"It looks like Five's adjustments worked... I think..." Doc swirled a test tube and pulled a sample to check under the microscope. It didn't take long for Doc to call Five for help. He instructed Five where to grab a lab coat and goggles to join him. Lila couldn't help but giggle and blush at the sight of her Five concentrating in a lab. They worked in sync, pushing the journal back and forth to check the numbers. The Durango sample that was salvaged by Doc barely survived as Franklin gave out a small puff of smoke as it finished pushing out the results. Doc held the readings side by side and Five pushed against him for a better view.
It didn't take long for the rest of the family to lose interest as Doc and Five fought. They were bickering so fast that no one could even understand through the mumbling. Five felt a rush as his brain whirred back to life and was invigorated to talk to someone that matched his intelligence. It wasn't as if his family understood his brain capacity, and he knew his physical age didn't help. Although Five was excitedly talking through the equation to Doc, this was simply a means to an end. In his mind, he was already there, in the future, telling Lila they were good, protected, and free. It felt like time lagged behind his brain and felt anxious to finish the job. He felt every second crawling past him and wanted to hold it in place so he could figure this out in peace. But time-she was relentless and refused to let up.
There was a sharp knock at the door, and everyone snapped their heads at the noise. Allison's eyes started to glow, ready for a fight, not even knowing what to expect. Diego reached for the knife he had made using the alien metal. He had worked on it silently, in the train, and used his powers to sharpen them as much as he could. Viktor started focusing on his powers, drawing it out from his core and held his breath. Doc broke away from the microscope to push himself to his computer that flashed various test results. He quickly opened his live feed and checked who it was, only to press a button to unlock the door.
"Everyone, relax. Just a friend." Doc had only now noticed the tense shoulders and ready-battle positions of his guests.
Luther dropped his fists and let out a strangled sigh. Sloane slid in, curious of the voices and looked around at a lab full of people. Luther knew this wasn't his Sloane, but his heart had reacted before his brain could. This Sloane clashed against the last image of her, he had tucked away in his brain. The Sloane that walked in had her hair shoved under a scarf that poked out the front. It was messily tied underneath, and she wore an army jacket with its sleeves rolled up. She looked like she had just stepped out of a messy battle with the muddy boots and a splash of blood on her shirt. Luther fought to keep his mind straight. His eyes couldn't register what it was seeing but was easily confirmed when she spoke.
"Woah. You pick up some strays, Doc?" She drawled, sounding exhausted.
"Actually, yes." Doc replied and kept his eyes busy searching for a reaction under his microscope. "You want to show them the lay of the land?"
"We trust them?" Sloane had pushed past Luther and Viktor to approach Doc at the end of the room. She waited until he met her eyes. Doc only shifted his eyes to look at Sloane's to say, "Yes. I'm just helping them and sending them their merry way. I just need to figure this out."
Sloane didn't look convinced at his answer and searched his eyes to only find the truth. She slumped in defeat and muttered back, "Fine, but you totally owe me."
Sloane walked past the various chemicals and a smoking Franklin but lingered on a full body mirror. She pulled off her scarf and shook out her hair and noticed the blood on her shirt. Luther heard her mutter, "Damn it, I just got this shirt." She lifted it to inspect her wound. She checked it was a shallow one and decided she only needed two stitches. Luther couldn't take his eyes off the wound and wanted to look for something to help her but felt helpless.
The family, including Five, stared at Sloane. They couldn't keep their eyes off of her since she walked in, and they saw her casually mutter at her wound, and gave each other glances to confirm they were seeing the same thing. Nobody could have foreseen Sloane with a hair out of place and blood as makeup. She was carefree and calloused, worn and wasted, hungry and hopeless. Luther saw her shrug off her wound and made direct eye contact with her. She pierced through him and felt vulnerable as his emotions bled through his face. Luther felt his eyes crumble and his legs shake beneath him. She gave him a puzzled and disdained look, offended at his constant staring.
