The Mutants' Dawn - The Siege of San Salvador

A Mechanical Menace

Chloe just stared dumbstruck at all of them for a few seconds. Then, she just stepped back a little and gestured to their living room.

"Sure" she said, "come in, you guys. I see you're all here to visit Harrison"

"Wut?" responded Leo, Michael's husband. "We ain't here to visit Rubber Band. We're here to visit you!"

"Wait, me?"

"Yes, you!"

"Wait, I don't get it," said Whitney. How did you guys know she's sick?"

"Harrison told us," said Michael, as he pointed behind Whitney and Chloe, "Look, there he is"

They both turned around to see Harrison just leaning on a door frame, with his arms crossed.

"Since me and your nurse aren't so good at uplifting people without annoying them, I thought I'd let the professionals handle it"

"Yep!" replied Michael. "You can trust the professionals here and let us handle it!"

All of the professionals came in and made themselves comfortable on the living room couches. Harrison and his family were quite wealthy, so their furniture was fancy and cosy.

"Hey, Rubberband!" shouted Leo. "Can we have some snacks?"

"How many times do I have to tell you" replied Harrison, quite annoyed, "to not call me that?"

"Come on. Don't be a meanie," said Leo, as he leisurely put his snow and mud covered boots up on the previously shining clean, and very beige couch.

Harrison just winced, thinking about the cleanup he would have to do. Nevertheless, one problem at a time.

"Fine." Harrison blurted leaving for the kitchen.

"So," Michael asked, "how have you been, Chloe? Are you feeling better?"

"Kinda," she replied. "I've been feeling tired though, and sometimes I'll have a headache-"

Just at that moment, she had a severe headache, throwing her off balance so badly that she was about to fall over, but luckily, Whitney was standing beside her, and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Are... are you okay?" she asked.

"My... my head hurts," Chloe responded.

"¡Maldita sea!" Leo cursed in Spanish. "I think you need to rest. ¡Hermana!" he looked at Whitney, "take her to her room, please."

"But," Chloe tried to argue, "you guys are sitting here and all of you are here to see me. I can't just leave!"

"Ah. So that's the problem, I see. Don't worry." He then got up on the floor. He turned to the guests in the vicinity. "Guys! Me, Michael and Whitney will take care of Chloe in her room. You guys stay here, maybe we'll take shifts to swap. Sounds good?"

Bianca gave him a thumbs up. Jesse, their Canadian next door neighbor, told him to go for it. Or something like that. Their English was a mix of Canadian English and Quebecois French, so it was hard to know what they were saying, at any time. Whitney put her arm around Chloe's waist, which made both of them a bit red, then they walked to her room, with Leo and Michael walking behind them.

When they reached her room, Whitney gently placed her on the bed. Chloe then wrapped a blanket around herself. Whitney sat on her bed, next to her. Then, Michael noticed a strange figure in the room.

"Wait a minute. Who's this woman?"

"She's..." Whitney struggled to explain, "She's um... Well... She's a friend. Yeah, a friend."