63 – Making Rounds
“We’re not far now,” Omar said, guiding Andy around a stand of cholla cacti. “The first time we went around the base, looking for spots that might be easy to climb, we didn’t see it. Yesterday, though, Monique mentioned that the spring going over the side was like a waterfall, and she thought she saw a pond forming down here. I wanted to check it out, so I walked over here this morning when you were resting.”
“And you saw a cave?” Andy asked, still trying to decide if he was interested in the novelty of it or irritated about having another thing piled onto his very full plate—probably some of both.
“Yep, about halfway up. The water sheeting down makes it kind of hard to spot.”
Andy chuckled. “A cave behind a waterfall. What are the odds that the spring would go off the edge of the cliff in the perfect spot to obscure the only cave opening on the entire mesa?”
Omar looked at him sharply. “What are you saying?”
“That it’s by design. I think the System, when it upgraded our defenses, planned the whole thing a little more thoroughly than we imagined.”
“So the cave isn’t just random?”
Andy shook his head. “I doubt it. The question we have to ask is whether there’s more to it than a kind of novelty location. Heh, you know, like in a game when you find places of interest? Is that all it is, or does it lead to something more?”
“It’s pretty high, man. I think we might have to lower a rope from the top to get to it.” As he spoke, Omar led the way around the last bend in the rough, rocky ground from which the mesa had sprouted, and Andy saw the waterfall. It was still a good hundred yards away, but he could see the shimmering streak of water as it fell through the sky to a basin that had formed in the displaced soil and jumbled boulders.
“Is there a pond there?”
Omar nodded. “Yeah, man, and some weird-ass plants are growing around it. I showed some to Bea, and she thinks they’re part of the food boon you got from the System.”
“The food boon, huh?” Andy stretched his legs and took the lead. “Yeah, I haven’t seen anything new growing, but I haven’t exactly been looking.”
“Some sprouts and little shoots are popping up all over the place, but especially outside the fence in the land between it and the edges.”
Andy climbed a rough, hard-packed little hillside, and when he reached the top, he could look down into the rocky basin and see the surprisingly clear pool of water. It was already pond-sized, and it looked like it was growing to the south, spreading through the porous soil and slowly wearing it away.
“Maybe gonna be a lake someday,” Omar observed. “I mean, unless we start using a lot more water and the runoff slows down.”
Andy peered up the cliffside, trying to spot the cave Omar had been talking about. After a minute of staring, he spotted a shadow that looked darker than the ones around it. He pointed. “That the cave?”
Omar peered along his arm and nodded. “Yeah. Just about halfway, right?”
“Yeah.” Andy scanned the cliffside, wondering if he could climb it. He didn’t think so; there were lots of stretches of smooth, wet stone. “That would be hard to climb.”
“That’s what I thought.” Omar slid down the embankment to the damp soil along the bank of the pond. “See?” He nudged a green and blue-striped plant that resembled an aloe vera. Just then, something splashed in the water, and Omar fell back, startled. Andy spied something silvery flitting through the water, and he pointed.
“Dude! I think that was a fish!”
Omar moved closer to the edge, peering into the water. After a moment, he looked up, laughing. “There are bunches of them down there!”
Andy shook his head. “It doesn’t make sense. That water’s coming from the spring. How are there fish here? I mean, it was just a rocky basin before the water fell in…”
“Maybe the boon? You know, a food source.”
Andy laughed, nodding. “That means the System considers this area as part of our settlement. I wonder how far it extends?”
Omar started climbing back up the little hill. “Good question. We should explore the area around the mesa more thoroughly. Could be other little spots like this.” He glanced up at the waterfall. “Well, not like this, but you know what I mean.”
“Yeah.” Andy held out a hand, Omar grabbed it, and Andy pulled him the rest of the way up. “Anyway, we should probably put someone up by the spring to keep an eye down here. You know, in case the Hardheads see that cave and try to climb up to it.” He shook his head. “Not sure what good that would do them. It’s not exactly close to the top.”
“We should try to get into it soon, too.” Omar shrugged. “For exploration, if nothing else.”
“Oh, I agree. It’s just we’re going to need a long rope and we’ve got plenty of stuff to keep us busy for the rest of the day.”
