Aer

33

  'We're sending a group into the town today, to gather intel on the horde and the cults movement once the horde passes,' Aaron's voice comes through the radio.

'I'm sending a group to the mass grave today, I can radio you at dusk,' Lily says.

   'Okay'.

She puts down the radio, the last thing she wants to do is speak to Aaron, hearing his voice fills her with rage but there's nothing she can do. He's the leader.

   'Hey,' Aoife comes into her tent 'Daisy and Conor are leading the group to the mass grave, they're all checked and ready to go'.
  'Conor?'.
'I suppose he wants to feel important,' Aoife shrugs.
Lily chuckles 'Or he just wants to do the hard work now and put his feet up when it gets dangerous'.
   'That sounds more like him'.

'I need to send a group to you today for a fitness check,' Lily grabs a clipboard.

Aoife takes the clipboard from her and puts its back on the desk, she moves closer to Lily, putting her arms around her neck 'You need to relax'.
Lily kisses her 'I'm very busy'.

'Lily, everything will work out,' Aoife says 'your head will explode if you keep pushing yourself'.
'I'm fine, honestly,' Lily says 'I feel like everything's finally coming together'.
  'You really think this is going to work?'.
'Why? Don't you?'.

Aoife shrugs 'I just think it's going to cause a lot of problems for us, yes it'll be easier to deal without the horde but we're going to create an enemy'.
'Maybe then my head will explode,' Lily laughs 'whatever I do, is for all of you, unlike Aaron I would sacrifice myself for every single one of you'.
'I believe that,' Aoife smiles.

'You ever see a mass grave before?' Conor asks Daisy as they walk along the road.

They're in a group of five, Conor's not familiar with the others, they're not the usual runners, after the whole incident at the school the runners have seemed to back down. And with Charlie gone that's another person they'd have to go out without, and the best runner at that. Conor couldn't imagine Paul and Jack running things, they don't have the same mindset as Charlie: the mindset of not giving a shit about anything.

'Right after I find the bunker, but it was during the night so I didn't really see anything, it was one of the first supply runs, I didn't go out after that,' she says 'All the bodies are like skeletons by now'.
  'You think it'll be big enough to fit the horde?'.
  'I'd say so, it was dug out by the government before the virus even hit. We'll see anyway when we get there, we'll radio Lily and she'll tell us whether to plant the explosives or not'.

'Wait....' He pauses 'We've the explosives with us right now?'.
Daisy frowns 'Did you not listen to anything I said before we left?'.
'I was too distracted by your beauty,' he grins.

'We're going out here to see if it's big enough to fit the horde and if the explosives can be planted,' she says 'So yes we brought them with us, this is the weapons control group, they know everything possible there is to know'.

'That explains why I don't know them,' he looks around at them 'Not the friendliest bunch, too smart'.
   'Well they have to be'.
'They could talk a little though,' he says.
'True'.
'You could talk a little more too,' he looks at her 'You don't laugh and joke as much as you used to, you're not the Daisy that was in the shop'.
'I don't think any of us are the same anymore,' she shrugs.

'I try to be'.
'And I admire that about you'.
'Really?'.
'Yeah, of course,' she smiles 'I genuinely mean that, you could've let a lot of stuff bring you down but you always leave your mood at the door'.
'I'm glad you think that,' he says 'it can be hard'.
  'I know but you try and that's all that matters'.