Flashf0rward

Chapter 3: Pest Control

Ivy

The town hall was bigger than most of the small cabins that made up Sanctuary, which it had to be since it was supposed to hold almost a thousand people at a time whenever we would hold a town meeting, which could get hectic. What only a small few people knew was that it was also used as a way to discuss more important and life-threatening matters without any nosy people listening in.

Walking through the village in a plaid shirt, my hair down from its usual ponytail and hanging around my face, I smiled and waved at a few people I knew as I passed by. Then, I walked up the front steps and to the main door. The guards waved me through, knowing who I was, and I stepped through the front hall.

The several chairs which usually sat several hundred people were now stacked to the sides, awaiting the next town meeting. Walking past the large stage which I would usually sit on and listen in to whomever was speaking, I went to a small door on the side, knocking three times, pausing, then knocking again. The door unlocked, and I was let in.

Inside the side room was a large table with several chairs surrounding it, and behind us was a large map of the county in which Sanctuary was located, several of our additions marked in pencil. Around the desk were several familiar faces. Sparrow was there, her legs kicked up on the table as she leaned back in the chair. A tall black man with slightly greying hair wearing a slightly ratty coat with black pants and military boots was standing and looking down at the map. A blonde-haired girl wearing a green sweatshirt and jeans was standing with her arms crossed. Right next to her was a man with black hair wearing a bomber jacket and cargo pants. "Hey Wren." I said, and he looked up, his mouth curling into a bit of a smile. "Hey, Vee."

Ever since Sanctuary had been built, Wren had become the de facto leader of our group of survivors, whether he wanted to or not. That had made me kind of become heir to the throne by default, and because of that, everyone thought that if they couldn't talk to Wren, they could get through to him by me, which made my life a hell of a lot more miserable. But I couldn't complain. Wren always seemed to have a lot on his plate.

He stood up and sighed. "Alright, now that we're all here, we can begin." Motioning to the tall black man, Wren spoke. "Jude, you mind telling everyone what you told me?" Jude Grayson was our liaison to the humans in our camp, and head of security. He was much better to work with and talk to than someone like Hightower, not to mention a hell of a lot more awesome when it came to fighting. He was someone you didn't want to mess with. He didn't talk about himself a lot, but most people assumed he was ex-military. From what I'd seen, they probably weren't wrong.

Jude cleared his throat and looked at us. "Thank you, Wren. A few hours ago, I was doing some recon around this area with my team." Jude circled an area that was a few miles away from Sanctuary, not too far from where I'd been this morning during my hunting trip. "We spotted a horde, at least 20 or 30-strong." Everyone's eyes widened. The morphs may not have had intelligence anymore, but they still moved in great numbers, like locusts.

"Crap..." Sparrow said as she sat up straight. "That's right near the forest. If they get in there..." Jude nodded. "They might start contaminating the animal population." He finished her thought for her. We'd been relying on that place for food and supplies ever since we'd built Sanctuary. If the hypermorphs got in there, it would be too dangerous to hunt, and most of the food and water in there would become infected by default.

The girl with blonde hair, Katrina, spoke up. "What's our plan?" Jude turned to my brother, as did everyone else. "Wren?" I could see his hands go up in front of his mouth, his face in deep thought. The wheels were turning, and I knew that he hated when everyone went to him, but he knew it was for a reason.