"Y'all look like you need a shower and fresh clothes." Sloane pushed past them again and opened the door. She started to walk up the stairs but leaned back to stare at them. "Let's go!" She yelled through the door, and they scrambled as they heard the order. Her voice was gruff and proceeded to shout out rules, as if she were training newbies on an army base. Lila desperately wanted a shower and food, that she looked at Five apologetically as she moved towards the door. "I'm gonna go with them, but I'll bring you food, yeah?" Five was busy checking the Durango and scribbled down a simple note. "Don't worry about me. You have a shower. I'll be here." He hurriedly went to kiss Lila's cheeks and closed the door after her. He returned to his station and felt the pressure rise in him again. He needed to solve this. He needed to check and check again. No room for error. No room for maybes.
"Do not wander. Do not touch weapons. Do not cause, finish, or instigate fights. Do not go anywhere alone." She said with a monotone voice as if this was her thousandth time. "Showers are kept under five minutes. Food is rationed to you per day. One water bottle is distributed per day." Klaus tightened his linked arm with Viktor and stared in disbelief. Allison's eye widened at the continuing set of rules. "Lastly, do not," she emphasized as she turned around and gave them a stern look, "under any circumstances, leave the barricades."
"And you," she pointed at Luther now, making it clear, "stop staring at people. That counts as instigating a fight." Luther unaware she was going to turn towards him accidentally walked straight into her pointed finger. He looked down at her and noticed the same eyes, same shade, and same spark. He blushed and finally looked away when he got the message.
She quickly turned and continued out, past the elevator, through the door, and walked silently through the apocalyptic city. Lila was very normalized to the empty and vast terrain, overgrown with weeds and dust that constantly surrounded them. However, she saw the rest of her family struggling to keep up and concern had heavily guarded their eyes as they constantly scanned their area.
After only a few minutes, Sloane took a sharp turn into a dead end. She lifted the grate with one hand and gestured at Luther to go first down the ladder. He hesitantly complied and started to lower himself down, only to land at a large tunnel system. He saw three openings and tried to squint past the darkness that surrounded him. Diego landed next to him and looked around, equally confused. Once Sloane had dropped down, she reached inside her army jacket and pulled out a small flashlight. With a click, she pointed at the left entrance and walked confidently through. The rest of the family soon followed, and Lila felt an uneasiness in her chest. She heard a low rumble and humming, a loud whistle echo through the tunnels, and footsteps. For a second, she thought it was her family's various gaits as they walked through the tunnels, but the sound of footsteps grew and grew. She heard Sloane click the flashlight off and waited until everyone filed out. Lila, the last to come out, had to squint her eyes to adjust to the open courtyard. She heard a small gasp from Allison and followed her gaze out.
Lila saw the vastness of it, swimming with hundreds of people that walked around in various directions. She saw small children running and chasing after a ball before she saw the vendors, markets, posters, and large graffiti plastered all over the walls. Allison's eyes swirled back and forth in all directions but landed on a window with a sign with letters etched in red, written with anger. It wrote, 'I NEED TO BE ABLE TO TELL MY CHILDREN, I DID NOT STAY SILENT.' She jumped to another one a few windows over, "HAVE YOUR WALL. BUT MY GENERATION WILL TEAR IT DOWN." Though she heard Doc mention his revolution, she didn't think there would be an army behind him.
Diego couldn't close his jaw. He looked out to the bustling yard to notice a small family quietly sharing their little food. He watched the little boy finish his water and noticed his dad hand him his bottle, pushing him to drink more. He suddenly craved a hug from his daughter. Viktor and Klaus, who had been linking arms, dropped it to their sides as they stared in awe at the sheer size of the place. The open courtyard was at least three stories tall and surrounded all around them. The cloudless sky provided so much light, even through the ropes of clothing that hung between the windows. Murals and tags decorated every free space the place offered, and Viktor noticed the barricade Sloane had warned them about. Once they reached the main road, they saw how it stretched infinitely while the other side abruptly ended due to the barricade. Big Xs were drawn across with red spray paint and various wood planks were nailed on top of each other. Luther, the tallest of them all, saw the market stretch for at least another mile. Sloane led through the heavy foot traffic and entered through an arch.
