Black Market Merchant

The smell of smoke was strong as it wafted over the townspeople as they worked. Lisa had given everyone time to rest and reorganize their thoughts, but the day was growing dim, and they had to burry the dead. This task was not easy for most of them. They knew those they buried as acquaintances, friend, or kin.

The area just north of the dam’s property was chosen as the final resting place of over a hundred lost souls. The vacant area was peaceful and being next to the lake made it a perfect place to lay them to rest at.

Nathan had just finished digging out a shallow grave for a man who’s name he didn’t know, but he recognized his face. The man had worked as one of the clerks for Mr. Flanagan and had always been adamant in his work to do anything to help the ERM provide for the town. Weeping alongside the sandy grave was a woman, much older than the man he had buried, that was holding the dead man’s hand tightly.

“Ma’am, I know this isn’t much, but I want you to know his sacrifice was not in vain. I truly am proud to have had him with us. I only regret that I couldn’t do more.” Nathan said softly.

The older woman patted the corners of her eyes with an old handkerchief. “My son was always so willing to help others. Who would have thought he would have gotten killed for doing just that?” She then looked up at Nathan with reddened eyes and gave a forced smile. “I am not upset at him or you, Mayor Dees, for what happened. I too know his actions were not in vain. Many of us are alive now because of him. He would have made his father proud knowing that he followed in his footsteps.”

Nathan cleared his throat as he held back his emotions. “Can I ask, what was his name? I hadn’t learned everyone’s name that worked with me yet and I don’t want to forget anyone that used too either.”

“Yes, I understand.” The woman nodded. “His name was Greg, Greg Holt.”

“Greg…” Nathan repeated softly. “I will remember it.”

The older woman sniffed and patted Greg’s hand once. “Before you burry him, can you give me more time to be with him?”

Nathan stuck the broken wooden board he was using to dig the grave with into the sand at his feet. “Of course. I’ll give you some space.”

Nathan left the grieving mother be and started to walk among the others digging somber graves. There were so many that had died that it almost didn’t feel real. It was humbling, to say the least, seeing how quickly things can get out of control. In the blink of an eye a normal day can turn into one filled with death and chaos, to then go back again as if nothing happened.

Nathan then spotted Lisa who was speaking with Sadie, Dixon, and Tammy near the lakeside. They seemed to be speaking excitedly about something. Seeing as the area around him was filled with sadness, their conversation interested him.

“Excuse me, Lisa?” Nathan called out to her. “I hope I am not interrupting.”

Lisa turned around and saw it was Nathan. “Not at all. What do you need?”

“Nothing at the moment.” Nathan shrugged and he stuffed his hands onto his pants pockets. “I just saw you all talking and felt curious.”

“Well, we were talking about something that will eventually concern you.” Lisa said motioning for him to join them. “Its about the papers I got from Jerry earlier.”

“Oh? What are they? It seemed very out of place when you reacted the way you did after getting them.” Nathan said.

Lisa ignored his comment and went to answer the question instead by pointing at the papers in Sadie’s hands. “These are the deeds to the dam. Meaning I legally can provide electricity to the ERM and the rest of town. Of course, this is good news, and it will help the town recover quicker, but that is not what we’re talking about right now. I am just too excited. What we are talking about is Dixon, Tammy, and Sam are part of the Hunters Clan and they were following the Twisted here from Moab City. They too were attacked by an even larger Hoard Mother and hoard. Apparently, what we fought was just a newly hatched Hoard Mother and there are dozens of others like it out there.”

“Newly hatched?” Nathan gasped raising his eyebrows in surprise. “That is just too hard to picture. I was wondering, Dixon, how did you guys find us then if there were so many others to pick from?”

“We just happened to hit that baby Hoard Mother with a tracking dart. See?” Dixon said lifting his wristwatch up for Nathan to see it. He then selected an icon on it, and it opened a screen with a predownloaded map and on it was a green dot next to the old name of their town, Maple Valley. “That dot is the baby Hoard Mother and its still going away from us. One thing we do know is that Hoard Mothers are migratory. So hopefully that hoard will not be coming back this way anytime soon.”

“That’s a relief.” Nathan sighed. “What about other hoards?”

“I am afraid we don’t know where they are. We only tagged that one small hoard. Though when they all split up outside Moab City, they all went different directions.” Dixon replied.

