Black Market Merchant

Dixon brought his hover bike down to rest just above the ground for Lisa and Hanna to get on. Hanna was nervous at first, this would be her first time flying. Though after facing the Twisted and other traumas she didn’t even realize her nervousness until they had already taken off. Hanna clung to Lisa’s arm as she marveled at the sight of everything shrinking below her.

As they rose over the cliff and headed for the dam, Lisa looked back at the people below by the barge. “It’s a shame I can’t go ask them what those gas rockets were made of. If we had them, we wouldn’t need to worry about the Twisted coming back here again.”

“Don’t fret yourself about that.” Dixon said with a bit of a sigh. “That is an invention of the Sun People, those crazy guys with all the mud on them. They keep the important ingredients as a secret. The Hunters Clan and other big business entities have tried to buy or coerce the information from them but, for years now, they have kept it a close secret. All I know is that they use a desert weed called Creeping Mahonia. It smells sweet and has edible berries, but it alone does nothing to irritate the Twisted. Whatever its mixed with the plant is key but no one has figured it out yet.”

“Is that so?” Lisa asked looking at the Sun People with a bit more curiosity. “Are they really that smart?”

Dixon laughed. “Smart is an iffy word to use for describing them. They know a lot when it comes to the Twisted and calling them an expert in that field would be correct. However, when it comes to modern social standards or lifestyle choices, they act like primitive village people. You can go try asking them yourself if you really want to know. It doesn’t look like they will be going anywhere soon with their vessel beached like that.”

“I think I will try.” Lisa replied. Then to herself she thought, “There is no way I would let an opportunity to find out about such a useful item! Even if I can’t find out what the gas is made of, I might be able to get a sample.”

Soon they arrived at the dam and even before they landed, they were faced with an unbelievably gruesome sight. The bodies of human and Twisted alike were clustered together in tangled masses all along the fence, or what was left of it. The fence had been knocked down and it was clear close combat had ensued. There were countless dead Twisted and maybe a fourth from the humans side were dead.

The after math of a battlefield was Lisa’s least favorite part of war. Though the killing parts were bad, it was seeing the still bodies of allies or friends, dried flaky blood plastered to everything, and the smell of guts and crap was nauseating. Those that had somehow survived were gathering at the Powerhouse building and that’s where Dixon landed to let the three women get off.

“Hanna!” Mary shouted as she was the first to meet them. “What were you thinking!? Are you alright, you are not hurt?” Mary grabbed Hanna’s shoulders and looked her over. Seeing that she was only wet and alright, her worried expression turned into a rare look of anger. “When I tell John what you did you are going to be in trouble.”

“John is alright? What about Henry and Benny?” Lisa asked.

“Oh yes, thank the heavens. All three of them survived, though Benny got his leg injured but Joan is helping him right now. Come on Hanna.”

Lisa watched as Mary hauled Hanna away by one arm to go back into the main building. However, she was more concerned about how everyone else was doing. She quickly headed into the exhausted crowd and began to go from person to person.

“Yin?” Lisa called to the first person she came to. “Are you alright? Can you tell me what happened?”

Yin had a blank expression on her face as she turned to look at Lisa. Then sitting down heavily next to the powerhouse building’s outer wall she gave her reply. “I thought I was going to die today. The Twisted just kept coming and coming. All I did was run and hide.”

“Well, I am glad you are alright.” Lisa answered just as another person plopped down next to Yin.

Lisa was glad to see that it was Bellamy. Bellamy closed her eye to rest as she spoke. “Lisa, you survived too, huh? I didn’t expect you to make it. Going out there to fight by yourself made me think we were going to be attacked from behind once you had got yourself killed, but as the Twisted kept coming up the hill I didn’t have the time to look back. Seems I underestimated you.”

Lisa noticed that Bell was holding her left arm tightly to herself. “Are you wounded? I can help you bandage that up.”

Bell lifted her right hand to wave her off. “Don’t mind me. It’s not life threatening.”

Lisa could see a deep gash was on the back of her arm and a lot of blood was already dripping down her arm. “Are you sure?”

“Yah, I am fine.” Bell answered with a tired voice. “Go help the others. Most are worse off than me.”

Lisa gave a shrug and hurried towards the others. Everyone she went by was either laying exhausted on the ground, bleeding somewhere, or shellshocked and wandering aimlessly around. She passed by numerous Mad Dogs and other ERM soldiers who she didn’t know until she passed by Eva who was crying.

Lisa quickly came up to her and placed an arm around her shoulder. “Eva, what’s wrong? Where are the others?”

Eva didn’t even look Lisa in the eye as she spoke. “Its Willis, I think he’s d-dead! I can’t even look at him right now, I just can’t. So much blood…”

Lisa gave her a reassuring squeeze. “Shh, its going to be ok. Where is he?”

Eva pointed behind her and Lisa saw Henry and Tayvon standing nearby the fence. From here Lisa couldn’t see what they were doing though.

“Ok, I’ll go there and see what I can do.” Lisa said to her before pointing ahead. “Go over there with Yin and Bell for now.”

Eva nodded as a fresh batch of hot tears streamed down her cheeks.