"On your left is the restrooms. Shower water will automatically turn off after 5 minutes and clothing is on my right. We try to sort through the donations as much as we can." She pointed at a small room with various clothing separated by size and color. There were a couple of people perusing through the clothes. Unlike any store they'd been to, this clothing room contained no cashier. Sloane dropped her arms, sighed and told them she'd be back after 10 minutes for food. They saw her walk back out the same way and disappeared.
"Okay, what the fuck?" Allison whispered. As soon as they saw Sloane disappear, they gathered together in a circle.
"Do you see the size of this place? There has gotta be at least 10,000 people here." Diego whispered back.
"Doc said it was a Civil War." Lila interjected, "He mentioned the people that survived the apocalypse were in a war." Her eyes furrowed as she finally understood the weight of this.
"What about the rules? Don't leave the barricade? What was that about?" Viktor said with panic in his eyes and voice.
"I don't know, man. But Doc makes a lot of sense now, doesn't he?" Klaus whispered and did a sweep around him. He saw the couple in the clothing room giving them a weird look. He smiled at them and returned back into the circle.
"Sloane. That was Sloane." Luther finally said it and his voice broke when he said her name again. "Look, I don't know what's happening but right now, we need to get ready for whatever comes next. Let's clean up and be ready before she comes back. She honestly scares me a little." He used the tone he always used as Number One. Right now, he couldn't afford to be Luther, he had to be Number One to survive. They quickly nodded in agreement and entered the clothing room. In an apocalypse, clothing became unisex, food became King, and water its Queen. They scrambled through the sizes to find clothing suited for a good fight.
The showers were separated by shallow dividers and in its center was a singular pump for soap. Allison groaned through the cold shower and desperately searched for lotion to no avail. Lila felt the last 48 hours trickle down her head all the way down her toes and relished in the cold. The rest of the family silently welcomed the cold as it washed over them. Luther felt his mind clear as he stepped out and he felt his brain snap together the information. It turned out, there were no towels in the apocalypse. They struggled to pull their clothing over their wet body and with success, they shook out their hair to rid of the moisture. Allison's hair was dripping a small puddle by the entrance as she scrunched her hair dry. This shower alone has shifted their entire world perspective. Small things they had taken for granted became a source of commodity. Every small fight with each other suddenly felt incredibly stupid and small.
Viktor had chosen black utility pants that heavily tapered by his calf. It had at least four pockets and Viktor liked the lightweight material. He had decided to layer in case they had to deal with extreme heat or cold, choosing a tank top with a black flannel with a large hood. Later, he had found a long scarf that wrapped around his body twice and loosely tied it around his shoulder, so it hung down to his thigh.
Diego went with what he knew best. He found dark cargo pants with open pockets that lined the side, threw on a simple black shirt and wrapped his own holster around it. It held the alien throwing knife, and his other two. He decided to keep his old jacket as it still held up fine.
Klaus decided to keep his flared green jeans and instead switched his cropped shirt he'd cut, with a long-sleeved V-neck. He found a long army jacket that reminded him of Dave and put his army tags back around his neck.
Allison layered a long grey sleeve with a large graphic t-shirt 'When tyranny becomes law, Rebellion becomes a duty." She found comfortable jeans and put her boots back on. She forgot to bring something to tie her hair back and in turn, used a scarf to wrap around her hair to knot it at the base of her neck.
Luther struggled to find something to fit his body but found a large turtleneck. He put his pants back on, unable to find something, but did find a vest with many pockets. He made sure to take out the small photo of Sloane and zipped it shut inside his chest.
