Black Market Merchant

At first the caged men were speechless at what they had just witnessed. Being woken up in the middle of the night, only to hear this crazy proposition from some huge lady was more than enough to confuse them. Yet now this huge woman before them just killed two guards in cold blood; their confusion was peeked!

“I-is this a dream?” One of the men from the back of the room stammered.

“No, not a dream.” Lisa replied stepping casually over the bodies. “Will you all join me in taking over the Mad Dogs? In exchange I will provide shelter, food, and help you all to get revenge on the Raiders. I learned from the women locked up on the other end of this factory, that you all came from many places and were sold here. I bet you all can’t stand to feel the way you do.”

“You are right.” One man answered through gritted teeth. “We do want to earn reconciliation for what had happened to us. Those f****** Raiders killed my boy!”

“Y-you said you spoke with the women that were brought here.” Another man stammered grabbing the bars to his cage desperately. “My wife is with them, is she alright? We need to help them!”

“Shhhh.” Lisa hushed them all before things got out of hand. “I may have killed these guards but there could be more nearby. Relax, I have already freed all the women. They are on their way to where my base is as we speak.”

The man and a few others visibly relaxed. Then that same man spoke up again. “You have my word; I’ll help you, if you did indeed save my wife.”

Lisa smiled brightly as she came up to his cell. “Good, that’s what I want to hear.” She then unlocked the cage door and pointed to the rope. “Go ahead and climb out, quietly. The vent is loud, but we don’t need to go far. Just follow the rope out and wait on the surface for all of us to escape. I’ll lead the way after that.”

…

The escape was completed far faster than it was with the women, and the Mad Dogs were clueless. Lisa made sure that she added her new tiara graffiti symbol before leaving with the men. She wished she could see the gangster’s reactions upon discovering the empty cells and symbol, it was bound to be a spectacle. Lisa had also chosen to leave the bodies of all four dead guards where they were. Moving them was pointless and it would add to her message that she meant business.

Lisa brought the men back to the dam to find that the women were already being cared for. Sadie and Eva were rushing about from one end of the dam’s tunnel to the next distributing bowls of cooked fish and water to the famished women. It was lucky that they were able to find so many Tupperware cups, bowls, and plates from the storage units; otherwise caring for all these people properly would have been impossible. Tayvon was already re-cooking more fish to be warm enough to eat, while Wayne, Willis and Henry were handing out clean cloths and helping everyone settle in.

“Kayla? Kayla, where are you?” The man Lisa had freed first called out. He then started desperately searching the crowd of women for his wife. “Kayla! It’s me, Dan!”

“Dan!” A redheaded woman with heavy freckles on her cheeks called as she peeped out from behind one of the generators. “Dan, you are alright!” Kayla then jumped out from behind the generator and the two embarrassed lovingly.

Seeing this, a few other men abandoned following Lisa and started calling out the names of their missing loved ones. In minutes, the dreary tunnel was soon filled with happy reunions and tears of laughter. The happy atmosphere seemed to make the dim tunnel a little brighter. This alone made breaking them all out worth it.

Lisa smiled and thought, “I might be a monster at times, but its times like these that make me forget all the bad I’ve done.”

Lisa then felt a tap on her shoulder. Turning she saw the sullen face of the man that claimed the raiders killed his son. “What are we going to do next? You said you wanted to take over the Mad Dogs.”

“We will get to that in due time, for now let us get you all fed and into clean clothes. Resting is also an important step in getting your vengeance.” Lisa then waved a hand in front of her nose. “No offence, but you all reek too. The Mad Dogs would smell you all coming before they saw you. As soon as morning comes you all are going to need to wash off in the river.”

The sullen faced man blinked twice. “I guess your right. It’s just, I can’t stay calm. Every time I close my eyes, all I see is that b****** that killed my son!”

“What’s your name, sir?” Lisa asked forgoing the jokes and putting on a serious expression.

“Jacob. Jacob Sims.” The sullen man replied.

“Well Jacob, I assure you, that Raider will get what coming to him. Hopefully sooner than later.” Lisa then placed a heavy hand on his shoulder. “For now, let’s work together and make sure we do this takeover right. Now, come on, lets eat!”

…

Though the night was already extremely late, no one could sleep. They were all just to excited from being freed. As Lisa and the others talked with the freed factory workers, they discovered that some of them had been forced to work in such conditions for over a year. Though most, particularly the men, had only been down there a month or more.

Lisa watched this large gathering of elated people milling about in the dam tunnel and thought to herself, “Hmm, the mood isn’t dying down and everyone’s sprits seem high. Perhaps now is a good time to tell them my intentions.”