Leaving Eva alone, Lisa jogged over to the two men to see what might have happened. When she got closer, she could see the two were standing above Wayne who was on his knees. On his lap he was cradling the head of Willis. Willis’s eyes were closed and across his face and chest were deep cuts from what was likely a Logos Cutters claws.

Henry heard Lisa coming up behind them and turned to speak in a hushed tone to her. “Willis is dead. He just stopped breathing a few seconds ago.”

“He was my best friend.” Wayne sobbed. “We would always joke around and do pranks together. Why did he have to die?”

Lisa felt her heart ache. A dead comrade being held by a dear friend, it was a sight all to common to her. Regrettably common.

Lisa then knelt onto one knee next to Wayne. “Can you tell me how it happened?”

Wayne shook his head as he continued to sob. It was clear he wasn’t going to be speaking for a while longer. Tayvon cleared his throat and Lisa looked back at him.

“I saw how.” Tayvon said pointing ahead of them. “That f***** right there jumped over the fence and was about to land on Wayne when Willis pushed him out of the way. I tried to shoot at it before the monster could attack him, but I was out of ammo. I can still see the look of pain on his face when the claws ripped through him. I felt so helpless.”

“I was able to avenge him though.” Henry said still hushed. “If only I had seen the Twisted sooner…”

Wayne let out another heavy sob hearing the other two speaking and Lisa patted his shoulder. “You had a great friend. Someone that would risk their life for you is irreplaceable. I too lost several people just like him, so I understand how you feel. Take your time and when you are ready, I can help you get through this.”

“I-I… don’t want to… believe he’s gone.” Wayne said through his sobs.

“I know that you don’t.” Lisa said softly. “Just don’t do anything rash and take your time to grieve.”

Lisa then stood back up and turned to leave the three alone. She felt bad that she promised to keep them all safe while at the dam. Though the circumstances were out of her control, there had to have been something more she could have done to prevent all this loss of life.

Just then Zane came up to her with his Tigger claws all bloodied and her sniper rifle slung over his shoulder. He was the probably the liveliest of anyone around here. Though he too held a dreary expression; no one could look otherwise right now. “Hey boss, I saw you go over the cliff’s edge. Did you kill that big Twisted and that’s what made all the other ones leave?”

Lisa shook her head slowly. “No, the Hoard Mother is still alive. Even falling from that high off the cliff didn’t hardly faze it.”

“Then why did they all leave?” Zane asked and his brow furrowed deeply.

“For some reason a bunch of Sun People showed up with a gas that drove the Twisted mad. They shot rockets filled with that gas at the Hoard Mother and it, I guess, called for the other Twisted to retreat.” Lisa answered. Then she snapped her finger. “You are not hurt right now, are you?”

“No, I am fine.” Zane replied.

“Good.” Lisa nodded. “I want you to go right now and keep an eye on them. The Sun People also came with members of the Skull. I don’t think they have ill intentions right now but the last thing we need is more trouble.”

“I understand.” Zane said patting Lisa’s sniper rifle. “I am out of bullets, but I can still watch them through the scope.”

“I also want you to keep an eye out for anything that might be related to that gas, like their rocket launchers or box’s of ammo they use to hold the gas in.” Lisa continued. “We need to get our hands on that stuff incase the Twisted come back. We can’t even dream of taking them on again.”

Zane nodded. “You are absolutely right. I’ll keep a close eye on everything they do.”

Just as Zane hurried off towards the dam, Lisa was approached by Hugo and Ethan was by his side. Hugo was holding a hand over his arrow wound and grimacing from the pain, but he refused to have Ethan help him move around.

“So, you are the one that is in charge of this place and took us in before the Twisted caught up to us?” Hugo asked with a labored voice. “I also saw how you took on that big Twisted on the other side of the dam. You yourself are quite the monster.”

Lisa gave a small grin. “I’ll take that as a complement. I also see Joan patched you up already.”

“Yes, she did.” Hugo nodded. “I already paid her back too. When she took off after that redheaded kid that ran across the dam a Twisted tried to get her, but I shot it before any harm came to her. I can’t say the same for the kid though. I hope she’s not been killed.”

“That little girl is fine.” Lisa said. “Somehow she got away from it and I already brought her back.”

“Huh, is that so?” Hugo said eyeing Lisa. “You are oddly capable to handle all this craziness going on here. All I really wanted to say was thank you for taking us in, saving the town and the townspeople. We owe you one.”

“You are welcome.” Lisa replied. “It was only the right thing to do. I don’t plan on abandoning anyone. Now, I don’t mean to be picky, but why did you thank me for saving the townspeople?”

“Because I used to be one.” Hugo replied matter-of-factly. “I have family in town too, I just hope they are alright. They were in the Mad Dogs compound, but that place was attacked before we came here. I am sure they got attacked by way more Twisted too.”

“I see. Well, I better not hold you up and you should be careful as you go back there.” Lisa replied. “Even though the hoard left there could be remnants still in town.”

“Ha, if there are I will be sure to put an end to them myself.” Hugo answered resolutely. “Come on guys, let go.”

Lisa turned around to look at the ruined area and still burning town beyond. “Well, there is a lot more work to do now and I better get to it. We all have suffered enough and it's time things got better around here."