Survivors of Alterna: Final Run

Chapter 17: Dear Brother

Everyone agreed Akikta needed to be treated ASAP, and the best way to do that was to get him to a healing pod in the Rejuvenation Center. Problem was, they didn't have a concrete plan on how to go about getting him there.

Rick said the Rejuvenation Center wasn't as vacant as the Command Station, so they'd undoubtedly encounter resistance this time. With that in mind, Coral signed off on who would go with Akikta.

The chosen candidates were Callie, Marina, Biggie, and Nakji.

Callie and Marina were the only people who remained unharmed from their encounter with Sal, so it made sense that they would accompany Akikta, even if their combat prowess wasn't as high as the others.

Since Callie and Marina were tagging along, Rick stayed behind. They needed someone who wasn't injured to watch over the others. Biggie would be his replacement, seeing as someone who knew how to work the healing pods had to be with Akikta to start the healing process.

There were reasons for each candidate to be with Akikta—except Nakji.

The only reason she was tagging along was because she had woken up during their discussion and threw a fit when she learned she wouldn't be going with her brother. After what happened back at the Command Station, she was extremely reluctant to leave Akikta's side again.

Despite all the valid points the others made on why she shouldn't go, she didn't budge. Eventually, Coral conceded, allowing Nakji to serve as Akikta's bodyguard since Frye was still unconscious.

Now that the members for the mission were selected, their only problem was actually getting there.

After the group relocated, they found that the Rejuvenation Center was quite far from their location. Nobody wanted to make the trek on foot. It would not only take too long, but it was also dangerous, as the whole place was crawling with enemy salmonids.

During the planning process, Rick remembered a series of interconnected roads leading straight from the Residential Zone to the Rejuvenation Center. That was their ticket.

Of course, the group didn't have any vehicles on them. They'd have to make one. Luckily, there were surprisingly a lot of materials scattered around the Residential Zone, so building resources wasn't a problem for the expert scavenger, Metta, to find.

After all the needed materials were gathered, Rick and Marina worked together to build a vehicle from scratch. Construction didn't take long at all.

They ended up making a pickup truck without a roof, except the wagon was instead a trolly cart connected via a sturdy chain to the back of the four-passenger vehicle. Akikta hadn't seen an oil tank be built to go along with the truck, but he wouldn't dare ask what they used for fuel.

Marina would be the driver, and Callie the front passenger. Akikta and Nakji would sit in the back. Marina and Rick failed to account for Biggie's size, so he'd be riding in the trolly rather than the actual truck.

With the seating arrangements figured out, Marina equipped some headphones she'd use to contact the rest of the group if need be—they weren't much different from her regular headphones appearance-wise. Afterward, the five drove off in their makeshift truck, with the others bidding them good luck.

A few minutes later, Akikta found himself staring out the side of the truck with a bored expression stuck to his face.

He didn't expect the ride to be so dull. There were few bumps in the road, so he wasn't jostled around, which would've made the ride a little less boring. There wasn't much to sight-see either, as all that surrounded them were broken-down buildings and destroyed shops.