Lila first looked for decent shoes. Nothing with holes and heavy damage. Her feet were beginning to blister where the soles were thinning and became worried about running in emergencies. She rustled through many pair before finding decent ones and put it on to see the fit. She grabbed the first black pants in her size and a random short sleeve. She wasn't given a choice on clothing in the past seven years and didn't want to be overwhelmed by the sudden decision. She put Five's cardigan back on and felt the lighter still in the pocket. She picked a jacket without any holes for Five and wrapped it around her waist. She made sure the weapons she grabbed from the library were safely tucked in her shoe and pant pocket.
As Lila stepped out of the shower with hair soaking her cardigan, Sloane stepped into view. She yawned as she turned the corner and saw the group waiting for her. "Oh good. All done. Let's eat. I'm starving." They noticed Sloane wore a new shirt, clean and without blood, but kept her army jacket. She had a bandage that wrapped around her torso, and they saw it peek out underneath.
She turned around when they caught up to her. She led them down further into the market and traffic became thicker. They struggled to exit the foot traffic but stepped into a nook that opened into the food hall. There were people waiting in line to grab their food and go, and a separate line with trays in their hands, waiting for their food to be placed on it. Sloane yawned again as she stood at the end and grabbed a tray. "Come. Grab one."
They slowly traveled down the line, painfully crawling through the room. There were at least 100 people sitting on the shared tables, scarfing down food in under 10 minutes and leaving. The empty seats did not last long as another person sat to eat just as fast. They received a single tin tray and looked for an empty table. When Sloane found one, everyone seemed to scatter away and left empty seats for the family. The food looked questionable at best. It was barely warm; one side contained a rice that looked reheated while the other looked like canned stew from 30 years ago. Sloane quickly dug in and groaned as food reached her mouth. She looked so grateful that food was finally entering her system and didn't give the others any interest. They began eating without complaint, and decided it wasn't as bad as it looked. "So, Sloane, where were you coming from? Hope we didn't interrupt anything." Klaus spoke up, unable to handle the awkwardness. Her head snapped up at her name.
"How do you know my name?" She said suspiciously.
"Oh, right. Sorry. We met a Sloane from another timeline already." Klaus looked away, afraid to meet her eyes.
"Doc. Of course." She said and rolled her eyes. She dropped her suspicious gaze and replaced it with her tired hooded eyes. "I am coming back after my 12-hour post at the barricade gates. We have to make sure they don't attack in the night. We also keep an eye on strays and survivors. We started getting so many after The Separation, we set up the clothing room and the food hall to manage all these people." She said as she took another bite.
"The Separation?" Viktor asked with curiosity thick in his voice.
"Did Doc explain nothing to you people?" Sloane snapped through her sleep deprivation. She groaned, "After the apocalypse, people tried to stick together. We lived and shared the work equally and ran a well-functioning commune for about a year. It didn't take long for the rich that survived through their bunkers to join, finding us through our radio signals. They decided they were the leaders. They had the resources from their bunker, I'm talking about food, plants, water filters, generators, and medicine. They used it as leverage and power to manipulate the mass for their bidding." Sloane shoved her hair back and away from her face. "Those who had the least, joined first, getting access to basic commodities for labor. There was work to be done to satisfy their lifestyle. They were given crumbs off their fat bellies and let's just say the turn around rate was fast."
"You're describing slavery." Diego said flatly.
"Essentially." She shrugged. "Soon, they decided to take over the commune with their masses. We were outnumbered." She frowned and whispered, "So many lives, unnecessarily lost."
She cleared her throat, "But a handful of us, managed to escape. We found this place, virtually undetectable from the outside, and created a barricade for protection. We slowly gathered numbers in the 10 years. People started to escape, then we started to smuggle people out. We left food and water for those inside and created a communication system. Next thing you know, we are all here." She looked around the hall.
