Reformation

2: Unwanted Guests

"You and Ryan?"

I nodded. "It was my idea."

Michael ran his fingers through his salt and pepper hair.

"Do you know how long it took to clean it all up?"

"Well if you multiply the time it took us to mess it up by eight, that's about half an hour to forty five minutes."

He was getting agitated with my cockiness.

"Listen, Arizona, I know you don't like me, but can you please just lay off me a bit?"

"Maybe if you stop laying on my mom."

He took a deep breath and looked down at his hands. "You may not want to admit it, but I am the reason you are alive right now."

"I know, dad." I was slowly warming up to him. I didn't want him to get the wrong idea, that everything was ok.

He looked up and I saw that he was surprised. "Arizona-"

That's when we heard the gunshots. I raised my eyebrows and we walked quickly to the front door.

Outside, a three school buses were parked outside. A girl with long blond hair and a baseball cap stood on top of one of the buses. She wore black leggings with jean shorts layered on top with a black tank top and a denim vest. She didn't look much older than Jane. She was blowing bubbles with bright pink bubblegum, a machine gun rested on her shoulder. It must've been the source of the shots.

"Who is the leader of this fine establishment?" She yelled in a British accent.

Michael stepped away from me and climbed up one of the walls to stand next to two of our men with their guns aimed at the buses.

"You?" She nodded towards Michael.

He nodded and put his hands up in surrender. "We don't want any trouble." He said in a steady voice.

"Good. Neither do we." She answered.

"But we would ask if you would please lower your weapons."

She looked around at her other men perched on top of the other buses, and shrugged. "Alright boys. You heard the man." She dropped her own gun onto the top of the bus, the rest of her people followed.

Michael put his hands down and motioned for our people to lower their weapons. "How can we help you this beautiful morning?" He asked.

"My group and I have been floating from place to place. There isn't a place out here that isn't overrun. Saw this airport and, you can guess what we want."

"I'm sorry." He answered immediately. "We don't have room."

She made a large bubble with her gun that popped in her mouth with a loud smack.

"We can make room." In one swift move, she picked up her gun and open fired at us.

I dove behind a truck and pulled my own gun out.

"Cease your fire!" Michael commanded from behind the wall. A few more gunshots sounded before he spoke again. "We don't have a lot of room or resources, but we can fit twenty surplus people. If you are willing to contribute to our camp."

"We have ammo, some food, able bodies. As long as you can give us a stable environment." She answered. "We have children."

I peeked my head around the tire and saw Michael motion for some men to open the drawbridge.

The buses rolled in and parked tightly in between our vehicles. I came out from behind the truck and slid my gun back into my belt. The doors opened and about ten came out of each.