Dixon then went on to explain how the battle at Moab City went on. How the mother Hoard Mother was defeated, and the babies were born to take command of smaller hoards. He also mentioned how soon they left Moab City to pursue the tagged baby Hoard Mother.

“I see. So, we just need to be even more careful then.” Nathan said. “If an organized city state had to go to such lengths to protect its boarders, then the ERM needs to come up with our own plans in the future.”

“You are taking this well.” Dixon said patting Nathans shoulder.

Nathan’s lips twitched a fleeting smile. “If you say so. I think I’m just too tired to get worried right now.”

“Well, we are going to need you awake.” Lisa said. “Even with possible other hoards out there, we need to get everyone that fled town to come back. Safe or not safe, being out in the wilderness could spell death to many of them.”

“You are right, we do need to get them to come back. The problem is, how do we catch up to them, much less convince them to come back?” Nathan asked.

“I can do you the courtesy of giving you a ride on my hover bike and catch up to them that way.” Dixon answered. “Sam already left to go get the truck our Mech rides in and it will be late tonight before he gets back. Then getting our Mech off the cliff will take most of the following day too.”

“I will be most grateful if you can do that.” Nathan said.

Lisa held up her hand to get Nathans attention. “Now they will be hesitant to come back, especially after so many of them saw the size of the hoard at the cliff. That is why you need to tell them that I and the others will be doing a personal sweep of the town for any left over Twisted. Maybe mentioning the Sun People are here too will be helpful. They seem to have a good reputation.”

“I will do that.” Nathan nodded. “I have a few more unrelated questions. Dixon, why did you guys come after the Twisted so quickly and why are we not burring them right now?”

“That is because hunting the Twisted is how we get our income. Their blood and certain body parts are very valuable to sell.” Dixon answered. “Once the truck gets back, we will try to collect as much as we can from the Twisted before their blood coagulates. You can help us as compensation by gathering the Twisted corpses in one place on the other side of the dam.”

Lisa heard this and an idea came to mind. “Dixon, is the blood perchance turned into Inducement serum?”

“Hmm, sometimes it is.” Dixon replied rubbing his chin. “The blood is used for medicine mostly, but serum creation is done by private companies, and I don’t know the specifics.”

“So, you have to hunt and collect the blood from the Twisted to then sell through the Hunters Clan? Why not try to keep the Twisted alive and harvest their blood that way?” Lisa asked. “I am not saying killing the Twisted is a bad thing, but couldn’t it be done in an easier way?”

Tammy burst out into laughter at that moment. She clutched at her sides as she spoke. “What, like start a farm and milk them? I thought I had crazy ideas, but that one is nuts!”

“Don’t mind her, Lisa.” Dixon sighed. “But she is right, no one is foolish to even try something like that. I am sure you know about the plasma walls that cities use to protect themselves from the Twisted?”

“Yes, Gillian’s cousin, Terisa, mentioned it. She claims to have worked on creating them at one point too.” Lisa answered.

“Then you should also know that those plasma walls are the only way to keep Twisted contained. Anything else like concrete walls or metal fences have proven to be destroyed by the Twisted over time. Just forget about it.” Dixon explained. He then turned to Nathan. “Come on, we should go before the sun starts to set.”

“Alright.” Nathan replied.

“Oh, one more thing Nathan.” Lisa called out. “I will try to get Gillian and the others to catch fish from the river, everyone is going to be starving and maybe we can help out a few of them.”

“Perfect. Oh, and one last thing.” Nathan said pointing back towards the graves. “That woman right there, she still needs her son buried. Can you do that in my absence?”

“That is no problem.” Lisa replied. “I was going to go help anyone over there soon anyway.”

“Thanks Lisa, I am glad I can rely on you.” Nathan said giving her a thumbs up. Nathan and Dixon climbed onto the hover bike and were soon flying away north to follow the river.

“Come on ladies.” Lisa gestured towards the somber gravesite. “Let’s go help out while we can.”

As the three ladies went to help with digging or covering the graves, Lisa still wondered about her farm idea. Sure, it was a crazy idea, but if plasma walls kept Twisted out couldn’t they keep them in too? The whole idea was preposterous to even think about doing right now with the condition the dam, town, and its people were in. So, she instead made a mental note of it for the time being. She needed to focus on the present and there was a lot to think about.