━━Calamity¹

nine.

chapter nine
no way out

The mission at the warehouse had been behind them for only a day.

They rested at the outpost, gathered their wits after such a narrow escape and harrowing experience where most of them had watched a person die right in front of their eyes for the first time.

Though Simone pestered her often, Walker refused to elaborate on what had happened to the hurt soldier and the vehicles they took to the warehouse, whether the group would be given freedom to start toward Dawn Zero again and how many weapons they had recovered. Nobody spoke about Lincoln, and if there was grieving, most grieved in silence.

Alina had scarcely spoken to anyone since the warehouse, still troubled by the death she had witnessed, and dragged herself from place to place, asking for a job to forget what she had seen only to be told there was nothing she could do.

That night, only one day after the mission, the group sat around the fire in the corner of the outpost between a towering wall of shipping containers and walls of the station, Alina's head on Felix's shoulder as they ate, spoke almost nothing about either the mission, what staying at the outpost would mean for them or the vehicles Walker had sent out again to intercept the Crawlers.

"I don't trust these guys." Felix said finally, turning his head toward the fire on the left where a few other soldiers ate and spoke among each other. He wasn't solitary in that regard - Alina agreed with him as well considering how many guns they had.

"What's not to trust. They gave us food, shelter." Mikkael continued.

"I'm with Lix on this one. They gave us shalter only after we almost died." Alina said, shaking away the thoughts of yesterday's warehouse mission. "Besides, you ever look at their uniforms?"

"No, why should I?"

"They're deserters." Said Dante. All heads swiveled to him as if shocked that he had spoken up. He shrugged and continued picking through his plate of roasted venison.

"Either way, we can't trust them." Felix continued. "Something's weird about them."

"Like what?" Mikkael said. "They're cannibals?"

The group shared a glance before instantly dropping it to the plates. "They could be." Said Denise, pushing the plate slightly away as if suddenly disgusted by the meal.

"We can't leave. Not yet. Lee is still our leader and without her, we're dead. But I suggest we figure out what's weird before shit hits the fan." Felix suggested. "If there's something, we bolt."

"We literally can't bolt." Dante said, meeting Alina's gaze. She gave him a barely perceptible nod and he continued. "I snooped around a bit. Lee has a device, probably connected to our trackers. If we bolt, she presses a button and we all drop dead."

"Bluff." Added Mikkael as Denise hit his arm. "What? Let's be real. If they're willing to waste resources on us, killing us in that way is pointless." It may be potinless, but that wouldn't erase what Dante had shown Alina, though she chose not to argue with Mikkael about it.

"It might be. But even if it is a bluff, let's not make them believe we didn't buy it. Leverage, that's all we need." Felix continued.

"False pretense. I like it." Mikkael laughed.

Dante looked around a little as if disturbed by the revelation he had made, checked the shivs in his bracer and stood with the group staring at him. Alina watched him scan the yard in search of something, and if she understood him well enough, it was probably the most inconspicuous route into the outpost station.