Chương 147

They stopped behind an abandoned billboard, using it to screen the ATVs from the market. Louis watched people move among the oil drums and parked vehicles.

"Okay," Maeve said.

"We need to get inside. Maybe we can find a ride north." Gladice watched the crowd.

"How do you know they won't rob us?"

"We don't," Maeve said.

"But I would rather take the chance than walk."

"We need to get a phone," Louis said.

"They must sell those here."

"Can you pay for it?" Gladice asked.

"Sell the long guns," Angelique said.

"We don't need them once we are inside."

"What about the pistols?" Savannah asked.

"We keep those," Louis said.

"Concealed."

"The crossbow goes first," Angelique said.

"Then the shotgun and rifles."

"Fine," Gladice said.

"I will miss this."

"I will get you the best rifle in the Dominion," Louis said.

"I promise. Once we are safe." Gladice smirked.

"I'll hold you to it."

"Someone should stay with the bikes," Maeve said.

"We don't want them stolen."

"We also need money," Willa said.

"If we sell, we need to be careful."

"I'll do the talking," Savannah said.

"Y'all are terrible liars." Gladice laughed.

"True."

"So Savannah and I will go in." Louis adjusted his belt.

"The rest of you stay here and watch the ATVs."

"No." Angelique turned to him.

"You are not going into that market."

"I am," he said.

"We need someone who can negotiate."

"That is not the point." Angelique stepped closer and lowered her voice.

"This is the Alliance. You are not an unknown traveler here. Your face has been on every news channel from Sacramento to Chicago. You walk in there, someone recognizes you." Louis looked toward the market.

"They will not recognize me."

"Don't be stupid," Angelique said.

"Do you think these people live in caves? You are the son of the Supreme President. They know who you are."

"Fine."

"Then I'll go," Savannah said.

"Not alone." Louis shook his head.

"Take Willa and Donya with you."

"Good idea," Gladice said.

"A reactionary intellectual, a Muslim, and a gangster from the Holy States walk into a black market. What could go wrong?" Savannah ignored her.

"What all I need to get?" Louis told her what they needed.

"A phone that works, caps and sunglasses for me, Angi, and Gladie, and anything that can get us to Chillicothe."

"Aight." Savannah turned to Willa and Donya.

"Let's get these weapons sorted." The group laid the crossbow, the shotgun, two old rifles, and four M16s on the ground. Gladice counted out the ammunition.

"How many guns have we left?" Cherish asked.

"Four pistols," Louis said.

"That's all we can hide." Cherish nodded and turned to Savannah.

"Be careful." Savannah smiled at her.

"You know me. I stay careful." Savannah, Willa, and Donya divided the weapons among them and entered the market. The others stayed with the ATVs. Louis watched them cross the access lane. Several men stood beneath the old canopy with rifle barrels showing below their coats. A woman sitting on the hood of a rusted sedan watched the road.

"Your friends will be fine," Maeve said.

"I know," Louis said. Gladice sat on the curb beside one of the ATVs and pulled an MRE from a survival pack.

"If I die after selling my rifle, I am haunting all of you." She opened the heater pouch and uncapped a water bottle. She slid the unopened food packet into the pouch, added water to the fill line, folded the top, and propped it against the curb.

"Dinner, or breakfast? Whatever the fuck time it is."

"Smells good," Maeve said.

"I'll believe that when you eat it," Gladice said.

"We have more. Anyone hungry?" Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. No one refused, so Gladice took out four more MREs.

"How did you heat it?" Cherish asked.

"Magic." Gladice grinned and showed Cherish how to put the food packet into the heater pouch and add the water.

"Or maybe chemical reaction. Who cares?"

"I have never seen this before," Cherish said.

"First time for everything. Now wrap it and wait." Gladice handed another pouch to Angelique, then gave one each to Louis and Maeve. Maeve looked at Gladice.

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it." Gladice shrugged.

"I hate watching people starve." They ate. The food was hot, salty, and filling. It was better than anything Louis had eaten since Beckley. They sat close together with their backs to the billboard, facing the market. Cherish ate slowly, savoring each bite. Gladice ate quickly and barely paused between bites. Maeve watched the market entrance while she ate. Angelique watched the checkpoint lights on the horizon.

"Can I try your food?" Cherish asked, looking at Louis's packet.

"Sure." She took a bite and smiled.

"I like this one better."

"Of course you do." Gladice laughed.

"He has the spaghetti. That's the good one."

"They produce MREs in Beckley?" Angelique asked.

"I thought you had food shortages." Maeve shrugged.

"We do. But these are trophies from the toll regime. We raid their supply trucks."

"So you eat enemy rations?" Gladice asked.

"Not me." Maeve held up the food packet.

"Usually it goes to the pilots and elite soldiers."

"Usually?" Louis asked. Maeve chewed for a moment before answering.

"I stole one once when I was fourteen. Got caught. Spent a week in the mines for it." Cherish stopped eating.

"They punished you?"

"For taking food?"

"Yes."

"Harsh," Gladice said.

"But you're a tough little shit. You survived."

"I did." Maeve took another bite.

"Now I get to eat it in front of you."

"That is a win in my book," Gladice said. Cherish looked down at the food in her hands and stopped eating. She bowed her head, closed her eyes, and said grace under her breath. When she finished, Cherish opened her eyes and gave Louis a faint smile. He smiled back.

"Are you praying for us?" Angelique asked. Cherish nodded.

"Yes. For all of us."

"Even me?" Maeve asked with dry humor.