Omar clapped his shoulder and started walking back the way they’d come. “That’s a good point—an adventure for another day.” As he walked, Omar kept talking, surprising Andy with a change in topic, “You know, back in the Army, I had to take orders from people younger than me all the time.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. I’m just saying, you shouldn’t get self-conscious about telling people what to do just because they’re older than you. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses, but everyone does better when they’ve got some direction. Someone had to step up on that first night, and you did it. You’ve got the momentum now, and people are being cool, but that won’t always be the case. You’ll get challenged eventually, and you need to know you’re the right guy for the job, even if you don’t really know it.” He looked over his shoulder, grinning. “You get me?”
Taken from NovelBin, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Andy smiled back at him. “Fake it until I make it?”
“That’s the ticket. Half my COs were full of shit, and the other half were just better at hiding the fact that they were full of shit. Nobody has all the answers, so when you start to doubt yourself, just remember that no one else is gonna magically do a better job and there are plenty of us who support you.”
Andy nodded, considering the words; he didn’t want to offer a glib response. After a few steps, he said, “I appreciate that, Omar. I appreciate you stepping up to take a lot of the weight off my back, too.”
Omar swatted something on his darkly tanned neck, then glanced at his palm. “That’s a first.”
“What?”
“Mosquito. Never seen one around here before.” He stopped and extended his hand so Andy could see.
Sure enough, a small, squashed insect lay there, and Andy thought he caught a faint glint of reflective blue. “I don’t think that’s a mosquito. See the blue?”
Omar frowned, prodding the bug with his finger. “That shimmer’s almost like a bottle fly or dragonfly. Too small, though—and see the mosquito thingy on its face?”
Andy nodded. “Mutated, maybe? A mana thing? Let me see your neck.” Omar turned, and Andy studied the skin for several seconds before shaking his head. “I don’t see a mark. You feel all right?”
Omar shrugged. “Fine.”
“Well, if you don’t mind, maybe show it to Violet.”
“Yeah, no problem.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small wad of tissues. After unraveling one and wrapping the little bug in it, he stuffed it into his pocket and kept walking.
“You have allergies?” Andy asked.
“Yeah, well, usually. Haven’t been too bad the last couple of days. Anyway, I still have the habit of keeping some Kleenex in my pocket.”
When they reached the road and the bottom of the trail leading up to the settlement, Omar stood to the side, pointing across the way to the cleared lot where they’d burned the bodies on the second day. There were a couple of people over there with a wheelbarrow, doing something with a big cholla cactus. “I’m gonna go check on them. They’re collecting cholla pads; we’re going to dig a bunch of pits in the road and fill them up with ’em. In the daytime, they’ll be easy to avoid, but at night?” Omar grinned, shrugging.
Andy nodded, whistling. “Shit, man. That would suck to fall into!”
“We might not catch any of ’em, but if we do, it’ll cause a scene down here and definitely slow them up a bit.” He turned and started walking, tossing a “See you later!” over his shoulder.
“Later.” Andy contemplated the idea of pit traps outside the settlement. He supposed the situation called for pretty much anything they could think of. He still had two Scorchmark Glyph traps on the trail, and he figured he’d leave it at that. He wanted to have some mana available to himself in case he had to use another spell.
It probably wouldn’t be an issue—by the time anyone got to the top of the mesa, his glyphs should be gone, and he ought to have his mana coming back pretty rapidly. Nothing was guaranteed, though, and Andy wanted to try to be prepared for all sorts of contingencies.
The System had carved the trail up the side of the cliff into the sandstone itself, so he wasn’t surprised not to see people digging pits or trenches on it. Still, as he climbed, he wondered about stringing wires here and there—tripping hazards if nothing else. He knew they’d have people up top dropping stuff on any invaders, but the more trouble they could cause for Brooks and his people, the better, as far as Andy was concerned.
When he reached the top, he saw a handful of people pushing a relatively modern pickup truck out the gate and then along the fence toward the back side of the park. He shook his head, wondering if there would be any targets stationary enough to hit with a falling vehicle. In a way, he hoped so, but in another way, he dreaded the idea of it; it seemed like a really indiscriminate way to kill someone.
Violet approached him at the gate. “Anything to worry about?”
