OUTBREAK

Fresno Pt7 #37

Master looked at Hugo, then looked away, "Come on, we got to prepare for our new guests." He started to walk to the elevator. The man who carried Hugo when he was tied up looked at Hugo, expecting him to walk.

"Leave him Charlie," Master called to the man. Master was at the door of the elevator looking back at Hugo and the man. "He can walk." The doors of the elevator opened and Master entered. "Hurry up! We don't got all day."

The man, Charlie, slowly glanced at Hugo with an unamused face. Hugo returned the glance. His face was almost pulsing from his injuries that have not had proper time to heal. Charlie left Hugo and walked to the elevator. He and Master waited as Hugo shambled over and he leaned on the elevator wall. The doors closed and they began going down.

"What about my friend?" said Hugo, tiredly.

"What about him?" Master answered, sternly. He stood with a straight posture. His hands were together and his feet somewhat apart. His head was held high.

"You're gonna let him go," said Hugo.

Master chuckled at the thought. A smile grew on his face. "What gives you that idea?"

Hugo glared at Master with a mix of coldness and anger, but Master looked forward to the elevator doors in his stance.

At the bottom when the elevator opened, they followed Master to some "jail cells," in one of the hallways of the building. It seemed like an office department, but a lot of the desks were stolen or shoved to the side.

One jail cell was a janitor's closet. Charlie took a key from his pocket and handed it to Master. He opened the door to find a frail old man inside. His arm was bruised from numerous needle injections. The room was completely empty aside from some red and brown stains on the wall.

The old man was curled in the fetal position. His hair was like a shaggy old dog, and dark spots all around his skin.

"Huh?" the man said weakly. "Do you have any jet?" His eyes seemed jaded and thoughtless.

Master shut the door.

"This man tried stealing from me," said Master. "Looks like he's not ready to apologize. Hugo, punish him." From around a nearby corner into a separate room, Master took a bat and handed it to Hugo.

—

Carmen and Dylan were in a truck borrowed from the Spine. Driving up the 99 freeway from Tipton to Tulare. Watching the road for a little girl.

"You sure she's out here?" said Dylan.

"If she's not here then she better be with David," said Carmen. She was watching the side of the road. Occasionally there would be a few footprints in the dirt that could be Lila's, but they were few and far between.

"This David guy, he just lives by himself out here?" asked Dylan.

"Yes. I met him when I was coming back from Tulare. He let me stay there and he fed the kids," said Carmen.

"How old is he?" Dylan asked.

"I don't know. Old like you," said Carmen.

"Hey," Dylan smirked.

"Stop, stop, stop," Carmen waved her hand at Dylan, and he slammed the breaks. On the side of the road were two corpses.

Carmen got out of the truck and stepped closer.

"Careful!" said Dylan, he struggled taking off his seatbelt.

Carmen kneeled down at the corpses. Both were adults in regular clothing, both their heads had bullet holes, and some more holes in their chest region. They laid on their stomachs, seemingly with their hands out, reaching for something. Carmen looked at where they were reaching, and found smaller footprints in the dirt, as well as a pistol.