The food didn't seem nearly enough when they finished it. They went around the room to return their utensils and tray. When Lila asked Sloane for a meal for Five, she responded with, "Sorry, one per person, per day. He needs to come get it himself." She didn't hesitate as she led them out of the mess hall. The family silently followed her, trying to keep up with the foot traffic and Sloane's fast pace. As they traveled deeper into the market, Sloane greeted a few soldiers with a curt nod and a salute. Luther saw her rigidity that came with her title and the formality they still kept. Klaus involuntarily saluted when he saw them reciprocate, realized what he was doing and put his hand back down. Old habits, do die hard.
Sloane kept walking until they entered the food district of the market. It poured steam out of every window, and they heard vendors yelling prices and various foods. Sloane stopped at a small window and greeted the woman. They saw Sloane smile for the first time as she placed the order and handed her ten pennies. The vendor quickly counted the ten, poured it into a small bin, and started the order. Sloane led them to a picnic table and waited for it to arrive.
In front of them laid twenty sticks of meat smothered in a glazed sauce. The smell and the steam rising from it excited them all. They all grabbed a serving a took a bite out of it and savored the sauce and the chewy meat. Sloane saw the appreciation on their faces and smirked. She grabbed five sticks by its end and wrapped it in a plastic bag. She handed it to Lila and said, "For Five, or whatever his name is." Lila beamed at her, and she took it, surprised she remembered. "Thanks." She took another bite.
They let Luther finish most of it and felt Sloane ease around them. She asked about their universe, Doc's involvement, and their version of Sloane. Luther tried to keep it vague and short, trying not to reveal his love for her. He had to keep repeating, 'This is not her. Not her. Not her.'
As Sloane gestured them to get up, Allison blurted a question that just hit her. She felt her stomach drop to her feet as she asked, "what kind of meat was that, again?"
Both Sloane and Lila answered, "Rat." Before they could react, Sloane said, "I don't want to hear it. You throw up here and you will never walk out of here alive. They'll kill you because you wasted food."
Allison tried to push it far out of mind and held back a gag. Others were shocked and decided the threat felt real enough to suppress their stomachs. They thanked the vendor as they traveled back out to the center square.
"I'll walk you back to Doc's lab after we get water." Sloane shouted through the crowd and the family telephoned the information down the line. They struggled to keep with the current and stopped at the corner of a side street to see an old well. Next to it was an old, rusting pump with a cement basin. They grabbed the empty bottles and filled to its top and close the lid. Once everyone finished, Luther opened his to take a sip. Sloane grabbed the bottle before it could meet his mouth. "We need to filter it first. Water is toxic here." She lowered it and closed it to hand it back to him. She stared at him and felt a twinge. She felt like she knew him. She swore she'd seen him before but promised herself that she'd notice someone as big as him. It was the way he stared at her. It was his blue eyes that saw right through her barricade.
They walked to the next door window where they would dump the water through the filter, sanitize the bottle, and refill it. As soon as Sloane demonstrated and quickly opened the bottle to drink half of it. They stared at her in shock as she hurriedly gulped it down.
"It's been 12 hours since my last water. Leave me be." She shot them a glare and returned to drink another few gulps.
With all of their new resources, they waved through the yard, back up the stairs. They were about to enter through the tunnel as she repeated again, "Do not wander. Do not go anywhere alone. If I tell you to do something, you do it." Sloane met each of their eyes, emphasizing her seriousness and clicked on the flashlight again. She led them through the tunnels and climbed the ladder to see the area. It looked barren and gave them a silent signal to come up. They wandered back through the same path with much ease as the wind had died down, no longer blowing dust around them. As they were about to turn the corner, Sloane suddenly stopped and closed her fist at her group. Far away, she spotted a thin line streaming towards them at a rapid speed. Her eyes widened as she realized what it was, yelled "Get down! Now!" and jumped back around the corner. She covered Lila and Allison, who was right behind her before she spotted the missile. She heard it whizz past them and explode a mile away. She kept her face shielded and body tightly over their bodies as she heard it explode and collapse an empty building. She quickly took a look to see it settle and yelled, "Go, go!" as she struggled to push them up towards the opposite direction from the bomb site.