of medicine from the pharmacy raid left, maybe we have something that could help him" said Marie.
Tori sat and thought for a second before what Ralph had told her came back and struck her like a bolt of lightning. "That too! He told me that medicine is locked up in City Hall and that it's pretty expensive. I also heard that if you get caught with it in your house it's a law violation or something because of the potential for hoarding."
Dom shook his head and rested his chin on his raised knee. His eyes scanned out the window, watching the clouds float by uninterrupted. "There's a lot of good things about this place. The electricity and running water, the shops and the food, and even the YMCA for the kids. But there's quite a bit that can go wrong too, and if it does, it could be bad."
The group sat around for a few minutes thinking about what Dom had said. There was the potential for overstepping on the Honovi's side, something that some people might say they were already doing by keeping all of the medicine at their own discretion. Diana knew that there was already a class system being implemented, with the nicest houses they were cleaning out being reserved for people that had a lot of money before the conflict. The old saying rang as true that day as it ever had; money rules everything around me.
"I want to take Tori up to City Hall before it gets too late to see if she can find her iPod," said Diana, "and then I need to stop by the YMCA to see someone. You guys can come along if you want."
Dom got up and stretched a little before looking towards the door. "I think I'm gonna boot up the laptop and look around the maps a little more, see what all is around us and work on some emergency plans. We need to have some ideas of what's going to happen if this place goes south."
Marie watched Matthew out of the corner of her eye. He laid back on the carpet, propped up by his elbows. Dom nodded to everyone and headed next door, but Matthew didn't move. "You guys can go alone, it'll give you some time to talk and catch up."
"OK, we'll be back a little later tonight. Stay out of trouble" said Tori.
Marie made a face. "You know me."
"Yes I do know you, which is why I said that."
Tori went into her room and grabbed her car keys then set out to City Hall with Diana. They walked side by side, watching kids play in the streets while the adults talked and had drinks. Diana wondered how much it would cost for a beer or a bottle of vodka in this new town, seeing as food and medicine were pretty pricey themselves. Two older men, one in a biker jacket and one in a flannel cut off to be a muscle shirt stood on the opposite corner of Tori and the group's apartment building, pointing up at the top and then making sweeping gestures down the sides. They nodded politely when Tori and Diana passed, not stopping their conversation which happened to be about foundations and supports. Other people congregated in a town square type area the lay just beyond the east side of City Hall, out of sight of big brother but close enough to town that it wasn't a haul. The bigger kids smoked cigarettes and rode skateboards while the younger kids chased each other in a game of tag. There didn't seem to be any adults around but Tori figured they had planned it that way. She was intrigued by some of the kids but their objective took them a different route, so she made a note to check the place out over the weekend.
City Hall was lit up against the darkening sky with office windows glowing their familiar yellow. Sometimes people passed in front of them in their work, which neither of the girls really knew what that work was. They rounded the building to the back to find Tori's car and noticed it straightaway. It had been lumped onto the left side with similar looking cars while the right side was full of older, rusted out cars. Tori approached the car and unlocked it, getting in half way to check around for her iPod. She was only in there for a minute before a guard yelled over to them, making Diana jump and swear under her breath.
"What are you two up to?" said the guard.
"This is my car, I'm looking for my iPod."
"Can you prove it's your car?"
"Yes" said Tori, holding up the keys. "How else would I have these?"
"You could have stolen them from someone" said the guard.
Tori's face hardened and she stood up a little straighter. "And do you think that's what I did?"
"I think Del doesn't trust you new group, and I trust him. There's been some militia activity in the area lately and I need to be sure you aren't with them." The guard moved into the passenger side of the car and opened the console, fished around a bit and closed it before looking through the glove box. Diana guessed he was looking for the title but he ended up coming back empty handed.
"I'll need to see some ID."
Tori's face burned red at the way she was being treated and she felt an uneasiness in her gut. "I don't have my ID on me. It's in my wallet, which is in my bedroom. Maybe you think the wallet was stolen too? Even the identity? What is this militia bull anyway?"
"Easy Tori" said Diana, reaching over and wrapping her hand around Tori's wrist.
Tori shook it off and stepped towards the guard, pointing a finger right at his chest. "This is ridiculous. We haven't had a single problem since we got here and you're treating me like a criminal. I showed you the keys to the car but you're still trying to flex your muscles at me."
"Alright miss, I'm gonna need you to calm down-"
"I'll calm down when you let us be" Tori interrupted, grabbing Diana's hand and pulling her in close to her side.
The guard pulled out his radio and turned his back to the girls, taking a few steps in the other direction before he started to speak. It was a different language that they'd never heard before, presumably the native language of his people. He said a few things and was silent for a while, not turning around while he waited. Another voice sounded from the radio in the same language, and after a second the guard turned backed to the girls and clipped the radio back onto his belt.
"I'm going to need you to come with me, Del would like to see you."
"Good, we'll see what he has to say about your conduct." Tori turned her back to the man so she was face to face with Diana, holding both of her hands in her own. "Go to the YMCA so you can see your new friend, I'll be fine here."
"No way Tori" said Diana, standing her ground. "I'm not letting you go alone. You need a witness."
"That's true, but you're a friend of mine and part of the group so anything you say won't matter to Del anyway. I'll be able to tell if something is wrong, remember?" She patted her chest and Diana smiled. "It's OK, I'll see you in a little bit."
