Color Colonies

Chapter Two

My shift was pretty boring for the first couple of hours. No wagons from other cites came, but I didn't expect any. They give me a heads up a couple of hours before the trading wagon came through. Same with an outgoing wagon. Someone would inform me so that I could let them pass. I wished I could go on those missions, but I had yet to get an assignment to guard a wagon. I wasn't sure why that was. Maybe one day that would change. I had never seen any other cities, not even a different Blue city. I wished for authorization to visit another Blue city, but they restricted travel. Finn has gone on wagon assignments before, but had nothing exciting to report. They had only sent him to other Blue cities, and those cities had a similar setup to ours. Plus, it wasn't like he could explore. He had to stay with the wagon the entire time, and the trading outposts were near each gate of the city.

My communicator started beeping, so I pulled it off my belt. "Dunlap responding."

It crackled for a moment, before a female voice spoke. "Red wagon inbound to your position. It'll be arriving in 90 minutes."

"Got it. Thanks." I clicked the communicator back into place on my belt. This was probably going to be the only exciting thing to happen today. Unless Outsiders came by.

I tried to give supplies to Outsiders with children. I hated seeing them clinging to their parents, malnourished and scared. Lately, I hadn't been seeing many, but I still had extra food in my bag on the chance that any would come by. I had to be quick about it though because some guards won't think twice about shooting Outsiders, regardless if they were women or children. Most guards didn't give a shit, though. But I had to be careful.

I spotted figures in the distance about thirty minutes before the wagon was due to arrive. There was no wagon with the figures, so I assumed they must have been Outsiders. I nudged Tessa forward, reaching down into the saddlebag to count how many food packets I had. These were already in my bag, so of course I didn't remember how many I had grabbed when I restocked last.

I had counted ten. I think I'd only need to give out four. It looked like just two of them were approaching. But I didn't see any kids. And it almost looked one of them was carrying a weapon.

Before I could confirm, shots from behind me went off. One figure went down, and the other one tried to run, but another shot sounded off and that one went down as well. I sighed. I picked up my communicator, switched the channel over to the Recovery squad, and started talking.

"Got a couple of Outsiders' bodies outside of south gate B. Need to come clear them out before the Red wagon arrives." I kinda wished I could have gotten a shot off, but I don't have a sniper rifle. Made me feel useless. But guards in the towers were not enough, according to Headquarters. And they received their orders from the Grand Council, which oversaw all Blue cities. No clue where the Grand Council even was. I just knew they didn't have their headquarters here. And it was above my paygrade to ask, unless I was directly summoned by the Council, which never happened. At least, not that I knew of. Headquarters relayed their orders and also managed whatever city they were in.

The gate opened mere minutes after I put out my request. A wagon pulled by two black horses, which were housed in a separate barn from the Security horses, started towards the area where the bodies remained. The wagon was black and windowless. It only opened from the back, and two people from Recovery sat on a seat on top, holding the reins. We just gave each other terse nods in greeting. The gate remained open while they went and picked up the bodies and loaded them into the wagon. I noticed as the Recovery team was returning, there was a clump of figures in the distance. That had to have been the wagon I was waiting for.

As the Recovery team passed by me, the figures in the distance became clearer, and I could spot the Red flag being waved from the wagon. I moved Tessa to the side and turned us horizontal, so I was now parallel with the wall. This was protocol. As the wagon got closer, I assessed the group.