Lisa then clapped her hands together twice and drew the attention of those closest to her. “Alright everyone, I need you all to settle down. There are some things I need to express to you, mostly of what the future entails.”

The tunnel quieted gradually as everyone listened to her. This moment was expected and in fact, most of them had been waiting for this moment. Lisa had saved them from the factory, lead them to a safe place that seemed to make her trustworthy, and feed them. But why?

“Now you all are wondering why I saved you all.” Lisa addressed the hundred thirty or so people from atop a metal table. “There are a lot of reasons, but I will sum them up briefly. Firstly, for obvious reasons, it was wrong what you all were being made to do and someone had to stop them. I took it upon myself, almost as a whim, to help you all. Due to my past, it just didn’t sit right with me to let you all suffer so. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“Didn’t you say you wanted our help to take over the gang?” Jacob asked from the front of the group. A few other men nodded in agreement with his statement.

“I did and I am getting to that point. Taking them over is not my end goal. Just another step.” Lisa answered. Jacob nodded and motioned that he would stay quiet, so Lisa continued. “I may have that goal in mind; however, I will not force any of you to help me do this. You are all, as of this moment, free to go. You all can leave at first light and go back to wherever you were taken from. Go back to you disheveled towns, hungry families, and struggling lifestyle. I will even let you all have the new clothes we gave you and some food for the journey. I care not what you choose to do.”

They all were glad to hear her say they were free. Yet the tone of which she described their choice to return felt off-putting. Like their choice to go would be bad for them.

Lisa could see a few people shifting uncomfortably as she continued to speak. “You might now be thinking that I was going to say something clever and convince you all to join me to take over the Mad Dogs and get revenge. You are half right. I don’t want to go storming into the factory or their main base and killing them all. It is too counterproductive, too many of you good people will die or suffer, and the stability of the town will surely be noticed by other bad forces.”

“So, what is my plan then?” Lisa continued as she spread her arms wide and looking over everyone. “It is complicated but simple. I have been speaking with a few key members of the Mad Dogs and I’ve seen that there is a bit of resentment among their ranks. As it turned out many of their members were once regular townsfolk like yourselves. They only joined the gang to provide for their families and get protection from rival gangs.”

“I plan on fighting their current boss, Martinez, and upon my victory I’ll convince as many Mad Dog’s to side with me and lead them. Breaking all of you out will give Martinez more than enough cause to challenge me, but he would probably send his goons after us first. This is where those of you that choose to help me come into play. I need a dummy force to make it look as if I already have my own gang.”

“Rest assured though; you won’t be alone in this. There is another organization that will be seeking control of this town and they are already allies with me. They will be more than willing to bring peace to the town by siding with me rather than fight the Mad Dogs alone. Now, this could happen tomorrow or in a week’s time. So, by noon tomorrow I hope you will come to a decision on whether you want to stay or go back to your dusty lives.”

The tunnel grew silent, for much longer than she expected. It seemed many were unsure as to how to respond. Lisa felt like she might have sprung this on them too soon.

It was Bellamy that spoke up first, breaking the deadlock. “I don’t speak for the others, but if we do help and you do take over the gang, then what? What is in it for us in the long run? Won’t it be just trading in one gangster for another, because one of the men told me how you killed the guards in their cell.”

“Good questions.” Lisa replied rubbing her brow. “The benefits for you all are freedom, jobs, and a life. I plan on turning this crappy town into a thriving town, like before the apocalypse, before the bombs, and before the Raiders. I want not just you, but all your families and friends to come her too. The organization I’m allies with is already making plans of an actual governing system to impose on the town. Gangs will not be in charge; the people will be.”

“I will dissolve, overtime, the gang and in place of a gang I am going to create a corporation, starting with this dam’s electricity, to make jobs of all kinds. You all will be able to work these jobs, earn actual money, not starve for days at a time, and live a life the way you were meant too.”

Jacob stepped forwards. “That’s good enough for me. I will help you!”

Bellamy stepped forwards as well. “This is the first time anyone has ever mentioned rebuilding a town. It sounds crazy, but I like crazy. I will help too!”

“Just one more thing.” Jacobs asked. “What of the Raiders?”

“Simple, I said I’d dissolve the Mad Dogs in time into a corporation. One aspect of this corporation will be making a private security force of some of you and former gangsters. Their task will be to protect the town and destroy the Raiders entirely.” Lisa replied giving the two a confident grin. “All I need is the right things to fall into place for us and good times will be on our horizons!”

Feeling that all was moving ahead with promise, the tunnel burst into excited chatter and calls of support. They had no idea that soon, this plan Lisa had made would not go the way anyone expected, not even Lisa. Things were going to get wild!