Tori pecked Diana on the cheek and left with the guard. Diana stood in place for a whole two minutes, watching Tori walk all the way across the parking lot and into the building. She didn't like the fact that Tori was going in on her own, but she knew that she was a strong woman and wouldn't let anything happen to herself. Plus, Del wouldn't be stupid enough to try something in the beginning of his new town, would he?
Over towards the YMCA the town center was bustling even more than it was when they passed it on the way in. It was dark now and the square seemed to have swelled with twice the amount of people. Diana watched as a few kids skateboarded and rode bikes. A few couples were lying on each other and making out blatantly in front of the younger kids. She shook her head and continued to walk through when a voice called her out. A group of boys and girls were passing around a bottle in a brown bag and had waved for Diana to come and join them. She continued walking with her eyes straight ahead but the group moved towards her with the intent of cutting her off until she responded.
"Hey wait up, where are you goin' in such a hurry?" One of the older looking boys jogged up next to her fell into pace along side her.
"I'm supposed to see someone at the Y" said Diana.
"None of the kids that hang out there are worth your time" said the boy. "You should be hangin' out with us. We got drink, a little weed, you know."
"Sorry, I'm not into that stuff. I just need to go see my friend."
The boy grabbed Diana's arm and in an instinctual move she swung her arm around and grabbed onto his as well, so they were each gripping each others' forearm tightly. Diana twisted a little and let the image of sharp tacks running through the boy's veins float through her mind, and shortly after the boy started yelling in pain. He let go of her arm immediately and jumped back a couple steps, giving her a stare of anger and malice.
"What the hell did you do to me?" he asked.
"I didn't do anything to you, I just twisted your arm like you twisted mine. Now leave me alone and let me go."
"No, you know what, I don't think so."
The boy waved an arm above his head and the rest of the guys in the group behind him walked forward while the girls laughed and fell back. Diana took a few steps back and was getting ready to run when she bumped into someone behind her. She turned to see a tall dark woman, probably part of the Honovi tribe, standing behind her with her arms at her sides.
"Go on, girl. I'll take care of this."
Diana didn't think twice about it and fast walked away from the scene, turning her head once as she rounded the corner to see what was going on. The boys in the group had backed off and the woman was scolding them, holding a radio in her hand and practically shoving it in their faces. The boy that had grabbed Diana's arm looked frightened but defiant, finally rounding up his crew and leaving the park area. The woman who had saved her waved everyone else off too in an attempt to clear the park of all of its inhabitants before heading across the street, presumably back to wherever she had come from. Diana picked up the pace and finally entered the Y about five minutes later, closing the door tight behind her.
Tori followed the guard into the City Hall building and up the stairs they'd traversed a few days prior in their first meeting with Del. She waited in the hallway while the guard knocked on the door and opened it a fraction, announcing that they had arrived. Del was talking into a radio but turned it off hastily as soon as he saw Tori, waving her into his office. She walked in and took a seat in one of the plush chairs that faced the desk, wondering what Del would have to say to her about the situation. Del nodded to the guard who retreated into the hallway and shut the door.
"So. Tori. What happened tonight?"
"I was reminded that I left my iPod in my car, so I came here to get it. I opened the car, with my keys," Tori held them up and jangled them in front of her face, "and was looking for it when your guard started harassing me."
"What do you mean by harassing?" asked Del.
"He wanted me to prove it was my car, so I showed him the keys. He told me I could have stolen them and looked at me like a common thief, then went on about some militia business and said I could be with them. I told him square to his face that I didn't steal the car and still he wanted to see ID, which I don't have on me."
"I see" said Del, drumming his fingers together. He looked troubled and Tori could feel that he was nervous about something, and maybe a little angry. "Well I apologize for the inconvenience to you, but you must understand that my guards are just looking out for everyone's best interests."
"Yeah I get that, but how much proof does the guy want? I think he was just trying to mess with me." Tori looked at Del hard with unwavering eyes.
"Now now, let's keep this cordial and not get into a blame game."
"He also said that he thinks you don't trust me and my friends. What do you have to say to that?"
Del licked his lips and looked out the slim window next to the door at the guard who was waiting outside. He cleared his throat and blinked slowly, turning back to Tori with a smile. "I'm sure he didn't mean that. He was probably just being defensive over your aggressive behavior."
"My aggressive behavior?" Tori shrieked, her voice cracking at the volume and pitch it was at. "You obviously don't-" The radio Del was previously holding beeped twice loudly and Del picked it up, placing it upright on the desk in front of him.
"Miss Vega, please. I'm sorry for the way you were treated by my guard, and I will talk to him to assure it doesn't happen again. Now if you don't mind, I have pressing issues to attend to."
Tori looked at the man with as much spite as she could muster before getting up without another word. She flung the door open and marched down the stairs so fast the guard was rushing to keep up. Back in the parking lot she rummaged through her car once more, under the watchful eye of the guard, until she found her iPod and placed it in her pocket. She shut the door and locked the car with the remote on her keyring and stormed off through the lot towards the apartment complex.
This town was exactly like any other town had been before the conflict, except with the guise of a 'Rebuilding America' agenda on top. It had a gullible population of citizens willing to do whatever it took to get back a sense of normalcy during the day, but it also had the seedy underbelly of deception and the long arm of the law. They'd only been there a week and already Tori had been accosted for searching through her own car. She wondered, if they stayed long enough, what else she would be able to find out about the perfect town of Wanagi.
