If they needed any more, they would talk about that. After all, we had just handed over most of the food and other resources we’d been gathering over the months, while we were risking our necks. Handing over all the weapons and ammo was just a bridge too far for Nate, and I can see his point.
Still, it’s weird sitting here at this moment, Freya. For a while it was just you, me, Nate, and our lucky pug, and it never felt empty then. Now it does. I’ve grown used to everyone being here, seeing people in the morning and saying hello, chilling out in the evening with my adoptive little bro, and getting sagely wisdom from Norah.
Now it feels like we’re some distant military outpost on the edge of the realm, a skeleton crew of forward observers going through the motions.
We’re going back over to the school tomorrow anyway. We need some of those radios of Dean’s so the three of us can talk freely when we’re out and about without the fear of unknown eavesdroppers. Those radios fix to the belt but have earpieces and fancy throat mics with comms buttons, so we can speak much easier on the move, keep our communications quiet without the radios blaring out, and their transmission is encrypted. If we’re going to be out and about looking for Evil Jesus and his fruit loops, we need those communications to be stealthy and secure. We also have to decide on a plan that we all agree on.
Evil Jesus and the Resurrectionists (sounds like an awesome metal band name) are a problem, that much is clear. Their idea of “restoring humanity” seems to be via a zealous dictatorship where everyone is a lunatic believing in this individual’s power to the point of deification.
And that shit is always a problem.
NOVEMBER 13th, 2010
WE’RE HUNTING WABBITS
We have a plan, it would appear.
I’m happy to report that the tension between Nate and Dean has gone, largely thanks to Dean. As soon as we arrived yesterday, he asked for a quiet word with the two of us, and apologised if he seemed pushy, reiterating his gratitude for all that Nate had done to this point, not least of which was looking out for me and Maria. He said he absolutely understood Nate’s position, that they had to get to know each other a little better and learn to trust each other as individuals, and not just because they are attached to mutual friends. He wanted a fresh start.
Nate visibly relaxed at all that, the two men shook hands, and I breathed a sigh of relief. These are the two most important men in my life, and I desperately want them to get on and ultimately be friends. Kudos to Dean for just sorting that out. I can’t help thinking Maria had some influence on it as well, as she’s probably filled Dean in on Nate’s character a lot over the past couple of days, and you can see that Dean now sees more than just the soldier and protector Nate appears. He’s trying to get to know the man, and that makes me happy. Dean is such a good dude.
Doing that straight out of the gate made all the conversations that came after easier and more relaxed. Everyone put their heads to the task without tension. Well, nearly everyone.
Isaac is still harbouring some resentment towards me, I can sense it. He’s not being overt with Nate around after “The Incident,” but I can see it in the looks I catch here and there. I’d really like to cancel my subscription to his issues, but as long as he stays out of my face with his childish pique, the less chance there is I’ll have to deck him. I can’t be arsed with any high school drama, even though we’re at a high school. There are enough teenagers here to have that covered.
What does concern me in this little situation is the way I caught Sarah sneaking sly glances at Isaac. I told you, I’m observant and good at reading people, and I think our newest adult has developed a bit of a crush on the tech guy. He’s ten years older than her and while they’re both adults, I swear if he hurts that girl by trying to use her as some kind of emotional revenge tool that he thinks will make me jealous, I will beat the living piss out of him. She might be eighteen, but only just and technically would still be in her last year of school. The only emotion he will evoke in me, should he choose to travel that road, will be great vengeance and furious anger. The girl’s been through enough already.
Drama aside, Dean issued the three of us with those radios and charging docks so we could power them up at home. He ran through the operation of them mainly for the benefit of me and Alicia, and now I feel like a bad ass with my earpiece and throat mic.
So, we discussed what to do about our nutters.
“Their home base can’t be too far away,” mused Nate. “Otherwise that Humvee wouldn’t have been in town. One vehicle of four men seems like a recon mission as they weren’t loading up with supplies or hitting any particular targets. They were just roving looking for survivors it would appear.”
“Comms?” asked Dean.
“There’s a radio mounted in the Humvee, but it’s encrypted and needs a code punching in to operate, so it’s useless. As soon as I press the key to take it out of standby mode, the screen lights up waiting for a code. These people are smarter than the Bancrofts and have better equipment.”
“We could dust it,” offered Graham, the middle-aged science teacher. All eyes turned to him and he blushed.
I have a lot of time for this guy. From the stories told, all the staff just cleared out over the course