Andy shook his head. “I don’t think so. It’ll be hard to reach and, if anyone got into that cave, I don’t know what they could do to us. There aren’t any openings up here, right?”
“Tucker and a couple of others did another sweep, just to be sure, but didn’t find anything.” She shrugged. “Maybe they will go for it, and we ought to let them—it’ll waste a bunch of their time.”
“Heh, yeah. Maybe.”
“Anyway, James asked me to tell you to stop by his place. I think he has some armor for you.”
Reflexively, Andy tugged at his thin T-shirt. “Armor, huh?”
“Better safe than sorry.”
“Yeah, I guess so. You, too, though!”
Violet laughed. “Don’t worry about me. Ed is sitting outside our trailer right now, using fishing line to fasten old DVDs and CDs to our winter coats.”
Andy snorted a quick laugh, shaking his head. “I mean, I guess that’ll slow down some weapons, but you’re gonna look like Christmas trees if any light gets shined on you.”
“Well, that’ll be all right. First of all, there’s not much light in the apocalypse, and second, if someone’s trying to kill me, I figure they’ll already see me.”
Andy shifted his spear on his shoulder, trying to look encouraging as he nodded. “Yeah, I guess so. Just remember to stick to your team, Violet. I’d hate for you to get caught out alone if some of those maniacs get up here.”
“Thanks, Andy. Trust me, I’ll do my best to stay alive.”
Andy smiled and walked past her, through the gate, and then down the lane toward James’s trailer. Everywhere he looked, people were preparing for the anticipated battle. Some were digging, while others were building barricades or piling up objects to throw. Andy saw two people carrying heavy loads of weights—plates and dumbbells—and immediately imagined them falling from the heights on top of his head. Shuddering, he turned the corner, saw James’s trailer, and Shawna jogging up to him.
“Andy! I’m glad I found you.” She was a little breathless, and her dark hair fell over her face as she leaned forward, bracing her hands on her knees.
Andy spun, scanning the front gate, anticipating some kind of emergency. “What’s wrong?”
“Oh!” She straightened, pulling the hair out of her eyes. “No, it’s not an emergency. I’m just, you know, feeling stressed, so I’ve been running everywhere like an idiot instead of walking.”
Andy sighed, trying to let the tension bleed out of his shoulders. “Okay, so what’s up?”
“I’m just worried about whether I’m right.”
Andy knew immediately what she was talking about. “About Oscar?”
She nodded. “Yeah. What if he’s not what I thought? What if he really takes Brooks out to the foothills where we’re supposed to set up an ambush?”
Andy shook his head. “Trust me, I’ve been thinking about this a lot. Even if Oscar tries to get Brooks to go out there to kill me, there’s a damn good chance that Brooks won’t do it. If I were a bad guy and I wanted to put the hurt on an enemy settlement, and I knew their leader was out with their best fighters, attacking my outpost, I think I’d attack the settlement. So, either way, there’s a chance that Brooks is coming here.”
Sandy blew out a pent-up breath, nodding. “Which means you really can’t leave, even if you think Oscar’s telling the truth.”
“Yeah. Either way, we need to be here because there’s no way I’m letting him waltz into this settlement.”
“Okay, Andy. Thank you so much. I feel a lot better.”
“I get it. It sucks having a bunch of other people’s safety dependent on your actions.”
She nodded again. “Not just actions, but…predictions, I guess.”
Andy pointed down the lane. “Anyway, I gotta go see James. You need anything else?”
Shawna squinted into the sky, shaking her head. “Nah, I’m good. I’m going to keep Silas company. He’s filling bottles with gasoline. We tried some Molotov cocktails, but they just don’t work as well as before mana came here. Still, that guy, um, Omar, said we should be ready to throw down gas on the invaders in case we can get some fires going.”
Andy started walking, nodding. “Yeah, sounds smart. Gas still burns pretty well; it’s just not as explosive as it used to be. Catch you in a bit.”
“Yeah, okay…” She trailed off as Andy continued on his way. When he reached James’s trailer, he stood there, staring at the pit the older man had been digging for his new “forge.” It was a good three feet wide and deep, and James had amassed a small mountain of bricks and large rocks beside it. Andy was wondering what he’d use for mortar when the trailer door swung open with a bang.
“Andy! Wait until you see the armor I made for you, young blood!”