"Especially you," Cherish said.

"You need it the most." Maeve stared at her. Tears filled her eyes. She turned away and wiped them with the back of her hand. Louis sat up.

"Maeve?"

"I'm fine." Her voice was rough.

"Are you hurt?"

"No. I just… No one has prayed for me in a very long time." Cherish set down her food and reached for Maeve's hand. Maeve let her take it.

"Thank you," Maeve whispered.

"You are not alone anymore," Cherish said. Maeve looked down and said nothing. Angelique passed her a water bottle.

"Here. Drink this." Maeve took it and drank.

"Sorry," Maeve said, wiping her mouth.

"It's just too much tonight."

"You don't have to be sorry," Angelique said.

"We've all been through a lot."

"Yeah." Maeve looked at Louis.

"How did you all meet anyway?" Louis smiled.

"It's a long story." He paused.

"Angi's father works for mine. We met Gladie during a state visit to the Collective. And then we were kidnapped in New Orleans."

"What about the others?" Maeve asked.

"After we escaped, we saved Willa and Donya from a church in Atlanta. And we made a deal with Savvy's father for extraction. We were supposed to go to Virginia, but we ended up in Kentucky. That was where Cherish joined us. Her parents asked me to take her out of Dixie." Louis glanced at Cherish.

"I promised them."

"Then how did you all get to West Virginia?" Maeve asked.

"Yeah. Any ideas why your leadership decided to attack us?" Gladice asked, turning to Maeve. Maeve looked down at her hands.

"I don't know. I guess they thought you were the Road Authority's spies."

"And we got shot for it," Gladice said.

"I'm sorry," Maeve said.

"That was not my call."

"I know," Louis said.

"You saved us. Twice."

"We should thank you for that," Angelique said.

"Truly."

"Yeah," Maeve said, looking at her hands.

"I just… I can't believe this is real. Sitting here. Eating real food with you all. Talking to the son of the Supreme President like we are friends."

"We are friends." Louis smiled. Maeve looked at him, her eyes wide.

"You mean it?"

"Yes, you will have a future with us," Angelique said. Maeve looked down at her food packet, then back at Louis.

"What would I do in the Dominion? I'm a mechanic from West Virginia."

"You can work with my cars." Gladice smirked.

"I'm going to be a racing driver with the Collins family sponsorship." Maeve laughed.

"I'd like to see that."

"Me too." Louis laughed.

"We can have our own racing team."

"Racing team?" Maeve asked.

"Yes," Louis said.

"Hurricane Queen, per Gladie's idea."

"Hey," Gladice said.

"You remember that."

"How could I forget?" Louis put his arm around her shoulder.

"I love that idea."

"I know, right?" Gladice leaned against him.

"Imagine me in a fireproof suit. All the boys would want me. But I only have eyes for our champion, Louis." She winked at Maeve. Maeve shook her head.

"You people are all crazy." Angelique smiled.

"Louis has a way of bringing the best people together."

"Tell me something I don't know," Louis said, kissing her cheek. Cherish watched them, a slight frown on her face. Louis saw it.

"Come here," he said. Cherish moved closer. Angelique made space for her beside Louis. Cherish sat down and leaned her head against Louis's shoulder. He wrapped an arm around her.

"You are one of us too, Cherry," Louis said. Cherish smiled.

"I like Cherry." Gladice rolled her eyes.

"Louis, you and your nicknames. Next thing, you'll call Maeve 'Mae-Mae'." Maeve gave her a look.

"Don't even think about it."

"Mae-Mae!" Gladice laughed.

"It's cute!"

"No." Angelique laughed.

"I don't think she likes it. Be nice, Glads."

"Fine." Gladice sighed.

"But you're no fun."

"I didn't come here to be fun," Maeve said.

"I came here to survive."

"We are all surviving," Angelique said.

"But we can have fun while doing it." Maeve looked away.

"I don't know how."

"What do you do for fun in Beckley, Maeve?" Louis asked.

"Work." Maeve shrugged.

"Sometimes I play cards with the mechanics. Sometimes I get drunk. That's it."

"That's not fun," Cherish said.

"Yeah." Maeve looked at her.

"But it's all I have." She paused.

"My sister taught me how to play guitar before she died. I haven't touched it since."

"You should play for us sometime," Angelique said. Maeve shook her head.

"I'm rusty."

"No one will mind," Cherish said.

"I can sing for you if you play." Maeve stared at her, then down at her hands.

"Okay." Cherish smiled.

"Okay." Savannah came out of the market at a quick walk. Willa followed with a small canvas bag under one arm, and Donya carried three worn backpacks by their straps. All three wore dark caps, with sunglasses hooked into their collars. Louis stood and almost laughed at the matching caps. When they reached the billboard, Savannah handed her cap and sunglasses to Gladice. Donya gave hers to Angelique, while Willa passed her set and the canvas bag to Louis.

"We got most of what you wanted," Willa said.

"Four thousand six hundred and twenty Alliance dollars. One phone, a charger, a power bank, and three old backpacks."

"Thanks," Angelique said. Donya sat on the curb. Gladice handed Savannah, Willa, and Donya the remaining MREs.

"Did you sell everything?" Maeve asked.

"Yeah," Savannah said.

"We sold all the weapons. But we asked around, and ain't no easy way into Chillicothe." Louis opened the bag. Bundled Alliance notes filled most of it. A scratched phone lay on top beside the charger and power bank. He held down the power button, and the screen came on.

"Time to call Daddy," Gladice said.