The Price of Humanity

Chapter Forty-One

Chapter Forty-One

"Please can I come." Mia pleads as I hop into the truck with Zane.

"No." Me and Zane say at the same time, for the millionth time.

"Why not?" She whines, the desperation evident in her voice.

"Because you started learning how to defend yourself yesterday and we haven't even started on how to take down or knock out your enemy." She huffs at me and crosses her arms, walking back towards the house.

Zane puts his seatbelt on and I do the same before he starts the engine and moves forward, out of the drive.

I tap my fingers rhythmically on the side of the truck as Zane drives towards the city. As we turn around a corner a lone box in the back moves to the other side, creating a small thudding noise.

We put the box in the back full of emergency supplies. Enough for a few days, giving us time to get back to the house and Mia.

"What exactly is the plan?" I ask Zane, whose eyes are firmly concentrated on the road.

"Corner them and get them to confirm where the base is, or at least tell us about their security." I chuckle.

"This reminds me of every crime TV show ever made." I say throughout giggles. A small smile comes across Zane's lips as we enter the inner city.

The skyscrapers tower above us as we drive through the streets.

"I'll park where I did yesterday and we'll go on foot to where the guards were." I nod in agreement and watch the city fly by as we drive through the streets.

After a short while Zane pulls down a side street and parks behind a few high-street shops, next to the delivery entrances.

"No point in going shopping eh?" I state, looking over at the broken in doors. People swept the shelves of all the major stores when they could. Well, materialistic people that thought free clothing and jewellery was more important than food.

I hop out of the truck, backpack and katana in their rightful position on my back. I lean over to tighten my shoe laces, noticing one of them has come loose.

The locket, now permanently around my neck, falls out of the black tank top I'm wearing. I look at it, holding it my palm for a few seconds before putting it back in its place.

I tie my laces tightly and tuck the excess into my boots. Gale would be proud.

I tighten the belt on my green skinny jeans as well. I decided to get out of, and wash, my camo trousers yesterday while I had the time.

"Come on Champ." I smile at him and close the truck door, he pulls out one of the handguns and hands it to me. I take it nervously, looking over it.

Zane pulls out his, holding it in front of him.

"Check the bullets." He says, demonstrating to me on his gun. I slide the top part of the gun back slightly, allowing me to see a bullet in the chamber.

"Safety." He says pointing to the little lever on his gun. "And trigger." He points to the trigger.

"Keep your finger along the side of the gun unless you're ready to shoot. Only shoot if you need too." He demonstrates, his forefinger parallel to the barrel of the gun.

"Okay." I say, turning the safety on and putting the gun in the back of my trousers. Just like I've seen on multiple TV shows. Zane rolls his eyes at me, keeping the gun in his hands and his baseball bat on his back.

The bat is a little too vicious for me, you need to hit the target multiple times to actually damage the brain. I prefer one clean sweep with my katana.

"Do I get one?" A small voice says behind me.

"Oh, for fuck's sake." I spin around to see Mia sitting proudly in the back of the truck. When she sees Zane's reaction however she shrinks away, probably hoping the ground will swallow her up.

"What the hell are you doing here?" He demands, voice angry and menacing. I walk towards Mia, helping her out of the truck while Zane glares at the both of us.

"Why didn't you stay at the house?" She gives me a sheepish shrug, not looking so proud of herself now.

I give her a look of disappointment before sighing, shaking my head slightly, and turning around.

"No point in getting angry Zane, she's here and we can't change that. We just need a plan of what to do now." He sighs loudly, running a hand through his hair.

"We can't take her anywhere near the base, I won't let you anywhere near those men." Zane says sternly.

I notice Mia shifting from foot to foot, wavering in her idea to tag along.

"We can hole her up in one of the shops." He says to me, looking around the delivery area we are standing in.

"What if people find her?" I counter, not wanting Mia to be left on her own so close to their main base.

Zane scratches his head in thought, looking around and trying to come up with a plan.

"I could come with you?" Mia asks, although she doesn't seem too confident in that idea. Yeah, we're not going with that.

"No." Zane stats, confirming my thoughts.

I join him in looking around. There's not much here, only a few backdoors into the stores and parking area for delivery trucks. The bins at the back of the store have been strategically maneuverer to block most of the entrances, apart from the one we came in.

Looks like somebody used them to hole up here for a while.

Mia picks up her rucksack out of the back of the truck and puts it on her back, copying my movements from earlier with the straps and laces.

She looks up at both me and Zane, both of us still trying to figure out a plan on where to keep her safe and out of sight at the same time.

"Yeh, there's no other plan." She demands, tying her hair up into a tight bun. "I'm coming with you."