Cruel World (The Tribe Book 1)

23. Alarm Bells

Eventually it gets too dark for the guys to stay out searching so they come back to the mall. While Zandra makes dinner for everyone, the former Vipers start grabbing their belongings and finding rooms for themselves in the mall, Flynn picking one near Trudy, which Amber and I found absolutely adorable that he wants to be near her. When they initially came back, we explained the whole KC situation so that everyone was up to speed.

"This is great, you guys are cool!" KC says as Martin, the boys and I enter the café.

"How'd you get in without being seen?" Martin asks him.

"Easy, just walked in through the sewers," he shrugs.

"You hear that, head of security?" I raise an eyebrow at Lex, who nods.

"What's the big deal?" KC asks, confused.

"There's a tripwire in the sewer connected to an alarm that warns us when intruders come in, was working normally but I guess we have to go check it out," Bray tells him as he wanders up the stairs to join us, sitting with me and Martin.

"Until that's sorted though, gonna need to beef up on the guard duty," Amber suggests, and the boys nod.

"I'm good with technology as well, I can take a look with Jack and see if I can improve anything or help him with that wind turbine," Caleb suggests, to which I nod.

Amber starts discussing more school stuff with the kids, trying to come up with more stuff to challenge them as they are all very bright, but find the work Salene gives them easy so they just slack off and don't try, because she hasn't been either. I hear Brady start to cry out so I grab her from her crib in our room, place her in her carrier and bring her upstairs as Martin prepares her bottle.

As I'm feeding Brady, I hear Ryan and Zandra chatting and it becomes more apparent that Ryan has a crush on her, as he seems to turn into a bit of a puppy around him. I turn to Martin, Bray and Reg, who also seem to have clocked that and we all just decide to keep an eye on it and make sure Lex doesn't go ape shit if he finds out. I burp the baby and then place her back in the carrier, rocking her to sleep as I talk to the three boys.

"So who's in charge here?" KC asks, curious about how we function as a tribe.

"Lex is head of security, Amber is in charge of how we run inside the mall in terms of chores and trying to school the younger kids," Beau answers.

"Bray is in charge of provisions and goes out searching for things when we need them, although considering the current state of the food stores, the roof garden and all the stuff the boys just brought over, I don't think we're gonna need anything for a while, including medicines or any of that," Amber answers.

"Ok but who is tribe leader?" he asks, confused.

"Leia," a chorus of voices all answer.

"Why her?" he asks.

"She has the most alliances with other tribes and connections within the city and even some outside the city," Ryker starts.

"This was her and Jack's home before any of us came along, and she didn't have to let everyone stay here and be so kind to us," Reg says.

"And she is pretty much everyone's mum or big sister, with the obvious exception of her lover boy," Flynn sniggers at the end, and a few others join.

"She also knows how to deal with so many situations better than any of us and we probably wouldn't survive without her," Bray smiles.

"You guys flatter me," I chuckle, a slight blush dusting my cheeks.

"But also, she's scary as hell when she gets angry and scolds us," Jack grins.

"Just ask Bray and Lex," Patsy chimes in, making us all laugh, including the two boys.

"Love you guys," I smile.

"Love you too Leia!"

-------

"Hey, ready for some reading now?" Amber asks Patsy, coming up the stairs from doing some chores just as Patsy rounds the corner.

"No," Patsy snaps.

"Hey, what was that?" I ask Patsy. She pauses, then sighs and turns around and coming over.

"Sorry Amber," she mumbles. Amber smiles and wanders off, knowing it's not happening tonight.

"You don't have to do it every day, but if you don't want to do reading or school work every once in a while, just tell us, and use your manners. Manners go a long way," I tell Patsy and she nods. I give her a hug, being mindful of Brady strapped to my chest, and she wanders off.

For some reason, Zandra has decided that the café is the place to try and dye Ryan's hair to make Lex jealous, but considering Lex being occupied by Tai-San, it's not working too well. Either way, Ryan is soaking up her attention as much as possible.

"So! What have we here then?" Lex snarks as he comes into the café and stops in front of the two. Reg and I share a look and just sit back and watch the show.

"What does it look like?" Zandra shrugs, trying to play it off innocently, but Lex isn't buying it.

"Exactly, what DOES it look like?" Lex emphasises, trying to see if she'll crack.

"Oh my god this behaviour from both of you is pathetic!" I groan, throwing my head back in annoyance. "She's annoyed and jealous cos you spend too much of you're time with Tai San!"

Zandra just blushes. Ryan sits there looking down at his hands, starting to realise that she was just using him.

"Gonna take more than a head massage to get his brain working," Lex smirks, realising that this is an attempt to make him jealous instead.

------

The next morning, we're all in the café having breakfast when we hear Bob starting to bark at something down near the sewers. All conversation stops, and Martin, the boys and I head down to see what it is.

"Trudy!" I exclaim, running to hug her once I realise it's her. The others have heard me and all run to join us.

Amber breaks through the crowd and looks for Dal coming in behind her, but upon seeing him not there, the hope diminishes in her eyes. "Where's Dal?"

"I tried to convince him to come back with me, telling him we have no idea what's beyond the mountain ridges and in the forests and what other tribes could be there but, he wouldn't listen," she shook her head.

"Other tribes?" Reg picks up on her wording.

"We met a tribe along the road, stayed with them for the night and they were kind and fed us, let us play with the animals they had. Said they were a nomadic tribe heading down for the tribal gathering," Trudy said, setting off alarm bells in my mind.

"Nomadic tribes wouldn't know about the tribal gathering, did they say why they were going?" I ask her urgently.

"Not really, but they said they have business with Ebony and the Locos, trading things they can't get in the city," she tells me.

I curse in response, and the others haven't put the pieces together.

"Why is that so bad?" Ryan asks, clueless.

"Wanna know the only thing they can't get from the tribes in the city that they have to source from 'nomadic' tribes?" I ask, and they all nod.

"Slaves."